Lubrication and chain life

[Markku Poysti]

>Any continual lubricator is a chain destroyer because it furnishes a medium in which external grit
>is washed into the friction interface as, for instance, the Rohloff Lubmatic does.

Theoretically, if you increase the flow of oil so much that dropping oil quickly carries away
any dirt than hits the chain, the chain would stay clean. Difficult to say how much oil would
be enough...

 

[Benjamin Lewis]

John Everett wrote:

> I've been following this thread for the last couple of days and wanted to add some general
> comments on the subject.
>
> As some of you may know from previous postings I'm somewhat anal about drivetrain cleanliness and
> lubrication. I recently did a "spring tuneup" for a friend. As part of the tuneup I cleaned her
> chain, first by soaking in mineral spirits for a couple of days, then thoroughly scrubbing it with
> a stiff toothbrush and Simple Green.

I find vigorous agitation in the mineral spirits is necessary. I don't think soaking for several
days is necessary.

After shaking in mineral spirits two or more times, until the spirits no longer get dirty, the
outside should be clean and not need to be scrubbed. I've taken apart links afterwards and
found very small amounts of dirt still remaining, but I don't think anything will get the
innards 100% clean.

--
Benjamin Lewis

Don't take life so serious, son, it ain't nohow permanent. -- Walt Kelly

 

[Jobst Brandt]

Markku Poysti writes:

>> Any continual lubricator is a chain destroyer because it furnishes a medium in which external
>> grit is washed into the friction interface as, for instance, the Rohloff Lubmatic does.

> Theoretically, if you increase the flow of oil so much that dropping oil quickly carries away any
> dirt than hits the chain, the chain would stay clean. Difficult to say how much oil would be
> enough...

Even the amount that most chain oilers apply is enough to coat the rear rim and tire with oil so
that the rear brake becomes gummed up. Visualizing washing a chain while riding I get an image of a
rider with an oily rear wheel, something that occurs often enough anyway with a freshly cleaned and
oiled chain if the user doesn't make an effort to wipe off all external oil before riding.

Jobst Brandt [email protected] Palo Alto CA

 

[Jay Beattie]

"John Everett" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

<big snip of much tedious chain cleaning>

> As I've posted before, I've ridden over 18,000 miles on a chain that's been kept clean and
> regularly lubricated, perhaps most importantly NEVER lubricated while dirty.

> While not strictly on topic, I believe cog life can also be extended through regular cleaning.
> While cleaning cogs I particularly focus on the grit that accumulates in the "U"s between teeth.
> It's a PITA to clean the grit out of each valley, but this is the same grinding paste Jobst refers
> to as contributing to reduced chain life.

You must have a phenomenal amount of spare time. Although it is beautiful tonight, I think it rained
for 25 days in March here in PDX. I would be cleaning my chain every night if I wanted it clean and
lubricated. It is usually one or the other. I put oil on my dirty chain out of necessity, and I have
no expectation of getting 18,000 miles out of it. -- Jay Beattie.

 

[John Everett]

On Wed, 9 Apr 2003 18:28:49 -0700, "Jay Beattie" <[email protected]> wrote:

>
>"John Everett" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:[email protected]...
>
><big snip of much tedious chain cleaning>
>
>> As I've posted before, I've ridden over 18,000 miles on a chain that's been kept clean and
>> regularly lubricated, perhaps most importantly NEVER lubricated while dirty.
>
>> While not strictly on topic, I believe cog life can also be extended through regular cleaning.
>> While cleaning cogs I particularly focus on the grit that accumulates in the "U"s between teeth.
>> It's a PITA to clean the grit out of each valley, but this is the same grinding paste Jobst
>> refers to as contributing to reduced chain life.
>
>You must have a phenomenal amount of spare time. Although it is beautiful tonight, I think it
>rained for 25 days in March here in PDX. I would be cleaning my chain every night if I wanted it
>clean and lubricated. It is usually one or the other. I put oil on my dirty chain out of necessity,
>and I have no expectation of getting 18,000 miles out of it. -- Jay Beattie.

All my time is spare so I can afford to spend hours working on (and cleaning) my bikes. It also
affords me time to fool around here on usenet news.

Note that I have six bikes, only three of which have hot waxed chains. The one on which I got
18,000+ miles never gets ridden in the rain. For what it's worth, my MTB and touring bike get White
Lightning. My TT bike gets Tri-Flow. The latter is probably an example of wishful thinking..

jeverett3<AT>earthlink<DOT>net http://home.earthlink.net/~jeverett3