Lubrication - where, when, what, how much?

Sarennah said:

I do between 12 and 20 miles of commute/town riding in the week, and sometimes longer rides at
weekends (<50 miles). The usual routes lie on the roads, but at present a key section is closed,
and the alternative involves a muddy path across a field. The bike is a solid frame MTB running on
semislick tyres and without mudguards.

I have just worn out the entire transmission (?) - gears front and back, chain and little diddy
wheels in derailleur. And I have been told what must be the third or fourth version of "How one
should oil/clean a bike". This latest one being that I should brush down with soapy water after
each ride, rinse and relube practically the entire bike with light oil. Whilst I see the virtue in
this, I fear I am not naturally inclined to be that virtuous.

That's fair enough, you'd end up never riding the thing if you did that every time! I am inclined to
give the transmission a quick blast of light oil (usually GT85 teflon lube) after any ride where
there's a lot of cack about on the roads at this time of year because it usually includes salt and
that does horrible things to the chain. Mud and cack from offroad does wear things but at least it
tends not to actively corrode them, so a wipe will generally do for that.

I backpedal by hand to run the chain and spray on very generous amounts of the oil onto the running
chain, to ensure it works into the joints in the chain. And I then proceed to rub most of it off
again, so there isn't a film of liquid for new dirt to cling to. Bit wasteful I suppose but it
doesn't cost that much and seems to do the job!

As long as the frame is painted properly the paint should protect the frame from anything much in
the corrosion line. It should also be smooth enough that a wipe with a rag will take any such clag
off. I can't remember actually washing a frame for years, and mine seem to be in fair condition so I
wouldn't bother with that.

Beyond that main lube job I do is dropping 3 in 1 down the brake cables on the Brompton (they turn
up at the ends on that particular design, so water can drop into them), or dropping a bit on stuff
like the brake caliper hinges. I Don't do that very often, only if it seems to be a little
reluctant.

If you're riding on the road then a decent set of mudguards with a flap will stop a *lot* of crunge
being thrown off the front wheel and onto the transmission (stuff from the back tends to clear the
transmission, but just goes up your back instead...). A crud-catcher isn't as good, but
strategically sited my help matters. I'm always quite surprised the amount of utility bikes in this
country that have no mudguards at all, they really are a Good Thing, both for you and the bike.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch University of Dundee Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Medical Physics, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK net [email hidden]
dundee.ac.uk~pjclinchOpen ↗

"Sarennah" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

I have just worn out the entire transmission (?) - gears front and back, chain and little diddy
wheels in derailleur.

Been there, done that.......

Quoted message said:

And I have been told what must be the third or fourth version of "How one should oil/clean a
bike". This latest one being that I should brush down with soapy water after each ride, rinse and
relube practically the entire bike with light oil. Whilst I see the virtue in this, I fear I am
not naturally inclined to be that virtuous.

Have a look at url:http://www.sheldonbrown.com/chains.html - the site in general is a treasure trove
of useful information which is worth reading, but read the words of Mr Brown about chains.

Keep your chain clean and lubed, measure it for stretch every now and again, and wipe the crud off
your bike when it starts weighing more than the frame.......

E

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by Sarennah
What should I lube, with what, when and how much? Does this need to change when the route returns to being entirely on road? I do not have the bike mechanic's zeal for a perfectly clean machine, I just want the bike to work well and not wear itself out too fast.

Eagerly awaiting your advice,

Sarennah [in and out of lab, and posting via Google, please be patient]

Ahh, the lube debate...

I generally find that GT85 is too light for the kind of weather we "enjoy" here in the UK during winter months, and if you are going onto some less clean roads, I don't think it's for you. The water and crud will pull this light oil from your mech and leave you grinding metal.

I'm using some White Lightning Raceday Extreme at the moment on my winter bike (road frame, but weighed down with full length mudguards and lights). This is wax based but works a treat.

If you are going to be cleaning your chain then you need to get yourself some citrus based degreaser. There are various ways of applying this, ranging from clever gadgets that you fill up and thread your chain through to the more basic (but just as effective) remove the chain and dunk it in a jamjar full of the degreasing agent.

The most useful tool for cleaning I find is the old toothbrush, gets right into the difficult to reach places.

My pal who is a MTB fanatic swears by MucOff, he just blasts the entire bike with this stuff, hoses it off and then re-lubes his rear mech and derailleurs every week.

You can get the lubes I've mentioned here 😉

I am greatly indebted to you all for reassuring me that it is not necessary for me to spend half my
life up to my elbows in oil or degreaser or both! I shall try the White lightening - I actually have
some on the shelf to try when the current oil runs out. And giving it a good clean at the weekend
minimum, and in the week when it needs it.

Cheers :-) Sarennah

Quoted message said:

I generally find that GT85 is too light for the kind of weather we "enjoy" here in the UK during winter months

I don't use GT85 for lubing but I do find it good for light cleaning - the solvent it contains is a good surface degreaser. Just hose the mud off, spray on some GT85 and wipe it off, then use some proper chain lube - such as White Lightning, if you're so inclined.

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by davek
I don't use GT85 for lubing but I do find it good for light cleaning - the solvent it contains is a good surface degreaser. Just hose the mud off, spray on some GT85 and wipe it off, then use some proper chain lube - such as White Lightning, if you're so inclined.

Amen to that ^

McBain_v1 said:

I generally find that GT85 is too light for the kind of weather we "enjoy" here in the UK during
winter months, and if you are going onto some less clean roads, I don't think it's for you.

Depends on the bike to quite an extent. On the Streetmachine, the wheels have full mudguards and
flaps, the chain is well away from the front wheel anyway and most of the transmission is enclosed
in chain tubes. Plus the chain is 3 times loner than usual so wears rather less. The 8Freight
doesn't have the benefits of the chain tubes or the crank being out of the cack zone from the front,
but the chain is far enough over from the back wheel, plus also very long, and thus tends to fare
rather better than the chain on the Brom. I still use GT85 on that, but a lot more frequently than
on the others. Might look at some of this Super Wonder Lube for that...

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch University of Dundee Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Medical Physics, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK net [email hidden]
dundee.ac.uk~pjclinchOpen ↗

Simon Brooke said:

No, not GT85 on chains. In fact, not GT85 anywhere. The chain is the critical thing - it's when
the chain stretches that all your cogs start to wear, so you need to keep the chain lubed.

I use GT85 on my chain and it seems to do okay, and the cogs don't seem to die unnaturally
fast either...

Quoted message said:

All cables and bearings ideally want grease. Spraying GT85 at them will just disolve the grease
that's protecting them and let it wash out faster.

Quite so, which is why I never use it on cables and bearings. Usually use PTFE grease for those.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch University of Dundee Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Medical Physics, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK net [email hidden]
dundee.ac.uk~pjclinchOpen ↗

There's an article all about this issue in Cycling Weekly of either this week or last week. (I bought it last Thursday, dunno which day it gets released.)

"Peter Clinch" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

No, not GT85 on chains. In fact, not GT85 anywhere. The chain is the critical thing - it's when
the chain stretches that all your cogs start

to

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

wear, so you need to keep the chain lubed.

Quoted message said:

I use GT85 on my chain and it seems to do okay, and the cogs don't seem to die unnaturally fast
either...

I use minimal amounts of GT85 once in a while. I've just measured the chain and it has "stretched"
just more than 1/16 inch in a year which going from the few months I've had a cycling computer would
be in the region of 3000/4000 miles both on and off road. That's good enough for me.

pineapple said:

There's an article all about this issue in Cycling Weekly of either this week or last week. (I bought it last Thursday, dunno which day it gets released.)

It's still in my local newsagent today. It is a good article, though it doesn't actually offer a lot of detailed practical advice about chain maintenance.

The main thrust of the advice is to be sparing with the lube - keep oil off the outside of the chain because it just picks up muck that gets worked into the bearings. And that's it, really.