Chain lube. Drivetrain tricks & tips.
 

What've you found to be the best chain lube out there for city riding?
Aside from dialing in the line and tension, any more tricks for that perfect, fast, buttery-smooth ride?
I've been using red Rock'n'Roll after degreasing (chainring, chain, cog) with Simple Green weekly.
Seems fine in the warm, dry climes of Southern California, but I'm curious about others' experiences.

I used White Lightning for a while on an old Mountain Bike. Worked great until it got cold. Based on my LBS recommendation, I just cleaned up my chain on my 29" and lubed it with ProLink. That stuff does make for a quiet ride. My 29" is pretty well maintained so I didn;t notice a huge difference. It made a huge improvement on my GF's Crappy costco Motiv.

This is a minority opinion, but I don't advocate degreaser for chains. You're never going to get it all flushed out of there, and the hardest places to get it out of are the worst places for it to be. I degrease by just flushing with whatever lube I'm using and wiping it down, repeat until the stuff coming off is not black. You will blow through a lot of lube, but so what? If you really want to give it the 20oz bottle shake bath, use 95% isopropyl.

In SoCal you're going to get lots of dust, so a wax-based lube makes more sense. Anything but white lightning, though, as you can look at the bottle of that stuff and see that the wax is in suspension, not solution. Let it dry overnight, and apply outdoors if possible -- the solvents in that stuff are some nasty shizz, gives me a headache almost every time.

i use finish line cross country in the colder wetter months. it keeps things rolling smoothly in adverse conditions. the downside is that it picks up a ton of dirt, so i have to relube and clean somewhat regularly. i really like ice wax otherwise

I recently switched from White Lightning to Purple Extreme and have been very happy thus far...attaching link if anyone wants to read the propaganda. I was satisfied with the W.L. except that it shed (self cleaning) bits of gunk on my formerly almost-white carpet...six bikes makes for a bunch 'o' junk falling off.

http://purpleextreme.com/index.html

As for degreasing chains, it's easy if you have a Wipperman/SRAM/etc with quick link...give it a good bath in degreaser and then a complete rinse takes away all the degreaser. I'm not sure I believe it, but there are stories of Simple Green eating chains when they've been left to soak for too long...I know it's not as cost-effective as S.G., but I always use Finish Line citrus.

cliffs notes.......

i use forum lube. i'm a cheap bastard.

i use simple green to degrease. i haven't ever had it eat one of my chains before.

Related question, I'll be starting to build a new ride over the next week. I'm just waiting for all the boxes to make it to my house. What's the best to clean off any shipping oil on a new chain? I've got most of a bottle of Ornj Peels at the house.

Phil Wood Tenacious + WD40.

Clean chain (I usually use dish soap).
Apply Phil's to each link, spin cranks a couple dozen times
Apply WD-40 generously to a rag.
Wipe excess Phils off of chain with WD-40 soaked rag.

Cheap, long-lasting, no BS.

I am very fond of DumondTech Chainlube.

WD-40 attracts dust like no other. I wouldn't use it in dry climates.

on my geared bike i have been using pedro's x-tra dry lube for a couple of years...great stuff
pedro's atb synlube for my fixie, it works well, but i have noticed that it picks up more crud than the dry lube
finish line stuff is good too, but i can't find it since i moved here

X2 for WL but only if used right. It carries wax into the bushings and as the solvent evaporates, the wax picks up internal grit and is squished out of your chain as you ride. Not good for carpets, but very good for long chain life and quiet running gear (if it's above 50 degrees outside)

I've been cleaning my chain about once a week this winter, mainly to get the sand and salt out of it - not easy. i do the following:

- spray chain with BioCleaner and give it a quick wipe to get a good deal of surface gunk off

- run the chain through pedro's chain cleaner a couple of times. this flexes the rollers and loosens the internal grit up.

- remove chain and soak in degreaser for about an hour giving it the occasional shake. this is to dissolve the lube/gunk in and around the rollers that's holding the sand

- rinse thoroughly in hot water. nothing should be holding the sand at this point, so this should get whatever's left out. this also removes degreaser residue.

- let dry

aside from the hour the chain soaks, it takes about 10 minutes to do the rest. it most definately gets the crunchies out. if i'm going to dry lube my chain, i rinse the chain with 95% rubbing alcohol.

Another vote for Pedro's. I stand by the Ice Wax throughout the year either on or off road. It seems that on the fixed side the grime is less of a problem than on the multishiftingthingofabobs.

On the subject of White Lightening, I think alot depends on the bottle that you picked up at your LBS/Mail Order Stop. My last bottle is just snot. Shake it up but it comes out it refuses to cover the bushing/link.

I agree. I've yet to find a single reliable way to remove degreaser from a chain. A friend of mine uses kerosene (not recommended), which evaporates pretty quickly, but it's kerosene, who wants to use that?

I use purple extreme, and clean my chain every morning before I get on the bike.

I don't even bother cleaning my chain. I keep it clean with a rag and add a drop of Pedro's Syn Lube ATB to each link ... let it soak, spin the pedals for and aft (its a fixie) then wipe off excess and whatever black schmutz comes off with it. I have a Park cog brush thing (it has the black bristles on one side and the curved plastic tooth thing on the other side) that helps dig out the winter crunchy stuff. I use cheap hand towels ($1 from flea markets and stolen from hotels) to de-schmutz the ring and cog and chain.

I'm a major fan of KMC Z-Chains. They're cheap enough to replace when they get ugly. Given its my brakes as well as propulsion, I don't let the chain age much and I keep it clean.

I did the same with my SS MTB.

I use prolink, and relube much less often than I should.

Thank goodness for master links! I usually clean and lube once a week, or after really wet rides that leave my chain sounding crunchy. I soak the chain in simple green for an hour or so, hit it with a tooth brush, dry and then lube. I may have to try that alcohol on the chain though...

[edit] Since I've got the chain off, I clean off the cog and chainring as well. Makes no sense to clean the chain and put it on dirty teeth.