After 30+ years of riding on a GS400, now 2001 GS500, I applied motor oil to the chain after cleaning it last fall, when I put the bike away for the winter. This spring, I decided to ride the bike with just the oil on the chain and it did fine, of course, since the primary lube is sealed in with o-rings.
After 1000 miles or so, I cleaned the chain again as usual with kerosene, then added fresh oil and let it sit overnight.

Now I'm thinking that with o-ring chains, plain old motor oil is fine because the main thing with the oil is retard rust, and also keep the rollers rolling smoothly. Also noted that when I cleaned it, I didn't have to work nearly as much to get the gunk off the chail since the oil dissolves much faster than the old Suzuki chain lube I used with the old (non-O-ring) chain from the GS400. Also, I don't notice any flung oil on the wheel or tire, although I'm sure there is some inside the chain cover on the motor. and probably inside the chain guard. But what the heck. That's not a problem for me.

Live and learn, even if it does take too long sometimes.

Mike

I've been using the good old 10W40 for three years & 10,000 miles.  It works just fine.  All the gray haired mechanics tell you not to waste money on fancy lubes.  I think the fancy lubes might have more "sticking power" but if you maintain your chain regularly that shouldn't be an issue.

Your spot on guys!

Motor Oil is all an O-ring chain needs.

Its not as fancy as dedicated chain lubes,and its more prone to fling, but it offers enough lubrication to do the job. A thicker motor oil like 20W-50 or higher would be the best IMO.

My Gs500F user manual even says lubricate the chain with motor oil.

Chain Wax has the advantage in the wet however as it is less likely to wash off (oil floats on water, allowing the oil to fling off)

but oil is a better lubricant in the dry.

Just using Motor oil would probably require the chain to be re-oiled more frequently.

Other than that, its all 

Yeah, but a can of chain lube is less than $10. 

I used hypoid gear oil on mine

Quote from: corndog67 on May 26, 2006, 04:19:25 PM
Yeah, but a can of chain lube is less than $10. 

Yeah, but motor oil is what, $3-4 a quart? You can even get the cheap stuff for like $1. And if you change your oil regularly and use the used oil as a chain lubricant, that is even cheaper. 

BTW - I almost always use motor oil, but I've tried hypoid gear oil and chain lube. The gear oil was ok but smelled bad, and the chain lube was "ok".

I use motor oil.  It's thinner than waxes and what not but it's cleaner and easier to remove from your bike's undees.  Every couple hundred miles I lift the rear and give the wheel a good spin while coating the chain liberally with WD-40, then wrap a wrag around the chain and give another spin and wipe it clean, then whatever used oil I got, and one more wipe.

I will only use dry lubes on all of my chains....dirt, street, track and mountainbike.
Oil will attract dirt and act as an abrasive which will shorten the life of a chain. I have used the same can of lube for several years on multiple bikes. Odd that some are concerned over spending $2-3 more for lube to protect $100+ chain and sprockets. 

Quote from: dgyver on May 27, 2006, 09:10:07 AM
I will only use dry lubes on all of my chains....dirt, street, track and mountainbike.
Oil will attract dirt and act as an abrasive which will shorten the life of a chain. I have used the same can of lube for several years on multiple bikes. Odd that some are concerned over spending $2-3 more for lube to protect $100+ chain and sprockets. 

+ 1 I agree 

I've put 9k on an RK 520 doing it my way...if you let your chain get too drity, it'll shorten the life regardless of what lube you use.

12k on my stock chain. clean and oil. then at oil change take out the slack, and repeat