maintaining your drive chain cb500 www.motorcycleproject.com

®	Maintaining your drive chain

Judging from more than fifty years in the powersports service business, the final drive chain is probably the most badly maintained part of the average Honda roadbike. That's saying something because vintage Hondas are universally neglected. The errors people consistently make regarding their drive chains are:

Ignoring the poor chain altogether
Adjusting the chain way too tight
Lubricating the chain incorrectly
Not replacing the chain when needed

1. Ignoring the chain. By far the most common form of neglect, almost every bike I have got in for service in my half century of at this has suffered from having no attention paid to it at all. Seriously, folks. What is up with that? The drive chain on a 70s Honda four needs looking at every 200 miles. Obviously, the chain won't need adjusting every time, but it definitely will need lubing, and fairly often also adjusting.

2. Adjusting the chain too tight. Those not educated in proper maintenance make this mistake almost universally. Look at the swingarm. Note that it is not level with the floor. This means as the rear suspension is compressed the swingarm will rise toward being level, and when it does, the chain will tighten. This is because the pivot points of the swingarm and of the chain are not at the same place. If they were, the chain's tension would never change with suspension movement. But they aren't and so they do. The chain tightens when you sit on the bike. It tightens some more when you go over a bump. Therefore, you must allow slack in the chain when the bike is on the centerstand that will accomodate this tightening. If you don't, the chain will be overstressed and so will the transmission. I once saw a transmission bearing fail due to this.

3. Lubricating the chain incorrectly. It amazes me that this late, after this many years in powersports history, and with so much information available, almost no one knows how to lubricate a drive chain. I know this because I see a lot of bikes with chain lube spattered onto their wheels, fenders and elsewhere. And I see even more-- virtually all in fact-- with perfectly dry chains. With the machine on its centerstand, and preferably after a ride when the chain is hot:

Point the hose of your aerosol at the juncture between the side plates. The chain has four side plates horizontally making up a link pair, with a roller separating the plates. Lubricate between the first two plates on the chain's left side, and when done move to the two right-side plates.
Lube the chain on its inner run, not on its outer run. This way centrifugal force will coax the lube in-between the plates and little if any will fly off. Do not lube the rollers and do not lube the sprocket. That wastes lubricant and makes a mess.
Then check the chain's slack and adjust it if needed.
Again, do this often; count on every 200 miles on the CB500/550 that uses a non-o-ring type chain.

Do it right, do it often, use a quality lube such as Maxima Chain Wax or PJ1, do it at the end of a ride rather than at the beginning, and be prepared to adjust when needed (adjustment is needed most at the beginning of the chain's useful life and at its end). Do this and a good quality chain will last 20,000 miles on a CB500/550.

4. Not replacing. This is very common. There is a simple test for telling when chain replacement is needed. With your left hand pull up on the lower run of the chain so that all its slack is gone. Hold it this way and with the other hand try to pull the chain off the rear sprocket. To the degree that the chain will leave the sprocket (with all its slack removed), this is the degree to which the chain is worn (its pitch no longer matches the sprocket's pitch). I replace my chains when they lift even 1/16". This preserves the sprockets. If you wait longer the sprockets will be damaged by the bad chain and you'll have to replace both. The media's insistence on replacing both chain and sprocket together--when not motivated by commercialism--is mindless knee-jerk.

Also look for kinking of your chain's links and rust buildup. Both are from insufficient lubrication and will somewhat go away with a good lube, but the damage often will not be totally reversible and the chain will have to be replaced. I will soon have a how-to booklet that goes into more detail on drive chain maintenance.

Here is a video on chain maintenance I assembled while with corporate Kawasaki. Check it out.