Chain cleaning and lubing - will this work?

[Jonty]

There's a lot of advice on this Forum on cleaning and lubing your chain, and most people seem to have their own approach and ideas. Up to recently I simply wiped my chain and gave it a squirk of GT 85 before a ride. This seemed to work remarkable well in terms of chain and cassette life.
However I read somewhere that GT 85 isn't really suitable for lubing a chain so now I clean the chain with a cloth and GT 85 and then put a drop of 3 in 1 oil on each link. The chains I have are good quality like Deore Ace/ XTR, Campag 10 speed and Sram somethingorother. I tend to clean my bikes after every ride and clean and lube the chain perhaps after every 3 or 4 rides, so that is at about every month or so.
I try and avoid riding in wet weather as I don't like getting wet.
I've never tried to take a chain off as I'm concerned I may not be able to put it back on.
What I would like to know is - is my routine likely to be reasonably effective for someone you wants to have a smooth-running and well-lubricated chain but doesn't want to make a meal of it?
I've noticed that there are special lubes for chains/ bikes but they seems quite expensive for such small bottles. I don't mind spending the money if something is really good but not obviously if it's a rip-off.
Thanks
jonty

[gilesjuk]

Read Sheldon's take on it:

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/chains.html

[Mick F]

GT85 is described by Wiggle:
Penetrating lubricant with PTFE and contains no CFC's. Great for displacing water. Ideal for derailleurs, cables, brake levers etc. Also a great frame polish.Penetrating Lubricant. Water displacer. With PTFE. NOT chain lube!

Note the last sentence.

Your regime, Jonty, is fine. If it works for you, it's fine.

I expect to get in excess of 7,500miles from my chains, and since going over to a decent regime, I haven't worn out a set of sprockets.

I have two chains: one on and one ready. Take one off, perhaps every 500 to 1,000 miles, and clean the cassette. Put on the other chain. Repeat 500 to 1,000miles later and keep a record of mileage and which chain is on/off and when.

[Jonty]

Thanks Mick. My Challenge for 2011 is to take off a chain and adopt your approach.
jonty

[Mick F]

Thanks Mick. My Challenge for 2011 is to take off a chain and adopt your approach.
jonty

Super!
Let us know how you get on.

Factory Lube
New chains come pre-lubricated with a grease-type lubricant which has been installed at the factory. This is an excellent lubricant, and has been made to permeate all of the internal interstices in the chain.

This factory lube is superior to any lube that you can apply after the fact.

Some people make the bad mistake of deliberately removing this superior lubricant. Don't do this!

The factory lubricant all by itself is usually good for several hundred miles of service if the bike is not ridden in wet or dusty conditions. It is best not to apply any sort of lube to a new chain until it is clearly needed, because any wet lube you can apply will dilute the factory lube.

I don't agree, and it goes against other things I've read. Sorry, I don't have a reference to them.

Factory coatings are not lubricants. They may lubricate, but their main purpose is to preserve. I always remove this coating - I always have and will continue to do so. I recommend others do to.

You must use a recognised chain lubricant. If this "Factory Lube" is so good, someone would be selling it!

They don't, so it isn't a chain lube.

[531colin]

or you can be lazy and use Prolink. (Search forum for "Prolink")

[CREPELLO]

[ If this "Factory Lube" is so good, someone would be selling it!

They don't, so it isn't a chain lube.

I do actually remove the factory lube pretty soon after fitting the chain - perhaps 150 miles or so. The reason that Sheldon urges you not to remove it is because its quite a heavy lube which has been worked into every nook and cranny of the chain. Being heavy it won't displace easily from pressure thereby protecting the bearing surfaces. That's why he recommends it.

The reason why it is not sold, I would suggest, is because it was put on hot thereby liquefying it for effective penetration into the links. Obviously selling a lube that you have to heat up first wouldn't be a great selling point, but that doesn't mean it's not a lube. Oil and grease also have the happy ability to both preserve and lubricate metal, as I know you know. So why suggest it is merely a preserving treatment and not a lube?

[gilesjuk]

They don't, so it isn't a chain lube.

Anything that you can put on metal that reduces friction as it moves against other metal will reduce wear. Isn't it better that the lubricant sticks to the metal surface rather than get flung off?

[MikewsMITH2]

Thanks Mick. My Challenge for 2011 is to take off a chain and adopt your approach.
jonty

Beware!! Mick F uses ultra expensive and super high quality Campag 11 speed chains. If you use anything else, Mick's regime of thotoughly stripping off all the lubricant will lead to rusty chains, as testified by his own post regarding his Raleigh Chopper. if you want to spend your time cycling rather than cleaning chains, wipe them with a rag now and again and clean them thoroughly once or twice a year and use Finish Line Wet Cross Country Lubricant. It not ideal though, my last chain only lasted about 20 years IME WD40 works very well if you apply it very regularly.

[Trigger]

They do sell the lube that chains are already coated in, at least the stuff that SRAM use (Fuchs GLEITMO) can be bought, and it is definitely sold/marketed by Fuchs as a lubricant, not a preservative or anti rust coating.

I'm tempted to try some of the old Motorcycle wax chain lube, the stuff you used to heat up in it's tin and drop the chain into then leave to dry.

[Mick F]

Beware!! Mick F uses ultra expensive and super high quality Campag 11 speed chains.

Oh no I don't!
(Pantomime head on again)

My cleaning regime was born out of commuting in all weathers, and in those days I was using Sedisport chains. Sram bought them out in the 90s I think and you can no longer buy them.

Sedisport chains were strong and good quality, the best that a modest income could afford. I wore them out chain after chain, Suntour sprockets too. I tried everything to prolong the use of them. This was the mid 80s to the mid 90s.

I finally plucked up the courage/dosh to buy LPS3. It came in an aerosol - £7 or so - and you sprayed it on. It went on like a thin oil but dried after an hour or so into a waxy finish that was unsticky. This was the start of a love affair of clean unsticky chains that came to me.

This LPS3 is not unlike the stuff you get on chains when new. I still take issue with the fact that chain manufacturers lubricate their chains for you. The main purpose of the coating is to prolong the shelf-life - it may well be a good lubricant, but it's primarily a preservative.

Back to my chain history:
By the late 1990s, I retired and we moved house to a tumbledown bungalow. I got a part-time job and spent the next 5 or 6 years doing it up. My bike was pulled apart and put in the loft.

In 2002, I got it back together and rode it a few times, but left it alone for another couple of years. The transmission was just the same has it had been since the late 80s - Stonglight 99 and Suntour Ultra freewheel - still with a Sedisport chain. By this time my last bottle of LPS3 was all but gone.

I caught the cycling bug again, and also the internet bug, and found that all my components and my knowledge was completely out of date. So I bought a complete Campag Mirage Triple 9sp groupset from Ribble. This was my first Campag chain, the wonderful C9. I eventually used two of these chains, the last one going on to 7,500miles without any measurable stretch!. It was consigned to the spares bin when I converted to 10sp and I still have some of it.

I did buy another C9 and used it on my famous Raleigh Chopper. I sold the C9 on here to a very grateful member after I reverted the Chopper back to original. The chain had done about 1,500miles and was as good as new.

I now have two Campag 10sp chains and swap them round every now and again. Both have done in excess of 3,000miles now, though I have changed my cassette for different ratios. The original 10sp Centaur cassette had done about 5,000miles and shows no wear at all.

My chains are not that expensive. They last and last and last. Buy cheap chains if you want to, but you'll wear them out and have to buy another. In all things, buy the best you can afford and look after them.

Campag 10sp chain:
http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/sp/road-t ... 2000000000
The higher spec Campag chains are exactly the same as this, but they are lightened with holes in the side plates.

[reohn2]

Jonty
Chains usually collect the most dirt in either wet (grit thrown off the road and rear wheel mixed with rain) or dry, breezy dusty conditions (when you can see the dust being blown about).If you don't ride in the rain or only ever when caught in it,a dry lube such as Micks preference, White Lightening,or Finnishline Red will do the job but they're limited and both will need applying every ride or even during as well.
Wiping the chain is OK in dry conditions but regular cleaning is advised especially after a mucky ride or two to remove grit.
I prefere White Spirit for cleaning a chain either in a chain bath with the chain still fitted or shook up in a jar or screwtop softdrinks bottle,then washed in a strong solution of washing up liquid and hot water and dried.I use Muck off for the mechs and sprockets as its not as agressive as W/Spirit.
For lube I prefere TF2 spray applied when I get home not just before a ride as it gives it time to soak in and dry off so it doesn't attract dirt then reapplied when the rollers start to shine.
Removing chains is easy and once you've done it you'll wonder what all the fuss was about.

[lobsterboyuk]

However I read somewhere that GT 85 isn't really suitable for lubing a chain

News to me

I bought a can of GT85 last year and have been happily using as part of my regime - I also used WD40 before that (another lube that you're not supposed to use)

The issue I have with this advice is that I am not suffering from excessive chain wear etc so why should I worry?

I also use a special chain link on my chains (I use KMC Chain Links) to be able to remove and refit by hand without a tool, once you get the hang of it it takes seconds - the removed chain is then subject to scrubbing with neat fairy liquid, a good wash, generous spraying of GT85 - hand overnight then back on the bike

[Mick F]

Removing chains is easy and once you've done it you'll wonder what all the fuss was about.

+1
Deffo!

I don't lube my chains mid ride. Never have done. I've ridden 90 miles in the rain and drizzle many times and never done a thing with the chain until I finished, or I've even left it to the next day.

Dry lube does indeed wash off eventually. Keep an eye on the chain. Lube it when it needs and asks for it. This may be as many as hundreds of miles, or as few as tens of miles. I depends on the weather.

Weather today?
Frosty and icy. No sign of it clearing either. Bike and I are ready with chain nicely lubed from a week ago. Unless the ice goes, I ain't going out!

However I read somewhere that GT 85 isn't really suitable for lubing a chain

News to me

Have you read what is says on the can?
Does it say anything about being a chain lubricant?

[MikewsMITH2]

I think the argument that Sheldon makes about removing the factory lubricant is more about removing the lubricant "inside" the chain than there being anything special about the lubricant used. Once this has been removed it is very hard to get lubricant back inside the chain. The article I posted from a Reynolds engineer implied that the type of lubricant isn't critical. The dilemma is that if you strip all the internal lubrication from the chain. you need to replace it. To do this you need a very thin lubricant. However to stand up to use on the road especially in the wet you need a thick gloopy lubricant that will stick to the chain and not get thrown off. I thought the White Lightning recommended by Mick F would be the answer but I found it was no good in the wet.

This is my objection to frequent deep cleaning: the internal lubricant will be stripped off and indeed minute bits of abrasive grit may well get washed into the inside of the chain. This is why a quick wipe with a white spirit cloth followed by oiling with the "gloopy Finish Line Wet lubricant" may be a better regime. Even though I love the look of clean shiny chain. And with a fleet of bikes to look after, it also less time consuming.