OK, I should have known that Maxima's Danny Massie would know his stuff, but I was skeptical. Why would I want to wash all the lube out of my bike's chain with water and degreaser? Because it works, that's why! Since I wasn't so sure before I tried it, I swiped Pete Peterson's YZ125 Long Haul as a guinea pig and used one-day intern Nick Victor for the dirty jobs. In the end I couldn't believe how smoothly and cleanly the rear wheel was spinning. Nice!
1 Massie starts by wetting the surfaces to dislodge and remove any caked debris, such as mud or dried dirt. The water allows a soap to form with the Maxima Clean-Up, making it easier to see where it has been applied.
2 Apply Clean-Up to the surfaces to be cleaned--chains, sprockets and aluminum surfaces such as frames and the swingarm. Clean-Up and a green Scotch-Brite pad will restore aluminum frames to better-than-factory finish! Allow Clean-Up to work into the grease and debris for several minutes.
3 Hose off with liberal amounts of water. For stubborn areas, such as the top portion of the swingarm pivot area (behind the countershaft sprocket), repeat step 2 or use a pressure washer (stay away from bearings!).
4 Next, use compressed air to blow water out of the chain.
5 Apply a liberal amount of Maxima MPPL to the inner rollers and rotate the wheel several times allowing the MPPL to work into the chain. This step displaces moisture within the chain by allowing the lube to "work into" the tight areas. Lubes like MPPL lubricates and protects the chain with very light oils and anti-rust and corrosion additives.
6 Lube your chain with Maxima Chain Wax or Synthetic Chain Guard. Apply chain lube to the inner rollers and rotate the wheel several times during application. The MPPL already applied readily mixes with chain lubes to help the grime come off the chain at your next cleaning.
Note: Types of chain lube are a personal preference. Maxima race teams and engineers use different lubes in different situations and opinions are mixed. For instance, Pro Circuit Kawasaki prefers Synthetic Chain Guard, whereas Makita Suzuki uses tackier Chain Wax. Both lubes work very well and can be used on O-ring and non-O-ring chains. You may prefer to use Synthetic Chain Guard for MX and Chain Wax for longer-duration rides like Baja or street.
For more lubricant information, visit the Maxima website at www.maximausa.com.