Chain Lube - Friend or Enemy ?

[adge82]

It is also useful for washing more grit into the rollers, then sticking it there with the lube.

The couple of times i have cleaned a chain with kero i have wondered if this was all i was doing.
I think cleaning with kero has killed 2 of my chains rather than preserved them.

Never been really happy with a chain after a thorough clean and re-lube.

I now use canola oil on my chain, its brilliant. Easy to clean, not heaps of fling (although a little more than a "no fling" lube).
Chain is butter smooth and smells like pancakes. It also helps that its about $2.00 for a spray can that will last a year.

[Supafrog]

I now use canola oil on my chain, its brilliant. Easy to clean, not heaps of fling (although a little more than a "no fling" lube).
Chain is butter smooth and smells like pancakes. It also helps that its about $2.00 for a spray can that will last a year.

MMmMm pancakes! but doesn't that make you hungry everytime you ride?

[zxsixr03]

Hmm i might get some garlic oil...

[Stereo]

My bike is much too important to me to use canola oil..


























Im going to use truffle oil.

[Mattjin]

hahaha, I knew this thread would end up bring out all the weird and wonderful ideas. I am just surprised at how so many defend their choice to the death to use chain lube. I really dont see the big deal. A $150 chain every ... lets say .... 30,000km is not that much. When we might pay ~$80 to do an oil change ourselves with a new filter and good oil, and do this every maybe 3,000km (if you treasure your motor). So $800 in oil and filters compared to $150 for a chain, who cares about the chain. Even add sprockets, maybe $100 and it is still a fraction of regular maintenance. Add a few tyre changes at ~$500 a pop......

So yeah. No lube for me, I like it dry!!!

[Gosling1]

I now use canola oil on my chain, its brilliant. Easy to clean, not heaps of fling (although a little more than a "no fling" lube).
Chain is butter smooth and smells like pancakes. It also helps that its about $2.00 for a spray can that will last a year.

MMmMm pancakes! but doesn't that make you hungry everytime you ride?

hahahah this reminds me of a story I heard from some dirt-bike riders a few years ago....

Dirt bikes get real dirty out in the bush right ? Especially after its been raining out there.....which is generally the best time to go. One bright spark decided that his bike would be *waaaaay* easier to clean, if he applied some sort of coating or protective cover to the bike, before a ride in the bush.....maybe spraying something on the bike to help the dirt just slide off when he hit it with the Karcher ?? ....... So.....he decided to use some oil......sprayed all over the bike, wheels, forks, engine....you name it. The oil he used was Pure'n'Simple cooking oil in a spray can.

Great idea, but the bike smelt like Toula's fish'n'chip shop when he was riding it out in the bush !

[Mattjin]

And that story reminded me of an old trick we used to play on our mates, spraying the seat with Armour-All before a ride. Then crack up as he struggles to stay on the thing for the first couple of hours!

I can remember back in the late 80's going to a cross country event at Appin (not MX), and watching a guy walk around and secretly spray a couple of rear brake discs with chain lube when the owners werent watching. At the time I remember seeing this and grabbing a rag to hang over mine incase he went after me. It's an ENEMY, I tells ya!

[DaveGPz]

hahaha, I knew this thread would end up bring out all the weird and wonderful ideas. I am just surprised at how so many defend their choice to the death to use chain lube. I really dont see the big deal. A $150 chain every ... lets say .... 30,000km is not that much. When we might pay ~$80 to do an oil change ourselves with a new filter and good oil, and do this every maybe 3,000km (if you treasure your motor). So $800 in oil and filters compared to $150 for a chain, who cares about the chain. Even add sprockets, maybe $100 and it is still a fraction of regular maintenance. Add a few tyre changes at ~$500 a pop......

So yeah. No lube for me, I like it dry!!!

Aldi motor oil will cost about $7.50/change, and their bike gear's really cheap too. And the Payless earplugs block the rattle of the dry chain on the swing arm as it shits itself and wraps around the front sprocket and they're only 50c each! (That's $1/head). For me, the point is making sure that everything's working as well as it can, rather than running it into the ground to save $25 for a can of lube and a bottle of kero.

[Mattjin]

"Aldi motor oil" and "running it into the ground" in the same sentence, but not referring to each other. Clever.

Why would the chain wrap around the sprocket? Its an O-ring with the lube sealed inside where the bushes and pins are that transfer the load. Only the rollers might get a little bit noisy near the end but they wont cause it to break.

If you were doing an engine oil change and I handed you a filthy funnel with sand and dirt stuck all inside it, would you use it to tip oil in your motor? I dont think so. So why spray more lube on your chain when it has crap stuck all over it. The only way to have any benefit of lubing it is to pull the chain off the bike and flush it many times with a solvent to get all of the grit out of the rollers. Mind you cant use high pressure for fear of flushing crap inside the sealed O-rings either so you need to take your time and do it manually with a brush. Then you can lube it and re-assemble. Doing it any other way and you are fooling yourself if you think you are extending the chain life. All you are doing is making the rollers run quieter while helping them to wear out. The best way to lube it is to cover it in bearing grease, then put it in an oven just long enough to melt the grease into the rollers. Then you know for certain that it is clean and lubed correctly, the same way the chain comes when you buy it. But how many people do all this work?

[DaveGPz]

Not me! I got in enough trouble using the oven to bake the high temp paint! You've opened up a can of worms; I'll still keep cleaning and lubing (slow learner, luddite, whatever). Will be very interested to hear the outcome of a controlled test (identical bikes, same road conditions, one lubed and one not).

[adge82]

Not me! I got in enough trouble using the oven to bake the high temp paint! You've opened up a can of worms; I'll still keep cleaning and lubing (slow learner, luddite, whatever). Will be very interested to hear the outcome of a controlled test (identical bikes, same road conditions, one lubed and one not).

ZX14's, supplied by someone else.
Ill ride one, whos riding the other one?

[Mattjin]

Send me the other one.... minus the lube

[Chitchats]

Wax for me, has never let me down and doesnt make a bloody mess.