I would use anything that works, regardless of what it says. Kitchen oil, my own saliva, I use it as long as it works. Only test matters to me is my own experience.

It usually takes a few months, not so quickly, before WD-40 dries out. I don't wait that long usually. Keep spraying every two weeks and wipe it off works for me. Maybe you haven't tried it yet?

Another draw back of the wax dip is it doesn't prevent chain from rusting unlike majority of other lubricant, neither White Lightning.

'mazing how often this comes up.

Lemme (dreaming) settle this once and for all: WD40 is a lubricant, but--for use on bike chains, there certainly are better.

Read the MSDS on WD: http://www.wd40.com/Brands/pdfs/msds...aerosol.us.pdf

Basically, you're looking at mineral spirits and oil. Call it a spraycan of homebrew, heavy on the mineral spirits. Based on that composition, it's a better cleaner, but to say it isn't a lubricant really isn't correct.

I clean my chain with it, then lube with homebrew. YMMV.

Allgoo: You have to change your avatar. It's making me weep.

Fare you well, my honey.
Fare you well, my only true one.
All the birds that were singing
Have flown except you alone . . . . :(

Just because it has oil in it doesn't mean it's suitable for lubricant, just as cooking oil is oil but it's not intended to be used on your chains, car engines, door hinges etc. WD40 is a 0 weight oil...far too thin in viscosity to be used in anything you want to last a long time. So yes, technically your right, it's a lubricant just as is cooking oil.

That's the point I'm getting at. :D

Just because it says it's for bicycle lubrication it doesn't mean it really works for my bike. I believe when I see it's working. Wax dip and White Lightning didn't pass my test, but WD-40 did. I recommend you should try it.

Trust your eyes, not what product advertisement says. You wouldn't trust everything a used car sales man says about the car he's selling, would you?

WD-40 is a VERY poor choice for a chain lube. The oil in it is very thin and not appropriate for use on a chain. Regular old motor oil works much better, use it if you have nothing else in the house.

Here's my "brew":

1 part (by weight) Lithium Grease
3 parts Beeswax
5 parts Gulf Wax (paraffin)
2 or 3 squirts of powdered graphite

I don't use a doubleboiler, I just use a hotplate and am CAREFUL.

No squeaks for about 300 miles if it's mostly dry, about 1/2 that in the mostly rain.

A trip to Wally-World and $8 will get you a small crockpot. It brings the brew up to just the right temperature, albiet much more slowly.

Boiling chains takes me back to British motorcycles in the 1960s & maintenance chores I left behind decades ago. I now use an auto oiler on my motorcycles & clean my bicycle chains with a Park Chain Cleaner filled with mineral spirits. Much easier then pulling the chain off ever time. For lube I'm currently using Pedro's Dry Lube with teflon which seems to work fine.

Another .02 to an old topic. Eugene Sloan 25 years ago wrote that he soaked bike chains overnight in heated SAE 140 (gear oil) on a hotplate. I have been soaking chains in a mix of parrafin (candle wax), Johnson's paste wax, and SAE 90 in a hot water bath for a couple of hours. The result is quite slick but does collect sand and grit.

The pure hot parrafin soak seems to give a cleaner chain. And I think the wax sticks only if old grease is completely cleaned off the chain before parrafinizing--by repeated washings in solvent. I hypothesize that this is the best method for lubing a worn chain on a beater bike. It may be that a new tight chain will do better with a thin carrier and teflon lube, while a worn chain needs a longer, stiffer hydrocarbon molecule for lubrication (i.e., higher SAE numbers).

Somebody oughta do a scientific study. Grants gratefully accepted!

The finish line Cross country is good, but matched just as well by substitution with castor oil. No joke! I've been using the latter since the start of this year with very good results.

.....Yet another anecdotal homebrew chain lube recommendation!

Attention to chain cleanliness is surely more important than which lubricant one uses.

Ed

NO JOKE! Castor oil is a 200 year old lubricating technology left over from the UK days of Imperial Colonialism and forced labour in the cotton mills of India and Ireland.

http://www.answers.com/topic/castor-oil

Castor oil has no anti-wear/AW or extreme pressure/EP additives. No surfactants. No anti-oxidants. No fatty aids. No complex molecular molecule chains. No rust inhibitors. No paraffined waxes. Basically, the 3 in 1, is a viscus industrial grade non-rancid laxative vegetable bean oil.

If it works for you and keeps the demon squeaks at bay...........by all means, use it. Far be it for me to drag anyone kicking and screaming into the 21st. Century, especially if they don't want to go.... ;>)"

Would extra-virgin olive-oil work?

Probably only with pasta and parmesan cheese added.

Well............. you wouldn't hold a grudge, just cause it was a little used now, would you ?

14 years ago when I rode trails four days a week I always waxed my chain. At the time the hot stuff was RJ Hock's Chain Wax. At the time I was working at a bike shop and it sold for a whopping 6-7 dollars a can. We kept a plug-in single burner in the back of the shop and just set the can on and warmed it up.
Waxing chains provides for a dry lubricant. Not as easy for dust and dirt to cling to it. I was always amazed how well it cleaned up and sprayed off after ride in or just after a rain.

Which is why I like White Lightening. I think it must be soap and kerosene.

I did the soap thing. There must have been a few of us way back then.

You could buy a master link (two little tiny screws instead of pins) that eased the job of breaking the chain over and over.

:)

I comprehensively stuffed 4 bikes' chains using only WD-40. In record time. Lesson learned in the hip pocket.

STV thanks for writing; I've been using the Finish Line Teflon Dry now for about 5 years or so and it's the best I've ever used. But how does the Teflon Dry compare the Krytech (the wax one you wrote about)? Why should I use one over the other? I watched the little video snip at Finish Line but it wasn't real clear as to why one was better or what purpose one was over the other. Thanks

First of all, I am not an expert on Finish Line lubes, let alone bike lubricants. I just happen to use two of their products that I am quite satisfied with them.

But I will take a stab at answering your question as best I can.

The main difference I see between the two products, TeflonDry and KryTech is preference. They both utilize two distinctly different lubrication technologies and get similar performance results.

The Dry Teflon uses a light volatile synthetic base oil as a carrier to transport the sub-micro Teflon between the metal links of the chain. This carrier can eventually flash or evaporate off leaving the slippery micro fine Teflon molecules to do the work of reducing friction. It is a very clean product from an additive perspective and it is not tacky or wet and does not attract dust or dirt. Teflon is a very slippery solid lubricant, however the molecule is not a durable molecule for severe industrial service use...however it is quite suitable for bike chains that are less demanding.

The KryTech also uses a volatile synthetic base oil carrier plus a soluble wax component. Mixed in with the oil and wax is a soluble micro fine Moly additive. Moly is an older technology primarily used for shock load applications as in Extreme Pressure or EP and often misused as an anti-wear additive. When applied to the chain the carrier fluid that transports the wax quickly evaporates and the wax sets-up or solidifies quickly. It then behaves much like a grease would. That is, it acts as a seal to keep water and contaminants out of the metal crevices. The wax also holds the synthetic oil and EP Moly in suspension next to the metal on metal parts and filling any asperities in the metal, thus keeping them apart, reducing friction and wear. The side bar to wax is that it also acts like a damper or cushion, often reducing some of the noise chatter associated with a chain in motion.

I have not used the TeflonDry. It looks like a great product. Although they solve the lube job from slightly different angles they both accomplish similar results. The difference between the two products IMHO look to be negligible to me. Just a preference thingy.

My preference though is the wax and the more durable molybdenum disulfide over the Teflon.

...Well - and I certainly don't mean to start a war here stv :), it was an experiment that I tried and decided to continue. It came about during some work I was doing in the lab, where I noticed that the castor oil was superficially similar to the Cross Country product with regard to viscosity. I then did a bit of reading on its use as a lubricant and decided to give it trial run on my chain (SRAM PC68). 2000 miles later and said chain is still in good condition with little if any wear, despite all weather commuting use. I also like the smooth running and clean shifting it seems to impart to the drive train.

I would venture that the lack of sophisticated additives (the purpose of which I understand) is of limited help to a bicycle chain lubricant that is subjected to extreme levels of moisture and contamination where these agents might be defeated (water in ones engine oil is regarded as very bad news. A simple (and inexpensive) lubricant, replaced often after regular cleaning has served me very well.

Good debate,

Cheers,

Ed

Keeping a chain clean and new oil applied frequently (if you want the chain to last) should be common sense for most people, since you should already know this if you own a car (if you want the car to last).

My humble apologies for coming across so terse. I over stated my case and when I borrowed your "no joke" tag line.

In hindsight, I don't disagree with your observations, Castor oil still is a relatively viable choice. Your cycle uses similar slow moving, low load mechanical technology that cotton ginny's used, which is why Castor was so successfully used then and now still.

This chain lube issue is really overwrought with hand wringing and teeth gnashing. You sir, Ed say it best: "Attention to chain cleanliness is surely more important than which lubricant one uses."

Contamination, whether road grit or water, are greater concerns and detrimental to long chain life than what lube you use. Yak butter, mixed with oil from a Beaver castor gland would work as long as the chain is kept relatively clean from abrasive road grit and corrosive water.

The choices are all over the map, from cheap and dirty to clean and expensive. The "correct" or "best" chain lube to use is really, a moot point.

I agree with the cleanliness thing. :D

Regarding castor oil, two stroke internal combustion engines have been using the stuff for YEARS with good results. It seems to have some real staying power in that high heat, high temperature environment; the castor based oils are known for their ability to keep engine from seizing in extreem conditions. I don't know what this has to do with bike chains, but I find it interesting in an old school kind of way.

My favorate bike chain lubricant is simple motor oil. Yes I know, there are additives in there that are not purpose built for bike chains, but I don't think they hurt either. Oh, and I sprung all the way to the top and bought Mobil One synthetic oil - all of $5 a quart. You only live once. :D

Very similar to my "brew" -- 1 pound paraffin wax and four ounces of Phil's Tenacious oil. Paraffin doesn't have good lubricant properties, you need to put something into it that does.

What I like about this is that the hot wax is so thin that it acts as a cleaner. What I do is heat the wax and drop the dirty chain in. It comes out clean.

This brew doesn't last long in the rain.