What chain lube?

[Peter Salt]

Attachment.

 

[Drago]

Does popcorn and beer work well as a lube?

Buttered popcorn works a treat.

 

[Dogtrousers]

@Fab Foodie seeing that you pack your bearings with vaseline, I expect you use another convenient household product for chain lubrication?

 

[T4tomo]

at risk of pissing in peter's salt pot, isn't the conventional wisdom that:

• most lubes do a decent job of lubing,
• some go black (most wet lubes) but last longer between re lubes
• some stay clean(er) to varying degrees (this is why like Squirt).
• regular clean / rag and retube helps drivetrain longevity as its gets rid of all the crap that sticks to lube that wears components
• regular hot waxing helps those with OCD with their therapy.

 

[Fab Foodie]

@Fab Foodie seeing that you pack your bearings with vaseline, I expect you use another convenient household product for chain lubrication?

That would be telling....

 

[vickster]

That would be telling....

Hopefully water not oil based
Don’t want to be having any accidents especially given the advancing years of most CycleChat members

 

[Fab Foodie]

When my only bike was a fixed-wheel, I'd remove the chain once in a blue moon, wash in White Spirit, dry, and then soak in warm vaseline, wipe of the excess and replace. Lasted forever.

Finish-Line Green Cross Country for me. Considering some of my recent rides through floods, some kind of maritime lube would seem ideal for Devon....
Clean and lube as required - usually Mickled unless really caked then a shake in a jar of White Spirit, allow to dry, re-attach the chain, spray on a layer of WD40 and then apply The Finish-Line green to each roller.
Looks a bloody mess, but in the morning - hey-presto, looks great! The WD40 dilutes the Finish line and then evaporates leaving a thin film of finish-line everywhere and I assume some has penetrated inside the rollers.
9 speed chains are cheap and I replace them every spring anyhow....

 

[Fab Foodie]

Hopefully water not oil based
Don’t want to be having any accidents

I don't get many incidents of unwanted slippage....

 

[vickster]

I don't get many opportunities for unwanted slippage....

FTFY

 

[Peter Salt]

at risk of pissing in peter's salt pot, isn't the conventional wisdom that:

• most lubes do a decent job of lubing,
• some go black (most wet lubes) but last longer between re lubes
• some stay clean(er) to varying degrees (this is why like Squirt).
• regular clean / rag and retube helps drivetrain longevity as its gets rid of all the crap that sticks to lube that wears components
• regular hot waxing helps those with OCD with their therapy.

I enjoy this sort of conversation. What I don't enjoy is half a sentence as a reply, by people who have no professional knowledge of the subject.

As for your bullet points:

• 'Most' is a very broad term. You mean more than half? Probably correct. That said, according to some independent testing, 1000km with no lubricant and no contamination at all wears the chain to about 90%. There are lubes out there that reduce that to only about 70% while the best ones get to single digits and the very best to fractions. Taking that into account, saying 'just use anything' is counterproductive.
• Any colour variations would come from amount of active ingredients of said lubes, whether they're organic or synthetic and type of contamination. Cleaner lube doesn't mean better lube - it may mean fewer chainring tattoos though.
• A rag will only clean the chain from the outside. Your main enemy is contamination getting into the rollers.

But at the end of the day - everyone can do what they want. Talking chain lubes, especially immersive waxing, often feels like having a conversation about smoking. The technical and practical evidence is clear - just because your grandma lived to 90 smoking 2 packs a day is irrelevant. As a mechanical engineer I can only show you the evidence and give best possible advice - but can't force anyone to follow it.

 

[Fab Foodie]

FTFY

Just no opportunities....

 

[Fab Foodie]

I enjoy this sort of conversation. What I don't enjoy is half a sentence as a reply, by people who have no professional knowledge of the subject.

As for your bullet points:

• 'Most' is a very broad term. You mean more than half? Probably correct. That said, according to some independent testing, 1000km with no lubricant and no contamination at all wears the chain to about 90%. There are lubes out there that reduce that to only about 70% while the best ones get to single digits and the very best to fractions. Taking that into account, saying 'just use anything' is counterproductive.
• Any colour variations would come from amount of active ingredients of said lubes, whether they're organic or synthetic and type of contamination. Cleaner lube doesn't mean better lube - it may mean fewer chainring tattoos though.
• A rag will only clean the chain from the outside. Your main enemy is contamination getting into the rollers.

But at the end of the day - everyone can do what they want. Talking chain lubes, especially immersive waxing, often feels like having a conversation about smoking. The technical and practical evidence is clear - just because your grandma lived to 90 smoking 2 packs a day is irrelevant. As a mechanical engineer I can only show you the evidence and give best possible advice - but can't force anyone to follow it.

You've clearly not got the gist of one of the primary rools of Cycle-Chat, and that is that professional expertise is invalid.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Someone on here recorded loads of stats on chain elongation or chain longevity vs different chain care regimes. I can't remember who it was and my forum searching skills are not up to snuff. It was kind of interesting.

What I don't enjoy is half a sentence as a reply, by people who have no professional knowledge of the subject.

@Peter Salt if we limited the forum to contributions from people with professional knowledge the forum would be rather a quiet place

 

[Fab Foodie]

Someone on here recorded loads of stats on chain elongation or chain longevity vs different chain care regimes. I can't remember who it was and my forum searching skills are not up to snuff. It was kind of interesting.



@Peter Salt if we limited the forum to contributions from people with professional knowledge the forum would be rather a quiet place

Anecdata is the lifeblood of social meedja!

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Attachment.

Any more details on the test protocols those numbers come from, to give context to the numbers?