Chain lube for bicycle & decent cycling forum?

JustAnotherSaver

I've asked a few technical questions in here in the past 12 months so on that note, do any of you frequent a good cycling forum that you could recommend in case anything further comes to mind?

I've been looking at giving the bike a good clean lately. Bought in various bits & bobs for the job and done a bit of reading on chain lube and i'm still unsure.

I pretty much don't go out in the rain, at all. In all the times i've been out on the bike i've only come across rain once and that was after i got a puncture which pushed me back a while & i ended up being out when the rain was due. In other words if it's raining then i'll not go out.

I have however been out when the ground has been wet. My first ride of 2021 and there was a fair amount of water down on the roads.

Today was pretty much all dry except for a patch where there was water over 1 section of road that was unavoidable.

As per a previous thread, bike is stored in a shed.

So all in all for the most part I'm thinking that dry lube is what I should be applying, but due to slight variations i'm wondering if wet lube would be the proper choice.

Feedback appreciated.

rdr

yacf.co.uk  is my favourite although I also visit cyclechat  occasionally there is also singletrack and bikeradar.
I've tried many lubes over the years, at the moment my favourite is from decathlon All-Weather Bike Lubricant Btwin - Decathlon it is reasonably cheap, lasts well, and doesn't pick up too much dirt; unlike the muck off all weather that formed an hard crust of oil and grit that I had to scrub off by hand

coffeehound

Just as a random data point, Aldi are selling muc-off wet or dry chain oil from Thursday 

https://www.aldi.co.uk/c/specialbuys/dates/2021-04-15

pinkladyvenus

my experience of using wet lube was not good, it stayed put and did not wash off in the rain, but collected dirt and was a nightmare to clean the chain and freewheel, it seemed to form black sticky gunk. I  also found the chain seem to wear out faster probably due to the amount of muck the wet lube collected. Have gone back to a traditional bike oil.

esuhl

I'd definitely go for a "dry" lube... unless... you fancy trying a wax-based lube?

In theory, as the wax picks up dirt, it falls off the chain, so the chain doesn't get gunked up with a grinding paste that wears out your chain.

You can reapply wax without thoroughly cleaning the chain, and the chain stays relatively clean, which saves a lot of time.

Wax works best in dry, dusty conditions.  A torrential downpour will instantly wash the wax away, but I've been using wax year-round in normal rain, and it's fine if you dry the chain before storing it and reapply the wax more frequently.

Ideally you need to leave the wax to dry in a warm/dry environment.  I store my bike in the house and leave the wax to dry overnight.  If your bike is stored outside, you could remove the chain and just bring that indoors while the wax dries...?

"Squirt" is the brand I use:

https://www.squirtcyclingproducts.com/portfolio_page/squirtchainlube/

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I heard a LOT of good reviews of "Purple Extreme" a while back.  I've been meaning to try it out, but haven't got round to it yet.

https://www.wiggle.co.uk/purple-extreme-synthetic-lubricant

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A good cycling forum that I use occasionally is the Cycling UK Forum:

https://forum.cyclinguk.org/

Nofinway

Hi JustAnotherSaver

Wet Lube - Bike Oil, all much the same thing. I've even used some old engine oil I had left over before now - I soaked the chain in it overnight then hung it up to drain out for a few days. The only important thing is that it lubricates the moving parts.

Dry lube is different though as Eshul explains above. Personally I've never got on with it. It needs re-applying more often.

Please do not confuse the wet and dry bit with the conditions you ride in though, wet lube stays wet, dry lube dries!

If you're using the bike regularly then it is important to keep your chain in good nick. A cheat I have learnt for a quick clean is to use GT86 and spray over each link and all over the chain whilst turning the pedals. Clean it off with an old rag and repeat a couple of times until the chain is clean again. Probably don't need to re-lube for a while - just keep an eye on it. 

For my annual clean I take the chain off, soak it in white spirit and give it a good shake in an old container. Transfer to a bucket of hot soapy water and give it a scrub in that to get all the grit and grime out. Wipe with a cleanish rag and hang up to dry. Then re-lube with whatever you want to use. Sparkly but quite a messy job.

I always visit roadcc (can't post link)

rdr

coffeehound said:

Just as a random data point, Aldi are selling muc-off wet or dry chain oil from Thursday 

https://www.aldi.co.uk/c/specialbuys/dates/2021-04-15

This is the wet lube I bought, It formed a concrete-like layer with road grit - not recommended.

rdr

esuhl said:

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I heard a LOT of good reviews of "Purple Extreme" a while back.  I've been meaning to try it out, but haven't got round to it yet.

https://www.wiggle.co.uk/purple-extreme-synthetic-lubricant

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I have used purple extreme, it is good when fresh but doesn't seem to last long – I find that the Decathlon one that I linked to above is just as good when fresh and lasts considerably longer and has a very attractive property of being 1/3 the price. My limited experience of dry loops as they tend to be very squeaky.

JustAnotherSaver

What a minefield this is lol.
Hopefully the weather is decent this weekend and I'll get to cleaning the bike off. 

esuhl

JustAnotherSaver said:

What a minefield this is lol.

Haha!  Yes -- it's one of the three cycling minefields where EVERYONE has their own very specific opinion:

1. What's the best chain lube?

2. What's the best way to clean the chain?

3. Should I wear a helmet?

There will never be a consensus!  There are a bazillion different lubes on the market.  It's always a stab in the dark as a newbie.  Look for a popular recommendation and give it a go.

Good luck :-)

fred246

Everyone seems happy with the lubricant supplied on the chain by the manufacturer. Inevitably with time it will disappear. So I just keep it up by putting one drop of Finish Line Cross Country on before each use. ONE DROP. Cycling seems to distribute it. It's not dripping with oil. When the chain is stretched according to my gauge I replace it with a £10 KMC chain. That's all I do. No other cleaning. Works for me.