Hi all,

A question of opinion for all of you. You buy a new chain: do you degrease and relube with your lube of choice right away? Or do you wait for a few hundred miles and let the factory grease do its thing?

I've heard from multiple sources that the factory-prepared grease is far more durable and pervasive than anything that you could put on yourself, and therefore that it's good to leave it on for a good while before stripping down the chain and lubing up with your normal stuff.

Anyone got a rule of thumb for this kind of thing? (FYI, my current chain is a SRAM 10-speed.)

Thanks!
Sven

Often repeated, never substantiated.
Really there's no reason to strip the lube off a chain until and unless it gets contaminated by grit, etc. Just lube frequently and ride.

I wipe a new chain with a rag and apply Chain-L.

it'll be silent as a ninja for the next 750-1000 miles.

Sorry, I always forget to add a detail: my preferred lube is White Lightening, so I have to de-/re-grease at some point.

Me? No I use the shipping lube until it wears off then I oil things..

If your preferred lube is White Lightening, then just degrease and throw on what you like. That would be my suggestion.

What I do is to spray some brake rotor cleaner onto a rag, and then wipe the chain down. Because factory lube is an awful sand magnet. Then I throw Chain-l on top of the factory stuff. Or I might ride a few times first, and then throw on the Chain-l. Depends on my mood.

Chains are just metal things with glop on them, so don't overthink them.

Me too. The factory lube is usually good for a hundred miles or so. Then I apply Pro-Link and wipe the excess with an old t-shirt. Ride, lube, wipe, repeat.

My approach exactly. I have recently heard some claim that the factory stuff on chains is not lube but rust preventer to protect the chain while packaged, so should be removed, but I dont buy that. It works fine for me for the first few rides after installing.

+1

Main problem with factory lube is it is sticky and all over the outside of the chain. Just clean the chain when it gets dirty enough and relube with lube of choice.

Me too

As others here have mentioned, I will wipe the excess factory lube off the *exterior* of the chain, so it doesn't function as a dirt magnet. The place where you want the lube is *inside* the pivots of the chain.

This. Factory lube is fine inside the chain, but the chain turns into a fuzzy caterpillar if you don't wipe down the outside of the chain.

I usually remove and clean mine after 1000 miles. The factory lube is usually Fuchs gleitmo.

I don't.

I leave the factory grease alone until it either dries out or gets filthy. If the former, I lube just re-lube with my favorite chain oil. If the latter, I'll scrub it clean on the bike, dry, and re-lube. The rule of thumb, I guess, is if it's dirty, clean it; if it's dry, lube it.