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08-13-09, 07:09 PM
I live in a South Florida beach town. The air is salty, very humid, and almost always warm, which causes things to rust like I haven't seen anywhere else. Including bicycle chains, it turns out.
Until recently I had been using Tri-Flow chain lube, which is sticky and persistent enough to keep the rust away, but which properties also make it gunk up the rest of my drivetrain with dirt and grime. So lately I switched to ProLink and found it great for keeping the drivetrain clean, but on the other hand, insufficient to stop new surface rust from appearing (even though I relube more than once a week). For what it's worth, the bicycle is kept in a relatively cool garage; but it isn't air conditioned, so it's just as humid in there as it is outside.
Has anyone found a chain lube that strikes the right balance between cleanliness and rust protection for such a salty, humid environment? Most people I know here approach this by dousing their chains in heavy oils, grime and dirt be damned. But I can't afford to burn through cassettes like they do...
Until recently I had been using Tri-Flow chain lube, which is sticky and persistent enough to keep the rust away, but which properties also make it gunk up the rest of my drivetrain with dirt and grime. So lately I switched to ProLink and found it great for keeping the drivetrain clean, but on the other hand, insufficient to stop new surface rust from appearing (even though I relube more than once a week). For what it's worth, the bicycle is kept in a relatively cool garage; but it isn't air conditioned, so it's just as humid in there as it is outside.
Has anyone found a chain lube that strikes the right balance between cleanliness and rust protection for such a salty, humid environment? Most people I know here approach this by dousing their chains in heavy oils, grime and dirt be damned. But I can't afford to burn through cassettes like they do...