Sixty Fiver

If the pigs are as smart as they say they are, they would know that chain lube is nothing more than oil and solvents and that the rest is marketing.

Was riding 500km a week last summer and only lubed my chain once a week when it was dry and this was more out of habit and routine than actual need.

curiouskid55

One drop per pin wipe off all excess pretty f****n simple

RoadTire 

Tuc-I have a question: "WD-40" stands for "Water Displacement." So it displaces water, but isn't intended on lubrication or long-term rust preventive. Works very well just as you are using it. So can you elaborate on what you are seeing that indicates it is "draw moisture in with it." Might help me understand more about chain cleaning and lubrication. Thanks. :-)

etw

I have also used various White Lightning lubes with good results. If you want it to last longer, you might try the Wet Ride formula

https://www.whitelightningco.com/products/index.htm

Hendo252 

I've had good luck with the Finish Line wax lube... applies easy out of the bottle, stays clean, no buildup.

I give the chain a dose once a week.

I've used melted paraffin wax before with good results too, but it requires removing from the bike to re-apply.

Works for me!

rangerdavid

Here's a cut 'n paste from the wd 40 web site:


[h=1]Works and Plays as Hard as You Do[/h]
Whether you’re a fisherman, cyclist, pool shark or anything in between, WD-40[SUB]®[/SUB] can help protect the equipment you use and ensure you continue doing the things you love. Use America’s favorite multi-purpose product to lubricate, protect and drive moisture from your gear and help avoid costly repairs later.


Drives moisture from wet bicycle chains
Bicycle chains are made of many small moving parts that are often exposed to wet or humid conditions. Use WD-40 to displace moisture and keep chains lubricated, so you can always enjoy a smooth ride.

ahsposo 

Coca Cola is good for your teeth as it dissolves stray protein bits near your gums that lead to seborrhea.

dissident

people over-clean and over-think this one. Just about anything will work.. cheapest a mixture of kerosene or mineral spirits and oil. Plain old silicone lubricant in a spray bottle will work fine too.. whatever. No need to take the chain off and soak it unless it floats your boat. Never have, probably never will. Not going to spend more than 5 minutes doing it.

StanSeven

Except when you have to change a flat and your hands are black from the chain or you get chain tattoes. There's a big difference in cleaness

Suburban Grind

Drip on and spray on dry moly lubricants, biggest market is industrial and agricultural conveyors:

https://www.schaefferoil.com/liquid-chain-lube.html

https://www.schaefferoil.com/roller-chain-lube.html

These are not the moly lubes with the reddish color that someone mentioned earlier in the thread. Besides chains these are popular with gun manufacturers for keeping slide mechanisms clean and working dependably under heavy usage/ high temperatures. FWIW note the MSDS do not list any extra carcinogenic risk as compared to other more typical lubricants.

Drag

Anyone use chainsaw lube?

oxfordd30

I agree, lube is lube. I've even used chainsaw lube from a spray can (convenient means of dispersal) and it seemed to work good. I've seem some shimano chains with (reportedly) 1K miles on them dry as a bone but working perfectly (it was kept out of bad weather and stored indoors). There was more wear but after that many miles most wish to upgrade anyhow. I think it's better to lubricate just a tad.

The worst I tried was white lithium spray, don't know what I was thinking. Don't ever do that, haha!

Capecodder

Yes, cut with Mineral Spirits. It works as good as any. TBH if you run your chain through a rag after the first few rides after lubing they all stay pretty clean.

dissident

yes, it works fine but it's rather dark. I started just using extra 0W30 synthetic oil for my car mixed with kerosene/mineral spirits, since I don't quite put the entire 5 quarts in the car. So it's basically going to be free now aside from the kerosene/mineral spirits cost.

StanSeven

No it's not. Some like Finish Line and White Lightning are wax

Golfster

I used to hear good things about Rock-n-Roll Lube, but now I hear nothing at all about it.

Yangster

Squirt Lube.. very clean and good.. better than most wax lube i have tried in the wet. Never looked at others anymore.

mckeithen

Rock and Roll Red - good stuff. Squirt it on, wipe off. Cleans and lubes at same time.

Tuc

WD40 breaks down water droplets according to my chemistry friend, and water is attracted to it so you don't want WD puddling inside the rollers on an otherwise dry chain. It will create a water/WD foam over time if left in the tiny crevices and eventually air will get to it. Yeah, if for some reason your chain is soaked with water, WD will drive it all out when you follow up with compressed air too leaving it bone dry. WD does spread a layer of light oil on everything as a TEMPORARY barrier to air exposure which is when the water becomes a problem for metal, but it is a really lousy lubricant for a bike chain because that oil doesn't "stick", it evaporates leaving at least some of the water and eventually exposing the metal to the air.

My chemistry grad friend can say it a lot better, (I might even have some of this wrong!); in fact our conversation a few weeks ago is what prompted me to post here. He took samples of all the different chain lubes in my garage, (including that mystery airplane one) to his work at the university to examine them in one of the new fancy machines they just got that tells you everything that something is made of. Will track him down this week to see what he found.

RoadTire 

Thanks for the info. Using the compressed air to blow out the WD/water kinda makes sense, and my experience WD evaporates instead of leaving a lubricating layer seems to agree also. Somewhere I read WD40 was created to drive moisture from electrical wiring conduits or something like that - but never read about the exact technique. Might have been compressed air as you said.

Looking forward to an update from your friend.

Sixty Fiver

I have used WD40 in place of mineral spirits as WD40 is primarily a solvent / mineral spirits that has a very small quantity of organic oil and by increasing the ratio of petroleum based lubricant to the solvent you get a product that cleans and lubricates and works extremely well in wet and nasty conditions.

Bishbike

+1

Nachoman

My current lube of choice too. Drive chain runs clean and silent. But from what I've seen, only sold in expensive, small bottles.

Dilberto

Bar and Chain Oil, hands down. If it's good enough for wet, muddy and sawdust-ridden loggers....it's good enough for cycling.

bikeme

I now use Pro-Link Gold on both my road bike and mtb. Both stay amazingly clean. That stuff just doesn't attract dirt. I've used Triflow (dirt magnet), Pedro's Synlube (also a dirt magnet) and Pedro's Icewax (clean but burns off after one ride, maybe during a ride).