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Chain Cleaning
Posted: Fri Aug 16, 2013 3:35 pm
by zoidberg
pulled from another forum
I have a Classic 500 and do minor repair jobs on my own. 4 days back I thought of cleaning my bike's chain with the bike on the main stand, running and in 1st gear. This way I have cleaned the chain a few times. I usually used a big folded cloth and used to hold the chain in my fist between the cloth, but sadly this time the cloth was a small one and it suddenly slipped and in less than a moment my fingers were in between the chain and rear sprocket.
Got operated by one of the best doctors in one of the best hospitals in my city. One fourth of the index finger of my right hand got separated and fell down in front of my eyes. The other two adjacent fingers got heavily crushed too. The first finger has been patched using skin from my arms and small rods have been put in all three.
I though that this type of accident must be very uncommon and I am one of the rear ones, but my doctor and other hospital staff told me that they have the same cases coming to them every month.
So motorcycle maniacs like me, should avoid being creative like me. Never clean the chain from the top and when the bike is running.
Good luck! Bye!
what a wally!!
Posted: Fri Aug 16, 2013 4:20 pm
by D-Rider
Sadly it's what the Darwin Awards are run for.
That said - I do feel very sorry for the chap - one moment's stupidity and he pays for the rest of his life .... often the way with so many things.
Fit a Scotoiler - not only lubes your chain but cleans it too - and keeps your fingers intact
Posted: Fri Aug 16, 2013 6:08 pm
by Willopotomas
Linklyfe for me. Messy, smelly, but bloody good.
Posted: Fri Aug 16, 2013 8:29 pm
by BikerGran
Shaft drive removes that problem!
Posted: Fri Aug 16, 2013 9:36 pm
by mangocrazy
Willopotomas wrote:Linklyfe for me. Messy, smelly, but bloody good.
I did Linklyfe in the days before O ring chains. Wouldn't want to go back there again. The angry looks from wife (and before that, Mother) as I boiled this evil smelling concoction on the gas ring. And then the logistical difficulties of transporting a pan of molten oil (with chain submersed in it) to a place where I could hang the chain up and let it drip back into the pan (assuming that I'd positioned the pan correctly, of course).
It must have been good stuff - it was bloody difficult to remove from garage floors/carpets/fingers/stoves etc...
Nah - give me a Scottoiler every time...
Posted: Fri Aug 16, 2013 10:05 pm
by D-Rider
Haha - I used to play that game too Graham
Posted: Fri Aug 16, 2013 10:51 pm
by MartDude
Happy (?) memories of that here too. Also, and for which my mother took many years to forgive me, roasting a 6T cylinder head in the oven in preparation for driving the worn valve guides out & fitting new ones.
Posted: Fri Aug 16, 2013 11:32 pm
by Willopotomas
I used to wait until the parents went away on holiday to do all that stuff. I stripped my bike down to it's component parts and re-built it in the kitchen one year. Very nearly got away with it, but as Mango says, that Linklyfe is a bugger to remove from floors.
Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2013 4:13 am
by Falcopops
Mate of mine lost the top of his thumb in the same manner now affectionately known as stumpy
Re: Chain Cleaning
Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2013 6:19 am
by blinkey501
zoidberg wrote:pulled from another forum
I have a Classic 500 and do minor repair jobs on my own. 4 days back I thought of cleaning my bike's chain with the bike on the main stand, running and in 1st gear. This way I have cleaned the chain a few times. I usually used a big folded cloth and used to hold the chain in my fist between the cloth, but sadly this time the cloth was a small one and it suddenly slipped and in less than a moment my fingers were in between the chain and rear sprocket.
Got operated by one of the best doctors in one of the best hospitals in my city. One fourth of the index finger of my right hand got separated and fell down in front of my eyes. The other two adjacent fingers got heavily crushed too. The first finger has been patched using skin from my arms and small rods have been put in all three.
I though that this type of accident must be very uncommon and I am one of the rear ones, but my doctor and other hospital staff told me that they have the same cases coming to them every month.
So motorcycle maniacs like me, should avoid being creative like me. Never clean the chain from the top and when the bike is running.
Good luck! Bye!
WTF would you select first gear and put your fingers near moving parts?
Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2013 1:04 pm
by BikerGran
Darwinism.
Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2013 1:37 pm
by randomsquid
I knew a man that tried to lube the chain on his crosser in the same fashion. But he was using grease and the two fingers he no longer has to rub it on the bottom run of the chain.
Posted: Sun Aug 18, 2013 11:17 am
by slickliner6
I can't see why anyone would want to put any part of their anatomy near any engine running moving part.
I tell all my trainees "don't put your fingers,where you wouldn't put your c*ck"
Posted: Sun Aug 18, 2013 7:32 pm
by fatboy
I tell all my trainees "don't put your fingers,where you wouldn't put your c*ck"[/quote]
Nuff said !