I posted to another thread on this forum a while back that my CB is one of the worse shifting bikes I have ever owned. It shifted clunky from day one, but I attributed that to needing some time for break-in. It did start shifting better as the miles added up, but after about the 6,000 mile point it began shifting clunky (noisy) again. I learned early on that this bike is extremely sensitive to chain adjustment and I always keep an eye on my chain slack and lube it about every 500 miles. What I discovered is as I rotated my chain through one full revolution it went from tight to loose. It didn’t have a tight “spot”, it just gradually would tighten, then loosen again. So I adjusted it to the nominal slack value when it was at its tightest spot, and left it at that. I normally get around 25,000 miles on an O-ring chain so I wasn’t about to replace this one after less than 10,000 miles. What I did to fix my clunky transmission was to change chain lube brands. I have been using Chain Wax on my VFR800 for over 100,000 miles, and have never had a problem with it, and this is what I had been using on the CB. When my dealer was out of the Chain Wax I purchased PJ1 Blue Label chain lube. The first time I applied it I felt an immediate improvement in shifting! The first to second gear shifts can now be made nearly silently, and every other gear change is even quieter! I checked my chain slack, and now as I rotate it through a full revolution the tension remains fairly constant. Somehow my chain had developed the condition described above while using the Chain Wax brand of chain lubricant that the PJ1 Blue Label chain lubricant cured. It looks like I will be using PJ1 Blue Label chain lubricant on all of my bikes from now on, and I won’t be saying that my CB1100 has a clunky shifting transmission. Has anybody else ever seen anything like this?
Dave that's really interesting, I've never experienced a chain with significant resistance in the rollers. I have had some sprockets which may have been ever so slightly out of round or the mounting holes not exactly centred so they did absorb some of the chain slack when the wheel was rotated. Great that the PJ1 lube resolved the issue for you ... smooth gear changes and happy riding.
That's very interesting. I think that's the first time I've ever heard of a lube making that much difference.
My CB shifts like butter so I've never had any similar problems.
I use either Chain Wax or Dupont Teflon Multi-Use dry wax lube (mostly Dupont) on all my chains and get great service from them.
When I heard that Dupont changed the lube formula I bought half a dozen cans of the original formula and have them on the shelf.
i used chain wax for first 10,000 also, and have also switched to dupont. no such problems. I suspect it is something else going on...
(10-19-2017, 08:38 PM)jimgl3_imp Wrote: [ -> ]i used chain wax for first 10,000 also, and have also switched to dupont. no such problems. I suspect it is something else going on...
I agree. I've owned many Hondas and I've yet to see one that shifts bad.
(10-19-2017, 02:10 PM)Dave_imp Wrote: [ -> ]I posted to another thread on this forum a while back that my CB is one of the worse shifting bikes I have ever owned. It shifted clunky from day one, but I attributed that to needing some time for break-in. It did start shifting better as the miles added up, but after about the 6,000 mile point it began shifting clunky (noisy) again. I learned early on that this bike is extremely sensitive to chain adjustment and I always keep an eye on my chain slack and lube it about every 500 miles. What I discovered is as I rotated my chain through one full revolution it went from tight to loose. It didn’t have a tight “spot”, it just gradually would tighten, then loosen again. So I adjusted it to the nominal slack value when it was at its tightest spot, and left it at that. I normally get around 25,000 miles on an O-ring chain so I wasn’t about to replace this one after less than 10,000 miles. What I did to fix my clunky transmission was to change chain lube brands. I have been using Chain Wax on my VFR800 for over 100,000 miles, and have never had a problem with it, and this is what I had been using on the CB. When my dealer was out of the Chain Wax I purchased PJ1 Blue Label chain lube. The first time I applied it I felt an immediate improvement in shifting! The first to second gear shifts can now be made nearly silently, and every other gear change is even quieter! I checked my chain slack, and now as I rotate it through a full revolution the tension remains fairly constant. Somehow my chain had developed the condition described above while using the Chain Wax brand of chain lubricant that the PJ1 Blue Label chain lubricant cured. It looks like I will be using PJ1 Blue Label chain lubricant on all of my bikes from now on, and I won’t be saying that my CB1100 has a clunky shifting transmission. Has anybody else ever seen anything like this?
Dave, who do you work for? Just curious...
Kidding, of course. I don't know what I bought for chain lube last time, but it's super tacky and I don't like it. So PJ1 it is!
I just lubed my chain with the Dupont wax lube and it has never shifted smoother!
I just passed 2000 miles on the odometer with whatever was applied at the factory or the dealer. I've had smooth shifting days, and I've had clunky days. The clunky days have been getting more frequent. Some days I thought it was just operator error, but it was never consistent. I lightly cleaned the chain (barely dirty) and applied the Dupont wax lube....I've now had the smoothest 150 miles I've ever had on this bike.
I usually use DuPont Chainsaver on both my CBs and it works great. I have noticed that when I'm on trips and have to buy whatever chain lube I can find (usually a light silicone or teflon lube), I often end up with something that my chains don't like.
I haven't noticed problem with shifting, but when taking off from a dead stop, I can feel the chain clunking and it's noticeably noisier.
I've vowed to pick up some travel sized cans of Chainsaver in the future. One less thing to worry about when on the road.
the one thing i have noticed with this bike is that it is particularly, particular about the chain adjustment. I had to rethink chains for this bike. Coming from the track mindset, where loose as a goose was good, the chain on the CB would jump teeth. gsxr never did that. I guess if you get it too tight, there would be some ill effect, but I haven't gotten mine too tight. I just found the point where it quit jumping teeth and that is where it stays. I know for a fact that if you get a chain too tight on any bike, you lose suspension travel.
Ok Guys, here's an update concerning my clunky-shifting transmission and the chain wax: When I discovered my VFR was shifting better (I have never experienced any of the bad shifting traits on the VFR that the CB11 exhibited) after switching the chain lube brands I started to think seriously about why this was, and my conclusion is this chain wax I was using had been sitting on my shelf for twelve years! I remembered finding this can about a year ago on a shelf in my garage that I had purchased while on a road trip. When I came home from the trip and unpacked I put the can on a shelf in the garage and forgot about it. I typically lube my chains and then let the bike sit for a few days, allowing the lube to soak in. I'm sure that being twelve years old had something to do with the way it was interacting with my chain and causing it go from slack to tight, that switching to a different brand of chain lube corrected. So this is the rest of the story.