hyhuu

I should also add that beside being long lasting, Chain-L also keeps the drive train very quiet too. This is specially important to me.

ramzilla

I used to have a car that leaked automatic transmission fluid. So, I bought a few quarts to keep on hand. Got rid of the car. Now, what to do with all this ATF? So, been playing with it on my bikes. I've soaked free wheels & free hubs in it. Lube chains. Dripped it onto cables. Soaked rear derailleurs. It's got a pleasant red color & a unique aroma. And, believe it or not works pretty well. The only downside is you really have to pay attention & wipe off any excess.

Bike Gremlin

Motor oil of various viscosities - depending on the outside temp. Full synthetic for low below freezing.

gregf83 

Thanks very much for the offer but I've ordered a bottle. I'm not in any particular rush as the weather has been very nice lately and I've still got a few lubes of various types.

jyl

Try Chain-L. During the rainy winter in Portland, I lube monthly or less often using this stuff.

I simply wipe the chain clean with a rag, apply one drop of Chain L to each link, turn the pedals for a little bit (bike is on the stand), then wipe off the excess. I was taught to warm the bottle of Chain L in a pan of hot water, but in my experience that is quite optional unless you are working in an unheated garage during a real cold snap. The chain will get black and dirty with enough rain riding, but that happens with any lube or even with no lube. Reapply when the chain gets noisy which for me works out to be monthly or less often. A bottle lasts me well over a year.

RubeRad

Warming the bottle is in the application directions; I too have found that unhelpful, maybe because I live in San Diego, where it's already the best temperature for applying Chain-L. I find that with Chain-L warmed up, it flows too freely and I end up with excess 'spidering' off the pulleys that needs to be wiped off. But with Chain-L applied at (my) garage temperature, I can apply very small droplets to each roller (like way smaller than a pea, like maybe 2-3mm droplets?), it still seeps in, no spidering, less wasted, and less wipe-down after.

RubeRad

Out of curiosity, in the thick/long-lasting end of the chain-lube spectrum, what is the competition for Chain-L? Phil's Tenacious was mentioned here, is there anything else comparable (except for homebrews)?

NCSUMike

Wow, thanks to all for the awesome responses! You guys saved me hours of more plugging around the interwebs looking at reviews. Plus, you taught this biking Noob some "known good" application methods... something that usually only shared or personal experiences can teach. I've got a lot of experience/knowledge when it comes to extreme environment auto and firearms lubrication, but that doesn't always transfer to other applications.

@ThermionicScott, so true, especially when budgets are involved!

Pretty much @trailangel ! I've never seen this kind of unanimous response to something before... usually at LEAST one person chimes in and says... "blah blah blah is garbage, don't listen to so and so..." etc.

Lol, nah, not biased at all, right @FBinNY ?

On a more serious note, I liked the story on your website behind the product... I'm a big supporter of entrepreneurship and small businesses/startups.
What was the "aha!" moment that started your company, if I might ask?

@Moe Zhoost, did Seattle and the Carolinas just decide to trade weather all of a sudden? It's been monsoon season out here lately! Durham's become a great city over the last decade. How do you like it out that way?

That's awesome news about the rain not affecting the Chain-L... exactly what I was looking for.


@AnkleWork, I likely am doing just that. I'm basically transferring my other mechanical experiences to biking. As you and others have said, it really isn't as labor intensive as I previously thought. I could definitely keep a cleaning station ready to go in the garage to enable the quick 1-2 minute re-lube. What are some good indicators (I think noise was mentioned here once already) that it's time to clean and/or lube?


Yes indeed, that's it in a nutshell! Although, I'll be able to garage the bike at night, it'll be sitting outside on a bike rack through who knows what for about 1/2 of its life.


@habilis, so true! I was planning on adding a set of Planet Bike Cascadia 29er fenders (and getting creative/fabricating a bit to fit-in with the shock-tube MTB fork). Out of curiosity, is there anything else I can do to bombproof the freewheel's bearing seals? Also, I'm considering the chainboard... but I'm not sure how much that would protect grit from collecting on uncovered drivetrain components... the crankset seems like it would be covered far better though.


Me too... my ears have a zero-tolerance policy for mechanical noises.

@ramzilla, I was seriously considering ATF after reading other accounts... I have a ton of Nissan's exotic synthetic formula left over from my last auto, an X-terra. Man, I miss having a truck.

Anyways, it has many properties which are beneficial to a chain-based drivetrain (heck, it even lubricates some chain based drivetrain components in an enclosed environment, in the auto world). It's still a hydraulic fluid at the end of the day, and like you mentioned... it does have that characteristic T-Fluid smell... but I'll have to come back to that stuff more often for random lubrication jobs down the road.

RubeRad

Yeah, chainlube threads are usually all over the map. The difference here is that you came in with your specific goals: all-weather, low maintenance, and that is exactly what Chain-L is all about. Other lubes meet other goals like keeping your chain and cassette looking showroom clean.

AnkleWork

I relube before noise increases and when wet oil is still visible between the side plates. If exposed to water, maybe wipe with a left-over oil soaked rag, or full relube if drenched.

To facilitate quickness, keep a stiff plastic card (or cardboard, anything really) sized to shield the lower half of the wheel along with a supply of reused paper towels handy. Fold the card like an "L" and slip it between dork disk and spokes, hold a folded towel under the back five inches of the lower chain run, lube, turn the crank a little, repeat until done. Then wipe off excess while spinning the cranks and flexing the chain with the oil soaked rag. Do that right after a ride then a quick wipe just before next ride to collect the few drips. Really, it does not rise to the level of pseudo religious ritual advocated by some here. If you want to be effective with your time, ask yourself "what's the quickest, easiest way to get done the minimum needed?" (That took ten times as long just to type it.)

A nice side benefit of frequent lubing with something oily and solventy is that it doesn't much matter what you use. The lighter fractions wick oil into the inner spaces, then evaporate leaving the oil in place. (For those who cry "HERETIC, BURN HIM!!!" my last chain lasted over 9,000 miles -- some off road -- and I never removed it for cleaning.)

gregf83 

I used to apply oil like that but these days I prefer something I can squirt on the chain as it rides over the cassette. Turn the cranks a couple of times, wipe it off and I'm done. I'll be keeping the oil in my boiler room which is warm in the winter.

davidad

I still mix one part chain saw bar oil to four parts unscented mineral spirits. I apply it to a clean chain or when I am out in a downpour. Chain care, wear and skipping by Jobst Brandt

jyl

You don't need to squeeze individual drops for each link. You can rest the tip of the bottle on the chain and squeeze while turning the crank. A little practice and it works fine, and quickly too.

dwmckee

Well, I never saw much of a difference among the half dozen or so lubes I have used, until a few months ago when I rebuilt my Silca pump and when they sent me the parts I needed they also threw in a sample tube of their pro lube Silca NFS. I have to say that it is the quietest my drive train has ever been, and shifting is better too. It also seems to shed most dirt pretty well (at least it does not cake like many other wet lubes do). I say you should give this one a shot too. And follow the directions with just few drops. work it through several revolutions then wipe off the excess. It seems to have a silicone base and stays very clean. This is the first chain lube that I have used that seems to be significantly different than the others. I have used Finishline, Tetra, Triflow, Boeshield, A couple of Teflon based lubes I forget the names of and Phil Wood Tenacious (my second favorite now). It is very expensive, but you use so little that it seems to balance out as long as you apply as directed. I like it very much over the past 500 miles or so, and will see how well it does overall to extend chain life. (I assume if there is less chain wear per mile then I have wasted less energy grinding up my chain links so have a more efficient drivetrain. I also assume that a quieter drivetrain means less energy wasted creating all of that noise.)
SILCA NFS Pro Chain Lube | 2oz Bottle

dwmckee

SILCA NFS Pro Chain Lube | 2oz Bottle

trailangel

Thread needs to be locked before CycoC gets here and starts talking about waxing the chain.

habilis

The big offender in splashing the entire drivetrain is the front wheel. Adding a fender plus mudflap will be a big help. The flap can be homemade from a plastic milk-jug and pop-riveted to the fender. The Forum has had a few articles on this.

Dyskolos

I cycled the NC Mountains to the Coast ride this past week, which ended up being seven days in the rain, camping in tents, with the bike kept outside. I kept my chain clean and lubed, but it started making noise half-way through each day’s ride. On day 4, it started squeaking and grinding early in the day and I was not carrying any lube. I stopped at an auto parts store and bought a small bottle of 2-cycle oil and lubed the chain. I pedaled the rest of that day and the next with no further lube. This convinced me that a thicker lube would be beneficial, so I've ordered some Chain-L.

NCSUMike

Wow, thanks for the tips! And 9,000 miles on a chain is pretty darn impressive.

Awesome, thanks.


Wow, that's a serious trip... sorry you had to put up with the monsoon season. Glad you made it in one piece! What route did you take?

Dyskolos

We started off in Waynesville, NC and were scheduled to end in Oak Island, with the route through Hendersonville, Shelby, Concord, Southern Pines, Lumberton, and Whiteville. They stopped us in Lumberton, so we ended up at 360 miles, about 120 miles short. I have a two day 200 mile ride in the same area the middle of October, so I'll consider that as finishing the M2C.

RubeRad

Interesting application procedure:

I'd like to see the math on that one, so it splooges itself all over the 12-cog and then back into every chain link? I'm guessing a for a cyclocross bike with a 48=4x12 chainring, that might not work. Or do the prime number 9/11-tooth RD pulleys keep everything mixed up? And there's also the number of links to consider, 104 or less, maybe it does work out with very high probability with all gearing setups?

djb

your question here made me think of an old trick I used many years ago, so I brought this up in the mechanics forum. Take a peek, there are some good tips, my pipe cleaner one, and others by a guy named cny--good ones about coming up with stuff to put a barrier at points where bearings are, hubs, bottom of headset etc.
The pipecleaner thing would be good for your rear hub cassette area, just cuz you can easily put a section on and off in just a few seconds. The other tips all make sense, just any sort of barrier to gunge will be good.

do you have any interest to learn how to regrease your hubs? Would be good to do after a winter of gritty riding. Or even do before winter to make sure there is lots of grease in your hubs.\

Here is the link to the pipe cleaner trick etc

https://www.bikeforums.net/bicycle-me...l#post18221002

SpikedLemon

I lube my bicycle chains as I lube my motorcycle chains. Quickly and with the same products (motorcycle chain lube - whatever is on hand)

Soak and wipe down clean with WD40 (try not to spray the tire). It's the easiest way for me to breakdown the accumulated crud & old lube.

Then I spray on motorcycle chain lube following with a cloth to wipe off the excess. I spray the inside of the chain and then the outside as I spin the rear wheel following with the cloth.


I wouldn't use a wax based chain lube on the bicycle despite how nice it is for the motorcycle (read: it stays put on the chain rather than flinging off). IMHO: the bicycle chain doesn't get warm enough for the wax to reach areas needed for protection. On the motorcycle: there's a vast difference applying a chain wax to the chain right after a good ride when the chain is still hot and applying it before a ride (when it's room temp).

djb

[QUOTE=NCSUMike;18221104]Wow, thanks for the tips! And 9,000 miles on a chain is pretty darn impressive.
/QUOTE]

After 15,000km on a chain, I would want to see you measure the stretch using a ruler and see how many 16ths it has stretched. You can of course ride as much mileage as you want on a chain, but do realize that at a certain point, you are wearing the cassette and chainrings more than you want, and these bits cost much more to replace than a chain.

If it goes too long, then when you put a new chain on, it will skip on the cassette cogs as they have worn more due to the elongated chain. Same with chainrings.

following the general stretch rule using a ruler or measuring tape will get the most life out of your other bits, which in the end is cheaper than just letting a chain go a really long time.

djb

just take a minute every so often and wipe your chain with a rag--voila, no accumulated crud on chain or pulleys.