Front sprocket lock washer (aka locking plate) pretty rusty looking. Should I replace?

pop the sprocket off,

clean it all with an anti-rust compound (spray).. then do it again.. then do it again.. then do it again..

when it stops running rusty fluid all over the place, blow it all off and grease the splines (sprocket, shaft and lock plate) with a synthetic grease, then reassemble it.

It will stop rusting now.

Edit: by the way, your center rollers are crying dry.. you really need to lube them, they spin.

No need to worry at all.
The lock plate will out last the sprocket many times over. When the brown colour bothers you, undo the 2x bolts, turn the lock plate till the splines equals those of the shaft.
Now you can pull the lock plate off and clean it with some sand paper and give it a lick of paint or cera-coat it.
When re-installing put a little Locktite on the 2x retaining bolts.

radek79 said:

Hi all,

So I was cleaning out the gunk out of the front sprocket and I noticed that the somewhat diamond shape lock washer on the front sprocket is looking rather brown. I'm not noticing anything mechanically wrong with the bike, but out of an abundance of caution this has me a little concerned.

Should I replace this?

And a secondary question for those who have messed with this part of the bike, is it just a simple replace with 2 screws or are there any gotchas?

Thanks y'all. View attachment 56327

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DukeofSeven said:

Edit: by the way, your center rollers are crying dry.. you really need to lube them, they spin.

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Are you talking about the circular part with the number '41' on it?
What do you lube that with?

radek79 said:

Are you talking about the circular part with the number '41' on it?

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he means the round thing in the chains, ones that touch the sprockets in the center. The entire chain as a whole looks very rusty and not maintained well. Lube your chain asap.

JingalalaHoe said:

he means the round thing in the chains, ones that touch the sprockets in the center. The entire chain as a whole looks very rusty and not maintained well. Lube your chain asap.

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Yeah, I see what you're saying. The crazy thing is that I lube and clean my chain every 500 miles.

Interesting. Though it doesn't look like it, I do maintain it every 500 miles. Must be all the riding in the rain I've been doing this winter.

radek79 said:

Must be all the riding in the rain

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Yeah, that'll definitely kill it. I live in SW FL, god help me (forget I said that), and the first year I owned my bike, I rode in rain at least twice a week. Intense rain. It killed my first chain.

Now I find myself lubing the chain once a week, I put on around 36 x 5 miles a week. The o-rings aren't an issue, since I stopped using ultra-sticky sprays; the center rollers are the main focus of my attention, and the slides of course. Slick and smooth makes it all ultra-predictable, no surprises.

DukeofSeven said:

Yeah, that'll definitely kill it. I live in SW FL, god help me (forget I said that), and the first year I owned my bike, I rode in rain at least twice a week. Intense rain. It killed my first chain.

Now I find myself lubing the chain once a week, I put on around 36 x 5 miles a week. The o-rings aren't an issue, since I stopped using ultra-sticky sprays; the center rollers are the main focus of my attention, and the slides of course. Slick and smooth makes it all ultra-predictable, no surprises.

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What lube do you use?
I've been using maxima but it is pretty sticky and fortnine'a video confirms it.
I bought gear oil so I'll try that next.

I'm in the same boat as you it sounds like. I don't own a car so rain or shine, I ride. During the first year of owning my bike, it was dry conditions, the chain was never rusty and lasted 10k miles. But with the rain this season, it's looking like it does and it's been 6k miles.

radek79 said:

I've been using maxima

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Funny you should say that, and I've always been a proponent of "ChainWax"... but of course I came from the situation of 2-stroke non-oring chains, and that was a good solution for them.

The problem I ran into, on this bike, was when I went to an X-ring chain. The sealing edges of those seals are much finer, and seemingly less tolerant of the stickiness that is Maxima ChainWax.

I've tried other sprays, like Banana Slip and even ProHonda w/Moly, but in the end I decided on a synthetic grease (for its durability and perf in general). I think I posted somewhere here about that recently.

But like KTMasean says -- and of course I'm paraphrasing a bit -- as long as you are happy with [your own decisions].

radek79 said:

Interesting. Though it doesn't look like it, I do maintain it every 500 miles. Must be all the riding in the rain I've been doing this winter.

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This is why I’d suggest lubing when it needs it and not by mileage.

Mirius said:

This is why I’d suggest lubing when it needs it and not by mileage.

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I swear, one of these days, you're gonna teach me how to use less syllables. i mean, right? 😂