Serious question.........what should I put on my chain?

kasandrich

What do you guys recommend for chains and how often?

A modern Teflon type spray product?

Every time I go out?

Your recommendations appreciated

nicklouse

no sprays.

a quality chain lube.

bails87

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_228375

Something like that. Drip it onto the chain as you backpedal it, wipe off the excess and ride.

cooldad

Squirt
http://www.in2dust.co.uk/
http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/ ... ube-32098/

Holyzeus

cooldad wrote:

Squirt
http://www.in2dust.co.uk/
http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/ ... ube-32098/

Really good gear, in summer...
Only lasted 4 miles at a wet Bedgebury and a bit longer at
Thetford before the drivetrain got noisy.

Chunkers1980

And that was the lube's fault and not the trail sh!t?

cooldad

Works fine in rubbish weather for me, just apply a bit more often.
You did read the instructions I presume - apply the day before?

Holyzeus

Chunkers1980 wrote:

And that was the lube's fault and not the trail sh!t?

Dont happen with Muc Off Wet Lube, draw your own conclusion's and yes i know how to lube

Holyzeus

I'm a fan of Squirt, just not in the wet months

.blitz

As above Squirt all year round. If needs applying every ride so be it. Put it in the freezer and thaw it to improve the consistency for Winter.

ADL

Finish Line Dry Lube when it's dry
Finish Line Cross Country Lube when it's wet/muddy - apply it to every other chain link

cooldad

I hate wet lube - just makes a big gooey oily mess.

mkf

squirt for the summer
switched just in time yesterday to muc off wet lube

Kings

gleitmo if you can get it... prolink link is good too as is rocknroll

Anonymous

To wet lube or not to wet lube, that is the question. Dry may be the answer, whatever the conditions - http://bikemagic.com/gear/how-to/chain- ... r-dry.html

cooldad

deadkenny wrote:

To wet lube or not to wet lube, that is the question. Dry may be the answer, whatever the conditions - http://bikemagic.com/gear/how-to/chain- ... r-dry.html

Interesting and pretty much what I've found.
I should get a PR kickback from Squirt.

Northwind

cooldad wrote:

Squirt

Good in the dry. But turned out to be mud glue in winter, worse than useless.

White Lightning Epic Ride and Wet Ride are good this time of year. Epic Ride for most conditions, Wet Ride for really bad conditions.

cooldad

Northwind wrote:

cooldad wrote:

Squirt

Good in the dry. But turned out to be mud glue in winter, worse than useless.

White Lightning Epic Ride and Wet Ride are good this time of year. Epic Ride for most conditions, Wet Ride for really bad conditions.

We are talking about the one in the bottle and not your obvious I hope.

WisePranker

Just started using the White Lightening Clean Ride and so far it seems like pretty good stuff. I might just be imagining it but it seems to do what is says on the tin and is keeping the chain pretty clean

Neal_

I'm using Rock n Roll Extreme at the moment and the Gold when it's dry. Awesome stuff but will try Squirt when I run out.

Kings

another good one which is often over looked is the shimano chain lube.. it is very very good but does get sticky if you apply too much

delcol

another for white lightning here,, been using it for years....

i used to use finishline wetlube for winter but it does turn rather ugly and messy....

variflex

cooldad wrote:

deadkenny wrote:

To wet lube or not to wet lube, that is the question. Dry may be the answer, whatever the conditions - http://bikemagic.com/gear/how-to/chain- ... r-dry.html

Interesting and pretty much what I've found.
I should get a PR kickback from Squirt.

Very interesting, and matches exactly what I found last weekend on my new bikes first outing with what was a shiny XTR set.

Applied Muc-Off wet lube a couple of days before and went out onto the very boggy Pitch hill.
Got back and the whole drive chain was grinding like a banshee. Over an hour cleaning it and had to use diluted degreaser in the end and then relubed to get it back into something resembling new.

Will see what happens this weekend. If I get much of the same the muc-off will go in the bin..
My LBS recommend ProLube as they reckon it forces more dirt out and keeps everything flowing better.

Anyone got any experience of Prolube?

buckmulligan

ADL wrote:

...apply it to every other chain link

Are you kidding?!?!

mrmonkfinger

clean chain after every ride (or two) using degreaser with a chain cleaning widget
hose off degreaser, dry chain with rag
liberally use GT85 to displace any remaining water
wait a few minutes for solvent in GT85 to evaporate
apply plenty wet lube to rollers while backpedalling chain
wipe off excess with rag


Not everyone's choice of method; works for me, I get plenty problem free miles from drivetrains this way.

JohnnyAllez

Pedros Ice Wax 2.0

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Sear ... pedros+wax

gtd.

This week I've mostly been using...

I either use Muc-off wet or what ever chainsaw bar and chain oil i have to hand, only used the old oil based stuff, aint tried the bio stuff we now make or Oregon Arborol but I wouldn't think that would work well with bike chains.

Old non bio/veg chainsaw oil works really well and it has anti fling additives. aint tried the new bio/veg versions and don't plan on trying it as I have loads of it.

Anonymous

Thinking about what you get with the chain from the manufacturer, it's usually a sticky kind of residue and generally regarded as the best possible stuff.

Is this possible to get after market?

KMC after all say "use a lubricant which initially penetrates the chain's bearing, and then turns'sticky' or'dry'. In this way you can reach the chain parts which are most sensitive to wear"
http://www.kmcchain.com/index.php?ln=en&fn=service

So what's good stuff that will do this I wonder?


As a side issue, KMC say this about cleaning chains - "NEVER EVER use a so-called'chain washing machine' in combination with solvent. This is the one and only sure way to instantly ruin your chain."

Which is curious when Park Tools sell just such a thing to be used with solvents (citric stuff they sell or just plain soapy water, or even just water is a solvent). Park Tools being the holy grail.

I have such a chain cleaner machine and seems to work great with a dash of washing liquid and water.

Seems the roadies have spotted this too - viewtopic.php?p=17227653#p17227653

Good point though, which is better, clean or replace chain? Seems daft to just replace the chain, but then sticking with the manufacturer lube, wipe muck off and continue riding or occasionally do the lube they recommend and perhaps it never needs cleaning.

Oh and for GT85 users, KMC say "Avoid the use of solvents, not only are these bad for the environment, they remove lubricant from the chain's bearing."

But as I say - water is a solvent too.

Northwind

deadkenny wrote:

Thinking about what you get with the chain from the manufacturer, it's usually a sticky kind of residue and generally regarded as the best possible stuff.

As a side issue, KMC say this about cleaning chains - "NEVER EVER use a so-called'chain washing machine' in combination with solvent. This is the one and only sure way to instantly ruin your chain."

I just ignore KMC's advice completely- the chain cleaner comment is demonstrably wrong, as anyone who's ignored it learns, and the grease they ship their chains with is absolutely hopeless in anything with mud. They ended up replacing a chain for me because I tried to use it without degreasing it first and after 30 minutes it was chainsucking so bad that it ended up bent in 3 places. More like glue than lube. It might be good advice for road use though.

I like KMC chains though, so all I do is soak them in paraffin first to remove all that horrible sticky crap, then regrease with a proper chainlube.

Anonymous

Hmm, I was thinking that sticky stuff seemed quite cool (smells like paraffin also) and is probably awesome stuff. First KMC I've had. Will see, but it's on the hard tail at the moment and the big bike is going out today with old SRAM chain. Just has generic dry lube on it after it had a clean with the chain cleaner & soapy water.

Wet lube though last week and it was full of grit during the very muddy ride and make a hell of a racket, plus the chainring gave a notchy feeling in the pedalling that made me think the BB was shot. Going to stick with dry for a bit.

cooldad

Thing is, lube needs to work on the rollers ie. inside, so you don't want to strip this out. Gunk build up on the outside, which can just be wiped off.
So immersing in solvent to clean the outside is a bad idea, unless you lube the chain properly again.