Proofide

I haven't had a motorcycle since the eighties. In those days, I used to have a round tin about half full of solidified wax with some black stuff dissolved in it - graphite, maybe. The drill was to place this on a burner of the gas cooker, and allow a low flame to melt the contents. The chain was removed, cleaned and dried, and then immersed in the molten wax and left for a while, whereupon the graphite was supposed to penetrate right inside the rollers. I imagine you could have used it for bicycle chains, although I heard conflicting opinions about its effectiveness.

richard_dupp

I use (gasp, wheeze) DA chains and just wipe the outside with ProLink and install. Then relube at my favorite interval with ProLink, wipe thoroughly and continue the ritual, ride, relube, repeat. I have had pretty good success with this method, but YMMV.

Mountainking7

What would be better guys as chain lube?
Singer oil or this one from ebay?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Chepark-...item2ec8169dba

rydabent

The plain truth is that in the cycling world there are a whole ton of snake oil salesmen that want to sell their exotic chain lube. Most of them if put in a quart can might cost more than $100.

The actual fact is any good quality oil will work. Personally I use Mobil 1 oil, and my chains last thousands of miles. IMO WD-40 is not meant as a high quality lube.

rydabent

BTW I would love to put all the exotic high priced chain lubes on one of the wear machines. They usually press ball bearing together while spinning them with the test lubes. I personally think that most would fail miserably when compared to a high quality oil such as Mobil 1 or Amsoil.

DX-MAN

Forget that stuff on eBay; WAAY too expensive, and one lube is generally not THAT MUCH better than another.

Light weight motor oil is as good as anything; I use Mobil 1 0W-20.
You can also use stainless steel cleaner/polish, any of the "made for bike" lubes if you want, but not WD-40, either.

sreten

Hi,

WD40 applied from the inside of the chain is good for basic cleaning.
Wipe off the excess with the crud that comes with it and leave to dry.

Then lube the chain with a decent lube. Avoid motor engine oil with
detergents, (washes off too easily in the rain). Antifling chainsaw
oil seems a good budget choice, there many other choices.

I use this, its cheap and it works :



rgds, sreten.

Mountainking7

So singer oil is ok? its like $1 per bottle here...

ThermionicScott 

What is "Singer oil", and why did you need to bump a 4-year-old thread to ask?

Mountainking7

https://lmgtfy.com/?q=singer+oil

I googled up chain lube and a couple of links popped up and even though I read all of it, I'm left confused. There seems to be no definete answer.

FBinNY 

Any oil is better than no oil. Despite what some believe, there's a world of difference in the lubrication properties of various oils, waxes and dry lubes. That's why there are so many types of oils for various applications. From a purely lubrication aspect, the right lubricant depends on how you ride. It's a function of the chain's running tension, so folks who climb steep hills, use smaller sprockets, are heavier, or ride faster (average speed above 20mph) need an oil, wax or dry lube adequate for their higher demands. Those riding at less than 13mph on flat land can get by with anything.

But that's only part of the story. Besides lubrication, there's weather resistance for those who ride in the wet, dust/dirt adhesion, service life, and ease of application, and also other factors like environmental or flammability.

Since everybody's needs and preferences are different you can see why there are so many products, and debate about something as simple as chain lube. There is no one answer for everybody, every experienced rider has settled on whatever best suits his needs and preferences.

Shimagnolo

Broadly referring to "WD-40" w/o specifying *which* product, no longer makes sense since they brought out a line of bike products.

See: https://www.wd40bike.com/

ThermionicScott 

Ah, so it's a light machine oil. I'm pretty happy with heavier oils that stay put and do the job for 500+ miles, but let us know how the Singer stuff works out if you try it.

Mountainking7

It will be with great pleasure Sir. I will put up screen shots

mprelaw

3 in 1 has a similar product--20 weight "electric motor" oil. Comes in a blue label can. Less than 2 bucks for 4 oz.

They're designed for high RPM applications---electric motors, bearings that turn at high speed, etc. Usually not exposed to weather. No idea how they'd last on a chain, although some rollerbladers use them on their skate wheels.

I used 3 in 1 electric motor oil on my fishing reel bearings for many years. You'd notice when a little water got in there, so.........

sreten

Hi,

Singer oil is sewing machine oil, after the famous sewing machine manufacturer.

Its used for the machines but not the foot treadle assembly that used to drive them.

It doesn't gum up (like 3in1 allegedly does), but is a bit lightweight for a chain.

Lots of bits needed nice, clean, low friction oil :



and some grease :



Many early bikes were made by sewing machine manufacturers.

rgds, sreten.

s0ul_chicken

If you are in a real pinch, I bet you have some Olive Oil in the pantry you could use as well. I have seen many riders use this as it is cheap, cleans, and lubes.

Looigi

I've heard WD40 called a lot of things, but never a compendium.

gregjones

That dates us.

There are probably lots of kids that not only ever having used an oil can, have ever seen one.

When working on Volkswagens I used to keep three gallon buckets to put each of the three cans, with spout, to drain into. Then use the collected oil in the air cleaner at tune-up time.

FBinNY 

I toured all over the USA for years stopping at gas stations draining some "chain" oil from the empty oil cans, and even "borrowing" their paper towels to apply the oil. Not once did I even get a dirty look. These days it's tougher, cars are too good, and there's not the volume of empty oil cans (or bottles) that there used to be.

rootboy 

The voice of reason.

I can't believe I just read this whole thread. But for some reason, I find all the different responses interesting.

rootboy 

Oil is oil

dhender02

DITTO.. I just read this old thread also, an interesting read. FBinNY said it best, since everybody has different needs, there is no one right answer...

The reason I read the whole, old, thread is because on my last ride my roadie (<100 miles) wasn't as quiet as it is normally, especially when in a higher gear, so I'm thinking maybe it's time for a lube. I never personally lubed my hybrid (1000+ miles) but I take it to my LBS about twice a year for it's free for life tune-up (maybe they are lubing & cleaning it)... Any hoo, my prior ride on my roadie before I started hearing a noise from my chain was a couple of days after a snow storm and the roads were somewhat wet and salty. After the ride I washed my bike but I didn't clean the chain so I guess that ride washed off some of the lube, hence my chain being a little noisy. So I'm researching the forums to see what's the best chain lube, cleaning, and lubing method. For now I gonna use the same method I used with my hybrid, let the LBS do it since it's time for me take my new road bike in for it's checkup after the 100 mile break-in period... Only problem I brought my roadie from a different LBS, so I'll see what their free tune-up for life service is like... If their service doesn't include lubing the chain, I'm thinking I will wipe the chain down with a little WD-40, let it dry, and then lube it with the Finish Line Dry Teflon....

davidad

Astrozombie

NTM it may have been started as a troll post, the guy didn't have $5 to go down and buy some lube?