Chain Lube
 

Has anyone ever tried Super Slick lubricant on their chain? I have been spraying it on my chain and wiping it off every 100 miles or so. It seems to work ok. It doesn't seem to attract dirt. Just curious if anyone else has tried it?

Don't be offended by this, but why do you care? You seem to be enjoying success with it, and that's all that matters.

Chain lube opinions are like religion, with everyone being absolutely convinced that they have the one true correct answer. I'm an agnostic on the issue, even though I make chain lube, because if I've learned one thing over the last 45 years it's that there's no one perfect chain lube - even mine.

Besides lubing the chain, chain lube has to meet the personal needs of the bike's owner and this varies tremendously depending on how and where he rides, the weather he rides in, and his own preferences in terms of maintenance.

The acid test of your stuff is how long your chain lasts (some peoples can last 10,000 miles regardless of what they use, and others have trouble getting 3,000 miles no matter what they use and how diligently they maintain them. If the chain wear is OK and you're happy with this lube, then nothing else matters, regardless of what others may say.

I was just wondering if anyone had a negative experience with it. I've only used it 3 times.

I understand that, but there are so many variables that the answer won't matter. The experience of others doesn't apply good or bad, because their situations or tastes may be so different. You might as well say "I just tried lobster for the first time, and sort of like it, has anyone tried lobster, and what do you think?".

There are two considerations in chain lube, the superficial, such as ease and frequesncy of application, how clean it seems to be, etc. and the mechanical, how long does your chain last. For most people only the superficial matters because it takes them so long to wear out a chain anyway. It's only those who ride at least a few thousand miles per year that actually need to worry about chain and cassette life, and if you're one of those you'll have your answer soon enough.

Pickleballer,
You should check out www.chain-l.com, if nothing else it will give you the opportunity to try another chain lube out. What FBinNY says is true, if you like the lubricant and are happy with the results, keep using it.

On the other hand, if you do a bit of research, you'll find that a lubricant that will penetrate and STAY inside the links of the chain is (maybe my opinion) superior. I tried some thinner tri lube type lubricants and still do use them, but not on my chain. I could always hear dirt in the chain as well as the need to constantly lubricate the chain after being ridden in the rain (or snow).

Please note, I don't know FB, I only ordered, paid for the product, and used it. I really like it. It nearly eliminated the chain noise I had, and now I only wipe down the chain after riding in the rain.

I wish you luck in finding your ideal chain lube.

Joe

Can we somehow instantly delete any threads with the words "chain" and "lube" or "lubricant" in the title and immediately route the potential poster to a search fucntion which has already plugged in the term "chain lube"? Note that this should be done even in the event that new lubes are created -- it's just too annoying to bother with making exceptions.

The same goes for the terms "what bike should I buy" together in a thread title.

Easier to just NOT CLICK on the thread, if you don't want to be bothered.

You could simply ignore these threads. They can't be creating all that much clutter on your computer screen, and you wouldn't even have to bear the annoyance of dealing with exceptions unless you wanted to.

There will always be new people on this forums with questions that have been asked and answered thousands of times. But that would have been before they discovered the forum, so they wouldn't know that.

OTOH- we could eliminate this section entirely and replace it with a link to the Park Tool or some other site, then you would be annoyed at all.

Chain lube is very important to some bicycle owners.

Okay, fair enough. Sorry. You're right.

I'm blaming this on post-dental surgery recovery. I'm good now ;). Carry on.

OP: Are you applying it "liberally" or essentially all-over the chain itself or just into each individual roller? This will make a huge difference in the amount of stuff you pick up and probably the usefulness of the lubricant.

That said, I seldom do anything to my chains because I'm lazy and around here, I seem to only get a handful of extra miles out of one even with routine TLC. I think I pick up a lot of grit though on my daily commute, so YMMV.

Did they cut off the good drugs too soon?

Lube is not intended to go on the outside of the chain, it's intended to go inside the chain, inside the chain where the pin touches the roller. This penetration can only be accomplished by liquiid drops.

Does the chain lube lubricate the freewheel cogs and the chain rings or do they not require any lubricant?

There's always a film of lube on the outside of the chain, between the plates of the inner link, and on the rollers which is enough to meet the lubrication needs of the chainrings, and cassette.

Believe it or not, they did actually. My upper wisdom tooth came out with a small piece of jaw bone attached to it, and I guess this tends to delay the normal healing time a bit and adds to the recovery pain.

I went back and got my dose increased a bit -- and no, I'm really not kidding ;).