Thread: Chain lube.
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Old 06-13-19, 12:55 AM
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cyccommute 
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Originally Posted by Cycle Tourist
There was an extremely long thread about chain lube in another area of bike forum but no one mentioned my particular choice.
I clean chains quite thouroughly with WD and just as thouroughly dry them and then spray a dry silicone lube containing Teflon and call it a day. I seem to be in the minority using this lube for chains. I love that it don't attract grime and grit, doesn't squeak and stays really clean.
Why? Why do people think the more complicated the lubrication (and cleaning routine), the better the results? I would bet dollars to donuts (Egad, Brain! If dollars turn into donuts, Everyone's wallets will be too squishy for them to sit down.) that your routine doesn't result in any longer chain life than anyone else's. And, given the composition of the two sprays you likely aren't doing what you think your are doing. More below.

Originally Posted by Cycle Tourist
Oh yeah, it's worth noting I used to use WD as my chain lube. ( I soon discovered WD is not a lube and promotes rust as it breaks down oil based products leaving bare unprotected metal.
I'm only going to address this part. WD40 is most definitely a lubricant. It contains about 25% "Petroleum Base Oil" which is a mineral oil. It also contains about 75% solvent but that evaporates and leaves behind the mineral oil. WD40 silicone spray contains 60 to 80% solvent and about 1 to 5% siloxane (the "silicone" part of the spray). Step one of your procedure puts a bit of oil on the chain with a lot of solvent. Step two strips that bit of oil off and leaves behind less of another lubricant. You are simply undoing step one with step 2. That makes it mostly a waste time and solvent. Pick one, not both.
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