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Only $10 for all 2026 SX, MX, and SMX series.
This has worked good for me for many years and I have yet to have a chain fail.
Paw Paw
The Bel Ray is good stuff, too.
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Lubing the chain is mainly about the pin/rollers. Where the x-o rings seal Is the place to concentrate your efforts on a non sealed chain. Ideally a warm chain will 'melt' the chain lube to allow it to penetrate into the pin roller section and then set when cooled down.
I like gear oil mixed with tungsten-disulphite powder. I also use Honda chain lube when the chain is hot and not sandy. The nozzle is awesome on the honda lube. Sprays nice and wide to access the outers and inners at the same time.
Trust me, chains stretch.
Leave chain in oil til you prep for next ride. Just hang from hook, allowing to drip back into tub, wipe off and put back on bike.
My original question was "WHY do O-rings last longer than non O-rings?" A non O-ring has _plenty_ of tensile strength so that's not the issue. The issue is wear between the pins and rollers, creating elongation.
So my NEXT question was "Can we lube a non-O-ring chain enough to reduce wear to the point where it matches an O-ring?" Maybe, maybe not, but squirting lube randomly is probably "Not".
So, then I wanted to know "What exactly does chain lube DO, then???" Well, it lubes the side plates which reduces friction and heat and that reduces wear, but a different KIND of wear. Okay, good enough!
Look... I work on guitars for a living, right? Guitar strings really don't "stretch" either. When a guy can't stay in tune, it's almost ALWAYS due to their technique of wrapping the strings around the tuner post or seating the ball end. This is why locking tuners and tailpieces suddenly stop "string stretch". String was never "stretching"... it was _slipping_. Knowing this helps me help a customer stay in tune. So, I'm just transferring that principle over to dirt bike chains and wondering if lubing the damn chain actually does what I want it to do.
Pit Row
We would religiously lube my son's chain and leave mine dry without any lube. We found we got significantly more hours out of my "dry" setup than his lubed drive components. We wash our bikes after every ride so our chain and drive components were "clean" for the duration of testing.
As such, we no longer put anything on our chains...
I'd use Duckhams Chain Lube : you'd clean your chain in kero/ turps, dry it, and then place it in the Duckhams tin, that you'd put on the stove, and heat up. The Duckhams was solid ( well, like Lard) and the chain would sink into it. The melted Duckhams would get fully Into the chain, then you'd hang it up above the tin, and the molten excess would drip off, back into the tin. You'd get pretty much no chain lube 'fling.
It worked brilliantly. I could put the Ducati(s) on the center stand, roll the chain off, and have the prepped chain on, in less than 10 minutes,. And do the clean and oil at my leasure, to have it ready for the next change over. I'd do it pretty much each week, as just getting to and fro to work, clocked up big Ks.
2 chains run like that, with high quality sprockets, lasted me many, many thousands of Ks, on the road.
I'd get better chain mileage than mates that ran Scott Oilers. Though, Scott Oilers / their like, were The Go, for extended touring. Still are.
Dirt Bikes? - I've used X rings since they came out, with minimal lubeing.
One day, a chain company ( if it hasn't been done already) will make a chain with not just Orings/ Xrings sealing the plates and pin to bush points, but the Rollers to the inner Plates. It would be a bloody expensive chain, but, if not too over the top in price, I'd buy something like that.
Seems to work well. I think a lighter lube with teflon more often works better than a heavier lube once a day. I Can stand the sound of a dry chain so even if it doesn't work I'm not running ours dry.........
https://blog.motorcycle.com/2020/08/27/manufacturers/bmw/bmw-introduces-maintenance-free-m-endurance-chain/
I’m sure it doesn’t have the lubricity of a sticky chain lube or gear oil, but the chain runs clean in the nastiest conditions, and that’s enough to make me keep buying it.
Nothing lasts forever.
Of course the majority of my riding was pavement based at that time. So the added benefits of a pre-lubricated and sealed chain were unnecessary.
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