Chain refurb.

[timbo]

Never owned an MZ, but I'm sure it's inevitable sometime    I've always thought full enclosed chains are a brilliant idea, and never understood why more manufacturers didn't use them. Same with fork gaiters.
I am really impressed with how my chain turned out after soaking in molten grease. Such an easy process, and the grease really impregnates the chain 

[guest295]

I just use chainsaw oil. It's sticky and stringy like the old-school chain oil you can't get anymore. I paint it on with a brush and it stays there. The disappearance of chain cases was a sad loss. But everyone wanted to look like a racer and racers don't use chain cases.

[timbo]

Loving the "patina" on your MZ Manxie 
Under normal circumstances, and with all O-ring chains I just brush on chain saw oil. It does a great job and is a cheap option. The boil in grease method was for a chain on a bike that had sat unused for nearly twenty years, and which I cleaned first with petrol. Its not something I would do regularly, but is a great way to rejuvenate an old chain.
All this talk of fully enclosed chains must have got to me, as I bought a Jawa just a few days ago 

[manxie]

Cheers timbo, yes, I think these days every piece of rusty junk is labled "patina".  It is in a very bad way but hopefully one day be back to it`s former glory .... a shiney piece of junk  Need to sell my Guzzi and get started on my SP370 first. 

[theoneandonlymin]

My friend Mickey, back in the early 80's, forgot it was on the stove top in his Mum's house. A chip pan fire has nothing on the devastation burning heavy grease can do to a kitchen !
Cheers
Min

[Moto63]

Oohhh ...sounds tragic, sounds like the kitchen walls didn't fair to good either let alone the chain
Cheers... Michael

[Steve Lake]

months after this thread started... I get round to reading it.... only 2 things to say....
1. anyone remember 'linklife'... think it was made by duckhams... it was the boil in a tin job
2. I'm surprised Ian didn't mention that his Sunbeam model  10 had the famous 'oil bath chaincase'
3. I use a pint of heating oil to clean my chain... as I use a spring link, its an easy job to drop the chain into an old tin bowl, then hang up to drain finally spray with a good chain aerosol grease...

[Moto63]

Ohh yes I,m afraid i am old enough to remember linklife and yes Steve I think you're correct in thinking it was a duckhams product. I remember sitting in my ma and pa's old garage with big bro (propellor) boiling it up on the camping stove.....aahhhh, the memories. Might have been for his cb200 or possibly my ss50 honestly can't remember which. Andy??
Cheers..Michael

[Propellor]

Ohh yes I,m afraid i am old enough to remember linklife and yes Steve I think you're correct in thinking it was a duckhams product. I remember sitting in my ma and pa's old garage with big bro (propellor) boiling it up on the camping stove.....aahhhh, the memories. Might have been for his cb200 or possibly my ss50 honestly can't remember which. Andy??
Cheers..Michael

It would most likely have been my 400 four, so late '77 or early ,78.Tbh I hated the stuff so I went back to dribbling high viscosity gear oil onto the chain at regular intervals. In my mind the advent of the o ring chain was a major turning point. 

As well as the obvious benefits of keeping the internals lubricated I wonder if there's a slightly less obvious noise supression benefit? Less wear means less noise, true, but do the o rings keep the general noise level down? Certainly seem too?

[Steve Lake]

it's a good point, trouble is, with regard to noise levels emitted by chains, all the bikes I ever owned (beeza gold flash, velo viper, trumph t100, even my bantams)  that ran bog standard Reynolds chains..... were so bluddy noisy that a bit of chain rattle would be missed completely. and now... well... my SRX's are so noisy that if I was running a chain off the Isle Of Wight car ferry you'd never notice!!..
Pip pip

[iansoady]

I'm surprised Ian didn't mention that his Sunbeam model  10 had the famous 'oil bath chaincase'

It does but only for the primary. Being the poverty model built in the Depression, it makes do with a simple top cover for the rear chain:



But the primary chaincase is a thing of beauty. Shame I can't get it to keep the oil inside:



I must say that O- (or even better X-) ring chains have made life with modern bikes so much easier. In the 20-odd thousand miles I did on my Hinckley Tiger 955i I only adjusted the chain once (and TBH it didn't really need it even then so it ended up nearly where it started).

[Steve Lake]

I have some wonderful stories of me & my father and his various marston Sunbeams... he had 3 in all, we always had a sidecar , it was our family transport... in those wonderful far off days, he only had one registered (ALF 845)... and just moved the plates around to whichever machine had been rendered roadworthy... no matter that one was a 350 sidevalve and the other 2 were 600 ohv ... I see that ALF is still a valid plate... wonder where it is ??  all 3 machines had the posh oil bath chaincase... as you say... not particularly oil tight.
I learned to ride on one, and when I got my first bike (bantam)... I found the foot gear change a fearsome device to get the hang of