Kapusta

Is the sound like a "kee kee kee kee" or more of a "shlur-shlur-shlur-shlur"?

Marcus_Ti

"Coming up next on the third-half of Bike-Talk..."

bcpriess

Just sayin'. Chainsaw lube works on a chain that runs way faster and hotter than any bicycle chain ever will, and maintains its lubrication as it cuts through wood. I've been using it on HG chain for 3000 miles without incident. Shifts smooth, runs quiet, maintains link spacing. You should try it.

DrIsotope

Chainsaw Bar Oil is like 95-99% mineral oil, with the rest being whatever that brand uses as modifiers to make the oil stick to the chain, but wood not... stick. I could go on, but I will instead just put up a quote from this very site, from back in 2012.

Witterings

Chainsaws obviously have a reservoir that provide a slow and constant feed of oil to the chain as opposed to a single application that's expected to last .... maybe that's the answer to provide a reservoir and drip feed on a bike that's powered by pedaling

u235

I spray my cassette down with Blaster Teflon dry lube. $4 everywhere. It leaves a white powder behind but seems to keep stuff from sticking for a few hundered miles. Chain lube? Read any of the 6192 chain lube threads here.

No matter what you do... off road dust and dirt from off road riding will always be more than a roadie only bike. It is what it is and nature of the concept.

TimothyH

There are several battery operated oilers on the market and this bike from 1937 has a chain oiler.

1937 Claud Butler Tour d'Agleterre road bike at Classic Cycle | Classic Cycle Bainbridge Island Kitsap County

Then there is this...

DrIsotope

u235

Based on the chainline dip in the front, that is either an illusion or there were once front derailleurs that functioned like the current rear derailleurs?

bcpriess

You guys recall that the OP's goal is to keep the drivetrain clean? Which is something a release agent does. As in bar and chain oil? Telling you, it works. You don't need to buy Super Mega Gravel Bike Chain Oil ™ to get the job done.

HTupolev

That's a tension pulley. The arm is attached near the bottom bracket and swings backwards, rather than being part of the rear derailleur. The rear derailleur itself is mounted to the bottom of the chainstay, and works by pushing the chain from the side, a bit like a modern front derailleur. I *think* that the bike is using an Osgear Super Champion; you should google it, it's more obvious how it works if you look at a picture from the side.
Some comparable racing rear derailleurs from that era were mounted on the seat stay or the top of the chainstay and affected the upper run of the chain, which meant that you had to backpedal to shift.

Witterings

Ohhh I love it ... can I buy one of those at the LBS and how do they cope with single track

TimothyH

What everyone misses in that shot is the guys legs. Look at his legs. I can't decide if they are gorgeous or grotesque.

Apologies to everyone for going off topic. We were talking about keeping a chain clean and I thought of the guy leaning out of the car to pour oil on the chain.

Please all read post number 7 by user Spoonrobot. He has more experience than many of us put together. I'm going to try the Finish Line Dry which he recommends.


-Tim-

Cyclist0108

That's true. All you need is some inexpensive paraffin wax.

NewATBikeComute

Experimenting with wax, on my commuter (80's Trek mountain bike). Started with an old chain, so needed plenty of cleaning.

Lasted about 2 weeks including some rain inbetween dusty/pollen conditions, was super quiet until suddenly it wasn't. Just re-waxed it this weekend, and today's ride was super quiet and smooth.

Previously, used a fairly heavy bike oil that was hard to wipe down, and was a dirt magnet, but did not wash off with occasional rain. Made a mess with dress pants, though. Wax is 100% clean.

Going to start over, but using a brand new chain now that I feel I have the technique down.

superstring

Sure wax is clean but what I don't understand is that, once the wax is displaced, it won't flow back into the area that needs lubrication. No?

DrIsotope

The wax, being dry, doesn't displace so far as I can tell. I just swapped out an Ultegra 11-speed chain when I changed cassette and chainrings, and the chain had zero wear after over 4,000 miles. Wax is dry, so it doesn't carry contaminants into the rollers. If the wax wasn't continually acting as a lubricant, I would think the chain would show wear.

Spoonrobot 

I don't believe a chain can be ridden on a bicycle for 4,000 miles and show zero wear. Wax isn't magic. There is enough contact between the moving parts of the chain to cause wear even in chains that are completely sealed. They wear extremely slowly but they still wear.

When I raced, I waxed my track bike chain so I could grab it and swap rings and cogs without getting my hands dirty. It worked ok but the chain would lose all the wax over the course of a 20 mile race night. By the end the rollers would be floating free and the chain would rattle while pedaling. The only wax left would be on the outside of the plates here and there. Close examination and disassembly of a link showed no wax on the bearing surfaces. This was with regular paraffin wax as well as molten speed wax.

DrIsotope

Shimano HG701 chain, 4,300 miles.



Link to unedited fullsize image of chain

I would say that in all honesty, it's not zero wear-- I reckon there's somewhere ~1/64" (0.4mm) of wear over 12" of chain. I replaced the chain from my 1X bike at 4,900 miles (also cassette change, chain not worn out.) I don't plan on future drivetrain changes, so I'll get to see how long the current chains go before needing replacement. I'll likely find out sometime in 2019.

If you were getting chain noise after 20 miles, I dunno what to tell ya. I routinely go 150-200 miles between dips, and the chain is silent the whole time.

Spoonrobot 

I think that shows more wear than 1/64.

Regardless, I didn't see you mention what wax you were using? I would like to re-try and see if my results are different this time.

DrIsotope

The stuff you buy to make candles. From the Hobby Lobby. Plain old paraffin wax. I put some peppermint candle scent in it so my workshop smells like mints, which reminds me to turn the stupid crockpot off when I'm done with it.

shakey start

I like that idea...I have to put mine in a prominent location so I'll notice it's on. Maybe I should put it on a timer???

DrIsotope

Gulf Wax is too fancy! Mine came in a massive 10lb sheet that says GENERAL PURPOSE CANDLE MAKING WAX. I use right around 1.5lbs per year to maintain 4 bikes, so I reckon $20 worth of wax will last at least 6 years.

redlude97

Chain elongation should be measured under tension

cyccommute 

Hello. That would be me. I would like to point out a few things. First, I didn't say that you "did it incorrectly". I may have said that having to apply it every 100 miles is incorrect. It lasts a lot longer than many people think. Yes, your drivetrain is a bit louder but once you accept that you'll find that you chains last just about a long as most they do with every other lubricant.

Second, no bicycle chain lubricant "washes off". All of them are made of hydrophobic materials that don't dissolve in water. They can be displaced by water but they don't "wash" off. Additionally, low viscosity chain lubricants...aka "oils"...are more likely to be displaced by water than a high viscosity chain lubricant like wax.

That brings us to why people think wax "washes" off. Yes, wax can't flow. If there is some gap in the lubrication, water can oxidize the metal of the chain and cause a bit of squeaking. Oils do flow so they don't develop gaps in the lubrication but they aren't perfect. The problem is that the oil only masks the oxidation of the metal by the water. When you spray water on the chain and move the chain through the drivetrain, you are mixing the oil and the water into an emulsion. Once you stop moving, the oil and water separate and the water is now in contact with the metal surface where it can rust the chain with wild abandon. Once you start to move the drivetrain again, the oil and water will just re-emulsify. The rust is still there, it just doesn't squeak like wax will. In actuality, you should relubricate after riding in the rain no matter what lubricant you are using.

There is also the issue of grit. Oil based lubricants act as a perfect mechanism to trap grit and transport it down into the chain. Have you ever asked yourself why you can put on a slightly brown, clear liquid and you end up with a black, cloudy liquid? The "black" bits of the liquid are metal particles being ground off the internal workings of the chain, the chainrings and the cogs. The "gunk" on an oiled chain is just a mixture of oil, metal particles and sand. The metal particles are the important bit since that is where the "wear" on the drivetrain is going.

I'm not saying that wax...whether solvent deposited or melt deposited...is better at keeping wear down since both oil and wax will give similar chain mileage. There is likely two different wear mechanism going on here...grit for oil and just metal to metal for wax...but the big difference is that the wax lubricant doesn't leave you will a black icky mess.

As for the wax used, candle wax and canning wax aren't the best choices. Both are far to hard...i.e. have too high a viscosity. They should be softened with a softer wax like petroleum jelly. Factory lubricant is much closer to petroleum jelly than canning wax. White Lightning has similar properties to the factory lubricant than does canning wax.

Finally, most people (I'm not one of them) will gush endlessly about the superiority of the factory lubricant. But ask yourself: Which is closer to factory lubricant, wax or oil?