Not been out on the bike now for some time (didn't get out on Boxing day as planned) but noticed yesterday inside of the chain is covered in rust Chain was cleaned and lubed after last ride, so not sure why chain should have gone rusty. What's the best thing to use to remove the rust ? Garage is dry, apart from a tumble dryer, that is often on.
No problem with the tumble dryer so long as you've an outside vent for it Brad? If not and it's just spewing its air into the shed? Then that's a lot of unwanted moisture knocking around. Do what Colin sugests, seems as though you have caught it in time before its FUBAR. When you wash the bike, make sure you dry the chain thoroughly too, or you'll trap moisture under the oil you apply. If access to one? Get a leaf blower. We just got one at work for sand removal off the track. Does an awsome job drying the bike off without blasting the water into any obscure little places. Allegedly
You'll still get condensation in the garage with a tumble dryer and the way the weather has been up and down! As everyone else has said clean with either wd40, paraffin or chain cleaner then cover with chain lube (I would use chain wax) then the next day I would put another coat on for good measure.
Did you dry the chain before putting the lube on mate? I always let the bike tick over In first on a paddock stand before lubing it after cleaning.
I had this problem earlier this year too. Chain looked rusty as feck and I had no real idea how it had got like that. I used a toothbrush and a liberal quantity of WD40 and it came right off with a bit of elbow grease. After that I cleaned the chain with a water-based degreaser let it sit and then rinsed it clean. It came up like new. Then I dried it off and re-lubed.
The advice above is probably your best bet to get chain back to its best bradt, just as a side note best not to use a wire brush to try and remove the rust as the bristles could easily catch & tear the rubber o/x rings causing u more grief down the line! A stiff nylon brush n WD then get set about it, you may be lucky and the rusts not had a chance to etch its way into the metal properly leaving lasting marks. Once your happy and cleaned off the rust, you have a couple of options 1.dry the chain with a couple of rags/paper towels (please don't do this with the bike running!) then leave the bike for about 25-30 mins for any excess WD to gather at lowest points on the chain, then give another quick dry with rag then spray chain wax/lube on the chain. Make sure you also cover both inside and outside plates to stop rust coming back. 2.use a chain degreaser to clean off the WD before drying and applying the wax/lube.
Or just keep the bike indoors (excuse the mess having a tidy got to break an egg to make an omelette and the misses is at work hence why the washing is still hanging around )
I have used after cleaning or to remove the odd spots of rust I've used steel wool and it's worked a treat. Has never damaged my chain and makes it look like new
Hate using steel wool the feel gives me the heebie jeebies! That said I have used it with great success to bring exhaust tips back to life working in some metal polish. Oh an MrB we can't all have our own mini Jay Leno garage keeping out P&J's in mate!
Has anybody thought to use ACF-50 to clean the chain and keep the rust from coming back, its excellent at everything else its used for.... is it O ring safe ?
Acf-50 is supposed to be compatable with all rubbers and plastics but I find dust n dirt loves to stick to it possibly causing more wear on the sprockets as the dirt get ground into them but the more pressing thing is it wouldn't give much in the way of lubrication so would recommend only coating the outside plates not the whole chain.
