We have found that one of the biggest performance effector to any bike is the chain of the bike. A clean and well lubed chain will never give you any issues but a dirty one will surely cause many issues when riding your bike, especially at high speeds. So today we have on our desk the OWS Chain Cleaner and Chain Lube.A little background about the product that we got to know from the packaging and the bottle labels; the chain cleaner and lube are both made in Germany and imported to India. Being an international product, the hopes from this is pretty good to trump many of the products that I have used till now and could actually stand to be a regular lube and cleaner for me since I am the one who rides my bike daily and needs to clean and lube my bike every 15 days or so. So let’s get on with the review, shall we?
OWS Chain Cleaner:Application of the chain cleaner on the bike is pretty much the standard affair. Shake the can well before using and simply spray it all over the chain without missing a spot. Expectations are that the dirt and grime would all be dissolved and the black liquid would start dripping. The liquid did start dripping alright, but it was all clear and my chain was as dirty as before. That was the moment I knew that the chain cleaner is not working as it was expected to do and I have to get it cleaned up since the lot of dirt had dislodged and ran into the joints.
Later it was when I realized that it was the chain cleaner which is actually the subliming types. Don’t know if it was the heat or what, but even using some extra cleaner was also not helping at all. I had to take my bike to a washing station and got my chain cleaned up using petrol and a water jet. That was when I noticed how inefficient the chain cleaner really is. If I was to rate it out of 5, I would give it only the 1 and also I would really not put my money on it. I had some other cleaners on hand but I did not use them here though since I did not want to mix multiple cleaners and cause any issues. So that was that.
OWS Chain Lube:Later after being done with the cleaning and drying up the chain of all the water, it was time to get the chain lubed up. And disaster hit me again. The review unit was a super-leaky one. One press on the nozzle and all the lube leaked out of every possible nook and corner and I realized that except for the chain, everything else was lubed up, like my hand, the entire can, the ground gravel, etc. But it did give me a good idea about the Lube. It was the super sticky kind of lube which does not get wiped off easily and even water is no use here. You need a proper hard detergent to get it off your hands. So caution for those using it, please use gloves.
Somehow I was able to get the chain lubed up from the leaking can and then I realized that the lube is actually the better among the two. The chain was perfectly covered in lube and it was gleaming and shining well with all the grease. Now it was time to ride.I took the bike for a very short ride in town of about 5-6 kms to see if I noticed any difference. I noticed that the noise made by my chain had decreased by quite some level and also the vibrations on the foot pegs that come with a brash chain performance was also missing. That meant the chain was running pretty sweet smooth. So that gave me some confidence from the Lube after the initial disaster.
Having later kept the bike at a standstill overnight, I ran around town some more for about 80 kms total which I noticed to have no problems at all with. The gear shifts though had no change in performance and felt the same old clunky types so that was a small downer. Though shifting gears didn’t take any extra effort neither was the gears sticking nor were there issues of miss-shifts.With the city test cleared out, it was time to test the lube how it fared at high speed operations. What better way than to ride on the lovely NH4 all the way from Pune to Mumbai and back. During the entire journey of over 400 kms that I did on the highways, the chain didn’t trouble me a bit barring the last 90 or so kms when the life of the lube was ending and my chain began the usual brash operation is when I knew it was time to get the lube sprayed on again.
So if you ask me, the total that the lube can run is a little about 450 or so kilometres and that is pretty good enough if you ask me. Though when I actually checked the condition of my chain, it was all black and covered in dirt and grime. You expect that to happen, but not so much. That is when I realized that the sticky nature of the lube which helps it stick to the chain also allows dust to settle on it as well and all that dirt sticking ends up making the chain a lot dirty. So much so that cleaning up the chain the next time takes that little bit extra from you.
Final Thoughts And Impression:OWS promises great things for the chain as do all other manufacturers, but they have fallen a short to deliver on those promises especially with the chain cleaner. The Lube on the other hand leaked. I hope that the review unit was the only one which was faulty and any of you who might use OWS would not face this issue. But performance wise it was something that I might use. I give 3 stars out of 5 to the OWS Chain Lube.
Notes For OWS:
You have the ability to make the best products but you have fallen a little short. The Chain Cleaner needs to be tweaked a little to make sure it actually cleans the chain and not just displace it. I actually apply the chain cleaner and scrub my chain with the grime brush and still what I was left with was a black and dirt covered chain. The Lube on the other hand is good, but it could use a little less stickiness to it so that it can protect the chain but yet not really attract so much dirt and grime on the chain. This could also help improve the life of the lube as well.
By: Pratik Patole