cyccommute 

Go back and look at magnitude of the range. The chart is showing a range of 4.5 W to 8 W or a total of 3.5 W of difference. “Horrible” is a relative term when speaking of such small differences. In terms of energy, that 2.6 kcal/hr. To put it in food terms, that’s 1/10th of a teaspoon of sugar (500mg). I wouldn’t say that low viscosity is correlated with poor performance at all.

Nor would I say that all low viscosity lubricant have low levels of the lubricant. Rock-n-Roll Gold has about 20 to 40% lubricant. White Lightning Clean Ride and White Lightning Epic have about the same range. Finish Line Wet, to pick one at random, is 50 to 85% oil but it performs “worse” than Rock-n-Roll Gold.

The main takeaway from all this is that the chain lube doesn’t really matter all that much. A chain is cheap. A chain will wear out no matter what you do to it. It’s not worth losing a whole lot of sleep over. If there were one magic lubricant that was vastly superior to the other lubricants, we would all be using that one. But there really isn’t one that performs better than others. They all work well enough on a wear item. From a personal standpoint, I choose the one that requires the least amount of fuss when it comes to maintenance.

buddiiee 

Post counts and post content is completely different. I've already chased 3 scammers out of here, and they were all totally identical in nature; all their content was SUPER broad and SUPER vague. There was never any real substance about ANY of their posts. I could describe it more accurately but I dont want to give any tips to these guys. Every single one of their posts were "What's your favorite seat?" , "How much do you like your bike?" or "Yea,I agree!" I was born at night but not last night. I know when someone's just full of ****. You can also tell that English is a second language for them by how simple they keep their grammar and sentence structure. It's just obvious...

buddiiee 

Actual wear resistance and/or friction reduction are not the same as effort reduction. I just waxed 3 different chains 3 different ways, and those 3 bikes are harder to pedal than the bikes I have a wet lube on. Just to keep people in the know.

terrymorse 

Are these 3 bikes otherwise identical to your “wet lube” bikes?

Hold on, was that sarcasm?

Racing Dan

Does anyone know if Squirt will "re-emulsify" if exposed to (hot?) water or is it a one way street requiring degreaser or solvent to remove it?

prj71

I use this. Much like cycocommute, I no longer have to clean my chain and drivetrain since switching to this. Cleaning and degreasing has become a thing of the past. Never have any grime at all anywhere after hundreds and hundreds of miles of mountain biking, road biking and gravel riding.

https://www.amazon.com/DuPont-Teflon.../dp/B00KMMFE8Y

https://www.amazon.com/DuPont-Chain-...s%2C107&sr=8-1

rydabent

Since I dont ride in the dirt, and always wipe my chain down before each ride. I use Mobile 1, and have little chain grime.

prj71

Even if you don't ride in dirt using an oil based chain lube will pick up fine particles from the road and eventually you will have grime.

Racing Dan

Im not so sure wax isn't also picking up dirt. Testing squirt on a glass plate to see what its like, it dries to consistency very similar to what new chains come packed with (!) - A soft waxy substance that will easily take a finger print and hold on to random "dirt" I could find in my apartment (ground coffee). Agitating with a finger, its readily absorbed into the wax. Im betting, after several applications and several hundred miles a wax lubed chain will be full of dirty wax, just like a chain with factory grease*.

*why is factory lube always referred to as "grease". Im betting it actually is wax. At least there is a video on YT showing how chains are lube at the factory. Looks like a bath of hot wax to my eyes.

Bogey Speedwell

UPDATE, as I read through the feast of the thread I see you answered these questions, thanks.

you use the clean ride? Sound e like, similar to waxing it would be wise to remove and clean the chain thoroughly first, then would it be wise to wax and then use clean ride as a supplement or 100% clean ride product only.

cyccommute 

You can use Clean Ride without cleaning but the chain will be dirtier throughout it’s life. It’s not as dirty as oiled chains but handling the chain will leave your hands black. I clean off the factory lube before use with mineral spirits and then use Clean Ride or, occasionally Rock ‘N’ Roll exclusively. I can then handle the chain as much as I like without it leaving my hands covered in black gunk.

I have tried White Lightning Extreme Ride in the past and it’s got quite a bit more oil in it so it’s a dirtier lubricant. I’ve also tried both Rock ‘N’ Roll Gold and Absolute Dry. Absolute Dry is similar to Clean Ride in cleanliness and Gold is closer to Extreme Ride…i.e. leaves behind black gunk.

cyccommute 

It depends on the formulation and the wax. Waxes come in a range of hardnesses from Vaseline (a soft wax) to hard candle wax to, well, asphalt. If you every cross country skied on wax base skis, you would understand that better. Wax for 0°F is super hard while waxes for 35°F are super sticky. Klister is even softer. The formulation of different wax lubricants depends the wax used. The wax for Squirt is a very soft wax while Clean Ride uses a much harder wax.

It is, and I’ve mentioned that before numerous times. But people, generally, have little understanding of chemistry and call things by various incorrect names all the time. Don’t get me started on the difference between “clear” and “colorless” or “scale” and “balance”! I can hear Dr. Salzman every time someone uses those terms incorrectly.

And I just love ads at gas stations for “pure gasoline”!

rumrunn6

reminds of when ppl refer to "aspirin" for a headache, when they mean anything for a headache, including but not limited to, ibuprofen or acetaminophen

Racing Dan

If factory lube is in fact wax (I believe it is), then why would the Squirt manufacturer recommend stripping the chain before application? I says right on the bottle to remove factory grease completely. However I see no reason to believe squirt is incompatible with factory lube. In its dried form it closely resembles the sticky stuff on a new chain and to a lesser degree, but not far off, what is found in the old school MC melt wax tins.

cyccommute 

It’s not that the lubricant is incompatible with the factory lubricant. Nothing used as a chain lubricant really is incompatible with that lubricant. But leaving the factory lubricant in place may lead to inconsistent or undesirable results. I used to use White Lightning over the factory lubricant without any performance issues. However, the chain was far dirtier when doing so. The solvent in most any chain lubricant is insufficient to clean off all of the old lubricant so you end up with things being a bit messier than if you clean the chain throughly first.

Just to be clear, I’m not cleaning my chains any more than just shaking it in mineral spirits for about a minute. The elaborate 500 set cleaning regimens that some people use for chain cleaning is entirely unnecessary. Keep it simple. It’s all that is needed.

duffer1960

Forgive if this classic Sheldon Brown spoof was already mentioned - https://www.sheldonbrown.com/chainclean.html

Racing Dan

Thats about what I was thinking. Im striving to do as little drive train maintenance as I can get away with too. No more washing or stripping chains for me. Im down to wiping the chain and cogs with a microfiber cloth before lubing. Sometimes with a bit of solvent, paint thinner or the like, to get rid of black gunk and build up on the chain rings and jockeys. If I get a decent chain life Im happy with that. We'll see.

Racing Dan

Spot on! haha :-)