rgerve

Baby oil works very well.
But I am opposed to thousands of babies being squished just so I can have a nice drivetrain.

Mchaz

That's why you only apply 1 drop on each bushing, and wipe the chain down afterwards. The oil is in the chain where it needs to be, and not on the sides collecting dirt. A lot of people here swear by motor oil/motor oil concoctions.

Yay, 3 pages.

wroomwroomoops

I am one of them. After the wax experience, I went back to motor oil, and it just put an indelible smile on my face. Sure, you get to clean the chain with a rag or paper tissue every now and then, but that's small price to pay for a smooth, easy ride.

Wogster

I think it depends on how you put it on, if you glop motor oil on your chain, then start riding, then like any lube it's going to attract all kinds of crap. If you use a small amount, and wipe off any excess, then it's probably no worse at attracting crap then anything else.

How long a chain lasts, depends not so much on the kind of lube, but how often you clean and reapply, motor oil is cheap as a lube, so if you clean and reapply say weekly, your only using maybe 5ml of lube every week, a 1L(~1qt) bottle of oil would yield 200 applications (just under 4 years).

Sometimes bike mechanics have alterior motives as well they would much rather you buy the lube they sell in 118ml bottles for $6.00 that lasts 23 applications (over 2 per year), then a lube you can buy at Wally world for $5.00/L - that lasts nearly 4 years.

Guess where I am buying my next bottle of chain lube..... Wonder if I can still get a pump action metal oil can?

SD_Joe

You want to be rellycareful flexing 10 speed chains. There is so little pin extending through that you can easily break the chain or cause a failure on the road. Shimano recommends against that type of flexing.

n4zou

You also need a pack of the big fuzzy pipe cleaners. These are found in the decorating/hobby section in big retail outlets. Not only should you wipe the chain down with a rag to remove all the excess oil on the external parts of the chain but inside the links as well. Simply bend a pipe cleaner to make it double thickness and run it through each link. It will remove all the crud as well as the excess oil. When using bar and chain oil you should apply it and allow it to soak in several hours or overnight before cleaning off all the excess oil.

OLDYELLR

But don't forget a thorough solvent cleaning with the chain off from time time. Road grit will get ground into a fine paste and work its way between the pins and bushings, which is what causes the wear we call "chain stretch".

Sheldon Brown

Well, that's OK if you don't mind doing a slapdash, mono-buttocked job.

For those who care to do it right, the only correct approach is to use your chain tool to drive out each of the rivets, completely disassembling the chain. Then you can clean the vital inside of each roller with a Q-Tip and re-assemble the chain.

Make sure to use a fresh Q-Tip for each roller. Use one end for the initial cleaning, then the other end to rinse the residue out. The best cleaner for this is acetone, but make sure to wear a respirator when working with it.

While the chain is disassembled, you can clean the side plates inside and out with a toothbrush. Just make sure to wash the toothbrush carefully before you use it to brush your teeth afterwards.

Carapace Completed Umber

Ed Holland

Completely unsatisfactory in every regard, not to say Demi-cheeked

Qtips leave lint, and those cotton fibres are well known to have a rapid corrosive effect on steel. If you must use a "contact" cleaning method, then brushes & solvents specified for clean room use are the only acceptable measure.

Personally, I am only satisfied by non contact dirt removal methods, such as plasma cleaning, which is now commonplace in the semiconductor industry and the only way to ensure cleanliness at the microscopic level.


Ed

wroomwroomoops

Well, I don't know anything about that "plasma cleaning", but I know that ultrasonic cleaning equipment is actually becoming quite commonplace in the mechanical industry applications. And even for bicycle chains, such cleaning method would actually work:

ULTRASONIC CLEANING involves the use of high-frequency sound waves (above the upper range of human hearing, or about 18 kHz) to remove a variety of contaminants from parts immersed in aqueous media. The contaminants can be dirt, oil, grease, buffing/polishing compounds, and mold release agents, just to name a few. Materials that can be cleaned include metals, glass, ceramics, and so on.
Typical applications found in the metals industry are removing chips and cutting oils from cutting and machining operations, removing buffing and polishing compounds prior to plating operations, and cleaning greases and sludge from rebuilt components for automotive and aircraft applications.
Ultrasonic cleaning is powerful enough to remove tough contaminants, yet gentle enough not to damage the substrate. It provides excellent penetration and cleaning in the smallest crevices and between tightly spaced parts in a cleaning tank.

Sorry for spoiling the tirade of wisecracks. You may resume now.

Ed Holland

Agreed, ultrasonic cleaning would be great, but is not available to most. A dish washer or laundry machine is something most folks can use to get excellent results, and detergents aside, requires no chemicals. It won't cause any harm to chain or machine

Ed

sivat

I just replace my chain every 17.5 miles. I find it gets too dirty to be efficient by 18 miles, and 17 miles is just wasteful. I'm thinking of switching to metric distances to try to gain more precision.

rmfnla

First shop I wrenched in had a big can filled with motor oil and an old brush. It wasn't elegant but we never had any complaints.

Sometimes the old ways are best (or so I keep telling my wife).

rmfnla

You "right-to-life"ers are so tiresome.

Wait; you're from France. Quick; go surrender to someone!