Best Chain lube for MTB

[Andymann]

Open a window in the kitchen and make sure the room is well vented, do the hop dip and let us know how it goes.

 

P.S .... using the wording of flamed and hot oil together makes one think a big bang/boom, so play it safe.

Oh, and don't use your Mothers wooden fork for stirring the grease while its getting hot....She still has the new one I had to buy her, and I still have the now very black one I used.

[davetapson]

I bought a 500ml can of Motorex off-road chain lube earlier today and want to see how that lasts. Will use it on my SS.

 

Yeh - I bought whatever the non-wax version of this is and used it with no issues until sani2c where my pillow in my box pressed down on the squirter knob and and I was met with a yellow/green oily pillow at the next night's camp.

 

When I get around to buying another can, it will be all I use.

[Mackie]

Wel Kevin and david used Q20 in the cape pioneer!

When you do not pay for equipment, and you have mechnics do all the "wrenching" who cares what you use, and that is the one reason that I never take a pro's advice on equipment choices.

[Mojoman]

motor oil has bee designed to work inside an engine.

thats why on a bike chain it just makes one moer of a mess, and gets everything to stick to it.

 

stop being a cheapskate

I dont think I am being a cheapskate, I am just trying to find something both affordable and practical as a lube for my chain. Prehaps if you squirt the oil all over on the chain and cassette it becomes a mess and everything sticks to it but I place a drop on each pin and then spin the crank 20 odd times then wipe off all the excess. It gets no dirtier than when I use Squirt. And note that I clean my chain after each ride (more than 30km) and lube again so the chain never gets to stay dirty really.

[DubbelBuys]

My chain and cluster is due for replacment soon, so I'm going to try a trick we used to do years back as kids when we all rode MX and had no money for fancy lube - we got a pot of Castrol MS grease - the black stuff - and dumped it all into a half-GTX tin, slowly heated the tin on the stove (when my Mom wasn't home) until the grease turned to liquid, and then dumped the cleaned chain into the hot liquid grease... the theory was that the hot liquid grease would flow easily between the rollers of the chain, and then when it cooled, it would turn back to grease inside your chain. I'm not saying this was definitely the case, but I sure as hell remember that when the stuff cooled, the chain was covered in a nice layer of grease, and didn't seem to have to lube chains for months thereafter. Surprisingly, it also never flew off. I also don't remember having to buy too many new chains either. I know I'm probably going to get flamed for heating grease and upsetting the molecular structure etc, etc, and I'm a bit worried about heating a thin bicycle chain in hot oil/grease, but if it works, I reckon this type of solution will be a good one....

 

Also did this with bike chains when I was still in school - only difference is that we did it outside on an open fire

 

I currently use engine oil on my mtb chains. Remove the chains regularly & rinse them in paraffin & relube.

 

I dunk the chains in oil & leave to drip off all the excess before putting them on the bike.

 

I must add that it's not the cleanest of systems, but works ok for me for the moment. Doesn't really matter what it looks like on the outside as long as the inside is lubed, right?

[Hairy]

To throw a little article in the mix

 

http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/friction-facts-separating-fact-from-fiction-35694/

 

http://cdn.mos.bikeradar.com/images/news/2012/11/06/1352163320421-1v51akpmocjcg-670-70.jpgThere are up to 10 watts of difference in chain lube, Smith says

Smith has also been investigating the effectiveness of chain lubricants. There, the results vary tremendously. In fact, Smith says one popular lubricant actually increases drivetrain frictional losses by five watts relative to the factory treatment.

According to Smith, swapping out a worst-case scenario of the least-efficient chain lubricated with a particularly ineffective lubricant for a best-case scenario saves more than 10 watts (when testing at a 250w load).

[Hairy]

“I figure that this site will take its own course into the different blogs and the guys that really care about a few watts here and there and see where it goes,” he told BikeRadar during a visit to his lab. “I’m just providing data.”

However, Smith has used that data to develop his own 'UltraFast' chain, which is essentially the fastest chain he's tested (Shimano's Dura-Ace CN-7901) ultrasonically cleaned and treated with a blend of paraffin wax, pure PTFE, and molybdenum sulfide lubricants. This recipe produces, Smith says, provides the lowest consistently measureable frictional losses of everything he’s tested.

Smith sells the UltraFast chains for $89 (a modest $20 upcharge to a stock Dura-Ace chain).

http://cdn.mos.bikeradar.com/images/news/2012/11/06/1352163320454-q4x0zhlki29w-670-70.jpgPart of Smith's Ultrafast formula includes running Dura-Ace chains through these ultrasonic cleaners

Edited November 6, 2012 by Hairy

[GoLefty!!]

everyones selling something aren't they...

[Mojoman]

Bought a bottle of this stuff today at Bearing Man in Kdump. Paid R160 for 500ml. Cant see any difference between this product and Squirt which is about R75-90 for 100ml.

[Hairy]

you bike is lurking like a ghost in the back ground ....

[BergForce]

Bought a bottle of this stuff today at Bearing Man in Kdump. Paid R160 for 500ml. Cant see any difference between this product and Squirt which is about R75-90 for 100ml.

 

Also got me a bottle of Go chain wax from Bearing-Man on special now for R100 for 500ml.

[Resiesfiets]

When you buy a new chain from the shop its soaked in a oil/grease/wax. Does anyone know what it is?

[reteid]

how do you get squirt off again?

[kandui]

I had to remove 3 bent links from my chain last week and added 1 magic link to close it again. Run with it, add 2 links or get a new chain?

Oh, for the moment, I use Chain-L.

[Pipsqueak]

Folks who think that a blackening chain is a 'bad' thing, or who think wax lubes are good for your bike, should read this doc written by Johan Bornman. Should help to fix some misconceptions...

Great info.

[djr50]

As long as it is a proper liquid. Needs to get in between those pins, rollers and plates and STAY there. Plain straight forward motor oil works best for me.