QUAD 101: March 27, 2007

Ferg

• March 27 2007
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• 1 comment

QUAD 101: March 27, 2007

This week’s Quad 101 tip is all about chain lubrication. Lubricating your chain can be an easily overlooked part of maintaining your quad. You should inspect your chain before each ride, and lubricate it if necessary. Many people use WD-40, which is ok, but it’s not really a chain lubricant. However WD-40 works great to clean any debris off your chain (although there is some controversy over whether or not WD-40 degrades the lubrication sealed behind the O-rings).

There is a great cleaning tool known as the Grunge Brush. This little brush has three sides to get into those hard to reach places. Check your local shop to see if they carry this thing. If not a good plastic bristle brush should work too.

After you have all the dirt off your chain, apply a generous amount of chain lube on each link. We’ve found Bel-Ray’s Super Clean Chain Lube works great, and is a nice, thick chain lube. The thicker chain lube seems to do a better job of staying on the chain after the first few minutes of riding.

When it comes to lubricating your chain, different regions offer different demands on chain lube—some places where there’s tons of mud and heavy dirt might need a thicker grade of lube than places like sand dunes where you don’t need the same consistency. Try out different bands of lubrication to determine which works best for you. The Bel-Ray products are great; they also have a cleaner if you don’t feel comfortable using WD-40.

If you want to talk about this tip head over to the forums!