Whats oiling your gears?

[Mariner]

Now that the season of rain and mud is here does anyone change their chain lubricant from 'dry' to wet?
Never been a fan of dry myself having been brought up on 3 in 1 bike oil. Actually tried to buy some back in the summer and had a yoof explain to the old duffer that oil was now synthetic or organic something like that and was matched to your riding environment.
I wanted it for some garden shears but didn't feel like justifying myself to him. Serves me right for thinking I could buy bike oil in a bike shop. And yes I know its no longer marketed as such.
Saw an interesting notice on a mass bike ride on Exmoor some years ago where riders where requested to carry their bikes across a river as n x riders chains dipping in the water could cause contamination.
Did I read somewhere that chains are now Teflon coated or is that only some?

[Scattamah]

I use Dumonde Tech Lite in the dry and Finish Line Wet Lube the rest of the time. The DT washes off the chain a lot quicker when the sky opens up or crossing waterways. Also found Dumonde Tech Liquid Grease works well as a heavy duty lube, but it does pick up a lot of rubbish along the way.

Greetz

S.

[voodoo_simon]

Muc off ceramic lube, dry when is dry and wet for the wet! The wet also reacts to UV light, so my bike chain stands out in a bothy rave

[notinabox]

Weldtite range. All weather performance or extreme if very wet or long distances. Contain Teflon. They do help me with my supplies but I do rate it. I've never had a drive chain issue in poor show conditions, when others usually have.

[RobMac]

3 in 1! It's the worst thing you could use on a chain it's like a magnet to dirt & dust, I use Squirt dry lube.

[ctznsmith]

I was using squirt dry because someone gave me a bottle and thought it was good. Washed out fairly easily but in dry weather (or if you remembered to re-apply after a wet ride) worked really well. Also didn't seem to pick up dirt or turn the chain a horrible colour (see below).

Now I'm using either Weldtite Extreme wet lube or TF2 wet lube as I found I had multiple bottles stashed in a box that I'd forgotten about!

Wet lube does the job but I still find it washes out/disappears over time AND it attracts dirt so your chain goes a lovely oily black colour.

To be honest the last time I replied to a discussion on this I think my comment was along the lines of; "it doesn't matter what you use, just use something and remember to reapply when necessary!"

[JohnClimber]

For the last 2 years for Fat Bike beach sandy rides whatever the time of year I use WD40 specialist dry PTFE lubricant
http://www.wd40specialist.co.uk/the-spe ... -lubricant

And for the same length of time all my other bikes for all year round use I riding WD40 specialist High Performance PTFE lubricant
http://www.wd40specialist.co.uk/the-spe ... lubricant/

The cans last ages as well.

[jBay]

Muc Off Ceramic

[Richard G]

Think I might try muc off ceramic for the BB200. I've been trying a number of different ones but virtually all of them end up squeaking on very long rides.

[whitestone]

Morgan Blue something or other lube. Use it on both road and mountain bike, seems to work OK.

The biggest problem I find with any lube and wet conditions is that you get the lube replaced by the wet paste, more likely when the "paste" is very thin, this then dries and the chain gets very squeeky.

[richvs]

I have a couple of cheapy automatic chain cleaner things (Park clones)
I keep one half full of Scottoil.
Clip one on and turn the cranks to brush the oil in then wipe the link plates (usually with the worst rag I can find).

I've settled on this way because I hate how fiddly or messy it is to spray from a can or dribble from a bottle.
None of this stuff is magic but I'm more likely to keep up with it if it's easy and anything is better than nothing

The Scottoil is proprietary motorbike chain oiler stuff. It lasts well in the wet and doesn't pick up too much crap.

Edit: squirty bottle (empty sample contact lens fluid) for travels.

[HaYWiRe]

I now swear by muc off dry lube, all conditions

Tried many wet lubes but always found myself with a gritty black chain, on a good day id have nice shiny side plates but the rollers and inside (you know, the bit that actually runs on the gears) would be filthy

Dry lube is a wax based, not oil based, no grit in dusty conditions and clean rollers, and the more you use it the better the effect, and easier to reapply rather than needing a full decrease.
In wet I'm still left with a clean inside on the chain, clean gears, but it can dry up in heavy rain or streams, which is why I carry a tiny dropper bottle to reapply if needed

For me, the extra time reapplying before most rides is worth it for the cleaner chain, and personal experience, grit grinding down the chain causes more rust than salt water has

[Richard G]

I tried that on a 12 hour ride I did recently. By hour 8 I wanted to throw my bike in a hedge the amount of noise the drivetrain was making. Would have been ok if I'd brought some with me, but to be honest I would have expected it to handle that sort of duration, especially given it was dry.

[HaYWiRe]

I suppose there's alot of personal preference, and local conditions, I I've finally found what works for my bike so ill stick to it

What some dont realise is dry lube (or anything wax based) needs multiple regular applications to work at its best, to build up layers of the lube coating everything, after a month I found it needed far fewer applications

Sometimes this advice backfires with certain lubes though, as fresh oil on dirty old oil can ruin a chain. And ofcourse whenever you change lube, or even just an occasional full service its always good to fully decrease and start fresh. I lost 2 chains in the past ignoring this part

[jBay]

Think I might try muc off ceramic for the BB200. I've been trying a number of different ones but virtually all of them end up squeaking on very long rides.

needs to dry overnight after application for best results

[johnnystorm]

I like Squirt but to be honest I just use whatever was in the sale when I needed to add an extra couple of quid to get free postage on whatever I've ordered online. Currently some dey lube that's like custard I got from On One. Ordered some bits yesterday so the next batch will be Boeshield.

[Matt]

GT85

[Richard G]

Think I might try muc off ceramic for the BB200. I've been trying a number of different ones but virtually all of them end up squeaking on very long rides.

needs to dry overnight after application for best results

That's how I generally do it, but it's good to know anyway. Cheers. Just the one coat?

[Single Speed George]

blood sweat and tears

[Mariner]

Interesting as there seems to be a lot of mythology about chain lube. My understanding is/was that dry is for summer and wet is for winter and in order to change between the two you had to give the chain a good soak to degrease/clean it before applying new. Even heard of people having two chains one on the bike one being cleaned.
Have certainly noted the the reference to repeated application to build up lube.
What lube schedule if any do you use over a two or three day or longer ride?

What about cables, forks and derailleur moving parts? Dry just seems to sit on my chain and needs to be 'worked in'. Always use wet on fork seals and cables as seems to be more amenable to capillary action.

[HaYWiRe]

For me, repeated application was to get the best out of dry lube, and I re apply either after a soaking, or every 100 miles /beginning of long day . Short rides I simply add whenever I feel its drying up, however in my experience "building up" layers of wet lube just leads to grit hell, and a degrease needed

For suspension I actually use a teflon-silicone oil designed for moving pistons in Airsoft weapons, not sure how much it helps but its designed to be very gentle on rubber gaskets and seals, works for me.
Cables I've yet to oil, shifting is still very smooth but it is what I'm going to look into next

However as clean and shiny as I can keep my drivetrain, the one part that always gets filthy and gunked up is my jockey wheel, poor fella seams left with all the crap that comes off my chain

[Richard G]

TF Tuned suggested some sort of teflon based lube for the fork / shock. Though apparently most chain lubes are teflon based.

Edit - Which is exactly what the post above states too. :)

[Richard G]

Do you guys degrease a chain when you get it, or do you leave the factory lube on for a few rides?

[whitestone]

Do you guys degrease a chain when you get it, or do you leave the factory lube on for a few rides?

The original grease is likely to be the best you can put on the chain, pretty obvious if you think why, so don't add anything to it until it is actually needed.

[Richard G]

Is what I've always done, but I suppose the question was more... is there a good way to tell when to start using something else?