Views on extra virgin olive oil as chainlube?

General cycling advice ( NOT technical ! )
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nirakaro
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Joined: 22 Dec 2007, 2:01am

Views on extra virgin olive oil as chainlube?

Post by nirakaro »

So here I am touring in Greece, camping, and needed olive oil for salad dressing. Smallest I could buy was a litre, which is too big and too heavy, so I'll have to dump some of it. But I wondered - waste not want not - about topping up my nearly empty bottle of lube with it first. How do you think it would be?
Airsporter1st
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Re: Views on extra virgin olive oil as chainlube?

Post by Airsporter1st »

Better than nothing, but worse than a dedicated lube?
Mike Sales
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Re: Views on extra virgin olive oil as chainlube?

Post by Mike Sales »

No idea how good as a lubricant. A friend met a couple of tourists in Greece who were carrying olive oil in their bidons. They used it for cooking, lubrication and sun oil.
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profpointy
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Re: Views on extra virgin olive oil as chainlube?

Post by profpointy »

A pal of mine bust the sump on his jaguar-based kit-car, up a landrover track too far from anywhere sensible. He dropped the sump, lined it with bin bags, and filled up with a combination of whatever oil he hand left, and cooking oil. Got him back to the proper road and to a garage where he could fix it properly.

Anyhow, I guess it's better than nothing, but not as good as proper oil. I think I'd take a tiny pot of proper oil to be honest.
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andrew_s
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Re: Views on extra virgin olive oil as chainlube?

Post by andrew_s »

Friction Facts tested it one time, and it came out pretty well in terms of power losses at 250 W - better than most other chain lubes other than waxes.
(FF is aimed at time triallist type people)

Of course, that says nothing about how well it lasts, how much dirt sticks etc.
Cyril Haearn
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Re: Views on extra virgin olive oil as chainlube?

Post by Cyril Haearn »

Put a few drops on your chain and see what happens

'Oil' does cover a multitude of different sins, mind
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Brucey
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Re: Views on extra virgin olive oil as chainlube?

Post by Brucey »

Olive oil will tend to make a sticky mess in the short run. In the longer term the oil reacts with the air and turns to something more like a varnish.

I'd use it if there was no other choice, for sure.

I suggest that you put on too much, ride a few miles, then clean the excess off the chain and sprockets using tissues. This will remove most of the dirt, ensures the oil has the best chance of penetrating the working parts of the chain, and makes it least likely to pick up much more dirt.

The same kind of approach works with quite a few oils.

cheers
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simonhill
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Re: Views on extra virgin olive oil as chainlube?

Post by simonhill »

I just googled "using olive oil as a lubricant" and got a page full of using it for shall we say fairly personal uses.

Eventually found some more info and it does seem to have limitations as Brucey says. The worst probably being that it starts to smell after a while.
Brucey
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Re: Views on extra virgin olive oil as chainlube?

Post by Brucey »

I was going to start a new thread but this seems to be as good a place as any. One LBS near me is keen to start using more 'green oils' and if they are successful then they intend to eschew other lubricants entirely.

The reasoning is severalfold;

- that the amount of toxic chemicals they have contact with on a daily basis (during repairs and servicing) is greatly reduced
- that there is no need to use non-biodegradable lubricants when there are alternatives
- that the whole lube manufacturing/supply process (including containers and shipping etc) is more environmentally friendly.

Which is all very worthy, so far as it goes.

On the minus side I would suppose that

a) - the toxicity of most fresh lubes is low and anyway it should be possible to avoid skin contact.
b) - the toxicity of any used lube is likely to be high, since it will contain microscopically divided particles of metal and other contaminants
c) - the performance of such lubes has yet to be tested against other products and may not be adequate
d) - worrying about the environmental impact of bike lubes is kind of missing the point; it is the least worrying thing about the environmental impact of a typical bike/cyclist.
e) might you be as well off just using a vegetable oil (from your kitchen) as a specially packaged 'green oil'..?
f) unless proven in tests, that products are made from fresh plants (rather than plants that are several million years old) does not ensure that they are completely non-toxic

So taking a) and b) probably the greatest threat to health for bike mechanics arises with skin contact of used lube, not the fresh stuff. If the lube contains a solvent, then the solvent may be toxic in any case, even if the lube is not.

Re c) most component failures occur because no lube at all is used, not often enough, anyway. If the component life is at all shortened vs the use of the best lube, then any environmental benefit arising from the use of a more benign lube may well be outweighed. It is certainly better to do regular maintenance than not, even if you use a small amount of unpleasant material in the process, I would have said.

Re d) the typical cyclist is riding around on a bike that is not very old, was made without very much attention to environmental impact, isn't expected to last that long and has been transported half way round the world already. The additional impact of the tiny amount of lube it consumes in its life is perhaps the least of your environmental worries.

Re e); that might be true; without tests it is difficult to say otherwise. The marginal impact of using oil thusly is tiny; [in a similar vein I often refill my oil bottle when on tour from the dregs of motor oil containers that are discarded; the impact on the environment is about zero].

Re f) this remains to be proven. I guess if they are food-grade ingredients then they are highly unlikely to cause skin ailments etc, but in that case could one be buying one's lube in the food shop?

My provisional take on this is (in a nutshell) that if you want to preserve the planet, you should be riding an ancient used bike, not a new one, and that you should preserve its workings by almost any means, even if it involves the use of a small amount of some unpleasant materials.

So anyway I am presently a bit sceptical, but maybe there are things I have not considered?

cheers
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mercalia
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Re: Views on extra virgin olive oil as chainlube?

Post by mercalia »

why "extra virgin oil"? wont the cheap stuff do?
Bmblbzzz
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Re: Views on extra virgin olive oil as chainlube?

Post by Bmblbzzz »

Seems like a waste of olive oil to me. It might be good as chainlube but it's unlikely to be as good as proper stuff, and it would be far better to use it for what olive oil is good for: cooking, salad dressings, etc. A litre isn't really a huge amount. Bring it back with you. For sure it will be far cheaper in Greece than here!
MikeF
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Re: Views on extra virgin olive oil as chainlube?

Post by MikeF »

mercalia wrote:why "extra virgin oil"? wont the cheap stuff do?
Not if you have to buy it specially. :wink:
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yostumpy
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Re: Views on extra virgin olive oil as chainlube?

Post by yostumpy »

a few years ago when I was in South Africa, I used cooking oil to lube the chain...fine...BUT I then left the bike out after a ride, in the sun fora day or 2. Chain had baked solid !
landsurfer
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Re: Views on extra virgin olive oil as chainlube?

Post by landsurfer »

I work for a Rail Rolling Stock Engineering company..
Some years ago we where contracted to fit drive shafts to a fleet outside the UK ..
This involved heating the components in an oil bath. ...
The customer insisted on supplying the oil to ensure "Green" rules where adhered to.
My Engineering Manager told them that only Extra Virgin olive oil would do....
Which was shared amongst the company.
We are still using it as salad dressing 3 years later ....

The oil baths ..... the cheapest vegetable oil we could buy ....
As usual ..... 8)
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