wphamilton

I won't speak for him but I believe that you don't do the chain-cleaning routine with his oil.

For the rest, I can say this. Those of us who just grab a bottle off the shelf, or like White Lightning for example and don't care to seek anything better, just don't care enough to be meticulous about the chain. Douse it, wipe it, done and get to riding. Even if my $10 chain wears out quicker (which might or might not be true) it would take years to add up to needing an extra $10 chain. Personally I'm with Cycco and I don't care enough to do more cleaning than that. I'll just replace the chain when it's worn out.

Mixing your own, I don't know if it's going to make a bigger mess, need more applications, flush the chain as well, or if storage is an issue. Any of those could be a time sink, I'm guessing they would be. You could be saving potentially the $6 or $8 or so a bottle of lube costs over the time that it lasts - I'd do it out of curiosity but the savings by itself wouldn't be worth even the risk of spending extra time on.

cruiserhead

Yup that's why all the pro teams wash every bike, every day during a race this way. The want to drum up business.
I suggest 150psi on the water.

I thought lube was to keep the rollers spinning freely on the pins but that must be nonsense.

I think the best method is to massage in the water with your fingers, to gently remove dirt.
Then, use toothpicks and floss on every link.
It's like a sauna for the chain.

Unicorn ear wax is brilliant. I love this forum.

cyccommute 

On the chain?! How does that work? And do you use one q-tip per two links (since the q-tip has two sides)?

You do win the prize for the most OCD cleaning tip I've ever seen, however.

That is a "common" method if you are riding a bike that you are getting paid to ride, is a rolling advertizement, has a paid mechanical staff to keep it shiny clean, a warehouse full of spare parts and is only used for a year before you get the next years model. Many of the things done in that video should be done on bikes that are ridden out in the real world...like spraying a whole bunch of water into the chain then lubricating it. That just traps water in a chain and promotes rust.


What you are hearing is the problem with many oil based lubricants. The dirt stuck in the chain can't be removed mechanically. In other words, rags and q-tips aren't going to touch them. The grit is stuck between the outer and inner plates of the chain. You can't get there with any physical object short of taking apart the chain at each link. You need to flush it out with a solvent.

You could try to hose it out but you put a bunch of oil on it to keep the water out. It would take an bunch of water to flush it out and that water would be contaminated with motor oil you are done. You could try a water based degreaser like Simple Green but you need to flush that out after use and before you relubricant because the oil will sit on top of the Simple Green and not lubricate the chain.

But now you have another problem, you have water inside the chain that you need to flush out or remove before you lubricant. You can either let it dry, heat the chain to remove the water or flush it with yet another solvent like acetone or denatured alcohol. The first two options can promote rust...that's bad...and the third option is just another solvent to use that you will have to get rid of. And, since you are using something at serves as a place for grit to stick, you'll have to do this roughly weekly depending on how often you ride and how messy your conditions. That's the problem with water based degreasers...they complicate the cleaning process immensely.

Alternatively, you can flush away the old oil and grit with mineral spirits. It's less complicated and uses far less solvent...a cup of mineral spirits will clean a chain 2 or 3 dozen times before it's more oil than mineral spirits and you can filter off the grit if you want. I use it for my initial cleaning in a 1 pint Gatorade bottle with a wide mouth. Feed the chain in, close the lid, shake vigorously, fish out the chain and let it dry. Easy peasy.

But, like the water cleaning method above, you'll need to do this on a very regular basis depending on your tolerance of the sandy grinding sound. Add to that the ritual of wiping down the chain before every ride and the scrubbing of the chain tattoos on your legs, the grease marks on the car if you happen to carry the bike anywhere, the grease on your hands if you happen to have to work on the chain (or anything within 500 yards of the chain) and the cheap oil method begins to lose a lot of it's appeal. The lubrication properties of the oil aren't really an issue. It's the cleanliness. Trust me, I've been down this road

I would also suggest you install a quick link if you don't have one already. It simplifies the process of chain removal greatly if you need to do constant cleaning.

vinnyvincent

That's kind of what I was thinking..."Isn't that like more than 50 q-tips just to clean it once?"







Hrm, I'm starting to rethink this process as I transport my bike inside my car almost daily now. I couldn't help but notice that the odorless mineral spirits smell like roach killer.

I'm running an SRAM chain, so I already have the quicklink on it.(I actually have two chains because my sunrace one broke immediately, so I went out and bought the SRAM chain and a spare link for the sunrace)

Even then I am thinking about getting one of those chain cleaners so I won't have to get my hands dirty handling the chain. Have you ever used one?

My current mode of thinking is to try cleaning the thick, sticky grease-like lube that came with the chain off with solvent and one of those cleaning tools, then try white lighting and see if I like it or not in spite of reading a lot of negative reviews on it. Worst case I can always go back to the home brew.

I also notice that almost all I see for sale in bike stores around here is dry lube. It seems odd because I live in Houston where it's constantly wet and humid...

cruiserhead

One qtip per link then dental floss every roller. Flat, slick floss works best.


Yeah but if you use a compressor at 150 to 200psi you just blow the water straight through the bearings. Then it's dry right away.

I recommend leaving soapy water in the chain for a good week. Leaving it in the rain is better, seems to get that good surface rust going. Give the chain something to fight when turning, makes for a stronger grip on the lube.

really? I've never heard that before.

quick links aren't quick. I suggest reusing the dental floss as a sturdy quicklink or pro tip: use a zip tie.

Dave Cutter

I think you've hit the nail on the head!

There are that small minority of cyclists that are proud of their 25,000 miles on chain.
And the frugal cyclists that enjoy finding and using the cheapest method known to mankind.
There is the busy cyclist... dribbles a few drops on a spinning chain... and then maybe finds time to wipe the chain down.
I am the type that keeps his bike meticulously clean with a lite lube on the chain and all other moving parts.

There is no correct way... or at least no ONE correct way.

I keep my chain clean (because that is my personality). But a clean chain lasts longer because it's dirt and crap that wears out the chain... not the quality of it's oil. I select an oil that doesn't make a mess... and that allows the bike to function silently. Cost is near meaningless.... as I get thousands of miles from a four ounce bottle of bicycle oil.

avidone1

I'm no rich guy by any means but are we really getting all bent out of shape over a twenty dollar chain?
It'll prolly last a couple of years no matter what you do.
Then throw it away and buy a new one fer chrisssake awready

vinnyvincent

I'm more concerned about what the dirt and grit is doing to the rest of the drive train rather than actual chain wear.

trailangel

Don't ride it. Hang on wall.

vinnyvincent

Okay so here's what I have decided to do:

I have two chains, so I will get a link tool and push the rivet out of the broken chain and install an SRAM powerlink onto it.
I'll then put the old chain in a jar with maybe a half cup of odorless mineral spirits and shake it clean. Once done I will hang it out to dry overnight, then put it away until the second chain gets dirty. Once that happens I will replace with the now clean chain and lube it.
I think I will give white lightning a try since dirt seems to be my main issue and see how long it lasts...

Sound about right?

wphamilton

The bigger problem is the stretched chain wearing down the cassette cogs and chainring. I don't see dirt and grit as all that big a factor. I clean the RDR and pulleys now and again but the dirty chain isn't much a factor in that IMO.

wphamilton

Use White Lightning on one, your home-brew mix on the other, and track the time of use of each and chain stretch!

DrIsotope

I get ~3000 miles out of a chain, which equates time-wise to around 3.5 months, nowhere near "years." And they're more like $30 each, buying the absolute cheapest chain I can get my hands on (Tiagra 10 speed.) So I don't sweat the chain lube too much-- so long as I can get something that lasts 3-4 hundred miles between applications, I'm good.

I'm looking forward to the inevitable tide of yak lard based moist lubes.

vinnyvincent

Great idea! Problem I'd it won't be a fair comparison. The sram is of noticeably higher quality than the sun race

cruiserhead

Use homebrew on every other link, White Lighting on every other link.
Problem solved.

cruiserhead

this is the business

Wheever

Since I started using Vermont artisinal, small-batch Kobe Yak fat, both as a lube on my chain and as an energy gel, my chains last 140,000 miles, and I put out 300% more watts when I drope the hamer.

PLUS: my chain is so quiet it actually pulls noise out of the surrounding area, bringing blessed peace to all I pass. The only sound you can hear is a whisper-quiet "ommmmmmmmmm " as I go past.

vinnyvincent

Okay well it took three fresh refills of mineral spirits to get the chain clean, then I spent another twenty or so minutes cleaning gunk out of cracks and crevices in the drive train...

Based on that experience I think I'm going to go with cyclocommutes train of thought and try a dry lube before I go with the home brew. The bright side is I only wasted five Buck on the cheap oil since I needed mineral spirits to clean it anyhow.

I saw that white lightning epic lube for sale around here. I might try it since it is pretty wet around here

vinnyvincent

I picked up some finish line dry instead. Hopefully it helps it not get so filthy this time...i want even riding in very bad conditions...

avidone1

I feel ya on the noise sucking, 140K mile artisinal vermont kobe yak fat lube, but have you tried the new Single Malt version with musk? It's a definite chick magnet.

Cptimagine

Bingo............

wphamilton

Get another Sram chain.

vinnyvincent

It took what? 4 days to get me to come to grips with spending 7 dollars on a bottle of finish line?
You think there's a snowballs chance in hell I'm going to spend twenty dollars when I already have two good chains?

cruiserhead

The best way is to take apart both chains, then assemble both chains together alternating links. It will take a while but the chain will now last twice as long, since you have two chains.
Then use the Yak fat and your chain should last for what, 10 years without any care

wphamilton

too weak, he should just split the chains and have half sram and half sunrace. This would also be a better test on whether sram really wears less than the other.

He'll need to buy two connector links though which is probably a deal-killer.