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IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 15years old!
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I'm sure this gets asked every year - there will be threads and threads somewhere.
AND everyone has a view!
Manufacturers never seem to quite come up with the 'perfect oil that never washes off or attracts dirt and creates gunge'.
Some people are more 'oil it when it squeaks and replace everything in the spring'.
So...
My 2p worth, I degrease/clean first using a citrus degreaser and a chain cleaner device. Then rinse well, dry/wipe with a cloth, then oil with wet lube. Try to do it weekly over the winter, as I do about 60 miles a week commute on roads. As mentioned in another thread this didn't manage to save my chain last year but it did keep the bike running quietly and smoothly until gear slippage overwhelmed it.
I refuse to look at a bicycle chain during the operation of Greenwich Mean Time.
If the chain makes its presence known before the return of BST then I have it flogged.
I'm currently of the school of thought that all that oily gunk built up at this time of year prior to salt being on the roads may form some sort of protective barrier.
Probably wishful thinking, but for the cost of a new chain at some point I'll pass on the chain scrubbing and TLC sessions.
I scrape crap off my chain/chainrings/mechs if it looks to be growing so compacted as to change the effective shape of the components. Otherwise, if it looks like rain and it's been a while since I refreshed the wet lube I add more wet lube. If I notice a wee spot of rust on the chain, I add more wet lube. If it's been a particularly salty week I might scoosh the underside and drivetrain with a garden scoosher if I remember to when at the allotment, where the garden scoosher lives. If there's a sale on anywhere over autumn/winter I pre-order a couple of fresh chains and a fresh cassette, possibly accompanied by a chainring. When skipping grows too frequent to ignore, the old/skippy/gunky stuff is removed, which preferably does not happen until the worst of the gritting season is over, unless pre-empted by mechanical error such as the largest sprocket wedging itself irremovably onto the freewheel shell. If a chain dies before its scheduled rotation-mileage, such as by mangling itself off as I go from North Bridge to Leith Street then the fresh chain is rotated on and another rotatable chain sourced, if I remember.
1) Clean off the old oil and gunk with Tesco baby wipes until the chain is shiny. Imparts a delicate fragrance to the chain. Floss the chain ring and rear sprocket with a baby wipe.
2) Apply a stream of lubricant to the moving chain. (I've recently been using Fenwicks wet weather lube, which is pink and suprisingly fluid. It seems to disappear quite quickly, and doesn't cover the chain in a sticky mess. I don't know if this is good or not). Went back to Finish Line green this weekend, which is much stickier. This morning the chain was much quieter than it was with the Fenwick's lube.
3) Operate chain for a 30 seconds or so.
4) Leave for 20 minutes or so while doing other bike-check activities so the oil can soak in.
5) Wipe off superficial oil with a rag. Result is a chain that's coated with oil (but not dripping with it) and that smells of a strange mixture of bike shop and nursery.
I have a 1/8" singlespeed chain on a hub gear. The chain cost £4.99. I'm not sure all this effort is worthwhile: the IWRATS technique might be cheaper in the long run.
Keep using dry lube throughout the winter. Keep a bottle handy at work/home so you re-lube after rain (don't forget)
Your chain will stay clean and lubed by virtue of the rain / lack of grit attracting-ness of the dry lube.
Does dry lube have the power to actively repel self-adhesive leafmulch and pathmuck?
Clearly someone needs to create a DryLube Super Hero graphic.
@edd1e_h
I tried dry lube, but my chain turned to scrap in a week.
Having discounted chain cleaning devices and dry lube I'm back on paraffin in an old oven tray, a toothbrush and White Lightning Wet Lube. Messy and dull.
I do feel a Kevlar belt and hub gear bike coming on.
After every 150km or each week:
Split chain at quick-link
Degrease and rinse
Spray with water repellent (eg GT85)
Clean chainrings, rear mech and sprockets
Replace chain
Lube with lots of Finish Line Cross Country
My LBS loves me.
Rub down fairly often, especially when wet. Try to remove dirt in links with brush. I use oil to help move the dirt if necessary. Doesn't take too long if dirt isn't allowed to build up. I try to change chains in anticipation of full wear to save the cassette. Chains bought in "bulk" in sales.
In terms of my still fairly new hub-geared bike, so far I have not felt compelled to do much more than spinning the pedals whilst gently pressing kitchen towel against the chain from different angles to help ease the worst of the gunk off (not much to date), followed by either applying a modest coating of Green Oil or an extended spray of Finish Line Teflon Plus lube depending on the expected weather, and then wiping off any excess using the rest of the bit of kitchen towel every week or so.
Wash the bike when its uber-yellow-ness gets really grotty.
Ignore chain unless its so gunked up it tries to jump off - they are so cheap I am not fussed if it needs replaced once a year !
If I was running a geared bike, suspect regime would be more convoluted.
Fenwicks Foaming Chain Cleaner once a week.
Purple Extreme Lubricant every three days.
Use sparingly, but apply and clean often.
For a 28 mile a day commute I find this keeps everything reliable and efficient.
Apply wet oil weekly until gunk from jockey wheels is rubbing on rear spokes.
Pick gunk off monthly with pointy thing, and clean spokes.
Apply some more wet oil weekly
Get new chain and cassette at end March.
Really annoying on the odd occasion that chain skipping becomes too much in January, and replacement needs done then. That almost always means another replacement required at end March anyway.
Sometimes wipe off excess gunk but otherwise the stretch kills it before wear or rust gets a chance. Apply oil when it sounds like it might thank me for it.
@amir, where do you buy the cheap chains?
0 - Have mudguards and nickel-plated chain to avoid rust.
1 - Apply green oil wet lube.
2 - Ride until squeaky squeaky (about a month).
3 - Go to 1.
150km-ish a week.
"...and nickel-plated chain to avoid rust..."
You must be using a different sort of nickel to the nickel on my nickel-plated chains. Is it nickel-plated but also electrified, with extra sacrifical zinc anodes dotted here and there?
Well, I re-did all my dynamo connections over the weekend. Given my competence at manual tasks, anything's possible.
My routine is:
1) Look at oil and muck covered chain.
2) Think "I must do something about that".
3) Leave for a week then return to 1)
@Cyclingmollie
Last time it was CRC but I do shop around. I bought SRAM PC850 8 speed chains at £7.49 and SRAM PC1051 chains at £14.99 - you can see why I keep an 8 speed set-up on the winter/commuter bike!
I oiled my chain this morning, despite it not making a noise or being rusty.
Halo!!
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