Tag: chain lube

Chain lube is a hard topic.Lots of different brands, lots of types including dry chain lubes, wet chain lubes, PTFE additives, wax based chain lubes, and funny alternatives like olive oil!

DLC12 Black Orange BD12BO126

All about bike chains

Everything that transmits your pedal force to your rear wheel is made of metal. Chain takes the beating most: over 200 rollers in your chain fight against elongation, friction, crossing between cogs and chainrings, and worse of all, dust and sand. Of course, nut just that: Cross chaining. Hits. Water. In the past, when we were happily riding our 3×6 groupsets, things were simpler. Cross chaining was taboo, chains were big and bulky, there was no internet to make comparisons or baseless assumptions, and everything was slow. Unless you ride a high-end road bike, you didn’t pedal fast. In fact, you couldn’t; bikes were heavy, tires were not good enough to stick anything other than tarmac. Now we have up to 11 cogs at the rear, with the same thickness as 6-speed freehubs. (Well; standard 7-speed freehubs are just half… Continue Reading All about bike chains

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mobil aviation grease e1664053783850

Lubes, oils, greases and fluids for your bike

Let’s start with a very, very hard to differenciate terms: what is a lube, or lubricant, and what makes it different from an oil ? That’s quite hard to distinguish, so follow me: Lubricant is a general term, which also covers oils. Oil is a misnomer, which was already available before synthetic oils, which is a misnomer, too(!). There is no such thing as “synthetic oil”, for a start: it’s a synthetic lubricant, as “carrier base” is not oil. Oil is …very, very petroleum-related thing. So, forget about “oils”; they are total misnomers, but here is some handy stuff to know: if some lubricant has “oil” in its name, that means it is used internally! Like, engine oil: it’s in the engine crankcase, you don’t wash your engine with engine oil. You pour it into engine. (right?). Like gear oil.… Continue Reading Lubes, oils, greases and fluids for your bike

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bike chain cleaner

Guide to bike chain cleaning

Sand, mud, dirt causes premature wear in drivetrain, especially chain, and of course, wasted precious effort. There are millions of methods to clean a chain, ranging from cleaning each roller with a cotton swab to dubious ones like jetting water. Funnily, most of the time, its the lube, or lack of it, that makes cleaning a pain. I’m an advocate of waxing chains, but also lazy enough to lube (some) chains. If you wax your chain periodically, a wipe with a soft, damp cloth is almost always adequate. Dry lubes that is meant to be used in dry weather does not make a huge mess, while wet lubes and other nasty stuff people use, like used motor oil (don’t!) can make your chain super hard to clean. Depending on condition, I use either “Quick” or “Deep” cleaning procedures: Quick bike… Continue Reading Guide to bike chain cleaning

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