# bicycle lubricant?



## dynoram (16 Apr 2012)

Any advice on which type of bike oil or lubricant is best? Do I need a different lubricant for different parts of the bike?


----------



## tyred (16 Apr 2012)

Opinions vary. Virtually any grease will work for hub, bb and headset bearings. Always apply a little grease to the threads of any nuts and bolts to aid assembly/dismantling in the future and liberally grease seat posts and quill stems (especially alloy ones in steel frames) to prevent them from seizing and also to prevent water ingress.

There are a lot of fancy and sometimes expensive chain oils out there, in my opinion, they are not necessary. What oil you put on a chain isn't all that important so long as you clean the dirt of it before you apply it, clean of the excess oil after you apply a drip to each roller and run it a backwards a few times and do the clean and re-lube procedure on a regular basis, especially on derailleur geared bikes in the winter. Search the forum for the Mickle Method (another 10p royalty for Mickle!).


----------



## Nebulous (16 Apr 2012)

I use a Halfords pump squirt can, which has a very precise jet- though I've never heard of anyone else using it!

The key issue as has been said is not to use to much, and to clean off the gunk beforehand and excess oil afterwards. I use it on chain, jockey wheels, pivot points on derailleurs and pivot points on brake calipers.

For greasing bolts etc I use vaseline, and for bearings lithium grease.


----------



## Svendo (16 Apr 2012)

As above, you really need one lubricant for the chain, and other moving bits (derailleur and brake pivots, gear cables). Opinions vary widely, from various cheap oils such as chainsaw oil and homemade motor oil mixes to expensive and exotic nanotech/ceramic/unobtanium specialist chain lubes. (If you use dry chain lube though, you need a runny lube for the pivots and cables.) The middle ground is something like finish line wet. There are many threads discussing this back and forth.

If you do your own maintenance and assembly (and it's wise to do so, bikes are easy to build and maintain) you need a grease as mentioned above. Lithium grease works well but tends to dry out, I'm using finish line teflon grease or silicon grease(very waterproof) at the moment. There are fewer threads about grease though.


----------



## sabian92 (16 Apr 2012)

I personally use Finish Line Wet lube for my bike.

One piece of information though -for the love of God, avoid WD40. It's the worst thing to use.


----------



## musa (16 Apr 2012)

replace wd40 with GT85


----------



## black'n'yellow (16 Apr 2012)

sabian92 said:


> One piece of information though -for the love of God, avoid WD40. It's the worst thing to use.


 
no worse than any other lightweight mineral oil in a carrier solvent. The worst thing to use is nothing...


----------



## Paulus (16 Apr 2012)

I would avoid WD40 as a lubricant, as it's initials suggest it is a Water Dispersant, not a lubricant. Finishline lubes are good, although not the cheapest.


----------



## BrumJim (16 Apr 2012)

Green Oil. Why avoid the petro-chems people in choosing to go by bike, and then cuddle up to them again in order to keep your chain moving?
(added advantage of keeping your lubrication and emergency energy supply in the same bottle)


----------



## black'n'yellow (16 Apr 2012)

Paulus said:


> I would avoid WD40 as a lubricant, as it's initials suggest it is a Water Dispersant, not a lubricant.


 
it's both. It contains a light mineral oil, so it lubricates as well. A quick look on the WD40 website will make things clearer. I'm not recommending it as a chain lube, but like I said - it's better than using nothing.


----------



## TonyEnjoyD (16 Apr 2012)

Same as others, and if necessary de-grease your chain, use a proprietary chain lube on your chain and GT85 or TFT spray both of which contain teflon (PTFE) on the rest of the movey-spinney bits.
I use a synthetic silicon grease for hub, fork and bottom bracket bearing, copperslip grease on nut/bolts/pedals, Dry-Lube on the Chain and GT85 or TFT, for the rest. The latter two are great sprayed on a cloth to rub over the frame. Helps stop-up small scratches etc and the bike looks nice n shiney.

On my MTB I use a wet-lube on the chain.

Try Wiggle or Evans or Chain-Reaction-Cycles for the lubes as they are cheap enough.


----------



## Rob500 (16 Apr 2012)

I take the excess crap off the chain and then use Weldtite Dirtwash Citrus Degreaser to 'clean' it. Once dried, it's a drop of Weldtite TF2 Extreme Wet Lube in each link, chain spun backwards a few revolutions and the excess wiped off.

I have a spray can each of Decathlon's Btwin Chain & Derailleur Oil and Btwin Degreaser. I've used both and can't fault them. The spray can system is great on the jocky wheels and for getting at the derailleur.


----------



## Fab Foodie (16 Apr 2012)

Nebulous said:


> I use a Halfords pump squirt can, which has a very precise jet- though I've never heard of anyone else using it!
> 
> The key issue as has been said is not to use to much, and to clean off the gunk beforehand and excess oil afterwards. I use it on chain, jockey wheels, pivot points on derailleurs and pivot points on brake calipers.
> 
> *For greasing bolts etc I use vaseline*, and for bearings lithium grease.


 
Vaseline works just fine on bearings and bottom brackets too. Agree with all the rest.
Mickle method for chain care and I like Finish line Green as it tends to stay-put even in downpours.


----------



## User16390 (16 Apr 2012)

When oiling the chain, I spray the pivot points on the rear mech with GT85, should you lube the jockey wheels as well and if so should it be a spray like GT85 or the lube that you use on the chain?


----------



## DiddlyDodds (17 Apr 2012)

Never use std grease on an aluminium seat post going into a steel alloy frame as the grease breaks down over time and actually contributes to seat posts seizing in.
Seat posts should always be lubricated with Copper Slip , copper slip should always be in your maintenance kit.


----------



## simon.r (17 Apr 2012)

DiddlyDodds said:


> Never use std grease on an aluminium seat post going into a steel alloy frame as the grease breaks down over time and actually contributes to seat posts seizing in.
> Seat posts should always be lubricated with Copper Slip , copper slip should always be in your maintenance kit.


 
I've always used any type of grease I have available on seatposts / quill stems and never had any problems with them seizing. But I do make a point of removing and re-greasing every so often, maybe once every year or two. I've never heard of grease contributing to posts seizing, but as always I'll stand correcting if I'm wrong.

I do like copper-slip on BBs and _most_ nuts and bolts tho'.


----------



## tyred (17 Apr 2012)

I take my seatposts and quill stems out and re-grease them about once a year.

Half an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.


----------



## Ivan Ardon (17 Apr 2012)

DiddlyDodds said:


> Never use std grease on an aluminium seat post going into a steel alloy frame as the grease breaks down over time and actually contributes to seat posts seizing in.


 
Where did you read that? That doesn't bear any resemblance to what I've observed over the last four decades of working on machinery. Sheldon Brown and Park Tool don't agree with you either.

Copper slip is better though, Alum slip even better than that. But plain old grease works just fine.


----------



## DiddlyDodds (17 Apr 2012)

Ivan Ardon said:


> Where did you read that? That doesn't bear any resemblance to what I've observed over the last four decades of working on machinery. Sheldon Brown and Park Tool don't agree with you either.
> 
> Copper slip is better though, Alum slip even better than that. But plain old grease works just fine.


 
Its was a mechanic who gave me that little gem of information, i will stick to Copper Slip then will never find out if i am right or wrong.


----------



## JaggyNI (17 Apr 2012)

Sorry to hijack the thread sort of, still along the same subject line! Has anyone ever used White Lightning Epic Ride Lubricant?


----------



## Fab Foodie (17 Apr 2012)

JaggyNI said:


> Sorry to hijack the thread sort of, still along the same subject line! Has anyone ever used White Lightning Epic Ride Lubricant?


No, but I've used KY Jelly after a few hours ....


----------



## tyred (18 Apr 2012)

Fab Foodie said:


> No, but I've used KY Jelly after a few hours ....


 
On your cup and cone bottom bracket?


----------



## Fab Foodie (18 Apr 2012)

tyred said:


> On your cup and cone bottom bracket?


 Where-else!


----------



## tyred (18 Apr 2012)

Fab Foodie said:


> Where-else!


 
Headset?


----------



## Fab Foodie (18 Apr 2012)

tyred said:


> Headset?


 Ah-headset, not forgetting nipples too ....


----------



## slowmotion (19 Apr 2012)

Just to return to FiveLeavesLeft's question...... lube the rear mech pivots with GT85? What about the idler wheels? Grease, oil, or GT85?

Thank you


----------

