chain cleaning

ddessent said:

Can someone recommend a chain lube and degreaser for an Arizona (desert climate) road biker?

For dryer weather I'd recommend the Finishline KryTech wax lube

http://www.finishlineusa.com/products/kry-tech.htm

kleng said:

For dryer weather I'd recommend the Finishline KryTech wax lube

finishlineusa.comkry tech.htmOpen ↗

urgh .. i know lubes are personal. but i got sick of having to apply bucket loads of the stuff just to get through a 50+ km (dry) ride without getting to the end of the ride with annoying dry squeak. on the upside your drive train is always beautiful and clean as the 'lube' simply falls off in the first hour of peddling.

my exp with it was so ordinary that it's push me back to a wet lube and the additional cleaning that brings.

--brett

sideshow_bob said:

urgh .. i know lubes are personal. but i got sick of having to apply bucket loads of the stuff just to get through a 50+ km (dry) ride without getting to the end of the ride with annoying dry squeak. on the upside your drive train is always beautiful and clean as the 'lube' simply falls off in the first hour of peddling.

my exp with it was so ordinary that it's push me back to a wet lube and the additional cleaning that brings.

--brett

I've never had this problem, only in the wet, when the lube was washed off.
So what I recommended was my experience with the product.

I lube with whatever oil I have around, two stroke motor oil, four stroke oil, and more recently ' bicycle specific ' oils which leave me less than impressed... the latter come off quickly, and are only better in that they don't pick up as much road crud. But if you lube and clean your chain regularly you will have no problems anyway.

Tried the "Finishline" wax lubricant and it worked O.K for a while, until it flaked off and left my chain kinda squeaky after only one 30 mile ride. Changed to "Pro Link - Pro Gold" and my Tommasini has been much happier.

Wino Ryder said:

Tried the "Finishline" wax lubricant and it worked O.K for a while, until it flaked off and left my chain kinda squeaky after only one 30 mile ride. Changed to "Pro Link - Pro Gold" and my Tommasini has been much happier.

Yep, same experience here with the Finishline Wax-based. I've tried a couple of the wax-based lubes, and never been satisfied with them.

Another vote for Prolink....the best I've found for quiet chain operation, smooth running and shifting. It seems to penetrate well and stay on the chain a long time too.

Wait a minute. Tri-Flow any good?

dhk2 said:

Yep, same experience here with the Finishline Wax-based. I've tried a couple of the wax-based lubes, and never been satisfied with them.

Another vote for Prolink....the best I've found for quiet chain operation, smooth running and shifting. It seems to penetrate well and stay on the chain a long time too.

I just cleaned my chain with Orange Oil Spray Cleaner and re-lubed with White Lithium Grease Spray. I wonder if that will cure its mood swings? 😄

Wax lubes suck for any serious distance.

ProLink works great. Recently I have been using homebrew, which is a mixture of oderless mineral spirits and synthetic motor oil. Homebrew is essentially what ProLink is. The solvent washes away road grime and thins out the oil so it flows into the chain more easily. The solvent then evaporates leaving the oil inside the chain. Because it is cheap to make, you can apply a lot of it after every ride.

ddessent said:

Can someone recommend a chain lube and degreaser for an Arizona (desert climate) road biker?

I'm an Arizona roadie, and Pro Link has done the business for me. I've tried Pedro's Road Rage.....Royal Purple stuff.....other things, but Pro Link tops 'em all. It's quick and easy to apply. I do my chain 'bout every 200-300 miles (so about every week to 10 days).

Keep in mind that no lube will protect you from a sandstorm or monsoonal downpour.

I use White Lightening. It's a wax-based lube. I get really great chain life, 2000 miles. But I have to put it on a lot, about every 100 miles. I'm a long distance touring guy and that's one thing I don't like... I have to carry lube with me.

I do like that I put it on, wipe the chain off, and it's great about not picking up a lot of dirt.

For degreasing I've tried a few and prefer the citrus based ones. I don't care much which one, but they just leave my hands smelling a whole lot better, which my wife likes.

rcrampton said:

I use White Lightening. It's a wax-based lube. I get really great chain life, 2000 miles. But I have to put it on a lot, about every 100 miles. I'm a long distance touring guy and that's one thing I don't like... I have to carry lube with me.

I do like that I put it on, wipe the chain off, and it's great about not picking up a lot of dirt.

For degreasing I've tried a few and prefer the citrus based ones. I don't care much which one, but they just leave my hands smelling a whole lot better, which my wife likes.

Wouldn't consider 2000 miles good chain life at all. I got 6000 miles from my first Sram PC-99 chain on a new DA cassette, 4500 from the second one running on the old cassette. (Replaced them as soon as the Park gauge indicated 0.75% wear). Chain lube is Finishline Teflon or Prolink, applied each 100 miles. Of course, a lot would depend on where and how you ride. Rain and grit make it tough on any chain.

I guess I'm too used to mountain biking. I was just happy as heck to get 1000 miles on a chain. I replaced my road chain at 2000 miles and it had just over 1/32" of stretch. So I figured I would have been able to go 3000 miles.

I never clean my chain, I just lube it and count on that to work the grit out. Should I actually clean the thing every few hundred miles?

rcrampton said:

I never clean my chain, I just lube it and count on that to work the grit out. Should I actually clean the thing every few hundred miles?

I use two chains on the road bike and swap them every 500km - fresh one goes on the bike and is lubed, and the other is being degreased overnight and then dried and stored. In between swaps, I lube roughly every 200-250km.

Have been doing this for a two years now, and have gotten about 4500km out of each one so far, and both are only just starting to show the slightest bit of stretch. I reckon they've probably got about another 1500km to go (each) before they'll need replacing.

I find that I get about 2500km out of my MTB chain - and it's not really used all that hard, but I don't use the same degreasing/swapping routine with it, just lube every 100km or so.

Am currently using Prolink, but I think next time I'll try some motorcycle chain lube to see if that is any better.

HTH,

n

"Should I actually clean the thing every few hundred miles?"

with today's simple and inexpensive chain cleaning devices, there's really no reason not to. regular cleaning and lubrication extends the life of the chain, the cluster gears and the chainrings. a clean chain also shifts better.

CAMPYBOB said:

"Should I actually clean the thing every few hundred miles?"

with today's simple and inexpensive chain cleaning devices, there's really no reason not to. regular cleaning and lubrication extends the life of the chain, the cluster gears and the chainrings. a clean chain also shifts better.

Agree it's easy and quick to shine up the chain with the clip-on device and citrus-based cleaner. I'm not too concerned about appearance, so I use the chain cleaner machine if the chain gets gritty after riding in the rain or dirty conditions. Normally just wiping the chain down with a rag frequently works for me.

IMO, a lot of people apply excessive lube which attracts dirt which then requires cleaning. I ride with a guy who hoses down the chain with a stream while back-pedaling at the start of rides. It's a quick 10-second lube job, but messy. His attitude is that he'd rather ride than spend time putting drops of lube on each of the 114 bushings, and he doesn't care about the cost of the extra chain lube he wastes.