I ride thirty to fifty miles a week , mostly dry conditions . Sometimes if it has rained but not currently raining I’ll get a ride in while roads are wet.

with that said what type of lube should I get?
dry or wet etc?
also what brand?
my degreaser is choice is muc off fyi when cleaning dried train

Lube is a highly controversial subject. I've tried a lot of lubes and they all have their pros and cons. The worst lube I've used was Dumonde Tech, while it did last long between applications but it was wearing out my chains and gears fast, about 3 times faster than any other lube I ever used!! That surprised me because a number of people on various forums use it for their touring bikes, so I tried it on two different bikes, it was horrible.

Right now, I'm trying Silca Super Secret drip on wax lube, not sure if I like it or not, time will tell. But prior to those two lubes I was using Rock N Roll Absolute Dry, and it worked pretty good, it holds up sort of well even in rain. Prior to using Rock N Roll I used Finish Line Dry, I can't remember too much about it but I think I recalled that it seemed to act similar to Rock N Roll Absolute Dry, but the Finish Line got the chain dirtier, and I had to clean the chain more. I used the Finish Line product over 15 years ago so they may have changed the formula since then. According to tests, for whatever those are worth, the Silca Super Secret Drip wax lube had the lowest wear on chains, so I'm going to see how that goes.

Here's the odd part, I put that Silca Super Secret wax lube into a Pedro's Pig II Chain Cleaning Machine! Yep, this cleaning machine holds less fluid than others thus wastes less lube, stick it on the chain and spin the crank and it puts a nice coat of wax all over the chain, but for this to work the best I removed the foam wiper from the end of the machine. I was using an old Park Cyclone cleaner but it wasted too much lube in the tank, but it's faster and more complete lube application than one drop per roller technique everyone does.

As far as a chain cleaner goes, most probably work pretty well, I use a combination of two things. First, I use the Finish Line Pro Chain Cleaner, it got the highest marks for cleaning better than others; I fill that cleaner with Muc Off drive train cleaner which also got high reviews; once that is done, I give the chain a blast of White Lightening Clean Streak spray cleaner.

I'm not saying my way is the best way, but before using Dumonde Tech, and doing the stuff I mentioned above, I was averaging 10,000 to 12,000 miles on a chain and 3 times that on the cassette gears, with Dumonde that dropped down to just 2,000 miles on the chain and gears! Anyway, I'm hoping to get my chain and gear life back up again.

This thread will probably turn into an insult-fest, as people hold their lubes like their kids.
I've yet to find the perfect lube, right now using Squirt (wax based), just for the fact it does not collect grime like oil based
YouTube has several interesting videos on chain lube reviews, they might offer you better information

Paraffin.

One day, you will thank me.

I use White Lightning Wet Ride, old school stuff that attracts dirt, turns anything it touches black, is impervious to rain, and destroys drivetrains if you don't clean the chain regularly. It's not the best at anything except perhaps repelling water. I have another year's worth, at which time I'll look for something else. This is the stuff that puts an impossible to remove chainring tat on your calf.

https://road.cc/content/review/31027...ide-chain-lube

I don't recommend this to anyone who doesn't ride or live in a rainforest or near the sea. Or both, like me.

I wouldn't obsess over it. Everything I've used over the years (Boeshield T9, Rock n Roll Gold, air tool oil, Jumbo Lube, ProLink, White Lightning, synthetic gear oil, Squirt, DuPont Chain Saver spray, and probably a few others) has been fine as long as it is used frequently enough. I mostly use Squirt on my mountain bikes because the trails here are really dusty (also on my gravel bikes) and synthetic gear oil on my road bike.

Baby oil



wait, wrong forum




I am using an unknown red liquid out of an old performance bike bottle lubricant.

as long as you’re using some lube, the choice of lube is relatively unimportant. I’ve used everything from 3-in1 to motor oil to chainsaw bar oil to bike-specific lubes to hot wax. They all do the job. Use whatever you have in your garage

NFS=best chain lube ever. Note that I have no kids.

I would recommend a wax-based drip lube such as Silca SS or Squirt. They keep your drivetrain cleaner than oil-based lubes and attract less dirt.

Just remember that they need at least 12 hours to dry after application, so not the kind of lube you can use directly pre-ride.

Use whatever you want. When you ride in the wet, put a box fan or something near your bike to move air around it after you quickly towel off any really wet spots. Moving air will dry out the places you can't get to with a towel.

Hey look! A lube thread!

I haven't had Squirt since the 80's.

Maybe YKW will start a waving thread.

Off the shelf or from Diddy?

Motor oil. I started using an old bottle of 80W manual transmission oil, I've since switched to a bottle of 5/20W engine oil. Both seem to do the job nicely. Don't stress over it. I don't have kids, nor a dog (I won't turn into a raging "pet parent" on you).

Yeah I just recently acquired a couple of bikes which I cleaned up & adjusted, and I used 0W-20 motor oil on the chains.

Before we offer any more excellent suggestions, we need to ascertain whether the OP is lubing his chain, his bottom bracket, his bottom (chamois), or his freshly shaven legs.

Off the shelf since demand has dried up due to Diddy's current situation..... I don't think his added "chemicals" will help a bike drivetrain, but who knows.

Go down to your local shop get the lube they recommend or just spin a wheel with all the different bike specific lubes on it and pick one. Honestly I use wax lube for all my chains get one your local shop likes and it will probably be great. Don't overthink it and if you have questions just look in one of the thousands of other lube threads and I am sure it will have been answered.

1 lb canning wax
1 gram Molybdenum Disulfide
5 grams PTFE powder (I might have used 3, the recipe I just found says 5).

Put that in a small, dedicated crock pot. After ~500 miles or one wet ride, or when putting on a new chain, clean the chain as necessary (I've used gasoline for grease, HOT water for a dusty previously waxed chain, straight into the wax if it's just had the wax worn off). Set the chain on top of the cold wax in the pot, turn it on, and wait for the wax to melt completely. Stir gently, then pull the chain out and hang it so that it drips into the crock pot. When the wax has hardened (a couple of hours) bend each link manually and then put the chain back on the bike.

To answer OP's question, there is no one lube that will work best for both dry riding and sorta-kinda-wet riding.

I don't think there's a really bad chain lube. Pick one. If that conflicts with analysis paralysis, @veganbikes suggestion to ask your LBS which one they prefer is almost as good as a dartboard with lube names on it.

I see what you did there.

We know where corn oil comes from, and we know where olive oil comes from, but they won't say where baby oil comes from...