Chain lube for bicycle & decent cycling forum?

fred246

Just looking. Chains seem to have gone up in price. Maybe paying up to £15. Inflation.

JustAnotherSaver

esuhl said:

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 :-)

Should I wear a helmet is a minefield?

Well those who say no won't feel it anyway. No sense no feeling. 

[Deleted User]

Over oiling chain is likely the cause of your problem, that and oil on top of old oil. You only need a small amount run along the chain, then use the shifters on a stand to go up and down the cassette, then a apply a bit more and switch front gears and go up and down again - a squirt each time is more than enough. Soon as you start chucking loads on it it will gunk up for sure.

Muc-Off is fantastic oil, you just need to remember to look after the chain e.g. cleaning it every week or two if riding daily to work in all conditions. I use the Muc-Off dry lube on my main road bike and apply it after a clean, then the bike is used to ride 50+ miles each time, will possibly oil again if it looks / sounds dry but otherwise not until it's cleaned

Herzlos

fred246 said:

Just looking. Chains seem to have gone up in price. Maybe paying up to £15. Inflation.

Not inflation, Covid (causing huge demand and delays) and Brexit (making it harder to import stuff).
Due to the shift in supply/demand, the lower end stuff is much harder to find at the moment so seeing the biggest increases. Everyone is digging out old bikes and trying to get them back up and running, and using the cheapest chains.

fred246

They are back down to less than £10 at Wiggle. KMC X9. I have tried more expensive chains and they are no better so why spend more? If you keep them lubricated they don't rust so no need for expensive coating.

JustAnotherSaver

fred246 said:

why spend more?

There's 2 phrases that get thrown around, depending on which side of the fence you are (& this isn't limited to just bike chain talk).

Why spend more .... as in i don't necessarily want to be bargain basement but a reasonable price for the item I am buying. 'reasonable' being subjective but perhaps middle of the road.

and you get what you pay for ... as in top dollar is going to be spent.

Everyone can't be right.

Anyway I was going to do my bike this bank holiday weekend but the weather had other ideas.

Looking at videos on YouTube and I see people melting wax in pots. Was an interesting approach. I wont be doing it but if i cycled more and spent more on cycling then I may. Just made me wonder if they have these slow cookers just for bike wax as I wouldn't want any food going in to it after wax has been in the pot. I'd wonder how easy you could get 100% wax residue out. Oz cycle did a decent video on chain cleaning and waxing.