Originally Posted by
seypat
This is why it's not more popular. It's not wipe your chain off, grab a bottle/tube and relube, then repeat as necessary. Instead, it's microbrewing, moonshining, making wine/cider, canning, etc, etc.
It reminds me of changing the brake or power steering fluid in your car. You can really make it complicated by opening the lines and flushing everything, bleeding the system, etc. Or, you can suck the fluid out of the reservior and replace with fresh fluid. Drive it around for a couple of days and repeat the process 2 or 3 times. About 5 minutes to suck out the fluid and replace. 15 minutes total. I'm sure flushing it might better overall, but not that much better.
The fluid in a brake system doesn't circulate. New fluid would never get to the calipers. Open the bleed port at the back, right side and let most, but not all of the of the reservoir fluid leak out. Put new fluid in, open the bleed port and let gravity flush one brake at at time, until clean fluid comes out. It's not fast, but it is effective. No special tools required.
I made a large batch of lube a couple of years ago for pennies. I'm still using it. Heating the lube and chain is quicker than melting a pot of wax.