hogger453

I use the thin motor oil. I mix a little WD-40 in it.

Joe Minton

Thick oil. Period.

Better yet: --- Thick oil with an additive that increases its surface tension so it stays in place.

Chain-L or chainsaw bar oil.

chrischen98

Motorbike gear oil would do. The same thing as the overpriced chain-l lubricant. You'll be impressed by their marketing anyway. However you'll get a gallon of 75w140 gear oil at a friction of their price.

It is practical to apply gear oil on motorbike chain.

robert schlatte

Two cycle engine oil and gasoline mixture works great. Provides a lube film and clean your chain at the same time. I have tried Dave Moulton's novel technique and it works very well.

Dave Moulton's Blog - Dave Moulton's Bike Blog - A different way to lube a*chain

tmac100

As you are in India, go to any bicycle shop - seller or repairer and use what they use. Getting USA stuff (that posters suggest) may be tough to find in India. The Indians know what works for them - in terms of efficacy, and availability, and COST.

Yes, bicycles everywhere. One of the manufacturers holds the Guinness Book of World records for MAKING the most bicycles a day in the world. Apparently 18,500 bicycles/day!

Machoman121

I tried the chain saw oil - at first it looked like it could work well. I then noticed there was a lot of lube being flung off the chain - my garage floor has splatters from it - i would back pedal etc....even on my indoor trainer bike. I also noticed on a return 60km route that i could hear my chain - i've never heard it before - especially on my road bike without any grime or mud......so the chain was running quite dry. The chainsaw lube does not stay on the chain for long.

I believe the chainsaw lube was designed to be light and to be thrown off a typical chainsaw that would be filling up with saw dust....so the lube cannot be heavy.

Back to the drawing board....i might try good old engine oil or gear oil. I believe gear oil is even thicker.

seeker333

A safer and less costly alternative is any motor oil diluted with mineral spirits. Two-cycle oil normally costs 10-40x as much as motor oil. There's no advantage to 2-cycle oil over the cheaper, more readily available 4-cycle automotive engine oil for the purpose of bicycle chain lubrication and rust prevention.

Eight-year-old thread.

I'd never use chainsaw bar oil on my bike chain - it's viscous and sticky and more likely to retain dirt particles constantly flung from the front tire onto chain as it rounds the crank. Save the bar oil for your Husqvarna/Stihl saw, and get some good full-coverage fenders with front mud flap for your bike.

Read post #4, then try a mixture of any common motor oil (whatever you use in your motor vehicle) diluted with mineral spirits (found in paint section of hardware store or walmart) at approximately 1:5 ratio. Apply mixture sparingly, then you're less likely to have oil droplets on your chainstay and garage floor. Reapply at regular, frequent intervals for best results.

https://www.bikeforums.net/12283675-post38.html

Doug5150

There's been many tests of bicycle chain lube done and most tests find that the lube (or even no lube at all) makes very little difference in the mechanical resistance of pedaling.
Bicycle chains are not loaded much (by machine standards) and they only spin at very low speeds.
Even with a totally-non-lubed chain it sounds bad because you can hear the rollers rattling, but even so it is only a very tiny difference in efficiency.

The main reason that you lube bicycle chains is to keep them from rusting--particularly the pins.
The pins are hardened carbon steel and very susceptible to rust, and to stay in place they must fit very tight into the sideplates.
Enough exposure to water will make the pins rust and become loose, and then they are at risk of working out.

So any kind of oil is better than nothing. Even -used- motor oil is okay. You just may need to apply it more often in wet or dirty/dusty environments.

Anna4255

How about cooking oil?

dieselrover

This thread needs some oil. It's getting -pretty- squeaky.

veganbikes

Oy vey are we rehashing an old chain lube debate? Come on we need to evolve past all of this. Use whatever chain lubricant works best for you, keep it as clean as works best for you and go from there. If you think you might want to change something, strip your chain of old lube and put new lube on and test that for a while and then ask yourself "what did I like" and "what didn't I like" and compare that to your old chain lubing.

manapua_man

Yeah, IME any lighter lubricant will work fine, even if it's not ideal. Might end up cleaning things more often since some things tend to collect more dirt/grime than others.

engine1776

I'm using a mix that another user on this forum named 2_i reccomended for permanent lubrication and rust prevention when storing bikes outside in the rain: Boeshield T-9 mixed with LPS-3 mixed with ACF-50

willibrord

You can use organic, biodegradable olive oil or sun flower oil. You may have to apply it more often, but you are not harming the planet.

stevepusser

On a tour in a rather remote section of Northern California, I found that dry spray-on sunblock worked really well to get rid of an annoying chain squeak.

rhm

I use Brooks Proofide. Apply think gunks of it randomly on the chain, then heat with a hair dryer (while back pedaling) until it melts and covers all the links. Smells great, and it's far less destructive to your saddle than applying the stuff to leather. Won't hurt the chain much either.

J.Higgins 

1 part paraffin wax.
1 part paraffin oil
1 part Xylene.

heat wax and oil until dissolved. Add Xylene. Treat VERY clean chain with it. Solvent dissolves and leaves waxy oil behind. Clean and dry and does not pick up dirt.

engine1776

Results of my test:
5 cruddy bikes were stored outside in the rain and sun since November.
All of these bikes had every metal wearable surface sprayed down or
wiped down with the triple combination of Boeshield T-9, LPS-3, and
ACF-50. This solution was also injected under pressure into all
bowden cables for brakes and shifters. Pedal bearings, BB's, and hubs
also received this solution injected under pressure. One of these
bikes is such a piece of junk none of my friends wanted to ride it, so
it has sat all winter. All 4 other bikes were occasionally ridden,
including through small creeks and fields of mud with no washing them
off. The cruddy Huffy 3" tire bike (Huffy's attempt at a fat tire
bike) recieved the worst abuse. In February, it was carried on a car
bike rack through mountain passes that had snowstorms and freezing
temps all the way to the coast, it was then ridden through the surf on
the beach after a dog, and then it was not washed. More lube was
added. No freshwater wash occurred, except for alternating rain and
snow on the drive back. . Once back, it has been ridden mercilessly,
through mud, wet grass, and rain and snow. Not washed once. Beach
sand is still visibly clinging to parts of the bike, along with great
gobs of mud. No Rust on this bike.

No rust has developed on ANY bike, or chain. All shifters and brakes
work as well as they did when new (these are all Walmart bikes, so
very poorly). The bike that sat unused since November.needed the
tires re-inflated, and water dumped out of the frame, but rides like
new.

BigAura

I hope the OP made back from India

robow

Interesting, though I like Boeshield T-9 in the aerosol spray for its convenience and it seems to do a decent job of lubrication, it has never been great at rust prevention by itself for me. The magic must be in the elixir.

Tourist in MSN

And again.

***

When this thread started, I used petroleum based oil. Sometimes thin and sometimes thick. But it was always a dust magnet. Last couple years went to a wax based chain lube, but recently ran out. Now starting to try Finish Line Ceramic lube, too early to tell what I think of it.

engine1776

I would definitely recommend the combo of Boeshield T-9, then spray LPS-3, then ACF 50, then finish up with another spray of Boeshield T-9 to lock in the magic. It's like $50 worth of chemicals, but well worth the money if you never have to wash or lube your bikes.

Pkan

In India, we used to use a mixture of kerosene and coconut oil. The kero prevents rust and coconut oil is a less viscous thin oil at temperatures in India. Suggest equal parts ... you actually need very little. Kerosene was used to clean the parts such as screws, chain, etc dismantled from the bike.

Grease for the ball bearings.

The bike itself was cleaned with a cloth and just a dab of coconut oil.

Biking since the 50s!!

Indigo82

How about using wax from melted candles when you put the chain in wax and later on let it dry?

browngw 

Automatic Transmission fluid (ATF) is a good sub for chain lube. It cleans well and leaves a very thin film with excellent lubrication qualities.