How do self-lubricating chains work?

[buddha]

So far so good! I gave the chain a good clean and then blasted it with the wax spray as instructed - once left to right, once right to left. I left the chain to dry for 15 minutes then I rode 1 mile on it and it wasn't squeaking...

I tried a spray dry-wax lube a few years ago (White Lightning IIRC). After 30 miles most of it had fallen off. Leaving me with a squeaky chain for the rest of the ride.
Been happy with progold-prolink for a while now. Expensive, but a bottle lasts a reasonably long time.

 

[Linford]

An 'O' ring bicycle chain would be a masterpiece of miniaturisation.

They do work very well on m/cycles, and the recommended is actually car engine oil. I'd actually favour something like EP90 gearbox oil as it is a bit gloopy, but will not retain the grit which gets picked up off the road/track.

 

[ArDee]

What I vaguely remember reading about is self-lubrication by using a porous metal that's impregnated with oil.
I'd guess that the impregnation involves a sintered component and a vacuum, and that for a bicycle chain it's the chain pins.

The material is called Oilite http://www.bearingboys.co.uk/Metric_Plain_Oilite__Bearings-1158-c the most common is sintered Bronze, it's generally used for the bearings in car steering columns. It does dry out eventually but only after a couple of years in normal use, sometimes the steering column on a car starts to squeak after 8 or so years.

I can't see Bronze handling the loads imposed on a bike chain very we, so it may also be available in other materials.

 

[Ian H]

They do work very well on m/cycles, and the recommended is actually car engine oil. I'd actually favour something like EP90 gearbox oil as it is a bit gloopy, but will not retain the grit which gets picked up off the road/track.

Do you think that the 'O' ring seal would work on a derailleur chain that is designed to flex side to side?

 

[ColinJ]

I tried a spray dry-wax lube a few years ago (White Lightning IIRC). After 30 miles most of it had fallen off. Leaving me with a squeaky chain for the rest of the ride.
Been happy with progold-prolink for a while now. Expensive, but a bottle lasts a reasonably long time.

I did 103 miles with the wax-lubed chain yesterday and it seemed to be fine. I was going to respray it every 100 miles but I think I'll ride it a bit more and see how long it takes to start squeaking or show any other sign of needing more lube.

In case anyone is interested - I got it *here* on eBay.

 

[Linford]

Do you think that the 'O' ring seal would work on a derailleur chain that is designed to flex side to side?

I don't see why not. There is a bit of play in the links by default on all chains.