When do you know it's time to lube your chain with dry lube?
 

I'm new to this dry lube thing since I had a new chain and Cassette installed. Since the chain seems to look the same all, How do we know it needs fresh lube.

i ride on mostly paved roads and in dry weather. Would wiping it down every 500 km and re lubing it then seem reasonable.

Same way you do with any lube. First the chain sounds like it's rattling, then it starts squeaking. If you're getting old and notice some hearing loss, it'll take a few more miles (or ride with someone who'll tell you when it happens).

Probably any time that you need that special moment between you and your bike that make you think you are doing something.

Sometimes that's once a week, sometimes that's a month or more. And I have done it between two rides. Typically, I go by how much sound I hear coming from my chain. However, that probably has me lubing it more often than needed.

I tell all of my customers to ideally lube once a week depending on riding but realistically once a month or anytime it rains and maybe do a full chain clean every two months or so or if doing weekly maybe once a month. However if you notice any noise it is usually a good sign you should have lubed much earlier and should do some good lubing.

If you are riding the next day I always recommend lubing the day or night before so it can sit and seep in where it is needed.

Me personally I like the wax lube as I find it keeps my chains cleaner but these days I tell people so long as you are using a bicycle specific lubricant you are just fine. People overthink it sometimes and obsess over it. If you found one you like awesome use it if not there is a lot to try have fun with it.

I ride in conditions similar to the OPs. I.E., paved roads in dry weather. I use a drip wax lube (Squirt) and reapply about every 200 miles. I don't obsess over the mileage. I've gone significantly longer. I've never waited until I heard squeaking, but the chain does start to rattle more. Whether that means it NEEDS lube, I don't know.

Perhaps I could go more miles, but a noisy chain bothers me. I get good mileage out of chains (5000+ miles). And a bottle of Squirt last me more than a year. So, it works for me.

Thanks for all the helpful replies. I think I'll start lubing my chain more often then the 500 km I was doing. My hearing is not good, however I've never really paid attention for chain noise. I will start.

With wet lube the chain was an awful mess in no time at all. Hopefully with the dry lube it will stay clean longer. I bought a bottle of White Lighting Clean Ride.

There's a misunderstanding that "dry lube" is like some sort of silicone/graphite that should appear invisible and always dry to the touch, this is not so.

"Dry" lubes are perhaps like 4 out of 10 on the greasy scale, compared to straight out liquid oil which would be 10/10.

For example, Finish Line Telflon is transparent when applied, but it is still a grease, and within hours of riding you see a grey film on your chain. Yes it's a grease that contains Teflon, nevertheless still a grease, albiet not wet and greasy.

No matter your choice of lube, nothing best fast and easy chain cleaning.

All chain should have a quality stainless missing link so you can remove your chain easy as pie and then be able to throw it into the ultrasonic for 5 mins. Another 2 minutes with an air compressor to blow away all water.

With a cleaning method as fast as that, it won't matter what lube you choose. I like Finish Line Ceramic Wax. Warm the bottle up in a cup of hot tap water first to liquify the wax.

Those silly gizmos like the Park Tool CM-5.3 are really made for silly folks that never want to remove a factory chain off their bike in fear that it will weaken, take at least 10-15 minutes to really scrub out a chain, and then you can never really get out all the soap/debris that is still embedded within the pins and rollers.

I clean and wax my chain every second week

Maybe someone else can weigh in, but Clean Ride is a wax based drip. Not sure how well this will work on top of a factory greased chain

Factory greased chain is overrated.

So much water and debris and crap gets into the pins and rollers, the only solution is to ultrasonic and re-lube with your favorite lube.

Anyone that expects a factory greased chain to remain factory greased is just kidding themselves as factory grease isn't etched or blued onto the metal.

I read the tea leaves.
If they squeak, I lube the chain

Not for me. I love them. Unfortunately, they don't stay that way forever.

I got noisy drive train after 200-300 km of riding with dry ptfe "wax type" of lube, so I needed to apply again and again. I finally switched to my old wet ptfe lube (for riding on dry conditions on roads) and I re-lube at every 1000 - 1300 km after deep cleaning. Result: at least 10000 km before reaching the first wear sign (0.75). Thus, I don't understand the need of "dry lube wax", unless somebody desperately needs 1 W (or a fraction of it) increase in power

I have had the factory lube last up to 800 miles before I remove and clean the chain.

FYI that lube is not considered a particularly good one any more by the lube experts. Go to

https://zerofrictioncycling.com.au/lubetesting/

and look at the table. Smoove or Squirt are good alternatives which are also not so expensive. I use Silca Super Secret which is a bit better than these two but is also more expensive.

This is the best information on the net about bike maintenance. Chain care, wear and skipping by Jobst Brandt (sheldonbrown.com)

I'm almost afraid to oil my chain now. After reading that unless it is throughly cleaned were just sending grit into the the chain where it makes an excellent abrasive paste. I bought one of those chain cleaning tools from park tools that uses brushes and clamps on to the chain. My bike shop uses it, So it should be far better then just wiping it down with a rag like I was doing.

After about 3,000 km my chain was so bad it skipped on the freewheel. I had to replace both the chain and freewheel. The good thing here is I was able to replace the stock 14 - 34T unit with a 24 to 34T jump with a 14 - 28T and a much better 24 - 28T jump. The only thing is they put one on from SunRun. I doubt it is the same quality as the Shimano it replaced.

Chain longevity is all over the place -- just read this thread!

FWIW, I can usually get 2,000 miles out of a chain; 2,500 miles and I'll have to replace my cassette, 3,000 and my chainrings are worn. My chain life is remarkably consistent; it doesn't depend on which chain, or lube, or cleaning regime I use. Some people claim 3,000-10,000 miles; good for them. Others wear out a chain in as little as 600 miles (hint: don't ride your bike through a mud wrestling pit!).

My recommendation would be to start checking your chain around 2,000 km (note the unit shift!) and replace it when it registers 0.5% wear. That should catch your chain before you wear out the cogs. Try a few other lubes, if you wish, or stick with your dry lube. Keep a basic maintenance log so you can see if the lube makes a difference for your bike and your riding.

I use this stuff: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Blaster-...-CCL/205851095

Before every ride, tiny bit of a squirt with the chain on my most used cassette gear. Kick the pedal backwards a couple of time to distribute. I get a little over 2000 miles on my kmc z8.1 chains. Used to replace chains at 1% stretch, but I was getting the skipping on my cassette with the new chain. Realized I needed to replace my chains sooner. Now replace chains a couple of weeks before it stretches to .75 percent.

Wax based lubricants…hot wax or solvent wax…are going to be louder than oil. Some have compared it to “pearl necklaces rattling” which is an apt comparison.

Without knowing how many miles you put on per week, this is pretty much zero information.

There really is no such thing as "bicycle specific lubricant" except as defined by the marketing department. Lots of people have great experience with [just about any] oil diluted 3:1 in odorless mineral spirits. Apply liberally, work it in, and wipe thoroughly. Do this after a ride so the solvent has time to evaporate before your next ride. Wiping thoroughly means the outside of the chain is pretty much free of oil so it doesn't pick up much dirt. The lube remains inside the rollers once the solvent has evaporated. For me on dry roads this lasts 350-400 miles and my chains last a long time.

White Lightning Clean Ride is not included in that list. They tested White Lightning Epic Ride which is has more oil in it and performs poorly in many tests. Ceramic Speed does list Clean Ride in the testing it commissioned and it falls almost exactly in the middle of the testing. The take away from the chart in that report is that there really isn’t something that is truly horrible (Epic Ride isn’t that good but it’s not “horrible”) and there isn’t something that is outstandingly better than the others. We don’t know what the error in the measurement is so there’s little to draw from the results other than it probably doesn’t matter what is used.

Over the factory lubricant is a little messy. On its own, I’ve found it to be adequate as a lubricant and exceptionally clean. Here’s some pictures of Clean Ride in action. The first two pictures were taken in the middle of winter (February). The third picture is of what handling a Clean Ride lubricated chain look like. I clean my chains once…when I install them…and they never need cleaning again.

https://live.staticflickr.com/4299/3...95828c3c_k.jpgIMG_1155 by Stuart Black, on Flickr
https://live.staticflickr.com/4295/3...2fbe18ad_k.jpgIMG_1153 by Stuart Black, on Flickr
https://live.staticflickr.com/4302/3...caaf973b_k.jpg2013-07-26 08.06.29 by Stuart Black, on Flickr

Sure whatever yeah, just trying to help make it easier for people. I guess I will give my statements as nothing exists and is all just marketing. People use some weird stuff for attempted lubrication so making it clear by saying bicycle lubrication will help out so people don't just take anything greasy or oily and say yeah that will do.

People are so weird about perceived "marketing" and seeing it everywhere like a boogeyperson out to get them and like it is always a bad thing. Yes sometimes it is but having everything be just generic is boring and doesn't always work. There might be some tools that do just one thing and that will happen. If you can get multiple uses out of it great if not no big deal.

I'm still amazed at how fast all you people's chains wear out. I've got at least 4000 miles on my current chain and it isn't even showing any wear at all. Either when using a chain checker or measuring with a steel scale.

I tend to think it's more about how much power you put into your chains and how often you cross chain, especially while putting out power or accelerating. Not so much what you lubricate it with. Because I've had some pretty abused rusty chains last for a long time.