Robert P

When the bike is new, there's a coating of grease on the chain, at least on bikes I've ever encountered. However, there are these waxy liquid chain lubes like White Lightning Clean Ride. To use something like this should the grease be completely cleaned off the chain and gears?

What do you consider to be the best chain lube?

headasunder

with a new chain I leave it as long as possible before I clean and re-lube, how long that is I cant tell you but once I have cleaned and lubed it, it then becomes a regular chore of varying degrees of thoroughness depending on my mood swings and circadian rhythm. Don’t slap chain lube on a dirty chain(or a new one) clean it first

FBinNY 

:

jyl

Search for chain lube threads, there are many.

Here's my brief advice:
- Almost any commercial chain lube, or other oil or lubricant, will work. Everything from TriFlow to Chain-L, from 3-in-1 oil to chainsaw lube, from homebrew lube mixtures to paraffin. The difference is how long they will work for, and in what conditions, and in some cases how much hassle they are to apply.
- Lighter (less thick/viscous) lubes don't last as long, heavier (more thick/viscous) lubes will last longer. Even the dreaded WD-40 will work, but for only a very short time. In wet dirty conditions, lubes don't last as long as in dry clean conditions.
- Carefully cleaning and drying a chain before applying fresh lube is ideal, but that adds a significant hassle factor, which may dissuade you from lubing the chain as often as you should. Simply wiping the worst of the crud off the chain (with rag or paper towel) and applying fresh lube to the dirty chain is not ideal, but involves the least work, which may allow you to lube the chain when it needs it.
- Chains are pretty cheap if you're not using expensive 10-11 speed chains. Like a basic 6-9 speed chain can be as little as $9. Unless you enjoy removing, cleaning, drying chains, it may make more sense to do the non-ideal process of wipe and relube, and simply spend $9 a year to replace the chain annually. But if your chains cost $50, or if you're trying to absolutely minimize drag (e.g. you race), then the ideal process might be your choice.
- Ride your bike with a new chain, not cross-chained, and notice how quiet the chain is. When the chain gets noticeably noisy, it's time to relube. You could instead relube on a mileage schedule, or after so many weeks, but if your chain gets noisy it's time to relube.
- So, use whatever lube and process and frequency that keeps your chain silent and fits your tolerance for hassle vs expense.
- Personally, I use Chain-L (lasts longest, especially in wet dirty conditions), relube with the lazy man's quick-wipe-and-relube process, whenever my chain gets noisy (typically every month or two), and figure on spending $9 every year. I don't remove the factory lube. I don't see the point of spending a lot of time fussing with my chain. It just isn't that interesting to me!

trailangel

Just use Chain-L and be done with it.

Retro Grouch 

Best inside joke combination of posts ever!

wphamilton

If you don't clean the chain off, the waxy lubes like White Lightning get just as nasty as the wet lubes. So yes you'd want to clean it completely if you go that route.

I couldn't say what the best lube is because I don't care much. My m.o. is pick one, keep it lubed and don't wast time or energy on it. For some people it's of supreme importance and they will have infinitely diced up opinions about the relative merits of particular qualities of various lubes and methods. Where we fall on that spectrum helps determine what lube is best.

davidad

Chain care, wear and skipping by Jobst Brandt

I remove my chain every 800 miles and clean it in an ultrasonic cleaner. I lube with chainsaw bar oil.

fietsbob

Some is Universally considered much better than None.

mrv 

WD-40. no, really! watch the video. close to the end.

trailangel

^^stupid
Only limeys would do that.. and the guy just killed his mum's lawn.

FBinNY 

I love the part about washing road dirt off the tires. OCD anyone?

They say that cleanliness is next to godliness. It may be true, and certainly if you clean your bike daily as shown in the video, those components that need lubrication, including BB and hub bearings will see God that much sooner.

gsa103

My personal favorite was spraying the brakes with WD-40 at the end. WD-40 and brakes NEVER mix. My guess is that things get washed differently when other people pay for them.

Having said that, I do admit to using WD-40 on my bike. Usually to remove road tar. It has a place, in very limited quantities..

rmfnla

Exactly...

Shimagnolo

It was the underside of the saddle and the handlebars that got me;
I only clean/overhaul my bike once/year at most, and I have *never* seen either of those get dirty.

Homebrew01

Looks like I'm going to hell.

techsensei

Team mechanics clean bikes the same way.

Ronno6

I'm hooked on Chain-L

jyl

If you're going to clean and lubricate your bike after every ride, I think WD-40 will work fine as a general purpose lube. Yes it only leaves behind a small amount of very light oil, but it only needs to last 5 hours!

Race teams, and guys who always ride the latest bikes and wheels, don't need to worry too much about how long hubs and bottom brackets last. They're not trying to get many years between bearing overhaul.

Clem von Jones

Don't use a wet lube if you live in a dry dusty area like the Southwest because it becomes a grinding paste that wears down your chain pins and rollers faster. Wet lubes help prevent rust if you live in high humidity or near the ocean, but I would be inclined to buy a nickel-plated chain and use a dry wax-based lube like White Lightning just to prevent grit from building up on your chain.

Squeezebox

The special brush the 2nd mechanic was using looks like the brush that's used for cleaning the fins under a refrigerator. should be available at Home Depot or such.

trailangel

Hey! Bikes don't need to be that clean.
Water is not a bike's friend.

Joe Minton

Hey NuBe: Use the search function in the upper RH corner of the home page.
If you simply input "chain lube" in the blank space, you will get 20 pages of threads dealing with the subject.
If you choose "advanced search", you'll get 11 pages of threads.


Quotes from two threads:

From an earlier thread:
"The chain lube issue is rather simple, if you know what oil does and how lubrication works:
I lube my chains with a material very much like Chain-L. If anything it is thicker and stickier (after the carrier evaporates). I wipe all that I can off the exterior of the chain with a hand towel. A thin layer remains and picks up very little dirt. I simply wipe the chain every few rides. The lubricant fills the gaps between side plates and does not let any debris get between the moving parts. I don't know how long my chains are going to last but it's going to be very many miles; after about 2500K of this lube, I cannot measure any wear (and I'm pretty good at measuring).

Oh Yeah -- none of the lube gets on the bike, partly because of its thickness and partly because I wipe off the excess.

And:
The whole idea is to separate metal parts; if they do not touch – they cannot wear.

FbinNY has an effective solution: an oil that is thick and stays in place.
The reason that thick oil is needed in bicycle chains is that the spaces between moving and loaded parts of the chain are large and irregular. Also, the chain is not submerged in oil as it ‘ought’ to be.

The best we can do is apply some ‘form’ of oil that stays in place, is thick enough to be effective and, hopefully does not attract much attention from CRUD (Carbon, Rust and Undesirable Dirt).

This is the fundamental truth: --- If the metal parts of your chain do not touch each other ---- they do not wear.

Joe

Wileyone 

What would Californians do? Smoke a joint do a chant and wish it clean?
'

trailangel

^^