How to clean your chain?

[peasea]

How do you remove big fuggin' stone holes from a belt?

I always carry a box of Band Aid plasters.

Seriously, I've only ever spat out one belt and that was in the driveway! How convenient.

[rocketman1]

I agree Kerosene, but I use a small old paintbrush , I find its better than a hard bristly tooth brush.
Things to watch out for:
1) Make sure you protect your rear tyre, you don't want kero all over the side of it. Or you may wonder why you come off on your first good left hander.
2) I always spin the rear wheel backwards, and clean bottom of chain return, why you ask, if your have ever got your finger punctured between the chain and the rear sprocket, I assure you that you will never make the same mistake again , its as close as I can guess to hitting a 4" nail through your finger. Hurt F--k like you would not believe. Plus you have to turn the wheel backwards to get your finger out.
May sound stupid and hard to do.. you laugh at your peril
When cleaning the top return of the chain likewise spin wheel forward.

This info for bikes with chains on the left side.
Left side is the side when sitting on the bike...of course

3) Check the chain for slackness and wear at the same time, if you can pull the chain away from the rear of the rear sprocket easily, time to renew your chain. A good chain will hardly move away from the sprocket.

Just some free tips from your.............. friendly Rocketman

[turboduck]

thanks for the advice rocket...... im adjusting the chain this weekend. Its a vfr400 with a single sided swingarm and i dont have a c spanner so its going to be a semi fiddly job.