phughes

smd4

Because any lubrication is better than no lubrication?

elcyc

WD40 dry lube (ptfe).
This is my go-to lube.

easyupbug 

Do a search "bar and chain lube" and lots come up over the years like this one "https://www.bikeforums.net/bicycle-mechanics/929173-homebrew-diy-chain-lube-users-storage-application.html".

pepperbelly

I wasn’t being serious.

t2p

one of the single best ‘inventions’ for motorcycles was/is the O-ring chain - basically install it and forget about it

expensive - but reduced maintenance to just about nothing and last almost forever … just replace the counter shaft sprocket now and then

easyupbug 

Other than being messy on the bike and needing a little OMS to thin it is a great chain lube and very economical, many of us had our own homebrew formulas. I don't wax but with all do respect to Zero Friction over the years I also used Chain-L, Rock and Roll, etc. and found that there is not much difference other than cost to apply and frequency of needed application. As I retired with a 5 gal bucket mostly full of industrial open chain lube which is used on very expensive drag chains moving millions of tons of crushed/powdered ore I have been using it. It's viscosity is very low so rather than drop by drop slow application I run the bottle spout down the chain rollers quickly. It is working out well and is amazingly clean after wiping the chain down with a rag over several revolutions and literally takes a couple mins at the very most. I have too many bikes to keep accurate logs but am happy with chain life as best I can tell.

pepperbelly

We were riding and working on them from the mid to late ‘60s through the ‘80s. The chains then were pretty basic.
One problem that kept coming up was riders not lubing their chain and it breaking under load. We all learned early how to replace the upper and lower sections of the crankcase. On Goldwing it seemed the chain would hit exactly where the 2 case sections met so both would need replacing.

Camilo

There's only one rule of chain lube:

Lube is good; no lube is bad

Sy Reene

Stay away from Epic Ride.. supposedly one of the worst options

tomato coupe

ftfy

Paul_P

This discussion led me to reading this very long critique / comparison / test analysis, which I imagine a lot of you have already seen :

from Zero Friction Cycling

phughes

What are you even talking about? The Goldwing is a shaft driven bike. No chain, unless you are referring to the primary drive chain? Camshaft chain? Neither of which are something you are lubing like you would an external drive chain. Do you have any idea what you are talking about?

pepperbelly

Brain fart. Not Goldwing. CB 750s.

phughes

Gotcha. I sort of wondered, based on what you said, if that was what you meant. I have plenty of brain farts so no worries.

pepperbelly

Beer may have played a part too.

pepperbelly

😎 I really don’t know what I was thinking.

phughes

noglider 

I've used many kinds of chain lube. I have been somewhat satisfied with all of them, ATF, even chainsaw/bar or whatever it's called, and even classic WD-40. None of them is perfect. Lately, I use Chain-L.

NVFlinch 

Dumond Tech Blue...

There, all done, be amazed.

...or any other lube on the planet.

drlogik 

Chain lubes is like comparing beers. My beer is the best, no MY beer is the best. The best beer is the one you like.

There was a fairly scientific study done comparing the various lubes. Some of the results were expected and some unexpected results. I use both a wax-based lube on some bikes and an oil-based lube on others. I like both.

Racing Dan

It should be noted the test protocol used in these tests, vastly favors melt on wax or lubes that doesnt attract too much grit and sand. - Because it involves relubing on average every 200km (simulated) without any cleaning what so ever. He just adds more lube on top of old lube and added sand etc. Melt on wax will sort of clean the chain where liquid oil will not. Imo its a bit underhanded that with the drip on lubes no effort what so ever is done to clean the chain as opposed so removing, melt lube and replace the chain with melt on wax. If the chain survives to the end it amounts to removing and replacing the chain 30 times for melt wax vs zero cleaning or other maintenance for drip lubes.

That said Epict ride may be terrible, I dunno. Just commenting the test protocol highly favors some lubes and the results are likely only replicated IRL, if you copy that. If on the other hand you spend a similar amount of time taking cafe of a drip lubed chain, the results wouldn't be as dramatic.

cyccommute 

You are likely referring to the Friction Facts study. The graph from the study has been reproduced nearly everywhere (like here). What people seem to miss on that study is that the magnitude of the range is very, very small. Between the best and worst, there is a 5 W difference. And if we throw out the White Lightning Epic Ride outlier, the difference is only 3 W. The gains in power from the chain lube is very small and it hardly matters what is used.

To put the differences into perspective, 75W of power is needed to propel a bike at 12mph. A 5W loss is 7% of the power and a 9W loss is 1.2% of the power. At 18mph, the power need is about doubled and the percentage power loss due to the chain lube is about halved. It doesn’t make as much difference as people seem to think.

pepperbelly

I was asking more for chain life than power loss. If wax based lubes attract and hold less dirt and grit that is what I will use. It doesn’t matter to me if I need to lube more often.
I will stay with White Lightning Clean or Easy Ride.

Now to really stir things up here-how often should I clean my chain and how?

Racing Dan

Addition to #47

you also have to question the validity of some of the posted wear percentages. Frequently zfc posts figures in the 0-1% range. Meaning 0--1% of the wear allowance that is in itself 0.5% elongation vs a new chain.

Now tell me what lab grade equipment he uses to measure say 0.3% of 0.5% chain elongation. on a 110 link chain that would amount to 0.003 x 0.005 x 110 x 0.5 = 0.000825" or just shy of of thou measured over almost 4 feet.

Sure buddy! :-)