Bike Chain Lube

[Phil, Squid-in-Training]

> I rewax when I come home from a rainy ride

No need to go further... there's the problem right there.

Prolink will go several weeks with my short commuting before the rollers get
rattle-y. There's never any squeaking though.

--
Phil, Squid-in-Training

 

[[email protected]]

> Chuck-waxis a lousy lubricant for quickly moving parts-sliding door bolts maybe-zippers in an emergency
its flaky

 

[[email protected]]

Jasper Janssen wrote:
> On 29 Sep 2005 08:30:46 -0700, [email protected] wrote:
>
> >This subject comes up about twice per year. Search the archives for
> >interminable discussions.
>
> Don't you mean per month?
>

Could be! I admit, I've lost count.

- Frank Krygowski

 

[[email protected]]

Per Elmsäter wrote:
>
> I use wax on my roadbike and don't really understand why people make sucha
> fuzz about different kind of oil when oil clearly is not necessary. I rewax
> when I come home from a rainy ride, that's about it. I use White Lightning.
>

And, as I've said, if you have about 5% oil (or gear lube) blended into
paraffin, you don't need to re-wax after a rainy ride.

- Frank Krygowski

 

[Per Elmsäter]

Phil, Squid-in-Training wrote:
>> I rewax when I come home from a rainy ride
>
> No need to go further... there's the problem right there.
>
> Prolink will go several weeks with my short commuting before the
> rollers get rattle-y. There's never any squeaking though.

Phil. If it doesn't rain I don't need to rewax my chain for months. And
that's not short commuter rides. More like 200-400 km per week.

--
Perre
I gave up on SPAM and redirected it to hotmail instead.

 

[Per Elmsäter]

[email protected] wrote:
> Per Elmsäter wrote:
>>
>> I use wax on my roadbike and don't really understand why people make
>> such a fuzz about different kind of oil when oil clearly is not
>> necessary. I rewax when I come home from a rainy ride, that's about
>> it. I use White Lightning.
>>
>
> And, as I've said, if you have about 5% oil (or gear lube) blended
> into paraffin, you don't need to re-wax after a rainy ride.
>
> - Frank Krygowski

That's interesting Frank. Do you fix this mix yourself, or is there a ready
made product to be bought?

--
Perre
I gave up on SPAM and redirected it to hotmail instead.

 

[[email protected]]

Per Elmsäter wrote:
> [email protected] wrote:
> > And, as I've said, if you have about 5% oil (or gear lube) blended
> > into paraffin, you don't need to re-wax after a rainy ride.
> >
>
> That's interesting Frank. Do you fix this mix yourself, or is there a ready
> made product to be bought?
>

I made it up myself. I melted one box (perhaps 250 cc) of paraffin wax
and poured in the oil directly from the container. Not very precise!

I've done this twice, both of them many years ago, so I don't even
remember if the one I'm using has gear lube or motor oil - but I think
it's the former.

I use very little of it, because I don't dunk the chain in molten wax;
I crayon the solid wax onto a torch-warmed chain, then warm it more
until it flows into the pivots. This is done with the chain on the
bike.

- Frank Krygowski

 

[Per Elmsäter]

[email protected] wrote:
> I use very little of it, because I don't dunk the chain in molten wax;
> I crayon the solid wax onto a torch-warmed chain, then warm it more
> until it flows into the pivots. This is done with the chain on the
> bike.
>
> - Frank Krygowski

Cool, I like that.

--
Perre
I gave up on SPAM and redirected it to hotmail instead.

 

[(PeteCresswell)]

Per [email protected]:
>I crayon the solid wax onto a torch-warmed chain, then warm it more
>until it flows into the pivots. This is done with the chain on the
>bike.

Do you clean all the lube off of a new chain before proceeding?

I used to use White Lightning - whose instructions say that has tb done before
using their product. Then somebody observed that SRAM chains, at least, come
from the factory with some sort of magic goop embedded in them and cleaning it
off was bad for the life of the chain.
--
PeteCresswell

 

[Mike Krueger]

(PeteCresswell) wrote:

> Do you clean all the lube off of a new chain before proceeding?
>
> I used to use White Lightning - whose instructions say that has tb done before
> using their product. Then somebody observed that SRAM chains, at least, come
> from the factory with some sort of magic goop embedded in them and cleaning it
> off was bad for the life of the chain.
> --
> PeteCresswell

Shimano chains also come from the factory coated with a thick, sticky
grease, presumably to prevent rust. That stuff is a dirt magnet.
Many lubes, including ProLink and ProGold 2000, which I use, must be
applied to a perfectly clean chain to bond to the metal properly.
I clean a new chain by shaking it for about a minute in a platic liter
soda bottle half-filled with lacquer thinner or paint thinner, and then
repeating the process a second time with clean solvent. Air dry the
chain completely before applying the lube. The old solvent can be
reused by letting the sludge settle out and then decanting the clear
liquid back into the can.

 

[Lou Holtman]

Mike Krueger wrote:
> (PeteCresswell) wrote:
>
>
>>Do you clean all the lube off of a new chain before proceeding?
>>
>>I used to use White Lightning - whose instructions say that has tb done before
>>using their product. Then somebody observed that SRAM chains, at least, come
>>from the factory with some sort of magic goop embedded in them and cleaning it
>>off was bad for the life of the chain.
>>--
>>PeteCresswell
>
>
> Shimano chains also come from the factory coated with a thick, sticky
> grease, presumably to prevent rust. That stuff is a dirt magnet.
> Many lubes, including ProLink and ProGold 2000, which I use, must be
> applied to a perfectly clean chain to bond to the metal properly.
> I clean a new chain by shaking it for about a minute in a platic liter
> soda bottle half-filled with lacquer thinner or paint thinner, and then
> repeating the process a second time with clean solvent. Air dry the
> chain completely before applying the lube. The old solvent can be
> reused by letting the sludge settle out and then decanting the clear
> liquid back into the can.
>


My experience is that this will not get rid of all that sticky mess they
put on the new chains.
In the beginning I did this to, but one time I took apart the 'left
over' of the shortened chain and the links were still sticky on the
inside. Now a put the chain in a solvent for at least a whole day/night,
shake it and repeat that with fresh solvent.

Lou
--
Posted by news://news.nb.nu

 

[Jasper Janssen]

On Fri, 30 Sep 2005 10:23:35 GMT, "Per Elmsäter" <[email protected]>
wrote:
>Phil, Squid-in-Training wrote:
>>> I rewax when I come home from a rainy ride
>>
>> No need to go further... there's the problem right there.
>>
>> Prolink will go several weeks with my short commuting before the
>> rollers get rattle-y. There's never any squeaking though.
>
>Phil. If it doesn't rain I don't need to rewax my chain for months. And
>that's not short commuter rides. More like 200-400 km per week.

"If it doesn't rain" is about as likely to happen in many locales as pigs
flying.

Jasper

 

[Jasper Janssen]

On Fri, 30 Sep 2005 12:49:35 -0700, "(PeteCresswell)" <[email protected]>
wrote:

>I used to use White Lightning - whose instructions say that has tb done before
>using their product. Then somebody observed that SRAM chains, at least, come
>from the factory with some sort of magic goop embedded in them and cleaning it
>off was bad for the life of the chain.

It's not magic goop, it's just thick oil -- but cleaning it out will be
bad for the chain. There is no way a consumer can get the lube inside the
chain as well as the manufacturer can when he makes it.

Jasper

 

[Andrew Price]

On 29 Sep 2005 19:35:36 -0700, [email protected] wrote:

>> Don't you mean per month?
>
> Could be! I admit, I've lost count.

We haven't had a Brooks thread for a while now...

 

[[email protected]]

10 pts for originality!

 

[Per Elmsäter]

Jasper Janssen wrote:
> On Fri, 30 Sep 2005 10:23:35 GMT, "Per Elmsäter" <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>> Phil, Squid-in-Training wrote:
>>>> I rewax when I come home from a rainy ride
>>>
>>> No need to go further... there's the problem right there.
>>>
>>> Prolink will go several weeks with my short commuting before the
>>> rollers get rattle-y. There's never any squeaking though.
>>
>> Phil. If it doesn't rain I don't need to rewax my chain for months.
>> And that's not short commuter rides. More like 200-400 km per week.
>
> "If it doesn't rain" is about as likely to happen in many locales as
> pigs flying.
>
> Jasper

Well I usually have a choice not to ride when it's raining. Actually on my
roadbike I never ride in the rain unless
a. I'm caught in it while riding.
b. I'm racing.

This means that I don't ride in much rain at all. I've probably waxed my
roadbike 3-4 times this season.

Now my commuter bike is a totally different story. That's rain or shine the
year around, so for this reason I've always used a synthetic lube on it. Now
I'm going to try what Frank suggests and add just a bit of oil with the wax
and see what happens. It sure is worth a try.

--
Perre
I gave up on SPAM and redirected it to hotmail instead.

 

[Lou Holtman]

Jasper Janssen wrote:
> On Fri, 30 Sep 2005 12:49:35 -0700, "(PeteCresswell)" <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
>
>>I used to use White Lightning - whose instructions say that has tb done before
>>using their product. Then somebody observed that SRAM chains, at least, come
>
>>from the factory with some sort of magic goop embedded in them and cleaning it
>
>>off was bad for the life of the chain.
>
>
> It's not magic goop, it's just thick oil -- but cleaning it out will be
> bad for the chain.

If you want to use wax based lube that 'goop' has to go and because it's
sticky as hell it has to go anyway.

> There is no way a consumer can get the lube inside the
> chain as well as the manufacturer can when he makes it.

It's pretty easy to get lube inside the chain, because a chain is a
relative open structure. To get it bonded to the metal is the difficult
part.

Lou
--
Posted by news://news.nb.nu

 

[[email protected]]

Per Elmsäter wrote:
> Jasper Janssen wrote:
> Now
> I'm going to try what Frank suggests and add just a bit of oil with the wax
> and see what happens. It sure is worth a try.

Further details, if you plan to do it with the chain on the bike:

I sometimes use the classic hot wax (with oil) dip technique for a
brand new chain, to give it a good start, so to speak. But sometimes I
don't bother. Can't say I've noted a difference.

I hang a foot-square piece of sheet metal from the chainstay to protect
the tire, etc. from the torch flame. Torch should be very low anyway.

A torch nozzle on a hose (as opposed to rigidly fixed to the propane
bottle) is easier to use, if you've got one.

Put newspaper under the bike before you start. Otherwise you'll get
some wax crumbs, etc, on the floor.

The drill is: do the bottom run of chain, about 10" at a time. Wipe
the chain down with paper towels to get it a bit cleaner (but it won't
be very dirty).

Warm 10" with the torch, crayon on the wax, then re-warm it till the
wax flows in. Backpedal 10" and repeat.

Wipe off excess with paper towels when done, by backpedaling through a
handful of paper towels.



And BTW, I do run fenders almost every time it rains. Some of my
chain's cleanliness & life is probably because of them, rather than the
wax.

- Frank Krygowski

 

[Matt O'Toole]

[email protected] wrote:

> Further details, if you plan to do it with the chain on the bike:
>
> I sometimes use the classic hot wax (with oil) dip technique for a
> brand new chain, to give it a good start, so to speak. But sometimes
> I don't bother. Can't say I've noted a difference.
>
> I hang a foot-square piece of sheet metal from the chainstay to
> protect the tire, etc. from the torch flame. Torch should be very
> low anyway.
>
> A torch nozzle on a hose (as opposed to rigidly fixed to the propane
> bottle) is easier to use, if you've got one.
>
> Put newspaper under the bike before you start. Otherwise you'll get
> some wax crumbs, etc, on the floor.
>
> The drill is: do the bottom run of chain, about 10" at a time. Wipe
> the chain down with paper towels to get it a bit cleaner (but it won't
> be very dirty).
>
> Warm 10" with the torch, crayon on the wax, then re-warm it till the
> wax flows in. Backpedal 10" and repeat.
>
> Wipe off excess with paper towels when done, by backpedaling through a
> handful of paper towels.

Do you ever actually clean the chain, to remove the grit? How long do your
chains last (best guess)?

> And BTW, I do run fenders almost every time it rains. Some of my
> chain's cleanliness & life is probably because of them, rather than
> the wax.

Probably.

Matt O.

 

[Ron Ruff]

Matt O'Toole wrote:
> Do you ever actually clean the chain, to remove the grit? How long do your
> chains last (best guess)?
>
I'll tell you mine. I've been using Kleen Guard furniture wax ($1 per
can at Walmart) on a SRAM 9 speed chain. 3,800 miles so far, and no
more than 1/32 inch wear. That is better service than I ever got with a
bike lube. I never clean the chain other than what it gets from the
lube-wipe. I get rained on fairly often (like today), but it doesn't
seem to affect the chain. I went for 200 miles once without lubing it
just to see if it would squeek... it didn't. I generally lube & wipe it
every 100 miles or so.