Bicycle Mechanics - white lightning -- nevermore.........

well, i resisted trying white lightning for a dozen or so years so recently i thought i would give it a try. at first it was okay but the more i used the stuff the more i realized that i am a wet lube guy.

white lightning made my drivetrain noisy and shifting sloppy. my drivetrain was cleaner than using wet lube but not by alot.

no more dry lubes for me. my experience with white lightning has made me appreciate just how good boeshield and tri-flow are.

erader

I hate White Lightning. But I can't keep enough on my shelves at work. Go figure.:rolleyes:

I fought it off for a long time too, but switched about 6 years ago. I love the stuff.

Noise? Shifting problems? Umm, ok. None here. Granted, it's not any better lube than wet, but it works just as good for me, and it's a lot easier to deal with incidental chain contact to legs and fingers. The drivetrain gets a little noisy when it's time for more white lightning, but that's only every 400 miles or so.

It may vary by region or something. I live in Austin, and only ride in rain a couple times a year, if that makes a difference.

I like Letour weatherproof Chain lube from Branford Bike. It goes on foamy, then it turns oily. The next day it's waxy.

Hummmmm, never a problem for me. I buy it regularly. To each his own!


well, i resisted trying white lightning for a dozen or so years so recently i thought i would give it a try. at first it was okay but the more i used the stuff the more i realized that i am a wet lube guy.

white lightning made my drivetrain noisy and shifting sloppy. my drivetrain was cleaner than using wet lube but not by alot.

no more dry lubes for me. my experience with white lightning has made me appreciate just how good boeshield and tri-flow are.

erader

you did clean and degrease the chain properly 1st before switching to WL correct ? WL wont work at all if its applied to a oily chain...

I found White Lightening was good as long as conditions were dry. In the wet, my drive would be squeaking in less than an hour's riding, not good if your commute is over an hour long.

you did clean and degrease the chain properly 1st before switching to WL correct ? WL wont work at all if its applied to a oily chain...

of course i did. and i didn't ride in the rain either. the noise level wasn't dramatic unless that sort of thing bugs you...like it does me. ditto for the shifting.

the conclusion i have come to is you give up a some performance to clean your drive train less when using WL.

there's nothing like like riding a bike with a freshly GI'd drive drain with a droplet of boeshield applied to each link pivot and perhaps a quick swipe (between fingers) of phil's tenacious oil to the shifter cables.

ahhh, it's as good as sex!

well maybe i exaggerate a bit :D .

erader

well, i resisted trying white lightning for a dozen or so years so recently i thought i would give it a try. at first it was okay but the more i used the stuff the more i realized that i am a wet lube guy.

white lightning made my drivetrain noisy and shifting sloppy. my drivetrain was cleaner than using wet lube but not by alot.


erader

I've used WL for about 4 years. We have a lot of sand in the area and it's the only lube really suitable. I find it works best if just after you lube a section of chain and before you rotate the crank, lightly wipe the section of just-lubed chain with a rag to get the excess off. That eliminates wax build-up on the drive train. Lubrication is not affected as the objective is to lube the internal surfaces of the chain and not the areas that contact the cogs/rings.

My chains last a long time, they are quiet and shifting is spot-on if I keep stuff adusted. Also, I rarely need to clean the chain other than wiping it off before applying WL becase of it's self-cleaning action.

I would never use WL on my road bike as the conditions are far less severe, I prefer better wet protection and I don't want to lube as often on a mileage basis.
Al

well, i resisted trying white lightning for a dozen or so years so recently i thought i would give it a try. at first it was okay but the more i used the stuff the more i realized that i am a wet lube guy.

white lightning made my drivetrain noisy and shifting sloppy. my drivetrain was cleaner than using wet lube but not by alot.

no more dry lubes for me. my experience with white lightning has made me appreciate just how good boeshield and tri-flow are.

erader


Hmm, that is strange. I have been using WL for 5 years and like it. I do not use WL Raceday as the stuff is IMPOSSIBLE to get out, the chunks of wax plug up the tip during applicaton.

Granted, I do not use WL on my touring or mountain bike but rather Triflow as both bikes spend time in the wet. WL is used only on my road bike which never sees rain.

I haven't experienced the noise or sloppy shifting compared to Triflow that I HAD used on my road bike for several years before switching to WL.

One lube to avoid, IMO is Pedros Ice Wax. I'd get about 20km out of a freshly lubed chain before it started to sing. I finally gave up on it.

Anyway, Triflow is a good lube and everyones experience is differant.

Cheers!
Digger

well, i resisted trying white lightning for a dozen or so years so recently i thought i would give it a try.
white lightning made my drivetrain noisy and shifting sloppy. my drivetrain was cleaner than using wet lube but not by alot.

erader

When I read the post this morning, I gave you the benefit of the doubt that your problems were caused by WL and responded accordingly. After an 18.3 mile ride today, I now believe it's NOT a WL issue. I was careful to listen to drive train noise and I had none. Absolutely none that I could hear and I'm not deaf. I would stop pedaling once in a while and whatever noise there was didn't change---- mostly tire noise which is not all that loud.

And, I was moving pretty well for me at least. I was stressing things enough where there should have been noise if it was noisy. I spin 80 to 100, and I averaged 10.4 mph (riding or moving average) and 9.7mph based on the total time away from the car. It's all sandy single-track save for about 2 miles. Shifting was superb (XTR pods and XT derailleurs); and I shift a lot, sometimes 2 to 4 times in a 100 feet or two (guesstimate) due to the terrain changes and the very tight turns.

I think you might have other problems which may be masked by the wet lube. Since I wipe my chain immediately after lubing, I have little lube on the exterior of the chain. You might have slightly worn cogs/rings, a drive-line issue and/or a worn chain. My road bike also is silent, but with a different lube.

Ran over two snakes. One a small Rattle Snake and the other a long brown snake.

In the "old" days, road cyclist would melt candle wax to lube their chains. It apparently worked. The beauty of WL is that it gets to the chain innards far better and it's a lot less work. Probably also cleaner and does not last as long.

Al

well I've not tried white lightning, only pedros ice wax. I was not satisfied.
The stuff comes off fast. Simply put: This is not a new england lube.

Back to Prolink for me :)

+1 ProLink.....tried both.......................good ol' TriFlow works fine, has for years...just gotta clean more often.

There seems no perfect-in-all-ways elixir that I've found.

"...just gotta clean more often. "

This is the most consistent truth that has been spoken here. I have used/use both WL and Prolink, and both work well for me in wet or dry conditions. It's not just mileage that determines lube frequency, either. I lube when the drivetrain is dirty. Since both WL and PL use an evaporating carrier, cleaning means lubricating and vice-versa; it's an inseparable process. IMHO, cleaning/lubing drivetrain isn't unreasonable every ride or two.

I lube after every second long ride (about every 37 miles) or after the chain gets wet.

Al

well I've not tried white lightning, only pedros ice wax. I was not satisfied.
The stuff comes off fast. Simply put: This is not a new england lube.

Back to Prolink for me :)


Same experience as me. I tried Ice Wax for 6 differant rides and for each one 20km is as far as I got before the chain started to sing. The Ice Wax did SEEM to keep the chain cleaner than WL, but I think that this clean chain came at a price, extra lubing, even DURING a ride!! I emailed the company about my experience....no response. I'll use the Ice Wax for lubing the bottom of my Speedplay cleats until it's gone, but for the chain, it's back to WL for me.

*****

On another note, chain cleaning is a fact of life and no one lube will give you a smooth chain and a clean one. Sure, you may get more time between cleanings using WL, but not much and in the end it still has to be cleaned.

Digger