Chain lubrication, the balance of pros versus cons

[Ming the Merciless]

I am looking very carefully at different oils. Some are thick and sticky and attract dirt like flies to s**t. Others are waxy and was off at the slightest hint of water. The higher quality mineral oils lubricate without attracting dirt. My Brompton jockey wheels also need a lot less de-gunk and less often. I am carefully monitoring the life of the chain. Which currently needs replacing every 12 months / 900 miles.

That’s quite low mileage for a chain, particularly if it’s the 3 speed brommie. But you might be out in poor weather all the time.

 

[silva]

The eccenter has nearly reached its limit of eccentricity. Not the only thing, I suggest. Don't leave it too long: eccentricity has limits.

The chainring reached its limit 3 years ago, and now still continues doing the job, because I replaced chains before eccenter sits on its end position, as explained, it's a bottom bracket based chain tensioning method, you lose the 2 allen head screws of a clamp that is part of the frame, then insert the same allen key into a hole at its side, then turn so that the chain tensions again.
As I experienced, unlike the chainring, the rear cogs teeth break off before that end position, so in order to spare the rare cog, allowing it a next life with a new chain, just like the chainring, the plan is now to replace the chain abit BEFORE that end position of the tensioner.
I noticed that the drivetrain, with such worn chainring and cog, at a just before end position of the tensioner, suddenly runs silent. I think that is because the pitch of the chains links reached precisely that of both sprockets teeth, just like the case is with all new drivetrain parts.
So the idea now is, as soon as I start hearing the drivetrain again, replace the chain with the new I take with me. And then another lifecycle of chain wear, without further sprocket wear, as the chainring proves, mounted early 2019, 60 km daily, worn after its first chain, today its teeth look still the same as 3 years ago.

 

[Ajax Bay]

@silva I'm going to guess you don't often cycle up 1 in 10 hills. Otherwise running the chains that long will wear your chainring rather quickly, and it then slips when a serious climb is undertaken. Maybe your chainring is made of steel, though, as opposed to everyone else's: made of aluminium (cue people telling us anecdotes about their steel chainrings which lasted for generations).

 

[silva]

@silva I'm going to guess you don't often cycle up 1 in 10 hills. Otherwise running the chains that long will wear your chainring rather quickly, and it then slips when a serious climb is undertaken. Maybe your chainring is made of steel, though, as opposed to everyone else's: made of aluminium (cue people telling us anecdotes about their steel chainrings which lasted for generations).

I don't run the chains that long, I run the chainrings that long, current one since begin 2019, a Velosolo alu one, and it stops wearing further after mounting a new chain, although the chains wear 3 times faster.
And I do climb up steep land elevations and railway bridges and tunnels, with bike + luggage equipment + luggage 30-80 kilo. Sometimes I stall due near top due to wind there meeting less, then I walk further to top.
What happened so far: a rear cog that lost a tooth now and then. I didn't notice it on the moment, I notice it at a next inspection, home, at work, or along the road after I felt something under a tire, and check for glass, nail, whatever.
So no need to guess, it's all said, and has been said before.

The times I experienced chain/ring "slips", were 15 years ago, the time that I rode bicycles with 3 x 7 gears with me using only the biggest ring and the two smallest cogs.
I DID experience slips during the 10 singlespeed years, after pallets of freewheels froze into place, or after heavy rain made grease inside sticky enough to resist the springs in flopping them back.
Getting rid of that problem was then the direct reason to move from singlespeed to fixed gear.
And since, I became a chain chainring cog do it yourselver, in minimal time.
Before, it was a story of a defunc bike, getting it to the dealer, weeks upto 9 months awaiting repair, in meantime using a spare bike, that in the end (the 9 months) became defunc without the first bike having been repaired yet.
I'm sure there are better dealers out there in the world, but in my region, the very rare ones that are, are overloaded with work, and honest enough to just say that, instead of accepting and making promises without holding them. So, my choices related to bicycles, are just addressing that situation, that's all, nothing more to it. It's not that I'm religious on domains like fixed gear and steel chainrings that last for generations (I assume OPERATION, not in some barn in the backyard haha).

That last is just bullshit because in the end, if mechanical transmission parts do not match eachothers pitch, then something has to give, break. Imagine a chain with a 1 inch pitch between the links running over sprocket teeth with 1/2 inch pitch. That's not "engaging" anymore eh, that's just slamming into eachother, with the force being absorbed there and not transmitted anymore.

And that is what explains what I experienced. Make sure that engaging and disengaging goes easy, THEN wear of sprocket teeth is minimal. My chainring and cog have short teeth, wide valleys between them. Easy for the chain links to engage and disengage. That's why the teeth nearly didn't wear further at all. That's why sharkfin shape teeth aggravate wear, and cause teeth to break off: the chain links rollers have to climb over the hooks to disengage, hollowing out the teeths edge, making it even sharper hooked.

 

[silva]

A specific question about chains as delivered.
The Gusset tank chain is delivered in plastic bag and oiled.
The motorcycle branch Regina 420 urban is delivered in,a butterpaper folded over it, and no oil but some thicker white grease.
The Gusset chain just hangs free / straight down, the links move/rotate very easy.
The Regina chain, well, it hangs alike a rusty chain, alike there is alot dirt inside the links.
And even more weird, after a while just in stock, dry, inside that folded butter paper the links show a fine black dust on their surfaces. Alike some substance (inside the white grease?) corroded? to black.
What can this be, and why grease instead of oil?

 

[raleighnut]

A specific question about chains as delivered.
The Gusset tank chain is delivered in plastic bag and oiled.
The motorcycle branch Regina 420 urban is delivered in,a butterpaper folded over it, and no oil but some thicker white grease.
The Gusset chain just hangs free / straight down, the links move/rotate very easy.
The Regina chain, well, it hangs alike a rusty chain, alike there is alot dirt inside the links.
And even more weird, after a while just in stock, dry, inside that folded butter paper the links show a fine black dust on their surfaces. Alike some substance (inside the white grease?) corroded? to black.
What can this be, and why grease instead of oil?

Cos it's a motorbike chain, have a look at motorbike chain lube...................that is generally grease mixed with a solvent that evaporates after application, the solvent is there to enable the grease to penetrate the surfaces between the links

 

[Jameshow]

Cos it's a motorbike chain, have a look at motorbike chain lube...................that is generally grease mixed with a solvent that evaporates after application, the solvent is there to enable the grease to penetrate the surfaces between the links

Any good for bike chains I have some I brought from Aldi / Lidl middle Isle gets a bit gunky tbh.

 

[raleighnut]

Any good for bike chains I have some I brought from Aldi / Lidl middle Isle gets a bit gunky tbh.

TBH unless you're developing the power of a motorbike by pedalling then probably not much use, also extremely 'sticky' although it is 'slippery ' too but the main advantage is 'antifling' i.e. it stays on the chain

 

[fossyant]

Silva and bike maintenance - I think we know the answer given previous threads = AVOID !

 

[silva]

Cos it's a motorbike chain, have a look at motorbike chain lube...................that is generally grease mixed with a solvent that evaporates after application, the solvent is there to enable the grease to penetrate the surfaces between the links

But why o why?
Why is a motorbike chain greased, and a bicycle chain oiled?
Because a motorbike chain is always protected from rain?
A grease that is so viscous that it prevents links to hang down to gravity?
I would say, that's increased friction, wear?
Also, that black dust, what is it?

 

[FishFright]

But why o why?
Why is a motorbike chain greased, and a bicycle chain oiled?
Because a motorbike chain is always protected from rain?
A grease that is so viscous that it prevents links to hang down to gravity?
I would say, that's increased friction, wear?
Also, that black dust, what is it?

A motorcycle chain is greased because it would throw off oil due to the speed. At one time a continuous drip feed of oil was used but it was extremely messy.

 

[Jameshow]

A motorcycle chain is greased because it would throw off oil due to the speed. At one time a continuous drip feed of oil was used but it was extremely messy.

I have to grease my chain tbh.....! 🤣🤣🤣

 

[FishFright]

I have to grease my chain tbh.....! 🤣🤣🤣

I have tried it on a winter hack once and only once, what a mess and a bugger to clean.

 

[wafter]

*Cough* Wax *cough* - the end

 

[silva]

A motorcycle chain is greased because it would throw off oil due to the speed. At one time a continuous drip feed of oil was used but it was extremely messy.

I see. But a grease is viscous, and during a load cycle (transmit force) it is pushed away from the pressure places, and the viscosity causes it to not return there. So how does it serve as a lubrication then?
Maybe with a sealed chain, O X etc rings locking up the grease, combined with enough grease to allow a grease pressure build up that pushes the grease back in the non loaded part of the cycle,
And against rust the grease is worth nothing, as proved after the first install of a motorcycle chain.
at the first rain day the chain was full of brown spots so I had to put oil on it.