I'm running out of the last oil I bought and am thinking of trying something different.

Has anyone used 3-IN-ONE oil on their bike in the summer? How well has it worked for you?
On the can it says it lubricates, cleans and prevents rust.
It is quite light, penetrates to the chain rivets quickly, and doesn't hold road grime if the excess is wiped off.

My other choice right now is to make up a mineral spirits / automotive oil mixture.
Previous posts have a range of concentrations from 1 part oil to 2 parts mineral spirits all the way to 1 part oil to 4 parts mineral spirits. Maybe I should split the difference and go with a 3 to 1 mix. The recommended oil varies from 10W30 to 70W gear oil and synthetic oil is often recommended. The thinner mixes would be great for cleaning the drivetrain, but do they leave enough oil behind to act as a lubricant? Does the mineral spirits evaporate so you should not have to wipe the excess off? Does the mix separate when you leave it on the shelf so it has to be shaken up before you use it?

Your experience and opinions?

Why not go buy a bottle of chain lube? If you must make your own just use some good old 75W-90 gear oil. BTW 3-in-one is useless as a chail lube. NOW, if you want the best get a bottle of Chain-L........

3in1 is a very light machine oil, just buy chain lube, dry TriFlow.
So there's still the 3 theme going on.

3 in One is a brand name on multiple products.

FRom the MSDS for their multipurpose oil:

Composition/Information on Ingredients
Severely Hydrotreated Heavy Naphthenic Oil >97%
Proprietary Additive Mixture<3%

For whatever it's worth.

"3-in-One" (the original product, now called "Multi-Purpose Oil") debuted during the first great bike boom in 1894, making it one of the oldest cycling products you can still buy. The oil was originally intended for bicycle chains, and the name indicated it "1) cleaned, 2) lubricated and 3) rust proofed", hence, 3-in-One. Chain lube is something of a religion, but after 115 years, 3-in-One is still not a bad choice for chain lubrication.

Fun fact: In the 1920s, pioneer American Birth control advocate Margaret Sanger was married to then president of the 3-in-One Oil company, J. Noah Slee. She smuggled illegal European-made diaphragms into the USA in secretly coded barrels of the citronella oil imported by 3-in-One.

Interesting info about 3-in-one. Makes me want to buy their products, just because. FWIF, I use one part motor oil to 3 parts mineral spirits. I can't imagine that dino or synthetic matters in a bike application.

I don't think that it matters.

If you haven't figured out by now you are shortly going to find that chain lubes, like politics and religion, is a topic that people have strongly held but mutually exclusive opinions.

By the way - why do you want to "try something else" just because you're running out of what you have? "If it ain't broke - ..........."

chain lube works great.

palmolive, crisco and acetone 20/20/60.

Olive oil may lessen your bike's risk of developing heart disease.

oh, i thought we were talking about homeade incendiaries, sorry. I call this 'napalm plus'. should be fine for bike chains though.

you have to take the antioxidants into account if you are going that route. Under these conditions I prefer to use a drop of CoQ10 on the pins, and a mix of vitamin e and omega3's on the side plates. To do otherwise is medically irresponsible.

For maximum flavor I frequently recommend paul newman organic olive vinagrette, though, so Im not completely discounting your advice.