Mountain Biking - WD-40 vs. Finishline lube

I've seen some people lube their chain with WD-40.. Yet I thought you were supposed to a lube that Finish line makes for bikes or something similar. It seems a lot easier to just use WD-40 but does it do the job, or does it hurt the chain?

Thanks,
Matt

Repeat after me, class

WD-40 is a solvent not a lube.

It has its uses on a bike, such as rustproofing inside the frame, flushing out freewheels, but it wont lube under pressure inside the chain. For short journeys it wont do any harm, and is better than nothing, but it wont hold up for long.

There are any number of waxes, oils and dry lubes that are designed for chains.

I agree with Michael W. WD-40 is not the thing to lube your chain with unless your in a jam. While it won't hurt your chain, it would be better to use a lube designed for bicycles, though there are many others out there than just finish line. My favorite is Pedro's Ice Wax.

i use chain lube that is intended for motorcycles, it's guaranteed not to fly off of them, so i figure my piddly pedaling will not make it fly off. I have made my own oil for lubing parts, it's 1 oz of prolong lubricant, 1 oz stp oil treatment, 1 oz pb blaster or wd 40. add this to a quart of machinists oil or straight 30w oil. The lubricant qualities are so good, my hub bearing races look like they are brand new, after two years of riding on them. and my cables work better than the day they were put on the bike. I'm not saying this is the best stuff to use, but I am a Master Mechanic for metal cages(cars), and I do know that prolong and stp oil treatment will stop anything on a car from wearing further, so I have just applied this to my bikes as well. I use it on all my nieghborhood kids bikes as well, and they can't get over how their bikes haul ass now.

another thing i like to before oiling the bike is to clean it, some like to use soap and water to clean the chain and moving parts. I like to use carbeurator cleaner, it gets the junk ond old oil out lots faster. You have to cover your bike frame cause it will probably eat through most paint, but i just dont go spray happy either. Spray, rotate-move whatever, and then respray. if done once a month, your parts will look newer longer.

WD40 = Sand Magnet

WD-40 is a pentrating oil. It's job is to get into something, eat the corrosion, and then evaporate. Do you really want something that is designed to evaporate for lube? I think not.

i've used WD-40 before.... it runs great for like 5 minutes... then it feels just as sticky as it was (if not even stickier), than before i put it on.

I use WD 40 to clean my bike of oil before re lubricating

also this might sound pretty dumb but ive used gun oil for awhile no and it works better than anything ive used, its just as good as actuall chain lube for half the price, give it a try

Pedros extra dry, I find this to lube the best and stay on the longest. Over the years I've tried most everything else and pedros keeps comming back. As a loyal commuter in good and bad weather I find it to be the only chain lube that'll bring a Dura-Ace chain past 3000 miles.