Proper chain care will ensure a long chain life as well as the life of your sprockets. Honda recommends cleaning and lubricating every 500 miles ( 800Km ) as well as adjusting your chain if necessary.

The manual recommends using 80w90 gear oil but I would steer clear of gear oil its to messy. I’m a Bell Ray chain lub fan. I have used it on all my Dirt and Street bikes and have had good results but in the end any O-ring safe lubricant will do.

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Cleaning and lubricating the chain.

Honda recommends that you clean and lubricate the chain after a drive when the chain is warm. You'll need to raise the rear wheel to clean and lub the chain; you can use a floor jack under the oil pan to get the wheel off the ground or better yet a rear stand is ideal. Cleaning the chain without getting the wheel off the ground is also possible but a major pain in the ass.

If the chain is not filthy I recommend just using chain lube to clean the chain. Just apply the lub to a lint free cloth and rub down the chain while you rotate the wheel.

If the chain is filthy WD40 will remove the grime just spray on lint free rag and wipe the chain while you rotate the rear wheel afterwards use a clean cloth to remove any left over WD40.

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To lubricate the chain hold a rag below the chain and spray the lub onto the chain and then lightly rub the bottom of the chain so the lub does not drip. Rotate the wheel and do another section of chain until the whole chain has been lubricated. Let the lub set 30 min or so this will minimize lub flinging off the chain and all over the rear wheel.

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Adjusting the chain.
The correct chain slack is from 1 to 1 3/8 inches. It’s very important to be in this range. Too loose and you will get a lot of backlash from on/off throttle transitions. Honda also states that frame damage can result from a loose chain. Too tight and the chain will stretch prematurely.

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To verify the chain slack, pull the chain down at the center of the chain, measure the distance to the chain center pins and then push the chain upward and measure the difference.

Tip: if you can push the chain up and it touches the swing arm it’s to loose and it needs to be adjusted.

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This procedure can be performed with the rear wheel on the ground or using a rear stand

To adjust the chain you will need a 32mm 1/2 inch socket, 1/2" ratchet, 12 mm wrench and a 1/2 torque wrench.

Start by loosening the rear wheel nut with the 32mm & 1/2' ratchet. You don’t have to remove the nut, loose is fine.

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Next use the 12mm wrench to slack the adjuster lock nuts on both sides of the swing arm. Then turn the lock nuts back a few mm so they won’t seat while you’re adjusting the adjusters.

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Now turn the adjuster to tighten the chain using the index marks on each side of the swing arm as reference. Go slow here, a quarter turn on each side, then measure.

When you have it set, seat the lock nuts, tighten them and recheck that you have the correct slack and that the index marks on both sides are in the same position. If not go back and do it again.

When every thing is good re-tighten the wheel nut and torque to 83 flb.