What do you guys use to lubricate your chains? Do you recommend a particular brand?
Thanks!
Og.
__________________ 2009: No races, No times. Slow year. So, now you're 96 cals short. You're now in starvation mode. Doomed. - LostDog
Blog entry: November 1, 2009, Pancakes LiveSTRONG daily plate log
Location: Philly on one side, Pittsburgh on another, the Green Between...
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It depends on where you're riding. Dry teflon lube for road riding in (mostly) dry conditions. More oil-based "wet lubes" if you're off-road or riding in a lot of water. Your LBS carries all of what you'll need.
Oh I am sure they will, I just prefer to enter a sales environment with some kind of knowledgebase [img]smile.gif[/img]
Og.
__________________ 2009: No races, No times. Slow year. So, now you're 96 cals short. You're now in starvation mode. Doomed. - LostDog
Blog entry: November 1, 2009, Pancakes LiveSTRONG daily plate log
My dry lube works very well for my mountainbike, which is always sloppy and dirty riding. It tends to not attract all the dirt, which wet lubes can do (Teflon is excellent for keeping the wet and dirt out and from sticking) - once you attract the grit and have it stick to your chain, that's where you'll get more corrosion and wear. Maybe it also works well because I keep it clean, which you should do anyway.
So I've got to respectfully disagree with Fish here. If you maintain your bike the way you should and if you aren't riding in muddy conditions day in and day out, dry lube should do you just fine. Wet lube is good for winter riding, especially where you are enountering a lot of corrosive (read road salt) conditions. Besides, anytime after you do a 'wet' ride, you should be wiping down the bike and especially the chain and cleaning it if necessary, and reapplying lube to the chain.
I really like ProLink . It goes on easy and doesn't ever get sticky. I've also used the Dumonde Tech Originallube, but don't like it near as much as the ProLink. As a matter of fact, for the 3 bottles of ProLink I've gone through, I've only used half a bottle of the Dumonde stuff. It just seems to attract too much gunk for me; with 4 bikes to maintain it gets to be a PITA.
I've always used the Dumonde Tech on my ill kept bikes. As long as you clean the chain once every couple of years you're fine. Seriously, it does goop up some, I'll have to try the ProLink.
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I have an all-round lube for wet and dry conditions. That's pretty important here because one day you could be riding on a track which is full of sand- and the next you could be riding on a sopping wet muddy track.
Go for whatever suits the conditions that you are riding in, and go and ask your LBS- they will know what has worked for most people in your area.
An alternative approach to chain lubrication is to immerse the chain in hot wax. This is a variation on the oil/solvent approach. The hot wax is of a thin enough consistency that it can theoretically penetrate into the private parts of the chain, then when it cools off, you have a nice thick lubricant in place where it can do the most good. The major advantage to this approach is that, once cooled off, the wax is not sticky, and doesn't attract dirt to the outside of the chain as readily. Downsides of the wax approach include the fact that it is a great deal of trouble, and that wax is probably not as good a lubricant as oil or grease.
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I've read some about waxing chains. Haven't ever tried it though. The stuff I used on my ATV (Maxima Chain Wax) was some bad stuff though. Went on easy (aerosol can) and lasted for quite a while.
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