Can a chain lube alone gain you 10hp

[Dom]

I was talking to an old codger today about having the headers made and somehow we got on the subject of chain lube...Apparently there is a new chain lube out there called "Hi tech" or something, a liquid polymer, "all the racers are using it" and it can gain you 10hp.  :dunno:

I read about some bicycle chain lube that is ten times slipperier than teflon...maybe someone is making it for motorcycles.

Ideas?

[weaselnoze]

i never heard of this but im sure u can lose HP by having an unmaintained chain.  lol

[gryhound89]

nope, I'm not buying that one.  horsepower is a measurement of how much work an engine is capable of producing, and lubing a drive chain wouldn't help an engine produce a higher output.  the chain only transfers power; it doesn't generate it.  lubrication would only help the chain last longer.

[GRU]

i think HP is work/time
so yeah you can probobly gain some hp by using good chainlube but that 10 hp   ...maybe when you have a rusty old chain and then lube it you will see a 10 hp difference

[mrblink]

You will probably get 10 HP by putting a NOS sticker on your bike.  A Type-R sticker is only good for about 2-3 HP.  Just kidding.  It sounds like marketing crap to me.  Kind of like the amazing Splitfire spark plug...

[Blueknyt]

YOU WILL NOT GAIN HP,   alot of racers use Non O-ring chains and clean and lube chains for every race.   the O-ring chains are alittle tough to spin as the rings are pinched between links. that being said it takes power to bend the links.  a good lube will lessen the parasitic LOSS of RWHP (Rear Wheel Horse Power) but you wont gain it.

[John Bates]

Sure,  you can also gain 48hp at the rear wheel with a well oiled chain compared with no chain.  

[MarkusN]

A quick mind experiment will show you that this is rubbish. Imagine heating the chain with only half of that claimed 10 hp. That would have it red hot in no time. No way is this much power lost in the transmission train.

[danci1973]

A quick mind experiment will show you that this is rubbish. Imagine heating the chain with only half of that claimed 10 hp. That would have it red hot in no time. No way is this much power lost in the transmission train.

While your mind experiment sounds reasonable, I've seen HP vs. RWHP for at least two bikes. One (Hysoung Comet GT650) had ~11% drivetrain loss (78HP at the engine vs. 70HP on the wheel), while the other was BMW F650GS, which had ~21% drivetrain loss (51HP vs. 42HP on the wheel - see http://faq.f650.com/GSFAQs/DynoRunsFAQGS.htm).

Not all of that is wasted solely on the chain, of course. A lot goes away on the clutch (6HP on the BMW, for example).

  D.

PS: On AWD/4WD cars the drivetrain loss can be up to 36%!

[octane]

Nothing you do to a chain affects hp. You will have less frictional power loss with a well maintained chain...but 10 hp to the wheel? If you believe that, I have a bridge I'd like to sell you.

[Dom]

If it's the Brooklyn Bridge, too late, I already bought it, but I sold it to the nephew of Nigeria's Minister of Finance.

[octane]

Hhhmmm, I think I actually got an email from him looking to borrow money. Guess that explains it!

[Dom]

Did he mention in the email that he needed to borrow money to buy the Brooklin Bridge?