what lube do you use?

mudcow007

currently using muc off wet lube but the stuff is a magnet for all things gritty although is smells lovely

was looking at the muc off dry lube but just been reading that its pants as it wears off after 20 or so miles

any recommendations?

bails87

White Lightning epic ride, or Halfords dry lube.

CiB

Light Cycle Oil, £1.50 a go. Comes in a green plastic pot with a red squirty nozzle arrangement, Get if from Castles Hardware shop in Stony Stratford, near to Milton Keynes.

UndercoverElephant

Strangely, I have just started to use Muc-off Wet lube and find it to be fantastic, even in the dry. I usually have to degrease and clean the chain every week, but since I've been using this stuff, I've not needed to - even though I commute right by the coast, the dusty stuff just doesn't seem to stick to it. I do use it quite sparingly, and like the fact that it never splatters onto the chain-stay like other wet-lubes.

On the sunny-day bike I tend to use "Purple Extreme", but I'm not overly convinced by it. I'll use up the bottle, though.

mudcow007

UndercoverElephant wrote:

Strangely, I have just started to use Muc-off Wet lube and find it to be fantastic, even in the dry..

i have found it forms clumps on the jockey wheels unless im putting too much on?

i generally spin the cranks an dribble oil across the chain, then when thats done leave it a few mins then wipe of with a cloth taking the excess away.

the chain goes black though after a week or so of commuting

SimonAH

None at all (smug smug smug)

mudcow007

SimonAH wrote:

None at all (smug smug smug)

damn you an your belt driven ways!

UndercoverElephant

I probably use less than you. Mine is a very-fine dribble on the gaps between the links on the drive side of the chain at the bottom, then I spin the chain for as long as I can be bothered, then wrap kitchen roll around the chain and run the chain through that. My jockey wheels stay clean, but if you hold the blade of a penknife next to them when you turn the cranks, they clean up in seconds.

notsoblue

I've been using this recently:

Finish Line Krytech Lubricant
http://www.totalcycling.com/index.php/p ... ncy&id=GBP

But I think its pretty rubbish. Doesn't stay on the chain very long and its difficult to apply efficiently without wasting lots of it. I prefer a more viscous lube...

sketchley

Winter I was using Muc Off Wet Lube - Fantastic Stuff. Couple of weekends ago stripped the whole drive chain down cleaned it, and yes jockey wheels where caked in thick slime, but so was the cassette and chain rings. Now on a standard branded dry lube from LBS, as shop didn't have muc off dry lube.

Now I need to replace cassette and chain as I've got some skipping going on. Going to do that myself although never done it before time to head to Sheldon's website and read up on it. Can't be that hard to do!

Kieran_Burns

Is it just me or does the latest Muc-Off dry lube look like it came off a pearl necklace?

DonDaddyD

KY Jel.... joke.

Teflon dry lube. Special stuff.

Sailing7

Pro Gold - tried Finish Line, Purple Extreme, White Lightning but not Rock n' Roll and Pro Gold keeps chain and cogs the cleanist on my daily commute all year

rolf_f

Sketchley wrote:

Now I need to replace cassette and chain as I've got some skipping going on. Going to do that myself although never done it before time to head to Sheldon's website and read up on it. Can't be that hard to do!

Easy enough - does help to have a big torque wrench for the cassette lockring (I got one from Aldi for £16) - stops you overtightening it (easy to do) and the leverage makes it easy to undo it in the first place. A couple of minutes work.

markshaw77

Finish Line Cross Country wet lube for winter, commuter and SS

Finish Line Krytech dry (wax) lube for summer best bike

roger_merriman

3in1!

mainly as all the nice stuff was being eaten alive by the winter, I ride SS though dirt paths/roads.

once in a blue moon I clean it up, But seems to be fine.

wgwarburton

roger merriman wrote:

3in1!

mainly as all the nice stuff was being eaten alive by the winter, I ride SS though dirt paths/roads.

once in a blue moon I clean it up, But seems to be fine.

+1, though fixed on road.

Cheers,
W.

greg66_tri_v2.0

DonDaddyD wrote:

KY Jel.... joke.

roger merriman wrote:

3in1!

WGWarburton wrote:

roger merriman wrote:

3in1!

+1

I'm surprised it has taken this many posts to get to this...

rjsterry

Rolf F wrote:

Sketchley wrote:

Now I need to replace cassette and chain as I've got some skipping going on. Going to do that myself although never done it before time to head to Sheldon's website and read up on it. Can't be that hard to do!

Easy enough - does help to have a big torque wrench for the cassette lockring (I got one from Aldi for £16) - stops you overtightening it (easy to do) and the leverage makes it easy to undo it in the first place. A couple of minutes work.

Excuse the slight diversion, but I've always thought that the serrations on cassette locknut must make torque wrenches very inaccurate. You'd need slightly higher force to tighten the nut past the next notch, but then there must be a certain amount of release as the serrations re-engage.

The other problem is that most cycle-specific torque wrenches have a much smaller drive than would be needed for a large socket that would fit over a cassette tool.

Paul E

I currently use muc off wet lube too, it attracts black cr@p and other such stuff way to quickly even when I wipe off the excess.

TuckerUK

Car gearbox oil...still.

Best only applied to chain whilst on bike as an emergency measure.

Preferable to run a 2 or 3 chain rotation. One chain on bike, one chain in cleaning solution , one chain in oil bath, one chain drip drying (OK, that’s 4!)...Wipe exterior of chain dry (well, as dry as you can) before fitting.

Way cheaper than boutique cycle oils from companies with no recognised experience in the lubrications field.

rick_chasey

Spit.

vorsprung

winter commuting Alfine with 1/8" chain- 3 in 1
Long distance bike, specialized roubaix- finish line green
racey Orbea to dry weather commute on and mrs Vs super galaxy- Pro Link Gold

veronese68

I don't think you should use a torque wrench as a long lever for undoing things. It's supposed to be a precision tool. Better to use a long spanner or a breaker bar.

greg66_tri_v2.0

Rick Chasey wrote:

Spit.

Yours?

essex-commuter

Rick Chasey wrote:

Spit.

I've got a bottle of 'Slippery Spit' at home.

itboffin

whilst purchasing some "pie" this morning I noticed they had on sale jars of gentlemen's relish, I did not ask.

rolf_f

rjsterry wrote:

Excuse the slight diversion, but I've always thought that the serrations on cassette locknut must make torque wrenches very inaccurate. You'd need slightly higher force to tighten the nut past the next notch, but then there must be a certain amount of release as the serrations re-engage.

The other problem is that most cycle-specific torque wrenches have a much smaller drive than would be needed for a large socket that would fit over a cassette tool.

Might make a bit of a difference but, set at 50nm, I find it easy enough to release the lockring afterwards and it doesn't feel as though it is being excessively tightened - of course, the 50nm setting might be given on the assumption that a lockring is used. Eitherway, I am happy that it all works and that there is consistency. Incidentally, my tourer lacks a lockring - when I converted to cassette from freewheel, I needed a spacer but there wasn't clearance for the smallest cassette ring to the frame with the spacer between the cassette and the wheel - so I had to put it between small cassette ring and frame thus losing the effect of the serrations. I've not had any problems with it - again tightened to 50nm.

The cycle specific torque wrenches also don't go up to 50nm. Hence getting the cheap Lidl one (which looks very nicely made - German manufacture) which does for the lockring and bottom brackets; it is a very weighty item! Basically, just a very large version of the BBB one I use for the other fittings.

Veronese68 wrote:

I don't think you should use a torque wrench as a long lever for undoing things. It's supposed to be a precision tool. Better to use a long spanner or a breaker bar.

I can't see how I am going to harm my torque wrench undoing things (it does after all have a switch lever for this specific purpose!). If I tighten something up to 50nm and then undo it with the torque wrench again set to 50nm, it can hardly damage the wrench. Particularly as it is rated to about 200nm irrc. If it won't shift at the setting you tightened it at, just increase the torque setting a little and try again.