|
|
Clunky noises fixed by lubing chain?
|
Tangible clicks from my chain (cyclic per chain revolution) resonating
through the frame and pegs made me feel like it was going to shoot off the
bike. I lubed it and everything got smooth again. I have one missing
|
That's actually a small miracle, when you consider what the grease used
in o-ring chains is made of. There is less than a drop of oil sealed
into each link. The binder used in grease is a soapy material like
calcium, lithium, or barium. When the o-rings wear, the oil runs out
of the link, and all that is left is the binder. The link will kink,
and you'll hear a noise everytime the kinked link passes over the front
sprocket.
|
Just like a singlespeed or fixed gear bicycle....
|
|
o-ring that I've been able to find. That particular inner plate's slightly
skewed. Could this have been the cause of the noise?
|
Yes. If your chain is otherwise in good condition, you might replace
the defective link with a clip type masterlink. Just degrease the side
plate and the clip with methyl alcohol or brake cleaner, let them dry
and apply two drops of red Loctite to the side plate before installing
the clip. It will never come off.
There is a measurement for cumulative wear over 20 links of chain (21
pins) The nominal dimension between link pins on a brand new run of
chain would be 0.625 times 20 = 12.500 inches.
So, if you stretch out the chain by hanging a weight off the bottom run
of chain and measure chain and find that the measurement is 12.600
inches, the total cumulative wear is 0.100 inches. The average wear on
the links would be 0.100 / 20 = 0.005 inches and the chain is
considered to be worn out.
|
The nice dealership in Tallahassee I went to told me that a chain/sprocket
set should last 15-20k mi. Sound about right? Bicycle chains last around
|
There are two basic types of o-ring chain.
The premium original equipment o-ring chain will last about 20K miles
if you oil it with a petroleum oil. It has a wide flat o-ring that
looks like a rubber washer and using gooey commercial chain lubes from
an aerosol can can actually *glue* the o-ring to the side plates. When
you first start out on a cold morning with a goopy chain, the o-rings
can split and be spit out of the chain. That's oil or gear lube is
better for expen$ive original equipment chains that can cost $200.
Aftermarket o-ring chains have various o-rings. Some o-rings are shaped
like a rubber donut, others are X-shaped or W-shaped. The selling point
of those aftermarket chains is that the o-rings are "low friction" and
that you will win races because you have that "power edge".
Real racers don't need no steenking o-rings. Their mechanic throws the
chain away after every race.
But the street rider who buys the low friction o-ring chains may claim
that he gets 20K miles out of his chains. I've never gotten more than
8K out of an aftermarket chain.
Another possibility for chain lubrication is WD40. It's a proprietary
formula of some
aerosol solvent that evaporates, leaving a film of some unknown oil on
the chain. That oil has the approximate specific gravity of diesel
fuel. I have used WD40 in an emergency, but I usely carry a small
|
How very interesting - if you want to float a boat in it.
|
plastic bottle of gear lube with me if I'm going on an overnight ride.
|
3k.
|
|
|
If you lubricate a part and the noise stops, that's a pretty good
indication where the problem is.
|
Is motor oil cut down 1/3 or 1/2 by mineral spirits a good lube?
|
Bzzzzt! Wrong!
That's a *very bad idea* if you have an o-ring chain. If you cut the
oil with mineral spirits, it will penetrate the o-rings and wash the
lube out of your chain.
You don't want to use any oil that is so thin it can get past the
o-rings. Don't ask how I know that.
|
Duh... I totally forgot about that... I wasn't thinking. The oil/spirits
combo is good for bicycles.
|
Ordinary 30w or 40w motor oil is probably what your manual specifies.
The stated purpose of the oil iin some owners manuals s not
lubrication, it's rust prevention.
Notwithstanding that statement, some oil applied to the edges of the
*rollers* next to the sideplates will penetrate the rollers and do some
internal lubrication. Some of the oil applied to the rollers will also
cushion the shock of the rollers hitting the sprockets and will reduce
sprocket wear.
|
So the o-rings seal in oil between the inner and outer plates?
|
O-rings between the inner and outer plates seal a tiny amount of grease
next to the hardened steel link pin. Grease is just a soapy binder that
holds oil near the point that needs to be lubricated. Since the oil is
thinner, it will eventually escape past worn out o-rings, leaving
nothing but the dried up binder. The binder has more friction than the
oily grease would have, so the chain kinks locally.
|
|
Around here, where it gets to 100 degrees every day for the whole
summer, I use 90w gear lube. A good application of 90w gear lube lasts
me 300 miles. It smells awful, but it's really easy to clean the chain
with a rag soaked in kerosene.
|
Isn't 90w really thin, or is it just that it's oil and not oil/solvent? In
other words, wouldn't 90w be as thin as 40w cut with some solvent? Or is it
a thin oil with no solvent in it?
|
The lower the number, the thinner the oil. The weight of an oil is an
average of the
polymers within a given batch of distilled petroleum.
SAE 90w is logically more than twice as thick as SAE 40w. The American
Petroleum Institute established standards for quality and grading the
oils so the customer would know what he was getting from different oil
companies.
There is a funny story about how Harley Davidson confused owners into
thinking that they had to buy their oil from Harley Davidson
$tealer$hip$.
There was no other known source of oil with the enigmatic marking "SUS
|
See my other post. This should be true in any logic system but
SAE apply different systems to engine and gear oil.
|
|
Most batches of destilled petroleum will contain no
polymers at all (not with normal use of language). It
will contain a lot off different hydrocarbons.
Just to take one example, it might contain octane
that has an aproximative molecular weight of 114.
Octane has no viscosity to speak of and would not
rank as 114 weight lube in any system I know of.
|
|
If you know how the standards work, yes.
And, by the way, SAE standards are issued by the Society of
Automotive Engineers. If I remember right, API issue the
standards for quality where the grades go something like
SJ/CD. To confuse things even more you might want to look
out for the Japanese JASO grade for clutch friction (MA
or MB) if the clutch runs in the engine oil.
|
105" on the can. So HD riders had to pay $3.00 a quart for the oil when
a buck was still worth a buck. That would be like paying around $18.00
a quart nowadays.
But, some wag pointed out that "SUS" stood for "Saybolt Universal
Seconds" It was the viscosity standard.
A Saybolt Viscosimeter held 50cc of whatever oil was under test, and it
had an orifice in the bottom and it was heated and 50cc of SAE 60w oil
would take 105,000 seconds to
leak through the orifice.
That's what "SUS 105" was. Straight SAE 60 weight oil...
|
|
|
|
Why cut it with mineral spirits?
|
|
|