Covalent Jello

Some of these bio chain lubes - one was made of canola oil...
There are probably other ingredients but I'm about to just throw some veggie oil on the chain rather than buy a 4oz thing for 10 bucks...

What do you think?

Covalent Jello

Alright well it seems to work just fine

Everything is so much easier to clean and work with when you use biodegradable degreaser & lube, I love it, now it's time to find some heavier bio lubes for other bike parts!

sknhgy 

Why not Crisco?

dminor 

I just have these horrible visions . . .

jgedwa

I Can't Believe Its Not Phil's Tenacious Oil

Covalent Jello

LOL mobile bee hives

mystolenbikes

Wow! just wow! to those images.

cleverendeavor

What's the deal with biodegradable lube? Is there an advantage over using non-biodegradable chain lube?

Covalent Jello

For me it's not having to worry about nasty carcinogenic, volatile, or otherwise hazardous chemicals everywhere.
Easier to clean
And it can be dumped down the sink without polluting
For my standards it works just as well as any other lube
Just picked up biodegradeable degreaser too, from autozone, it's wonderful

I don't like paying for synthetic sludge, supporting it, etc

And this is much cheaper seeing as I can pick up the chain lube @ a grocery store, too

Ants/bees are attracted to sugar, not oil, so i dunno what those pics are referencing unless it's glycol based biodegradable degreaser left on there

lubes17319

https://www.ernestolube.com/

Wanderer

My riding buddy always cleans his bike with vegetable oil (all the moving parts). And, he just leaves it there as a lubricant, after wiping everything down.

Has worked fine, but he has to relube everything often, as stuff starts squeeking.

Bugs are really attracted to his bike, and it's always got bugs all over it.

gitarzan

Veggie lubes tend to gum up eventually don't they? Or are they better now?

Covalent Jello

I dunno, but don't synthetic lubes gum up?
I've always had my chain lube turn to crap eventually after 10 hour inverals

The way I figure it is, I'll have to replace my chain at somepoint anyways
And veggie/non won't make a diff much in the meantime in terms of performance or wear, to me

I'd been using some graphite 'dry lube- that seemed pretty similar to the veggie in terms of performance
Seems like the bio is just as good (and a whole lot less messy/volitile so I can work indoors with it!)

On avg I probably relube my chain every 10 hours, but I also hose it down after just about every ride, too
There much be a myriad of diff. bio lubes to concoct & try!

The other half is that Im just tired of being ripped off my small quantitites and proprietary BS, that, to me,
really don't make a difference to justify me spending money on, compared to buying lube at the grocery store!
Biking is too expensive for me to be buying little drip bottles of chain lube, whether it's bio or not!
I think the grocery store might be expensive since it's regulated for consumption, though
Will have to check out other [bulk] bio lubes

Chris_F

I don't think biodegradable necessarily equals non-toxic.

BurnNotice

Your correct. I deal with chemicals in my job and we get fooled thinking biodegradable=healthy environment but it has no real correlation what so ever. Biodegradable solvents can also be artificial or manmade materials that are close in their cell structure to plants and animals so they can be broken down by microorganisms.

In fact, some biodegradable substances/items are toxic to you and the fresh water supply. So be weary of the so-called bio's out there.

Bottom line, if it is truly plant cell matter or animal, then it is safe almost always to consume by you. Watch those labels closely and don't fall for a marketing scheme by manufacturers.

That said...........I use what works best and take precaution to not saturate a water supply.

Even some of the most dangerous chemicals in the world can be neutralized by that simple formula and all necessity thing of H2O!

BurnNotice

BTW- Love that beehive bottom bracket!

Bikefo3rumuser0002

Long ago in a galaxy far far away I was a machinist, we'd rebuild machines for various comapnies including Lifesavers packaging machines, we used a Sugar based lube tho please don't ask for brand name that was more than 22 years ago :-)

Covalent Jello

Good point, the ones I get say that though [nontoxic], for example Simple Green is polyethylated glycol or something.
It's non mutagenic/carcinogenic/toxic and is only bad if you swallow or splash in your eyes.

cleverendeavor

I always wear latex or nitrile gloves when working on my bike. They're dirt cheap when bought in bulk. As someone with a strong chemistry and lab background, wearing the gloves just seems to make sense.

irpheus

Hi - try e.g. www.green-oil.net - eco chain lube, ecogrease, ecodegreaser and ecoclean.

Regards,

Jesper

Covalent Jello

Cool!

ekincam

By veggie oil, do you mean the type you use for cooking? That will just turn into a sticky mess shortly after.

Covalent Jello

Yes, but that was only the first time, I need to find some canola oil or something, and even then it might need emulsifiers who knows
But the synthetic chain lubes ive used turn into a gunky mess anyways it seems
either way i end up cleaning them with a chain cleaner every so often

Covalent Jello

no gunky mess yet after (4) 2 hour rides, 50% wet 50% dry with sand/mud

dminor 

OK, so you are using a 100% natural product; but now comes the important question: is it really doing any good? In other words, is it an effective chain lube? Sure it is oil but so are products like 3-in-One oil, WD-40, LPS-1 and lindseed oil - - none of which I would recommend for lubing a roller chain.