Chain lubricant!

[Phil Fouracre]

I'm sure this has been asked before, probably many times! What really is the best lubricant? I vaguely remember hearing about something, that I think had purple in the name, being the best. I think the theory was that it had a carrier that then evaporated, leaving the chain fully lubricated. Any ideas, getting fed up with having chain continually covered in crud within minutes of cleaning, whatever I lube I use!

[Sweep]

Probably purple extreme.

It is excellent though can be a tad tricky to get hold of.

Really nice consistency.

Pretty clean running.

[meic]

Any ideas, getting fed up with having chain continually covered in crud within minutes of cleaning, whatever I lube I use!

Ride on different roads.
The stuff that you were trying to remember is Purple Extreme. My personal belief, from trying many different lubes over 60,000 miles is that it is all snake oil. So I just use the cheapest paying attention to trying to keep the chain clean. I do change oil type for riding in the grittiest of areas, sacrificing some lubrication to minimise pick up of dirt.
So for the coming week on New Forest tracks, I will be squirting GT85 on my chains instead of dripping chain oil on them.

[Brucey]

There are various factors to consider;

1) The quality of chain lubrication; lubricants have a film strength which means that above a certain load you will get metal to metal contact and wear even if the lube is clean. Greases and thick oils, (ideally loaded up with the right kinds of additives) seem to have the best film strengths. [ NB Many chains are supplied pre-impregnated with grease; don't wash this off, it is a pretty good chain lube; chains can go several hundred miles on this grease with no signs of wear. The grease also isn't too sticky on the outside of the chain, which of course can be wiped anyway if required. It is a shame that it is such a palaver to re-treat the chain in a similar way.]

2) mobility; if the lube is pushed out of the most highly loaded part of the bushings, it is a pretty good idea if the lubricant can flow back into these places. Thinner lubes can fare well here, but thicker lubes (eg some waxes) may fare less well.

3) Fling. Thin lubes are thrown off the chain more easily. Between being centrifuged (worst around the small pulleys in the rear mech) and slapping about (worst on the lower chain run on bumpy roads) there is every chance that about 50% of some oils and other thin lubes will just fly off the chain within a short time of you putting them on.

4) The effect of solvent. Solvent-borne lubes can penetrate the inner parts of the chain more quickly and can potentially carry a thicker (more fling resistant, higher film strength) lube into the inner workings, too. So it is all good, if you have solvent in the chain lube...? Er, no, not exactly; until all the solvent has evaporated, the film strength of the lube will be very low, and the solvent action is also exactly the thing that will carry any dirt on the chain into the inner workings, too.

5) Chain type; getting lube to where it needs to be properly varies with chain type. Most chains are bushingless these days which means that lube under the rollers can penetrate the pin bushings too. However dirt can also enter that way. Traditional (fully bushed) chains (a few 1/8" models these days) are more difficult to lube well, but are arguably more resistant to the effects of dirt, too. It makes a big difference whether you are using derailleur gears or not.

6) Chain running friction; adequate lubrication (of any kind) usually results in low chain friction, but there are small variations. These are of interest (in a 'marginal gains' type way) to some competitive cyclists but are largely irrelevant for the rest of us.

7) Corrosion resistance; lubes that work well in the dry (eg some solvent borne waxes) can fail in a short time once wet conditions are encountered. Lubes that work well in summer rain can fail in a very short time (hours...) once winter road salt is encountered. In some parts of the country the soil composition/PH is such that there is corrosion problem (in the wet) all year round.

8 ) Dirt pickup; lubes that score well in all the above categories may be dismal in terms of avoiding dirt pickup. Some dirt pickup is unavoidable, and once the dirt is mixed with the chain lube it may find its way into the inner workings of the chain rather quickly. I think this happens far more quickly (and with greater consequence) in derailleur systems in good part because the chain is flexed more, more often, and at funny sideways angles all the time too. The gaps between the side plates are constantly opening and closing and this can literally pump crud into the inner workings of the chain.

9) Chain loadings. Smaller sprockets/chainrings (for any given gear ratio) and narrower chains will encourage higher pressures inside the chain bushings and on the rollers which will more quickly breach the lubricant film and cause wear. Running cross-chained also created higher pressures locally and this also causes accelerated wear.

10) Gearing system. I think that derailleur gears are worse than IGH/SS drives (provided the chain isn't set too tightly in the latter case) and that the greater the number of sprockets and chainrings the worse everything gets. Unused chainrings and sprockets get dirty and once the chain runs on them, there is almost a 'perfect storm' of crud coverage on loaded workings. Additionally most modern derailleur systems have almost zero clearance sideways to the neighbouring sprockets; this means that crud on the chain has no place to go but downwards between the sprockets, and even small amounts of crud on neighbouring sprockets (that might have fallen off under its own steam otherwise) will get picked up and smeared everywhere. I routinely see 10s and 11s cassettes that are completely filled with crud between the sprockets, and that is from road use. On MTBs the time to gearing failure (in muddy conditions) can be just a few minutes.

11) Lube type. Some lubes dry out by themselves or, (once mixed with road dirt etc) can turn into 'crud monsters' made from something that closely resembles plasticene. This does not make for good lubrication, even if it does provide some corrosion protection.

12) Bike; everything is so much easier if you have efficient mudguards/mudflaps/chainguards etc and the chain doesn't get very dirty to start with.

So on IGHs and SS drives -on bikes with mudguards, road use including winter- I'd advise not to set the chain too tightly (too tight causes bad running once the chain is a bit worn) and just to lather oil (eg gear oil, or even ATF) onto the chain; in the battle between dirt pickup/ingress and 'fling' (which can helpfully carry dirt away) the chain will usually be having a reasonably happy time of it. If you do end up with a load of crud on the sides of the chain, this doesn't mean that it is getting dragged into the workings as it does with a modern derailleur system; it may well just sit there, largely minding its own business. Also, the chains and sprockets are cheap and it is less likely that you won't be able to re-use chainrings etc even if you let the chain go out to one or two percent elongation. So this way a 1/8" drive can be made to survive on a diet of minimal maintenance for several thousand miles, and that is probably good enough. However if a fully-bushed chain is impregnated with grease and installed inside a chaincase, it ought to last 10000 to 20000 miles with almost no attention whatsoever; it is surprising that these arrangements are not more commonly seen.

On derailleur systems it is even more important to keep everything clean because these systems are less tolerant to dirt in several different ways. If you have a system with generous clearances and not too many sprockets/chainrings, eg a 1x6 drive using an 8s chain (in which the chain doesn't come closer than about 1mm to the neighbouring sprockets...) you can use the IGH/SS 'lather with oil' approach and it will be OK; again the consumables are not expensive, and not all the dirt on the outside of the chain is definitely going to cause trouble.

But add more sprockets and chainrings, and/or reduce the clearances to neighbouring sprockets, and/or add more dirt, and you are in trouble for sure. This is where most folk are these days. Realistically, you need to clean everything quite often if you want it to last any time at all. Yes, there are lubes that attract the dirt less, but they almost invariably don't have all the other desirable qualities that chain lubes ought to have, either. A suggested in a post above, a lot of it is 'snake oil' whereby you can get to spend £10 on lube (and hours putting one drop of the 'liquid gold' at a time on each roller etc etc) so that your £10 chain lasts an extra five minutes....

One of the simplest maintenance regimes I know of for derailleurs (which also requires the least equipment, if not the least time) is to scrape/wash all the crud off the chainrings and sprockets, to get the chain clean (ish...eg via wiping), to oil the chain generously, and then go for a short ride (ideally using just the one gear, so your clean sprockets don't get too oily). After the short ride, wipe the chain etc down again and relube. If the lube on the chain comes away very dirty, repeat. On a commuting machine, if you spend 5mins a day doing this for a few days (the commute may qualify as 'the short ride'), the chain will be clean and well-lubed at the end of it, and you may not have to do anything more for a few weeks.

But in the dirtiest conditions, the whole transmission will need cleaning very often whatever you do; that's just the way it is....

cheers

[reohn2]

I'm sure this has been asked before, probably many times! What really is the best lubricant?.........

The simple answer is,the one that works best for you
I've tried Purple Extreme and whilst it did lube the chain and steed put,it also attracted dirt and grit pretty much like Finnishline Green and other thick viscosity lubes that I came to the conclusion were chainsaw oils or derivatives of.
After many different types some years ago I finally settled on TF2 aerosol spray,which doesn't attract dirt and grit but does stay put,although a day's ride in wet weather will wash it off around it's the best I've found.And it's cheap

[Bonefishblues]

I see the muse is with you tonight Brucey Chapeau, sir.

[peterh11]

My experience is that it is a case of what you want to compromise on! For example Finish Line or Muck-Off dry lubes seem genuinely not to attract much dirt, but you have to give them time to dry before riding and re-lube often (50-100 miles depending on conditions, less in heavy rain). Whereas for example the FInish Line wet lube lasts a lot longer but the chain gets noticeably dirtier for the same amount of riding.

As previously mention, a good set of muguards with nice long mud flaps will help a lot, so I have such.

With either type of dry lube I can ride across dry-to-damp farm tracks and come home with a pretty dirty frame, tyres and mudguards, but a chain which just needs a quick wipe. My regime on my tourer is dry lube in summer and wet lube in winter. On the commuter which has hub gears and a proper chain guard, I use wet lube as the chainguard does a pretty good job and it appears to me that (as observed by Brucey) hub gears attract less dirt.

Just my experience FWIW.

Peter H

[Richard D]

When it's not too we, I clean the chain and sprockets every week or two using an ultrasonic cleaner and relubing with paraffin wax in a slow cooker. Whole thing takes about 30-40 minutes, but only about 5 minutes of hands-on time.

Not sure what I'll do this winter - the paraffin turns into a black mess after a couple of hours in the rain

[alexnharvey]

How about supplementing the core wax with a water shedding film or lubricant before wet rides?

[blackbike]

Which chain lubricant to use has never really been an issue for me.

Any oil will do. Currently I use some ancient 20/50 motor oil I found in the shed, and I thin it with paraffin.

In my experience speed, mileage, terrain and weather conditions are the main factors which influence transmission wear.

Alleged quality and cost of lubricants is an irrelevance.

[georgew]

Of course the obvious answer is to use a lube that will repel dust and grit which leads to the build-up of crud and that means using something which is not oil-based.

The answer for me has been this one which lubes the transmission while keeping it completely free from grit.

https://www.scottoiler.com/us/products/ ... ution.html

No connection and all that....

[Sweep]

I see the muse is with you tonight Brucey Chapeau, sir.

Yes, plus one, but after all that (apologies if i have asked before or if you have answered) p.lease tell us non scientific types which lube you actually use Brucey

[Brucey]

I use

- oil (often but not always gear oil) on exposed 1/8" IGH chains
- a semi fluid grease on 1/8" chains in chaincases
- a variety of different lubes on derailleur systems, depending on the bike and the service conditions.

For the basic 'oil + wipe' approach I outlined, some types of ATF seem to work OK (it seems to dislodge other lube/dirt deposits better than most too), but ATF soon gives up when there is road salt about, and it is of course sticky if there is too much on the chain.

For derailleur use if I ever find anything that is 'perfect' I shall let you know!

BTW I've also been doing experiments with a more UK-winter-focused variety of wax-bearing chain lubes I have formulated. The basic idea is that the stuff would be applied to a clean hot chain and once cool the wax component would set at ambient temperatures; no solvent required! If you get the chemistry right the stuff can be incredibly runny at temperature and it will wick into small gaps beautifully, so it'll get everywhere it needs to easily. The final recipe will also contains corrosion inhibitors as well as things that improve the lubrication performance.

So far I have a mixture that can be coated onto a chain and then that chain can be left outdoors (even if the chain is unplated) for several years without any signs of it going rusty. However when the chain is used, there is a danger that the wax gets pushed out of the loaded/moving parts of the chain as with some other lubes. Then it is down to the corrosion inhibitors to suppress corrosion, which is only ever going to be partially successful. However even on a chain which is exposed to road salt, it can go many weeks before any significant corrosion is evident.

Meantime my attempts to make a mixture that also provides a better lubrication performance have only been partially successful; many of the additives just make the chain lube stain clothing very badly (which some folk understandably get very excited about) and others make the outside of the chain too sticky, so that it picks up dirt worse than it should, or loosen the stuff so that it flings off too easily. Needless to say the problem is not yet solved!

My tests are ongoing; for the last few winters I've been experimenting with different brews and I shall be doing the same thing this winter too.

cheers

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,
Gear oil for me on my skip trainers, get the right amount and it won't drop onto the rim.
The cost of my used chains from skip bikes means its a quick wipe and re-oil then wipe off excess.
On the tourer you can do 300 miles on one lube but that's ideal dry conditions.

No way of guaranteeing our conditions of use so we are all different.
Just started using a dry lube (feels like silicone on the finger / wax?) on the tourer but early days.

In the extreme winter 30 miles and the chain is bare and noisy.
On motorcycles the heavy wax spray was great but even then it will wash off in off road conditions in a few miles A few hundred on a sunny road bike day.
Cannot see the day I spend time splitting chain to deep clean, its not economical or practical for me.

On a recent sportive I spent a lot of time examining the TDF wanabee's chain drive when I was passed up hill and noticed with 10+ speeds the chain line is not only chronic but very crunchy too, more due to poor gear selection maybe as its not really recommended to use high low cogs but do they care, I don't either normally.

Derailleur chain is a unique drive unlike the stuff depicted in handbooks on single speed drives for compessors

[mig]

my fixed, 1/8th bushed chain on a bike with wide 'guards and a long front mudflap seems to run clean even in the muckiest of conditions using a few different lubes - engine oil, purple extreme, some overpriced guff from "word corrected to Halfords" when i was given a voucher, lard.

the 8spd summer commuter gets cleaned more often & the better road conditions and yet runs far dirtier.

hence i tend to gravitate towards the fixed steed even in the summer unless the weather is bone dry. as i live in manchester this is unusual.

i have always thought that cassettes pick up & store crud and keep on recycling it onto the chain. a fixed cog collects far less.