Originally Posted by
Canker
Probably want to thin it down some if you do. I'm one of the chain bar oil people and I thin it 50/50 with mineral spirits. Works fine for me and I have a lifetime supply for $10 or so. Even if it sucks does it really matter? Chains are cheap consumable items. 10k miles, or 20k, 30k miles whoopty do. Of coarse you can say the same thing about chain lube. Sure $10 for a tiny bottle of lube is ridiculous but eh it last a year so who cares. I only did the bar chain oil thing because I was curious and now I have a huge jug of it so I might as well use it.
After one ride on a hot day, the min spirits have evaporated. But this does get the bar oil into the crevices and inner recesses of the chain.
Most lubricating fluids are designed and optimized for a specific use. My question is why would you take something like ATF (which is optimized for a closed system that is fairly clean) and use it in an application open to air, dirt, water, and mud? Motor oil? Same thing: it has detergents in it so that dirt particles that stick will become part of lube. Either way, you've chosen an approach that creates a very good lapping compound: dirt and oil. Yes, better than a dry chain, but why not just get a bottle of bike chain lube?
Sure, you can replace chains but why use stuff that's designed for a completely different application? It costs so little to use something designed for bike chains.