Chain Lubricant?

in message <[email hidden]>, Saxman

(') said:

Any recommendations on what chain lubricant to use? I am told on good
authority that used car engine oil is the best?

Used car engine oil most definitely isn't best and really isn't suitable.
Car engine oil is required to be fairly gloopy at high temperatures, and
consequently is even more gloopy at low temperatures. Chain lube has to
be able to get into the pins and rollers by capillary action, so has to
be very runny at low temperatures, and once in has to stay there, so
must contain a fair bit of volatiles which evaporate out fairly rapidly.

White Lightning (wax emulsion based) is very good, easy to use, very easy
to keep clean, but not good in the wet. Finish Line Cross Country is
much better in the wet but not as easy to keep clean. Both of these are
quite expensive per bottle, but as you don't use much a bottle lasts a
long time. People used to say chain saw oil was good, but a number of
people here have tried it and found that it is messy.

Whatever you use, apply it sparingly, leave it at least half an hour,
ideally overnight, for capillary action to pull the lubricant into the
rollers, and then wipe any excess off with kitchen paper or a cleanish
rag. Excess lube on the outside of the chain only attracts dirt and
accelerates wear.

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

;; Woz: 'All the best people in life seem to like LINUX.'
;; <URL:http://www.woz.org/woz/cresponses/response03.html>

"Saxman" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Any recommendations on what chain lubricant to use? I am told on good
authority that used car engine oil is the best?

It depends upon which good authority you listen to.

Some alternatives suggested include:
chain saw oils
hot wax treatment akin to that of motor cycle chain lubing
3 in 1
any of the propriety cycle chain oils

one common agreement is that WD40 is not a suitable lubricant

FWIW I use Finish Line Cross Country and am happy with its performance.

Simon Brooke said:

Used car engine oil most definitely isn't best and really isn't suitable.
Car engine oil is required to be fairly gloopy at high temperatures, and
consequently is even more gloopy at low temperatures. Chain lube has to
be able to get into the pins and rollers by capillary action, so has to
be very runny at low temperatures, and once in has to stay there, so
must contain a fair bit of volatiles which evaporate out fairly rapidly.

Car engine oil is much too thin for a chain.
Your statement about chain lube being very runny is a red herring. You should
consider its properties once the petrol has evaporated - it is very thick.
The best lubricant for a chain is a tube of chain lube.
(An aerosol is better but we must think of the children/ozone layer/climate)

--
Eiron

No good deed ever goes unpunished.

Saxman said the following on 27/05/2006 09:04:

Quoted message said:

Any recommendations on what chain lubricant to use? I am told on good
authority that used car engine oil is the best?

I wouldn't listen to your "good authority" - that is about the worst
thing you could use.

I use ProGold ProLink Chain Lube, from wiggle, or Finish Line Cross
Country, also from wiggle or your LBS (or even Halfrauds!)

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/

Eiron said:

The best lubricant for a chain is a tube of chain lube.
(An aerosol is better but we must think of the children/ozone
layer/climate)

An aerosol is hopeless unless you want to coat the outside of the chain
with lubricant so lots of muck sticks to it. You need the lubricant on
the inside not the outside of the chain. A drop applied from a bottle to
each side plate at a pin makes sure the maximum amount goes in to
lubricate the pin and little goes on the outside where it just collects
dirt.

Also FWIW there are virtually no freon aerosols sold now thanks to the
Montreal Protocol, due in no small part to Margaret Thatcher and the
British scientists who first detected the ozone hole over Antarctica.

--
Tony

"Anyone who conducts an argument by appealing to authority is not using
his intelligence; he is just using his memory."
- Leonardo da Vinci

Eiron said:

Simon Brooke said:

Used car engine oil most definitely isn't best and really isn't suitable.
Car engine oil is required to be fairly gloopy at high temperatures, and
consequently is even more gloopy at low temperatures. Chain lube has to
be able to get into the pins and rollers by capillary action, so has to
be very runny at low temperatures, and once in has to stay there, so
must contain a fair bit of volatiles which evaporate out fairly rapidly.

Car engine oil is much too thin for a chain.

It does a pretty good job lubricating chains inside engines (at even
lower viscosity) so this statement can't be right

--
---
Marten Gerritsen

INFOapestaartjeM-GINEERINGpuntNL
www.m-gineering.nl

M-gineering said:

It does a pretty good job lubricating chains inside engines (at even
lower viscosity) so this statement can't be right

Chains in a car tend to sit and move in an oil bath with no dirt around
to cause complications. Bicycle chains run inside an old fashioned
chain case with an oil bath will last for 100k miles or more. Most
bicycle chains though are exposed to the world these days and can last
as little as 3-400miles on an MTB in the wrong conditions.

--
Tony

"Anyone who conducts an argument by appealing to authority is not using
his intelligence; he is just using his memory."
- Leonardo da Vinci

Saxman said:

Any recommendations on what chain lubricant to use? I am told on good
authority that used car engine oil is the best?

3-in-1 oil, unless it's very wet weather in which case Finish Line Cross
Country tends to stay on better.

Tony Raven said:

Eiron said:

The best lubricant for a chain is a tube of chain lube.
(An aerosol is better but we must think of the children/ozone
layer/climate)

An aerosol is hopeless

FWIW, I've fairly recently stopped using an aerosol bought from
an LBS (on their recommendation) not so long ago, after finding
it manifestly failed to protect the chain from rust.

Went back to what I've been happy with before: a lithium-based
grease I originally bought for the motorbike[1] chain. Applying
it is messy on the fingers, but it protects the chain and
doesn't attract as much gunk as some of the alternatives.

Quoted message said:

Also FWIW there are virtually no freon aerosols sold now

Indeedie. But worth reading the smallprint on the bottles,
to check that they proclaim themselves cfc-free.

[1] when I had one in the 1980s.

--
not me guv

in message <[email hidden]>, Eiron ([email hidden]'😉

Quoted message said:

Simon Brooke said:

Used car engine oil most definitely isn't best and really isn't
suitable. Car engine oil is required to be fairly gloopy at high
temperatures, and consequently is even more gloopy at low
temperatures. Chain lube has to be able to get into the pins and
rollers by capillary action, so has to be very runny at low
temperatures, and once in has to stay there, so must contain a fair
bit of volatiles which evaporate out fairly rapidly.

Car engine oil is much too thin for a chain.
Your statement about chain lube being very runny is a red herring. You
should consider its properties once the petrol has evaporated - it is
very thick.

That is, actually, what I said (and you quoted).

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

;; Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.

Tony Raven said:

M-gineering said:

\

Car engine oil is much too thin for a chain.
(relevant bit restored)

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

It does a pretty good job lubricating chains inside engines (at even
lower viscosity) so this statement can't be right

Chains in a car tend to sit and move in an oil bath with no dirt around
to cause complications. Bicycle chains run inside an old fashioned
chain case with an oil bath will last for 100k miles or more. Most
bicycle chains though are exposed to the world these days and can last
as little as 3-400miles on an MTB in the wrong conditions.

It might have 500 properties making it unsuitable for open bicycle
chains, but to low a viscosity isn't the one!
--
---
Marten Gerritsen

INFOapestaartjeM-GINEERINGpuntNL
www.m-gineering.nl

Zog The Undeniable said:

Saxman said:

Any recommendations on what chain lubricant to use? I am told on good
authority that used car engine oil is the best?

3-in-1 oil, unless it's very wet weather in which case Finish Line Cross
Country tends to stay on better.

I agree with 3 in 1. Have used it for years and when on a tour I always
carry a tin in my pannier side pocket for the rare times we get wet
weather in the UK.

--
Regards, Kenneth.
www.kmiles.co.uk

"Saxman" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Any recommendations on what chain lubricant to use? I am told on good
authority that used car engine oil is the best?

Sand works well. Not the regular type, the grains are too big and won't
penetrate the rollers properly. What you want is a really fine type. The
particles work like ball bearings. You should also get kiln dried sand so
the moisture doesn't rust your chain.

--
Mike W

Simon Brooke said:

..... People used to say chain saw oil was good, but a number of
people here have tried it and found that it is messy.

Chainsaw oil is OK, easy to apply with an oil can, especially if it has
a flexible spout like mine. Its does go stringy but its easy enough to
wipe off the chain stay. For winter use where the chain is going to be
cleaned every week after a weeks commuting om wet, gritty, salty roads,
chainsaw oil is cheap enough to use in this way. I have no idea how
long it lasts since I wash it off every week.

Last week I lube my chain with chainsaw oil, finish line dry and chain
wax. After 10 hours in the rain there was no squeeks.

Tony Raven said:

Eiron said:

The best lubricant for a chain is a tube of chain lube.
(An aerosol is better but we must think of the children/ozone
layer/climate)

An aerosol is hopeless unless you want to coat the outside of the
chain with lubricant so lots of muck sticks to it. You need the
lubricant on the inside not the outside of the chain. A drop applied
from a bottle to each side plate at a pin makes sure the maximum
amount goes in to lubricate the pin and little goes on the outside
where it just collects dirt.

.....Or where you wipe it off before riding. The real problem is that most
of product ends up as excess, wasting most of the money spent. Not all
lubes come in any other form though.

~PB

VisionSet said:

"Saxman" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Any recommendations on what chain lubricant to use? I am told on good
authority that used car engine oil is the best?

Sand works well. Not the regular type, the grains are too big and won't
penetrate the rollers properly. What you want is a really fine type. The
particles work like ball bearings. You should also get kiln dried sand so
the moisture doesn't rust your chain.

--
Mike W

Purple Extreme

Quoted message said:

http://www.dotbike.com/Products/ProductsS1C65P526.aspx?Track=GGL

Sam Salt

Simon Brooke said:

Used car engine oil most definitely isn't best and really isn't suitable.
Car engine oil is required to be fairly gloopy at high temperatures, and
consequently is even more gloopy at low temperatures. Chain lube has to
be able to get into the pins and rollers by capillary action, so has to
be very runny at low temperatures, and once in has to stay there, so
must contain a fair bit of volatiles which evaporate out fairly rapidly.

What if the chain is immersed in engine oil? That would surely ensure
that the oil gets into the pins and rollers.

"Kenneth Miles" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:op.s97qt2h38w9n5u@kenneth...

Quoted message said:

I agree with 3 in 1. Have used it for years and when on a tour I always
carry a tin in my pannier side pocket for the rare times we get wet
weather in the UK.

I recently discovered finish line cross country comes in a bottle with a
screw top, which is hence far better than 3 in 1 for carrying around with
you on tour. (the bottle is smaller too, yet still sufficient). Better yet,
it's refillable.

cheers,
clive

Finish line is very good, get both wet and dry. Throughly wash / clean
your chain regulary will help prolong its life.