Originally Posted by
danarnold
From Yahoo:
"Synthetic motor oil now days is certainly thin enough for chain use. the molecular structure of synthetic oil is fantastic and is great at what it is designed to do - resist high sheer loads in an engine. That is all it is really good for. On a chain you do not have sheer but rotational friction inside the roller at the pin. That is actually the only place that the lubrication is necessary. The very reason why chain lubricants are made to penetrate is the outside needs no lubrication.
Actually, if you examine what causes bicycle chain wear, it's the
shear friction between the roller and the pin/rivet and the inner plates and pin/rivet. As the chain goes around a sprocket, the rollers remain (more or less) stationary with respect to the sprocket teeth and the outer plates (that are rigidly connected to the pins) rotate about the axis of the roller. In addition, the outer plates move, with respect to the inner plates, about the pin/rivet axis. There is not much ball-bearing effect between the roller and the pin/rivet or between plates, if that's what the Yahoo article is proposing.
See
Sheldon Brown's article on this.
Originally Posted by
danarnold
You don't want to use motor oil because it will:
1. Sling off the chain as it it made to film off of parts and be pumped though a filter and back into engine parts. Engineers worked really hard to make it perfect for that job.
2. Attract dirt. Another property that those good petroleum engineers did was make a product that carries the contaminants to the filter. Bikes don't of course have that filter so the gritty material will wear your chain and gears.
3. It is wash out resistant. Good for resisting rain, but it resists mild chain cleaners too. Oh, you can cut it, but usually to remove it all you need a solvent not detergent.
1. How fast do bicycle chains move? Even at 150 rpm crank speed?
2. A bicycle chain is typically not enclosed in a chain case, at least in the US. It's going to get dirty no matter what lubricant you use.
3. The $10 1-gal jug of biodegradable citrus degreaser from Home Depot works really well for me.
Originally Posted by
danarnold
The types of products you want for a chain:
1. Wax based
[...]
Source(s):
29 years in the Specialty Maintenance Chemical industry. We make the stuff."
Sounds like an ad for a speciality bicycle chain lubricant manufacturer/marketer.
Although certainly not optimized, motor oil for lubricating bicycle chains is fine, as orated by the Great Jobst Brandt.
With regular cleaning/maintenance, my motor oil-lubricated chains have lasted me more than ten thousand miles, each.