Wake

Here's a picture of the master link off my 1/8" chain after putting >5k miles on it. It was still in spec, but starting to make some crunchy noises, and I figured what the hey it's got FIVE THOUSAND MILES on it!!!

All I've ever done to it is a put drop of TriFlow on each link every few hundred miles, or after riding in the rain. I wipe the exterior junk off, but no soaking, brushing, chain-cleaning machines.

Burton

On the other hand, you've probably lubed that chain FAR more frequently than most riders, and cleaning the outside junk off actually qualifies as 'cleaning a chain'. So maybe you're a more obsessive chain cleaner than you think.

Its OK - I'm sure there are lots of other secret chain cleaners who want to come out of the closet too.

HillRider

I almost never remove and soak a chain. I wipe off the exterior with a rag, lube/clean it with a home-brew of OMS and Mobile 1, wipe it off again and relube. Takes maybe 2 minutes about once a week. I get over 8,000 miles on a chain before the "stretch" approaches 1/8" over 24 pins (nominally 12").

Jed19

Yea, OMS and Mobil 1 combo was the best lube I ever used in terms of drivetrain quiteness, but it gets dirty real quick. Did I mention that it get real dirty (a real dirt magnet).

Lascauxcaveman 

Every bike I own has the chain it came with. After a really wet ride, (or several, if it's that season) I'll hose it down with WD-40, wipe clean with a rag, and drip a little oil on it. Otherwise, eh, I just leave it alone unless it looks like it's getting rusty.
________

I mean, how bad can it get?

(From a donated bike I rehabilitated for my local bike giveaway charity. Forty minutes with a can of WD-40 and two pairs of vise grips before that chain would even think about going through the rear derailleur. Should I have just tossed it instead? Sure, but I wanted to see if it could be done

Mondo734

Yea I use oms and full synthetic motor oil too, works great. I usually oil and clean every couple weeks unless it looks like its getting really dirty.

LanEvo

What is the best type of oil for chains? Anyone have any recommendations? Like an All Season oil or do they only come in dry and wet?

ben4345

Oh noes, another lube question!

DiabloScott

Abortion, gun control, universal health care.

ben4345

C'mon, don't be mean.

Kimmo

Yeah, those are all no-brainers in the civilised world

...Just quietly, I'm not sure a 1/8th chain is going to reveal all the bad things that can happen with chain wear compared to a 10spd chain.

ben4345

Once a week?

robo

Yeah, i think wiping the chain down and lubing it qualifies as cleaning. I used to use a chain cleaner and degreaser back in the day, but it now strikes me as counterproductive - you're deliberately working water and detergents inside the chain links, where you really just want oil, and certainly not detergents designed to break down the oil. Now I just use a thin lube (ProLink) and wipe occasionally, and it seems fine. I also tend to do this only when I start to notice an increase in noise from the drivetrain, nowhere near as often as once a week.

danmc

After a ride I use a degreaser and a chain brush to clean the chain, then rinse the bike off with a hose, then leave out to dry. Then I add lube each time I ride.

Is this good or bad? I think I'm liking the WD-40 wash down method.

BTW, anyone who supports abortion is just...is just...

delcrossv

OMS= Odorless Mineral Spirits?

eddy m

FWIW in industrial applications, the conventional approach is not to clean roller chains ever, add oil when they squeak, and replace them (along with the cogs) when them stretch 6%. Probably the efficiency drops off when wear exceeds 2% or so, but that's not so important when you're driving it with electric motors.

em

bobotech

I use baby seal oil which is acquired on the black market. Its infused with spotted owl polymers.

Kimmo

IMO most attempts at cleaning are likely to make it worse; I think the key is to keep it pretty dry by wiping it down a lot after oiling, and that way it shouldn't pick up crud so fast it ever needs a bath...

As for cleaning it properly, the only way I can think of is to have it submerged in solvent, circulating around a bunch of small pulleys and subjected to high-pressure blasts of solvent (and maybe air?) for like ten minutes or maybe half an hour. It's a pretty tough ask, when you think about it.

Oh, and depending how dirty the chain is, before hitting it with solvent, I'd dust it off with an old paintbrush or something if it's really rank, then I'd wipe it down with a rag. Because all the solvent is going to let a lot of that crud inside the chain...

ben4345

I did an experiment with my brothers chain in some solvent (OMS). He has the same thought as you should rarely ever need to clean it but lube often enough. We took his chain off, and put into a container with some oder less mineral spirits. We shook in the the container, then poured out the used solvent through a coffee filter/funnel set up that poured into a clear cup. We waited for the majority of the chain dirt to settle. Then we took a strong magnet and placed it under the cup and too see how much of that black/dark gray crud was metal and pulled it up. We were both amazed how much of that crap stuck to the magnet.
Some of that metal is from your chain, that metal is also equally as hard as your chain. That means that metal will act as a sand paper inside your chain and cause a lot of wear.

dddd

Those metal particles are relatively harmless. Much of it is oxidized, which offers sacrificial lubrication against galling under extreme-pressure contact, protecting wear surfaces.

The real problem with dirt occurs when an over-oiled condition exists, such that sand/silica (which is infinitely more abrasive than wear particles) is attracted to the chain's exterior and subsequently recirculated through the wear zone inside the chain.
Only scant lubrication is required on modern chains, which have much more advanced metallurgy these days, and which is reflected in many of today's bike-specific lube formulations.

My experience with using a variety of lubes (containing ample dilution solvents) is that the post-lube wipe-down is all the cleaning that the chain ever requires, with lubing formulas and frequency being heavily dependent on riding conditions. The relatively scant amount of lube that remains on the chain tends not to recirculate exterior grit into the link/pin pivots.

Today's chains are very long-lasting, although some 10-speed systems are sensitive to the point that a newer chain can provide shifting improvements long before even 1/2 of 1% chain wear (1/16" per foot) has occurred (usually it's the bikes with 11-28t cassettes that struggle to achieve an easy adjustment that provides robust shifting across the whole cassette range).

I want to add that heavily rusted chains tend to break quite easily, so should be discarded before being put into stressful service.

FBinNY 

There's no one answer to best chain care methods, or lube (not even Chain-L).

There are a number of considerations and the goal is to find a balance that makes the most sense for you. You can improve the life of chain by being anal about clean and lube, but there's a time cost. So you have to decide how much time you'll put in to save X dollars. If you're unemployed and riding expensive chains, this analysis will be very different than if you're a doctor, who after working, then coming home to fill out insurance/medicare paperwork, would rather spend the remaining time with your family. Especially if riding $20.00 chains.

BTW- the OP's chain appears to be a typical 1/2x1/8" SS chain, probably of classic (bushing) construction. If so, 8,000 miles is nothing, these last much longer than narrow 10s derailleur chains regardless of what you do, or don't do.

ben4345

It's still amazing how much metal there was. And makes me wonder how much of that is from the chain.

FBinNY 

100%.

Where else do you think ferrous (magnetic) particles on a chain might come from? Cosmic dust?

trout_smith

It depends on what type of riding you're doing. I ride a lot of dry dusty/sandy singletrack and eventually, some grit will get inside the chain. then it sounds like someone is shaking a tin can full of nuts and bolts when I'm pedaling. So a few times a year, I remove the chain, shake it up in an old water bottle full of mineral spirits, rinse, lube 2-3 times, and wipe the outside of the chain.

Most of the time I just do what the OP did, I just don't take the time to put a single drop on each roller anymore. Steady stream and pedal until it *feels* like there's enough lube on there, and good to go

Jseis 

Interesting. Won't work on the Pacific NW Coast with pouring rain, sand & salt that'll have your chain vibrating your teeth after a week in winter weather. Hose rinse and mild blow dry with air nozzle is the only way to get the grit out on a regular basis (w/o dismantle), then WD 40, then blow dry again, then lube every roller. That works for 5-6 days. All my stainless steel fasteners eventually rust, powder coat gets slowly eaten. Regular maintenance on a chain might make it last 4k miles. If I I let a bike chain sit uncleaned and not lubed, it'll start rusting in days. The salt air, high humidity, 40's dew point and high carbon steel equals disaster for the uncared for bike. Particularly carbon steel fasteners in aluminum.