Wiping chain using Rock & Roll Gold
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Falsehood. R&R does not provide any protection against rain. The rust appears after one ride in the rain. T-9 protects for about 2 weeks of daily rides in the rain, whereupon rust begins to appear. Is this much better than other lubes? No. Two weeks is typical for many reasonable lubes. Are there any better lubes with that respect in the market? Certainly not among those I tried and I tried many. I heard about some, but at this stage I was tired of the claims that did not pan out, with an overall impression of the market being widely open to snake oil and perpetuated by some customers, just like miracle cures. I turn to concocting my own lube and, yes, after much experimentation it includes T-9. My lube protects against rain and snow for months on the chain and years elsewhere
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false? I ride in the rain sometimes weeks on end on. daily basis. I have tested them side by side. one on the tandem one on my commuter. Also my garage is not heated and when we have 99% humidity for weeks on end the chains don't dry on their own. I have started using a leaf blower to knock the excess water off the rive train.. I put maybe 150 or more miles on my bikes a week when raining. 18 miles a day on my commuter and maybe 100 miles on the tandem. I may get twice the time from t-9 but thats maybe 3 10 mile rain rides instead of 1 or two. sometimes three rides in a day in the rain.
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well I used two bottles of it riding In the rain since nov. I do wipe it off the chain so the chain is not all coated. but I started noticing rust pretty fast. remember it may depend on what temps you apply it. I have to apply it in the cold and tt may never fully dry like it is supposed to. I never found any lube that would last me all week in the rain. this year I had to upgrade to high end gore-tex to because I rode so much in the rain it could not keep up. I live in portland Oregon where we can have rain for weeks on end I think we had two weeks of rain every day all day long. . there is a big difference between rain and snow.
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well I used two bottles of it riding In the rain since nov. I do wipe it off the chain so the chain is not all coated. but I started noticing rust pretty fast. remember it may depend on what temps you apply it. I have to apply it in the cold and tt may never fully dry like it is supposed to. I never found any lube that would last me all week in the rain. this year I had to upgrade to high end gore-tex to because I rode so much in the rain it could not keep up. I live in portland Oregon where we can have rain for weeks on end I think we had two weeks of rain every day all day long. . there is a big difference between rain and snow.
I have little experience with the Portland weather, but, when I lived on the West Coast, I remember some terrible downpours when driving through Eugene. I do have though much experience with the Seattle rains and actually even some experience with the durability of lubes in the rains there and I must say that, from the Michigan perspective, Seattle rains may be perceived as a form of mist.
For my lube, I mix T9 with LPS3 and ACF50. Each component costs an arm and a leg per gallon, but the mixture is a killer - I can forget about lubing the chain for months if not half a year. Even when the rust starts, it is in some narrow edge streaks that you can leave off taking care for a week or so - no urgency. After this discussion I may start looking at Corrosion X as maybe a replacement for T9 - the data in the linked paper give a slight edge to Corrosion X over T9.
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LPS3 is a relatively thick wax, stabilizing into a paste. In my mixture, ACF-50 contributes only about 25% by volume. It is just important as a chemical rust inhibitor. I am not surprised in ACF-50 working poorly alone as a lube.
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Reminds me of an experiment I did not too long ago: I filled one of those Park Cylone Chain Scrubber tools with Pro Gold Prolink chain lube instad of going through the usual routine of clean/degrease, then dry, then [insert any number of intermediate steps], then lubricate judiciously with carefully controlled single-drop applications to the rollers only with chain lube... It was a completely ostentatious (mis-)use of the product.
It also took freakin' forever to wipe the chain down afterwards to the point where it wasn't spraying chain lube every which way with every pedal stroke and leaving oily grease marks on anything that came within 18" of the drivetrain.
But man did that chain come out spotless, and run smoothly and silently!
It also took freakin' forever to wipe the chain down afterwards to the point where it wasn't spraying chain lube every which way with every pedal stroke and leaving oily grease marks on anything that came within 18" of the drivetrain.
But man did that chain come out spotless, and run smoothly and silently!
Lol - you might have changed the way I apply lube. I find it just takes a couple of tablespoons of liquid in the reservoir to get the main brush in the scrubber sopping wet. The lube sure does suck out remaining dirt when wiping it down even after having gone over the chain with degreaser several times.
I'm looking at whether the excess lube might even be reused by pouring it into a bottle and when I've collected enough suck out the lube above the debris settled on the bottom the same way you can do with degreaser solution.
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Rock N Roll Gold is not my favorite of their line. It is slightly oily compared to R&R Red and results in a dirtier drivetrain comparatively. It’s not a dirty as oil but is dirtier resulting in more chain tattoos. Red doesn’t need the wiping after use.
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Stuart Black
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
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Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
Days of Wineless Roads. Bed and Breakfasting along the KATY
Twisting Down the Alley. Misadventures in tornado alley.
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#36
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Rock N Roll is good lube as long as you follow the directions, but I stopped using it, why? I liked the lube, it worked pretty good, kept the chain very clean, cleaner than any lube I've ever used, problem was, I couldn't get over squirting that stuff and what I thought was wasting a lot of the lube, I felt like I was just spraying money onto the ground, and the lube would only last about 200 miles, so out comes the bottle and more squirting money down the drain.
So, I decided to try Dumonde Tech Lite, and so far after about a year of using it I'm impressed, it holds up well against rain, and it lasts a long time after the initial 3 treatments. Of course like any lube you do need to follow the directions, and you need to wipe the chain down after every ride, do that stuff and you'll have a clean smooth running chain, and the lube has held up for me for as long as about 500 miles before I felt I needed to relube the chain. This stuff I would give 5 stars for.
Another great chain lube is Bioshield T-9, from what I've heard it's performance is similar to Dumonde Tech Lite, but I have no personal experience with it, just a friend that uses it and forums I've been on have had riders rate it very high.
Another good option is Pro Gold ProLink, when I used that stuff, it did last a long time rain or shine, but no matter how often I wiped the chain down, it would still get gummy after about 350 miles or so, and the only way to get that off was to due a complete chain cleaning. Amazon has a lot of users of that stuff and it seems to be 100% 5 stars, but I wouldn't go that far with the stars if I was rating it, maybe 4.5.
There is a lot of different lubes out there, some them are stupidly expensive, unless you're a professional racer there is no need to spend $125 for 4 ounces of special lube magic, and still only get the same chain life you would have gotten on lube costing 90% less, but pro racers are looking for the least amount of friction to squeeze out a fraction of a mph, and they get the stuff for free so they don't care what it costs.
So, I decided to try Dumonde Tech Lite, and so far after about a year of using it I'm impressed, it holds up well against rain, and it lasts a long time after the initial 3 treatments. Of course like any lube you do need to follow the directions, and you need to wipe the chain down after every ride, do that stuff and you'll have a clean smooth running chain, and the lube has held up for me for as long as about 500 miles before I felt I needed to relube the chain. This stuff I would give 5 stars for.
Another great chain lube is Bioshield T-9, from what I've heard it's performance is similar to Dumonde Tech Lite, but I have no personal experience with it, just a friend that uses it and forums I've been on have had riders rate it very high.
Another good option is Pro Gold ProLink, when I used that stuff, it did last a long time rain or shine, but no matter how often I wiped the chain down, it would still get gummy after about 350 miles or so, and the only way to get that off was to due a complete chain cleaning. Amazon has a lot of users of that stuff and it seems to be 100% 5 stars, but I wouldn't go that far with the stars if I was rating it, maybe 4.5.
There is a lot of different lubes out there, some them are stupidly expensive, unless you're a professional racer there is no need to spend $125 for 4 ounces of special lube magic, and still only get the same chain life you would have gotten on lube costing 90% less, but pro racers are looking for the least amount of friction to squeeze out a fraction of a mph, and they get the stuff for free so they don't care what it costs.