Originally Posted by cyccommute

You and I, on the other hand, have to worry about this stuff. A better question would be what does an experienced bicyclist in your area use. Experience...with a dose of lubrication knowledge...goes a long way towards making you equipment last. For example, I live in a state where the average rainfall is 11" a year and 300+ days of sunshine a year. We have lots of grit and sand everywhere. (Grit and sand tend to be a very high percentage of quartz here which is harder than the steel.) A very wet lubricant, like most homebrews, is absolutely inappropriate for my area. Oil attracts grit like **** attracts flies and that grit just grinds the chains to iron fillings. If you are riding off-road around here, you specifically don't want oily lubricants. Wax based lubes work very well for me and don't attract a lot of chain destroying grit.

Areas where there is more rainfall have less grit...they still have some...but wax lubes aren't much good in the wet. An oilier lubricant makes sense in those locales. Wax can be used but you are going to apply it much more often than I have to.