Which Chain Cleaner is Best? Comparison Test

hello chain cleaner is a simple need but whenever something is ubiquitously needed yet simple to make you get this a silly circus where everyone can afford to throw their hat in the ring and some companies will spend more on marketing their product and actually developing it so let's test them to see what's legit and what's just for guinea pigs I harvest four link sections from my 1970 TC 90 I suspect this disgusting chain might be the original meaning it's seen more grubby years than Bear Grylls modal see one chain clean it's chlorine free because modal prefers not to make a ymca of our oceans a full soak on all four sides on to the next Maxima cleanup is an emulsion type cleaner it suspends grease but I can later rub or wash it off muck off chain cleaner is the gentlest by far carbon fibers safe biodegradable tested on something other than bunnies and the softest product feature I ever heard smells like watermelon bet you've never had that before thinking the animal cruelty thing was a gimmick I checked the safety data sheets of other cleaners no the body count is definitely real I poem chain cleaner is compensating for something probably the higher price it sports our most functional nozzle jet or squirt depending on whether you want precision or power let me use the jet because each contestant gets to put their strongest foot forward and particle velocity might make a difference motor X chain clean comes from a swiss chemical company over 100 years old I expect the oil of Switzerland to occupy a neutral place in our contest Oxford's mint chain cleaner gives me the heebie jeebies and the previous five are born from chemical companies but oxford is a jack of all accessory part and holding trades I doubt they'll do chain cleaners as professionally smells like mint oh it gives you real satisfaction because there's nothing artificial in it with kerosene we're moving away from motorcycle specific products I mean sure most chains do recommend cleaning with kerosene and hell and this jet fuel is the active ingredient in many can chain cleaners but those have pictures of motorcycles on the front so they cost 15 bucks for 500 mil whereas a jug of plain kerosene works out to a dollar fifty simple greed is more like 250 for that amount when people swear by your classic all-purpose cleaner on greasy chains the Lithuanians once used simple green to clear an oil spill in the Baltic Sea so there's probably something to the degreasing claims I felt like Michelangelo climbing into the Sistine Chapel I just wanted to be left alone to make a difference on this one topic wd-40 is a fascinating choice and not only because it's the cheapest aerosol at $5 C its solvent ingredients are similar to kerosene but wd-40 also contains lubricant and some motorcyclists treat this as a one-stop chain clean and lube shop so it's the only contestant that reappears in our video testing chain loops after a crushing a 10-minute break I rank the cleaners ability to expel grit on their own no agitation no brushing no water cleaners that blow off more gunk in the air tend to seep less into the paper towel motor ex Oxford and iPhone are the cleanest on pure spray and solvent power while simple green maxima and wd-40 succeeded only at preserving the patina on my old chain a success otherwise known as failure but most cleaners request the addition of elbow grease so on a second pass each section is going to get a full spray followed by 30 seconds of nylon brushing on this old-school metal on metal chain I could use harsher bristles but since most of you have rubber sealed links at the brushing is followed by a ten-second soak scissor [Music] there's not much between them when you go to the trouble of brushing I see three distinct groups I poem modal and Oxford made the crusty old bastard look young again spotless then there are some boring middling options and muck off maxima and motor X all left significant sludge between roller and plate take the results from our pure spray test add the ranking from our scrubbing test and the big picture is starting to look like this but we can make it bigger yet a good cleaner should penetrate grime but not rubber see sealed chains are lubricated internally the factory grease is protected from the big bad world a little rubber o-rings or X rings or Z rings whatever either way they look something like this now responsible adults have great concern for the integrity of their rubber our fear is the penetrating cleaners especially stuff like wd-40 this is going to eat past the rubber seal and compromise our factory grease now is that fear justified hmm maybe none that I know high-quality balloons this is terrifying if you had like global phobias well maybe for what it's worth only motile wd-40 and motor ex kill rubber balloons [Music] but we can do better than some clown test this steel alloy plate approximates the inner surface of a chain-link here is your outer link and here is an extra-long rivet pen rubber seals are sandwiched to simulate the squeezing pressure that a chain rivet exerts our chain pin is tightened to a bottom bracket using a set torque wrench I soaked this link with the first of our chain cleaners after that I'll leave it to sit for three minutes if the chemical penetrates the o-ring we're gonna see it seep through the bottom this test is repeated for all nine cleaners using brand new o-rings each time ultimately modal kerosene and motor X leak immediately and catastrophic ly Maxima and Oxford penetrate to a lesser extent at 47 and 105 seconds respectively the rest hold their seals [Music] color me surprised Bennett's bike once left Oh rings and various cleaners for over a year and found that unless you use something weird like gasoline ain't nothing gonna degrade the rubber but I suppose some cleaners can seat beneath a rubber o-ring all the same that's worth knowing when the seal penetration ranking is accounted for our results look like this yet for the sake of my cherished factory sealed grease that rather label that a fatal failure and simply remove the offenders from our list note that these cleaners all cost about the same with the exception of the vastly cheaper simple Green wd-40 and kerosene so I'll clean my chain with I power it's a great performer whether or not I'm too lazy to scrub and it does not seat beneath chains rubber seals and as for what makes the best chain lubricant well I'll see you next time [Music]

Channel: FortNine

Views: 1,635,140

Keywords: best, Chain, cleaner, motorcycles, bike, cleaning, how to, tutorial, 2018, top 5, top 10, comparison, test, tested, compared, motorcycling, fortnine, motorcycle gear tested, 2019, best of, diesel, kerosene, motul, maxima, Oxford, wd40, o-ring, petrol, gasoline, best chain cleaner motorcycle, royal enfield, lube, lubricant, methods, Canada, USA, muc-off, simple green, ipone, tips, tricks, motorcycle

Id: UrEpAUi_QKA

Length: 9min 10sec (550 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 12 2019