Actually I’ve gone back to 3 in 1 as I find it works in better and lasts longer than anything else. Obviously it’s a wet lube so take appropriate precautions when riding, but personally I swear by it.Dry lube, wet lube, pushing 70 now what happened to 3in1 oil? but it’s good to know you all have up to knowledge to help twits like me.
Chain lube
- Thread starter cyclenut1952
- Start date
I find it is all in the technique. I swear by this method:
www.sheldonbrown.com/chainclean.html
Do it every week never had a problem.
www.sheldonbrown.com/chainclean.html
Do it every week never had a problem.
You strip your chain down to it's individual parts every week, clean, re-grease and re-assemble?
I wish I had that much time!
When a new chain is only about £10, and all those fancy lubes and degreasers are so expensive, I'd rather just change the chain frequently.
All the snake oil /lube products cost a fortune and is typical of the biking maintenance sellers to extol small fortunes and biggest profit from gullible buyers, when you compare the price vs volume to a litre of engine oil. Use some oil then wipe off excess with a rag , job done or use a spray tin of liquid grease which costs about £7 still a heck of a lot cheaper then the snake oils/lubes.
For those who are pedantic or old women about chain maintenance then why not just rotate chains every few weeks by having 2 or 3 in use. one on the bike , one in the clean/lube process and one cleaned/lubed ready to go.You strip your chain down to it's individual parts every week, clean, re-grease and re-assemble?
I wish I had that much time!
When a new chain is only about £10, and all those fancy lubes and degreasers are so expensive, I'd rather just change the chain frequently.
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No way! That's an old article dating from 1/4/2010. One of the reasons I bought a hub motor ebike was because of reduced wear on drive train components. Not needed to change the chain yet and just give it a drop of Wilko Cheap'N'Nasty (TM) oil occasionally.You strip your chain down to it's individual parts every week, clean, re-grease and re-assemble?
It's the same with all the special foods and drinks that they sell for cyclists to consume in order to get magic powers while they ride. The honest truth is that a cup of coffee and a bar of chocolate is probably more effective than all of them.
Rather than engine oil, gearbox oil seems better to me. It is thicker, so stays on longer and doesn't drip or fly off when you pedal fast.
My Chains cost £8 and last 5,000 miles with a squirt of gear oil every three months or so. I have tried some of the special chain lubes. The last one (White Lightning Dry Lube recommended by someone on the forum) cost me £80, and after a few applications, it gummed up my derailleur, which took about an hour to clean out.
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Based on the size of this thread, maybe there's a market for a bicycle version of this:
www.scottoiler.com
Business opportunity anyone?!
Scottoiler UK/International - Market-leading motorcycle chain oiler systems
Chainoilers look after your chain so you don't have to: No more manual chain maintenance = A cleaner chain, save money, keeps you safe.
www.scottoiler.com
Business opportunity anyone?!
I don't bother doing much to my chain if I can avoid it. Any lube I put on it is never going to be as good as what was applied to it in the factory and it makes it slimy and black to touch.
I tend to avoid cycling in the rain whenever possible - that's the worst thing for chains. I can't understand why more bikes don't have enclosed chains these days.
If I have to cycle in the rain, I ride my second bike, not my best one, so I'm not so bothered about the chain getting crud on it. Then I replace the chain frequently, as they are not that expensive.
Chain drives lose efficiency quite badly if rusty/full of crud etc and wear quickly. But there is a law of rapid diminishing returns and it's not worth obsessing about.
Hot melt wax was used over 100 years ago and if I were obsessed about lubing my chain, that's probably what I would do. It seeps into all the parts and then stays there, blocking out water and crud. Also, it's dry and doesn't leave you covered in black muck every time you brush against the chain. Here's an example on this page:
www.bikeradar.com
I tend to avoid cycling in the rain whenever possible - that's the worst thing for chains. I can't understand why more bikes don't have enclosed chains these days.
If I have to cycle in the rain, I ride my second bike, not my best one, so I'm not so bothered about the chain getting crud on it. Then I replace the chain frequently, as they are not that expensive.
Chain drives lose efficiency quite badly if rusty/full of crud etc and wear quickly. But there is a law of rapid diminishing returns and it's not worth obsessing about.
Hot melt wax was used over 100 years ago and if I were obsessed about lubing my chain, that's probably what I would do. It seeps into all the parts and then stays there, blocking out water and crud. Also, it's dry and doesn't leave you covered in black muck every time you brush against the chain. Here's an example on this page:
Chain lube buyer's guide: what's the best chain lube for your bike?
Everything you need to about chain lubrication for your bike
www.bikeradar.com
I suppose that depends on how much excess is left on the outside. However, any grease or oil mixed with road crud and water will eventually gum up the whole drive chain, whatever lube is used.
The best solution really would be to have the chain fully enclosed from the elements.
[QUOTE="vfr400, post: 566992, member: 5808"
I have tried some of the special chain lubes. The last one (White Lightning Dry Lube recommended by someone on the forum) cost me £80, and after a few applications, it gummed up my derailleur, which took about an hour to clean out.
[/QUOTE]
.
I have tried some of the special chain lubes. The last one (White Lightning Dry Lube recommended by someone on the forum) cost me £80, and after a few applications, it gummed up my derailleur, which took about an hour to clean out.
[/QUOTE]
.
Yes, the dietary/food/drink products market aimed at the cyclist is another con trick.
Why do they do it ? Because the gullible follow the TDF crowd thinking they are part of it or have an association with it.
Why do they do it ? Because the gullible follow the TDF crowd thinking they are part of it or have an association with it.
I can recall immersing the chain of my 125cc D1 BSA Bantam in a tin of hot chain grease that I boiled up on the stove (this wasn't so popular with my mother thoughI don't bother doing much to my chain if I can avoid it. Any lube I put on it is never going to be as good as what was applied to it in the factory and it makes it slimy and black to touch.
I tend to avoid cycling in the rain whenever possible - that's the worst thing for chains. I can't understand why more bikes don't have enclosed chains these days.
If I have to cycle in the rain, I ride my second bike, not my best one, so I'm not so bothered about the chain getting crud on it. Then I replace the chain frequently, as they are not that expensive.
Chain drives lose efficiency quite badly if rusty/full of crud etc and wear quickly. But there is a law of rapid diminishing returns and it's not worth obsessing about.
Hot melt wax was used over 100 years ago and if I were obsessed about lubing my chain, that's probably what I would do. It seeps into all the parts and then stays there, blocking out water and crud. Also, it's dry and doesn't leave you covered in black muck every time you brush against the chain. Here's an example on this page:
Chain lube buyer's guide: what's the best chain lube for your bike?
Everything you need to about chain lubrication for your bike
)After many years of cycling and using just about every type of lubricant on my chains I decided to try waxing which is what the pro's do to their bikes. It worked very well but as vfr has said it gets gummy because it's thick and that's the problem with all lubricants to a greater or lesser extent.
A bike chain is a piece of mechanical equipment with multiple moving parts all of which are exposed to the elements, dust & dirt will always stick to whatever lubricant you use.
Some months back I thought I'd try Ceramic Wax Lube by Finish Line, you clean your chain completely of all previous grease then apply the Wax Lube, take a short ride and do a second application.
It's different to anything else I've tried your chain stays almost dry, you can touch it and hardly a mark on your hands. If your chain is dry but still lubricated it's not picking up dirt so it stays cleaner longer, I haven't had to clean in months.
A bike chain is a piece of mechanical equipment with multiple moving parts all of which are exposed to the elements, dust & dirt will always stick to whatever lubricant you use.
Some months back I thought I'd try Ceramic Wax Lube by Finish Line, you clean your chain completely of all previous grease then apply the Wax Lube, take a short ride and do a second application.
It's different to anything else I've tried your chain stays almost dry, you can touch it and hardly a mark on your hands. If your chain is dry but still lubricated it's not picking up dirt so it stays cleaner longer, I haven't had to clean in months.
In my trail bike days (particularly in the winter) we’d use chainsaw oil, cheap enough and didn't fling off like regular motor oil. That was back in the 80’s.
A couple of years ago I thought Id try it on my pushbikes, it was fine on the hub geared bike but I messed up the gear shifting on my derailleur bike.
A couple of years ago I thought Id try it on my pushbikes, it was fine on the hub geared bike but I messed up the gear shifting on my derailleur bike.
I did some test with that when I used to do 40,000 miles a year on motorbikes. I was desperate to reduce the amount of chain adjustment and replacement that I was doing, like adjusting every week and replacing every 10 weeks, so I tried a few diffent methods.I don't bother doing much to my chain if I can avoid it. Any lube I put on it is never going to be as good as what was applied to it in the factory and it makes it slimy and black to touch.
I tend to avoid cycling in the rain whenever possible - that's the worst thing for chains. I can't understand why more bikes don't have enclosed chains these days.
If I have to cycle in the rain, I ride my second bike, not my best one, so I'm not so bothered about the chain getting crud on it. Then I replace the chain frequently, as they are not that expensive.
Chain drives lose efficiency quite badly if rusty/full of crud etc and wear quickly. But there is a law of rapid diminishing returns and it's not worth obsessing about.
Hot melt wax was used over 100 years ago and if I were obsessed about lubing my chain, that's probably what I would do. It seeps into all the parts and then stays there, blocking out water and crud. Also, it's dry and doesn't leave you covered in black muck every time you brush against the chain. Here's an example on this page:
Chain lube buyer's guide: what's the best chain lube for your bike?
Everything you need to about chain lubrication for your bike
I came to the conclusion that regular boiling of the chain in wax made no difference whatsoever to the life of the chain compared with drizzling gear oil on the chain just to stop them from going rusty. The only difference was that it took a lot longer to do and was messy and smelly. It was also more expensive.
Everything was solved when they invented O-ring chains, where the manufacturers instructions were to drizzle them with gear oil occasionally. Now I had 30,000 miles of chain life and virtually no adjustment. The problem was that all the guys making patent chain sprays were going out of business because their solvents were not compatible with O-rings: however, it didn't take them long to change their solvents to O-ring friendly ones, then set their marketing teams to try to persuade people that they're products did some good.. Now you can get an equivalent array of products for motorbike chains for all the gullible punters, just like you get for bicycle chains.
Let's not forget the reason why pro cycling teams wax their chains is because it allows them to work more efficiently, this was proven years ago but lube manufacturer's are not really interested in selling a bag of wax pellets with Castrol or whatever printed on the side.
Now they have cottoned on to the benefits of microcrystalline wax plus the addition of ceramic elements and it's all go. In my own case I keep my bike indoors right behind me in fact on it's own carpet and not a bit of dirt anywhere, that's because the chain is always dry but still lubricated with wax/ceramic.
Now they have cottoned on to the benefits of microcrystalline wax plus the addition of ceramic elements and it's all go. In my own case I keep my bike indoors right behind me in fact on it's own carpet and not a bit of dirt anywhere, that's because the chain is always dry but still lubricated with wax/ceramic.
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