More Qs - Chain lube and bike carrier for car?

[Random]

Couple of Qs if I may -

1) Chain lube? Which to buy.

Bike is a hybrid, riding is done mainly on road/track with some mud/rain.
I'm looking at getting "Purple Extreme" - It's well reviewed and one bottle
will last me for at least a year by the sound of things
Any comments? I'd rather buy something that's a couple of quid more
expensive but needs changing less often hence the purple extreme.

2) Bike carrier?

Going on holiday in a few weeks to the South of England and I'm after
something for the back of the car (Focus C-Max) that will hold 2 adult and
at least 1 kids bike. (I'll get the other one in the car if I have to)

Any thoughts? I had a look in H**fords and the stuff they had seemed a bit
overpriced for what it was
I'm more bothered about the hooks on the end of the straps rubbing my
paintwork off!
I don't have roof bars by the way.

Thanks in advance for any advice

Cheers


R

 

[Simon Brooke]

in message <[email protected]>, Random
('[email protected]') wrote:

> Couple of Qs if I may -
>
> 1) Chain lube? Which to buy.
>
> Bike is a hybrid, riding is done mainly on road/track with some
> mud/rain. I'm looking at getting "Purple Extreme" - It's well reviewed
> and one bottle will last me for at least a year by the sound of things
> Any comments? I'd rather buy something that's a couple of quid more
> expensive but needs changing less often hence the purple extreme.

I don't know anything about 'purple extreme', although I'm always wary of
magic new overhyped stuff. Use a chain with an SRAM magic joining link;
ideally an SRAM chain, but whatever the make of the chain use an SRAM
joining link. This makes it extremely easy to get the chain off the bike
for cleaning, and it is very difficult to adequately clean a chain on
the bike. For anything but a dry weather road bike I'd recommend Finish
Line Cross Country, which is effective and rain-proof, but not as clean
as a wax based lubricant. For my dry weather road bike I'm currently
using White Lightening, and find it quite good so long as it doesn't
rain.

Basic method for cleaning the chain: take it off the bike, drop it in a
bottle, half fill the bottle with solvent (white spirits or parafin),
shake vigorously, remove chain from bottle, wipe with a soft cloth and
leave to dry, ideally overnight but for at least half an hour, relube.
Leave the lube to capilarise into the rollers for at least half an hour,
ideally overnight, and then clean off as much of it as you possibly can.

How often to do this? It depends how wet and dirty the conditions you
ride in are. For a serious mountain bike, every ride. For a dry weather
road bike, every three of four hundred miles. For a green lane bike
using Finish Line Cross Country, probably every two or three hundred
miles, or when it gets to look manky.

> 2) Bike carrier?
>
> Going on holiday in a few weeks to the South of England and I'm after
> something for the back of the car (Focus C-Max) that will hold 2 adult
> and at least 1 kids bike. (I'll get the other one in the car if I have
> to)
>
> Any thoughts? I had a look in H**fords and the stuff they had seemed a
> bit overpriced for what it was
> I'm more bothered about the hooks on the end of the straps rubbing my
> paintwork off!

IME the strap mounted racks are OK and don't damage the paintwork too
much. I do know someone who broke his rear window after hitting a bump
with a load of bikes on the rack, though. A tow-hitch mounted rack, if
you have a tow hitch, may be better.

--
[email protected] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; 99% of browsers can't run ActiveX controls. Unfortunately
;; 99% of users are using the 1% of browsers that can...
[seen on /. 08:04:02]

 

[Tom Orr]

Random wrote:
> Couple of Qs if I may -
>
> 1) Chain lube? Which to buy.
>
> Bike is a hybrid, riding is done mainly on road/track with some
> mud/rain. I'm looking at getting "Purple Extreme" - It's well
> reviewed and one bottle will last me for at least a year by the sound
> of things
> Any comments? I'd rather buy something that's a couple of quid more
> expensive but needs changing less often hence the purple extreme.

FWIW I have it on both my bikes. The chain has to be completely clean before
application or it flushes all the gunk out and goes black. It's too early to
say whether it is as good as the claims for it suggest. My concern with
Cross Country was that if I re-applied it without cleaning the chain it
created a sort of sticky effect - as if the chain was covered in treacle. In
that respect I found, like Simon, that wax was much better.

Tom.