Favorite Chain Lube



jwroubaix

Member
Jun 6, 2007
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What's everyone's favorite chain lube. I'm looking for something that lasts fairly long and doesn't make a real mess. I used to use Prolink, is that still popular?
 
I'm guessing the brands won't cross the Atlantic, but my favourite is Finish Line's Ceramic Wax. It is lovely and clean and only need periodic replacement. It works slightly differently to others apparently but it does seem to work. My only problem with it is that I have to keep microwaving the bottle at the moment because the daytime temperatures are below the dissolving point of the wax in the solvent and it has solidified into one lump at the bottle of the bottle!
 
Prolink Gold
Finish Line Ceramic (wet)

But best of all is Garth's graphite/wax chain lube method (google it). Not as easy but your chains last longer and your entire drivetrain will never be dirty.
 
The truth is that I have never bought a chain lube in my life. I take my bike for a full check every month to a local bike shop in town, where they make sure that everything is working smoothly. It only costs me a few dollars. I've heard mixed opinions about greasing my bike chains. I just leave it to the "experts" these days. I am happy as long as everything runs well, and nothing is loose or makes a strange noise.
 
mpre53 said:
I use ChainL.
I use ChainL also. I take the chain off the bike, clean it,lay it on some newspaper put the bottle of chainL in some warm water for a bit.
Take it out and put a drop on each link. Let it sit overnight, wipe it off good before putting back on the bike and just wipe it off again after each ride.
It lasts a long time and keeps things nice and quite.
 
Finish Line Dry. And a good washing with Finish Line's on-the-bike chain scrubber every couple of weeks or after getting caught in the rain.

Pedro's and Park make good scrubbers, too.
 
6fhscjess said:
I use ChainL also. I take the chain off the bike, clean it,lay it on some newspaper put the bottle of chainL in some warm water for a bit.
Take it out and put a drop on each link. Let it sit overnight, wipe it off good before putting back on the bike and just wipe it off again after each ride.
It lasts a long time and keeps things nice and quite.
The best lubricant for chains on this Earth is the stuff Shimano packs into its chains. Soaking chains removes this Godlike substance.
 
ambition said:
Good way to ruin a chain (and the environment) dumbass.
The only one ruining the environment around here is you.

WD40 is basically a base oil, consisting of solvent-dewaxed light paraffinic distillates and propellant. If you leave the manufacturers lube on the chain and just need a clean, then WD40 ain't a bad choice at all.

No petroleum based lubes are good for the environment.
 
swampy1970 said:
The best lubricant for chains on this Earth is the stuff Shimano packs into its chains. Soaking chains removes this Godlike substance.
I agree. But after it's gone, or too dirty, you have to use something.

I wish Shimano put this stuff in a bottle.
 
Clean the chain once a week. Most of the time I spray on Liquid Wrench or Castrol aerosol chain lube and then some Finish Line Wet over that if the bottle is handy.
 
I use something called "White Lightening" Chain Cleaner and Lube. I use it because it is what is easily available here. I think it is a dry lube.

For really nasty chains, that I am not ready to replace, like when I find an old junker bike to restore, I spray them down with Break Free and scrub the daylights out of them with a Parks Chain Brush. Then, I dry it off, and respray it one more time. Most of the time, this will give me another few months use out of the chain before I absolutely have to replace it.
 
swampy1970 said:
The best lubricant for chains on this Earth is the stuff Shimano packs into its chains. Soaking chains removes this Godlike substance.
I don't use shimano chains so I know not of the lube they use but I do know Chain-L is the longest lasting lube I've used.
 
Ouch, that's a painful question, a question that starts wars.

I've use a lot of different lubes and haven't found a lot of difference between the oil type, but have found that the wax lubes are the least longevity of all the lubes. When I use to use various wax lubes I had to carry a bottle on longer rides because once I got over about 70 miles the chain would start to make noise so I had to stop and reapply the lube...great huh? So I have several favs, I like Chain L but only on my touring bike, it seems to hold up to rain better than anything else I tried without flinging black wet lube all over the bike; on my regular road bikes I like Pro Gold Extreme the best due to lower cost point, followed by Rock & Roll Gold but the problem with Rock & Roll is that it's expensive, plus you have to drizzle it on the chain instead of one drop per roller because this stuff supposedly cleans the chain, but 1 bottle is 8 bucks and might last 3 lubings? That's crazy, so I use Pro Gold Extreme more. Please note that all dry type of lubes that I know of require at least 4 hours to dry, I usually let it set overnight, you should be able to touch the chain and not get an oily residue on your finger, when that happens it's good to ride.

You do need to clean your chain really well before applying new lube especially when changing brand and or type of oil. I use two methods to clean my chain, first I use the Park Cyclone Chain cleaner which gets most of the stuff off and removes metallic grit that other ways miss; then I follow up with White Lightening Clean Streak which works really good, helps to remove the Park Citrus cleaning fluid off and takes off whatever other gunk the Park missed and then dries fast.
 
I'm still ghetto with my lube jobs. I use motor oil on my chain. But I do degrease the chain first with wd40 and clean it off before applying new motor oil.
 
Boeshield T9 is awesome stuff. It was created and is licensed by Boeing aircraft. It's a very thin solvent combined with waxes that penetrates and dries leaving a waxy lubricant. Stays very clean and easy to apply.