Better Riding Through Chemistry

Better Riding Through Chemistry

A Collection of Chemicals Our Motorcycles Know and Love

One unsung advantage to working for a magazine like this is that because we maintain a dozen or so bikes at any one time, and thus need office (so to speak) supplies, we have charge accounts at every motorcycle store in the neighborhood.

On the staff's part, we have the enthusiasm and curiosity natural to any bike nut, that is, we enjoy doing the chores and we're always on the scout for ways to do them better.

Put the two together and you have, or rather we have, one of the finest collections of liquids, pastes. sprays. lubricants, clean ers. coaters, solvents. etc.. this side of Du pont. Literally shelves lined with every possible chemical known to the motorcycle world.

What we don't have is the laboratory time and equipment to perform what we'd consider fair and valid and repeatable comparison tests of all this stuff. To con clusively test, say. chain lube would take a row of chain-and-sprocket dynos. with water and sand sprays and on and on. For an engine oil test we'd need two bikes chained together and run under all normal conditions for 50.000 miles or so. No way. in short.

These limits haven't kept us from form ing our own conclusions. Every time you wax a tank or polish a fender you perform an emperical test: maybe you don't know it's the best it can be, but you do know when it looks good. And because we're polishing and waxing and sealing or some thing every day. we've done a lot of research and have some experienced opin ions.

We're also tired of waiting until test conditions can be perfect. Never happens. Instead, every member of the staff sat down and listed the chemicals he likes 1o use on his test bikes. Most are preferred by most of us. Several are the pick of one man. and at least one item on the list turned up neat tip none of the other guys knew.

So. With caution-we are not saying the types and brands here are the best or the only ones on the market. We're talking about good stuff and that doesn't mean something not mentioned here isn't good-~ here are some chemicals we've found make for better biking.

CONTACT CLEANER

Available from several companies, we have both PJ1 and Bel-Ray Contact Cleaner in the shop and use both with satisfaction. This stuff is designed to clean off contact points or spark plugs but works great cleaning off oil and grease from any part of a motorcycle. Even works on camera gear, we've found out. It comes in a 16-oz. aerosol can and costs about $3.25.

SIMICHROME

Comes in a little tube, as a paste, and it looks as if you're paying a lot for not much. Not so. Dab some of this onto a rag and smear it on chrome or polished metal of any kind. It'll remove rust and tar and bugs and film and will leave a coating to keep the crud from collecting there again. Because you don't use much, you don't end up with dried residue in the corners. Especially good on polished aluminum fuel tanks. Most parts stores, $1.85 for 1.8 oz.

ACP TIRE SEALANT AND BALANCER

This stuff took some convincing. There have been sealers and balancers on the market for years and we tried them and didn't like them. Gummed up the tubes or dried out. The men making ACP sealer, though, offered to replace any ruined tubes, so we tried the sealer. It works. Stays fluid so it flows into light spots and balances the tires, and flows into small holes and seals them. We've ridden home after pulling out nails, and we once replaced a worn-out tire with six nails in it. The tube had lost so little pressure that we didn't know the nails were there. ACP sealer in the tires is the first thing done to a longterm CW bike, street or dirt. From most dealerships and parts houses, in 6 and 12-oz. tubes, $2.95 and $3.95.

LOCTITE

How'd we get along without this? We didn't. Loctite is a magic chemical that stays liquid when exposed to air. Take away the air and it solidifies. This quality makes it sort of a liquid lock washer. One drop on the threads of the bolt and the nut and when the nut is tightened, the Loctite holds it in place. There are two grades. The blue is semi-permanent. When you want to remove the nut, a wrench will do it. The red is permanent, well, almost, and the red is what you use to fix a loose bearing in a case or on any fastening job that won't need to be undone in normal service. Best fasteners made, which is why before we had Loctite, we didn't get along. We stopped to tighten or replace loose nuts. About $2.95, at most parts stores.

MEGUIAR'S PLEXIGLASS POLISH AND CLEANER

A favorite of the staff pinch-penny. The average rider cleans face shields with window cleaner or worse and the average shield stays clear for a month or so. Our man uses Meguiar's. Apply sparingly and rub it all over and then use a dry rag to wipe it off. Amazing. Gets rid of dirt and the tiny scratches put on the shield when other cleaners are used to get rid of dirt. It'll also keep fairing windshields clear for years, literally. The bottle looks small but because you don't need more than a few drops for most jobs, the bottle goes a long way. Motorcycle, car or aircraft (they first developed this for airplanes) parts counters, $2.75.

NAVAL JELLY

Good cure for neglect. Naval Jelly comes in a jelly form, one type for steel or ferrous metals, the other for aluminum. What it does is eat the corrosion and rust on the surface of the metal. Brush it on, leave it for a few minutes and wash off with water. Handy to have if your alloy rims get corroded or your chain rusts after a muddy enduro. Be sure to wash it off quickly, though, because if it sits too long, it eats the metal as well as the rust. Parts and hardware stores, $1.98 for 8 oz., either type.

BLUE DIAMOND CHAIN LUBE

One man's vote. Every rider has his own ideas on how to care for drive chains. One of our men likes to lube every chance he gets. He rides in the dirt and at the end of every ride the chain is coated with dust. Spray that and you get a slurry that looks too much like valve grinding compound for comfort. And the experts say washing a chain merely flushes all the grit inside the rollers. The Blue Diamond lube came in the mail. Our man tried it and was pleased to see that because this spray has a grease base, rather than oil, it dries into a lubricating coating that doesn't retain dirt and dust. The chain is dry and slippery at the end of the day. The rest of us use PJ1 or Lubri-Plate or Bel-Ray or whatever can comes quickest to hand, or they own shaft drive bikes, but because one staffer is sold on the Blue Diamond (actually it's more green than blue) lube, it's included here. $3.98 for a 13-oz. can.

GASGACINCH

A thin yellow colored gasket glue that we use for holding gaskets in place, use by itself for sealing the center cases on Japanese two-strokes and for gluing handlebar grips on. $1.98 for a 4-oz. can.

MOLYLUBE 6-IN-1 OIL

Made by Bel-Ray, it is a non-sticky lubricant that has a thousand uses; lube a chain, free a bearing, lubes almost anything without attracting dirt. We go through cases of this stuff during the year, not as a lubricant but as a protective film on dirt bikes. After washing, spray a thin layer of 6-in-1 under the fenders, on ignition wires, wheels and hubs, exhaust pipe and the whole engine. It makes flat black surfaces look like new again and won't attract dirt if allowed to sit overnight before use. Especially good if sprayed on before using the machine in mud, as it keeps mud from sticking to engine parts and under fenders. $2.95 for a 16-oz. spray can.

LUBRI-TECH TIRE LUBE

Two functions in one. This sprayed lubricant is intended for tire removal and dismounting. Works fine. Better than soapy water and less mess. Slick when wet, the Lubri-Tech becomes a tacky glue when it dries. For light enduro use, it's as good as sheet metal screws in the tire bead, or as good as rimlocks. The tire won't rotate on the rim even when pressures are down to 10 psi. Just as good at persuading a handlebar grip to slide onto the bar, and then to stay there. Motorcycle shops only, far as we've seen, $3 for 12 oz.

SILICONE SEAL

This is the sort of mixture we imagine comes from the space age. Silicone Seal is a miracle rubber-like compound. It's a paste, in a tube, and you squeeze some into and around all the various cracks and holes where water could get into the engine. The seal dries into a flexible solid and keeps the water out. There's a different compound with high temperature resistant ingredients, sold as gasket material. Same procedure, in that you squeeze a thin bead onto the metal surfaces where a gasket would otherwise go. Then you join the pieces. The silicone paste gets squashed down into the microscopic scratches and low spots, forming a better-than-gasket seal. The excess is pushed out, so you can peel it off the outside. And when you need to take off the side cases or whatever, the sealer has dried into gummy material. The parts come apart without prying and the gum peels off the metal. No solvent, no hours of scraping with an old razor blade. From $2.75 up, depending on size of tube, parts stores.

ARMOR-ALL

Originally made to seal tire sidewalls against cracking, Armor-All is a mixture that soaks into porous material, like rubber or vinyl. Keeps out air and water and thus gives longer life and a nice shine, brings back color and softens the material so it's not as likely to crack. We use it on tires but most often on seats. One of the guys has a two-year-old cover on his dirt bike's seat, Armor-Alled after every ride, and it looks like new. Do remember, though, that unless you spray it on, leave it for a few hours and then buff with a rag, the seat will be slippery.

BEL-RAY SHOCK FLUID

Right, shock fluid, except that we use it in the forks. It's the same general composition as fork fluid and even comes in viscosity grades, #5, #10 and #20, just like fork oil. But this is the oil used for rebuilding shocks. The difference is first, it's treated to have much less viscosity variation due to heat. Forks with Bel-Ray shock fluid aren't stiff on freezing mornings. And the forks don't fade after a few hours racing across the burning desert. Because it's treated to extra steps in the lab, or has added chemicals, the shock oil costs much more than fork oil, $1.65 for an 8-oz. bottle. And it'll take several to fill a pair of forks. Because shock rebuilding isn't something the average guy does at home, you may have to scout the stores to find this oil. Worth it, though.