10-20-2017, 04:30 PM
(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!