Bicycle Mechanics - 7a Natural Lube

Anyone hear of 7a Natural Lube? It's supposed to be an all-purpose, natural penetrating oil but the only reviews I've read are on the manufacturer's website: http://www.natural7a.com/

Appreciate any info on the product, thanks.

That advert says a lot without saying anything. Seems to me they're hoping to sell this product to ecologically-conscious young people. What I'm wondering is, what's environmentally unfriendly about conventional oil? It's the by-product of the decomposition of marine organisms a long time ago, and it's quite bio-degradable as far as I know. Kerosene is also a petroleum product, and is useful for freeing up nuts and bolts. I tend to use the best thing for the job, though, and graphite penetrating oil is well-established. I'd want to know what's in their product before I considered buying it. The phrase "money for old rope" springs to mind. If it has a pleasant cooking smell, maybe it's recycled chip fat (translation on request).

translation requested :)

Oh, about the environment and conventional oil. To me it's not about how biodegradeable something is but rather how I can affect my surroundings as little as possible. From the resources that go into obtaining the oil, processing, distributing and marketing, I just see too much manipulation, even if it is just a by-product. Whether it be marinal or land-based, no one completely understands the intricate ways in which things relate and affect each other. Even in the commercial harvesting of seaweed a vital part of that specific ecology is being taken away. Now the manufacturer claims to exclusively use vegetable oils and in my line of thought that's something I use daily or at least is derived from things I consume on a regular basis.

However you could very well be right about it being an opportunistic company. For now I'm considering the fact that they're most likely a very small unit that's trying to get established and in these sort of cases where a product is original to the seller, there's not always much that can be done in advertising since you could give your product away. I've actually sent them an email regarding the history of the product so I can get a little more insight as to whether it's viable or not. Either way they're situated in Orange County where I live so definitely worth a look.

Maybe I'm just an old cynic, or I was already set in my opinions when the ecological bandwagon started rolling in the early seventies. Either way, I figure the environment was here long before I was, and it'll be here long after I'm gone. I have no qualms about mankind using the resources there are. If we conserve them, who for? Why should future generations have things we deny ourselves? About seaweed, you'd be surprised what that finds its way into. Drink beer? Seems they use seaweed in that. Toothpaste? You guessed it.

My reservations were about the tone of the advert, and how it's pushing the product's "green" agenda while saying little about it. I'm a great believer in supporting local enterprise, though. As for the translation, you probably know about British chip shops, where you can buy French fries and fried, battered fish to go. It used to be wrapped in old newspapers, but health and safety regulations put paid to that. Traditionally, they fried the food in beef fat, or dripping as we call it. Now, they tend to use a vegetable oil, which has less of a pervasive odour, but also less flavour. There's a trend for people to collect the old oil from the chip shops, and refine it as a diesel fuel. Don't know if they're doing that in the States. I think your motor fuels are still reasonably priced, but ours are through the roof.

Before assuming "vegetable based" or "renewable" oils are environmentally more friendly than petroleum based products, consider what happens during manufacture of them too. It's similar to ethanol-based fuels like E85.

The energy and environmental costs to plant, fertilize, grow, harvest, transport, process, etc. that go into their manufacture are equal to or worse than petroleum derived products.

"Someone who truly wishes to help the environment would go home and hang themselves in the closet." - anon.

HillRider, I totally agree with you in that agribusiness probably has the largest environmental footprint of any trade and I myself look towards the more sustainable methods of farming, like permaculture. Once you have one and one hopefully a coefficient solution can be brought up.