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Cleaning/lubing the chain

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Bubblesofearth
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Cleaning/lubing the chain

#318762

Postby Bubblesofearth » June 16th, 2020, 10:39 am

Hi

Anyone know if it's OK to use Fuchs Silkolene chain lube for motorbike chains on a bicycle? I have some left over from when I had a motorbike.

I was thinking to clean the chain with WD40 first as per a youtube video I watched.

Thanks

BoE

UncleEbenezer
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Re: Cleaning/lubing the chain

#318767

Postby UncleEbenezer » June 16th, 2020, 10:49 am

I don't know the product you name. But I've been using a lithium grease bought originally for a motorbike chain on my bike chain for years, and that's always been fine.

tikunetih
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Re: Cleaning/lubing the chain

#318785

Postby tikunetih » June 16th, 2020, 11:35 am

The heavier/gloopier any lube, the less it'll get washed off if you use the bike in rain, but the more it will likely collect dust, road/trail crud etc and more quickly turn your drivetrain into a grimey, sticky mess.

People can come over religious about chain lubes, each with their own favourites, but you can use pretty much anything, and most anything is better than nothing.

Just use what you've got, then maybe if cycling is a big deal to you consider buying something else in future. I like to use the very light lubes like Rock n Roll or Prolink Gold which both clean and lube, and periodically deep clean using Morgan Blue fluid inside of a Park Tools Cyclone Chain Scrubber. But there are about a million other options along the spectrum from a bit of 3-in-1 & a rag through to ultrasonic baths and molten wax.

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Re: Cleaning/lubing the chain

#318799

Postby Dod101 » June 16th, 2020, 12:29 pm

When I were a lad and cycling all over Scotland I had a decent bike but never used anything else than 3 in1 and I cannot think that I ever had any problems and I cannot remember a broken chain. I used my bike in all weathers and up hill and down dale. Like so much else these days cycling seems to have got so much more complicated. So, as always, keep it simple.

Dod

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Re: Cleaning/lubing the chain

#318807

Postby Itsallaguess » June 16th, 2020, 1:01 pm

I use the Wilko 3-in-1 bike maintenance spray. It's £2.40 a can at the moment -

https://www.wilko.com/en-uk/3-in-one-bike-maintenance-spray-250ml/p/0299174

A few years ago I had my first ride for a while, after a poor winter, and was convinced that my whole bottom bracket was going to need replacing, such was the awful noise coming from that area.

Then I realised that I hadn't lubricated my chain for a long time, and a quick spray with the above had the whole bike purring like new again.

I usually give the front and rear chain areas a good splurge before a longish ride every couple of months if I can, otherwise I tend to get drips on my garage floor where the bike's stored.

One of the cheapest and best bits of TLC you can give a bike...

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

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Re: Cleaning/lubing the chain

#318808

Postby redsturgeon » June 16th, 2020, 1:04 pm

Dod101 wrote:When I were a lad and cycling all over Scotland I had a decent bike but never used anything else than 3 in1 and I cannot think that I ever had any problems and I cannot remember a broken chain. I used my bike in all weathers and up hill and down dale. Like so much else these days cycling seems to have got so much more complicated. So, as always, keep it simple.

Dod


I those days chains were quite meaty things that only had to cope with 6 cogs on the back. I remember using 3 in 1 on my Carlton Cobra once a year whether it needed it or not !

Any chain up to an 8 speed is not really likely to break unless treated very badly. Nowadays a 9 speed chain is thinner than an 8 speed and I believe we go up to 12/13 speeds on the latest 1X systems so I'd imagine those chains are even thinner and thus more likely to break.

As has been said any oil is better than nowt and the advantages of the more expensive stuff lie in keeping your chain lubed while not acting as a magnet for every bit of dirt and grit on the road. On my off road bikes I use a wet lube and a dry lube on the road bike that only really goes out when it's sunny.

I usually use white spirit in my chain cleaner for really grubby chains.

I once tried chainsaw oil thinking that if it could cope with a chainsaw then a bike would be no problem, but it was really nasty thick gloopy stuff than wasn't that nice to use.

John

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Re: Cleaning/lubing the chain

#318845

Postby GrahamPlatt » June 16th, 2020, 2:59 pm

I’ve long considered the derailleur system a Heath Robinson affair. It’s about time a proper transmission was brought out. IVT, Kevlar belt perhaps?

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Re: Cleaning/lubing the chain

#318852

Postby EssDeeAitch » June 16th, 2020, 3:15 pm

I use WD40 then run the chain through a sponge soaked in warm soapy water, a blast of WD40 to get moisture out, wipe off excess WD40 then apply either Finish Line Dry Lube or Wet Lube depending on conditions.

I am sure that I saw this method on the chain cleaning video from GCN.

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Re: Cleaning/lubing the chain

#318855

Postby EssDeeAitch » June 16th, 2020, 3:21 pm

GrahamPlatt wrote:I’ve long considered the derailleur system a Heath Robinson affair. It’s about time a proper transmission was brought out. IVT, Kevlar belt perhaps?


Like this ceramic speed drive

https://youtu.be/rgo-yEaXDzA

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Re: Cleaning/lubing the chain

#318859

Postby redsturgeon » June 16th, 2020, 3:25 pm

GrahamPlatt wrote:I’ve long considered the derailleur system a Heath Robinson affair. It’s about time a proper transmission was brought out. IVT, Kevlar belt perhaps?


Heath Robinson it may be but it works, it is light and efficient I do have a town bike with a Nexus hub gear system but for mountain biking and road bikes you can't beat the derailleur. Once you know how to adjust them correctly they are fine, just an occasional adjustment required for cable stretch and that's it.

John

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Re: Cleaning/lubing the chain

#318870

Postby redsturgeon » June 16th, 2020, 4:06 pm

Snorvey wrote:I agree.

The wife's bike has a finger and thumb gearchange and even for a cheap ish Halfords bike, it's pretty neat compared to the Sturmey Archer thing I used to have when I was a bairn.

Maybe there is room for an intelligent system though. Maybe one based on a selected cadence or power input or something? They probably have something like that already. I remember them talking about electronic gears during the last Tour


They have electronic gears but it is a derailleur system.

John

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Re: Cleaning/lubing the chain

#318872

Postby James » June 16th, 2020, 4:13 pm

redsturgeon wrote:
Snorvey wrote:I agree.

The wife's bike has a finger and thumb gearchange and even for a cheap ish Halfords bike, it's pretty neat compared to the Sturmey Archer thing I used to have when I was a bairn.

Maybe there is room for an intelligent system though. Maybe one based on a selected cadence or power input or something? They probably have something like that already. I remember them talking about electronic gears during the last Tour


They have electronic gears but it is a derailleur system.

John


I spoke to a pro rider who uses them. Says they're great, until the battery goes flat or some other failure occurs. Then it's get yourself home in what ever gear you happened to be in. For a pro on a training ride, that could be three hours away.

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Re: Cleaning/lubing the chain

#318876

Postby tikunetih » June 16th, 2020, 4:32 pm

If using a bike as everyday transport, hub gears make much sense because of their practicality (clean, less maintenance), hence why many Dutch bikes use them.

Derailleur systems are more efficient (less lossy) than hub gears and/or belt systems, so make sense for performance-oriented bikes. The bike industry is a bit daft though, and offers far too many bikes geared ( ;) ) towards "performance", even though for most people that really shouldn't be the primary focus. So for years we've seen many (most?) bikes having tyres too narrow, gearing that's not low enough for the fitness of their owners' or the terrain they're ridden on etc.

Once most bikes are electric, which on current trends may not be that long (eg. the majority of new bike sales in a bunch of European nations are now e-bikes!), then there's scope for hub gears and other systems to become much more prevalent, as the lesser efficiency shouldn't matter so much for most use cases when you've got an electric motor to do the heavy lifting for you.

Regarding electronic shifting of derailleur systems, I think Shimano's Di2 has been around for a decade now. I'm just about to blow some swag on the latest iteration (GRX Di2) for my newish bike, as by all accounts it is excellent:
https://youtu.be/KUWFkcNzFL4?t=510

These type of electronic derailleur systems have some slightly semi-automation options so the front mech shifts itself (when needed) when you shift the rear mech, eg. with Shimano's synchro shift:
https://di2center.com/2019/02/16/synchr ... s-it-work/

There are some fully automatic gear systems on other bikes (esp. e-bikes using hub gears), using torque sensors and such like, but these are not yet commonplace, and they're not used on the performance-oriented bikes where people desire a lot of control. I imagine they'll become common and popular given a little time, particularly on the "everyday transport" e-bikes that will (hopefully!) be everywhere in fairly short order.

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Re: Cleaning/lubing the chain

#318886

Postby jfgw » June 16th, 2020, 5:53 pm

GrahamPlatt wrote:I’ve long considered the derailleur system a Heath Robinson affair. It’s about time a proper transmission was brought out. IVT, Kevlar belt perhaps?


https://www.popsci.com/technology/artic ... ite-gears/

Not a kevlar belt, although it is "a series of nylon teeth that are reinforced using multiple carbon fibre cords."

https://www.cyclingabout.com/carbon-bel ... d-to-know/

Belts are less efficient, and the bottom bracket gearbox or multi-speed hub add extra inefficiency and weight. Belt drives are less prone to the effects of dirt, mud and dust, though, so, if you like getting dirty, belts are better than chains.

tikunetih wrote:If using a bike as everyday transport, hub gears make much sense because of their practicality (clean, less maintenance), hence why many Dutch bikes use them.


I would say that it depends a lot upon where you cycle. The Netherlands are a bit flatter than most of the UK. If it is an urban commute without any hills, a single-speed (why do cyclists call gears "speeds"?) would be sufficient and the most trouble-free. You could even have a fixed gear and do away with the back brake (and a thief is probably more likely to fall off of it).

Julian F. G. W.


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