Dreww10

I've been using Finish Line Pro Road lube (the gold bottle) the last few years with my road bikes, and despite being OCD about application and cleanliness, it's just impossible to keep the drivetrain from turning and staying black a mile out of the driveway. Without buying several lubes to try, is there a specific one I should pick up that'll keep things cleaner?

FBinNY 

Not going to talk about cleanliness -- that's a rabbit hole. But lubes don't turn black, They appear to turn black because of adhered dirt and wear bi-product.

If you carefully wash a chain in solvent, the solvent will appear to turn black also, but put it in a jar for the dirt and metal particles to settle out, and you'll end up with black silt on the bottom, with the solvent showing the original color of the lube, highly diluted.

k_kibbler

Ride rollers in a clean room #itsnotthelube

Dreww10

Perhaps the Finish Line stuff just picks up road gunk like flypaper, but having not tried anything else, I can't say. I remove, degrease, and scrub my chain, chainrings, and jockey wheels clean-as-new every couple weeks, apply the lube by the letter of the law, and one trip around the block and it's already a mess. There's got to be lubes that aren't so susceptible to getting that black and dirty that fast.

Up North

Black is dirt, dirt sticks to all lube. Fact of life, no miracle cure I'm afraid.

catonec 

try pedros ice wax.

let it dry before riding.

kbarch

Yes. Try DuPont Teflon multi-use lubricant spray.
DuPont? Multi-Use Lubricant with Teflon® Fluoropolymer
I tried numerous types on both the bicycle and motorcycle and found that it stays cleanest the longest.

Lazyass

The drivetrain turns black one mile out?

OldsCOOL

Ride less or lube less.

himespau 

Wax or accept it as part of life.

rpenmanparker 

All lubes are turned black by the metal particles and dirt as already said. The ones that appear to stay clean are the ones that drop the dirty lube off the chain as you ride like wax or ones with Teflon particles.

chaadster

But some do seem to be worse than others, with TriFlow at the top of the list in my experience. My favorite lube, and one which seems to stay cleaner longer is the ProGold ProLink lube.

One thing that helps, as stated above, is to lube less, specifically, wipe off excess lube. The chain does not need to be slathered in the stuff.

Garfield Cat

I spoke with an engineer on that. He said most lubricants include a kind of detergent in its formula. That makes it turn black. The engineer was in the business of lubricants.

Hiro11

ProLink Gold attracts the least dirt of any chain lube I've used. Also, I think the black stuff is at least partially aluminum oxide from the chainrings.

RJM

I clean the chain once a week and it keeps fairly clean using boesheild for a lube. When I clean it, I use degreaser, a brush, and hot soapy water then some clean water to rinse.

datlas 

If you really want a "clean" chain you may want to try paraffin.

I personally think it's not worth the hassle, but I know some people who use it and their chains never get dirty.

3alarmer 

...once you lubricate your chain, unless you're riding a lot in the rain you should clean it thoroughly on the exterior of the links (rag and mineral spirits or degreaser). The oil on the exterior serves no real utilitarian purpose, and you will have fewer issues with the stuff on the outside turning black. If you lubricate a chain properly with an oil based lube, it should feel pretty dry on the outside when you are done.

Or as has been stated above, use a dry wax lubricant designed for this purpose.

Homebrew01

Or look at your chain less... works for me.

carpediemracing 

I have the same stuff as you, as well as a bunch of other chain lubes.

Unfortunately you're probably not cleaning everything all the way. If you were then you'd have at least a bit more than a mile before the rollers get black. I'm guessing your cleaning the sides but not the valleys of the teeth. Most people do that. It looks good but it's not necessarily clean. If you're hitting those spots then you will need to clean your chain more than you probably should, i.e. get rid of everything under the rollers.

Having said that I think if you use a wax based lube (I use White Lightning most of the time) you'll be happier with the results. Less solvent so it picks up less stuff from your pulleys (main culprit) and cogs (second most common culprit).

How I clean my drivetrain (takes 10 min or less, no disassembly required, not even that much water):
Sprinter della Casa: How To - Cleaning The Bike Quick
Make sure you clean the valleys where the chain rollers hit.

Picture of after (and using White Lightning it's usually good for weeks):


Hope this helps.

OldsCOOL

Brilliant.


Seriously folks, just deal with it.

thump55

We have actually been investing millions of dollars to find a solution to this critical problem. We are sorry it is taking so long, but fixing the spout on every American's gas can took longer than expected.

On the bright side, we are confident that our chain lube solution will work just as well as the new gas spouts do.


Sincerely-

The US Government

SlowAndSlower

Dumonde lite lube really becomes a big black mess if I don't wipe the chain down after every ride. If I do it s not too bad and gets cleaner as time goes on, until I lube again.

HAMMER MAN

after using numerous lubes for my chain i bough a bottle of Chain-L lube and personally i find it works pretty good and imo less gunk on the chain or even dirt, etc. i do clean my chains and cassette every month as i find a little extra maintenance goes a long way

milkbaby

Seriously good advice from Homebrew01...

If you must look at the chain and want to look at a relatively clean one, make sure you wipe down the outside with a rag. You want the lube on the inside of the chain, not the outside attracting crud. Just wipe it down whenever it looks too dirty to you.

bbbean 

Stop riding through that oil slick a mile from your house!