How to Lube Your Chain
September 19th, 2007 by Arleigh JenkinsProper technique in lubing your chain will help prolong the life of your drive train also a clean bike is a happy bike!!
1. Pick a lube. There are dozens and dozens of decent lubes out there depending where you ride. I could write a whole post about the different lubes and when/where to use them. For now consult a good riding buddy or a local mechanic. Here in Charlotte I like to use ProLink for everyday riding, in the winter rainy months or when I head up to Asheville in the winter I swap over to a more wax based lube.
2. Keep old towels/socks/tshirts around for this need. If you want to recycle you can wash them with a good degreaser and reuse!
3. Wipe down the chain. Crasp the chain lightly with your rag, pedal and remove as much old lube/dirt as possible.
4. Clean your pulleys, chainrings, & cassette as needed. If you have tons of grit left over on these moving items it will just go right back on your chain. Clean the chainring with your rag, between the cassette cogs with a flat head & clean the pulleys by gently placing a flat head while back pedaling. Make sure not to whap yourself with the chain or spokes!
5. Apply lube by squeezing the bottle gently until there is a slow stream coming out the tip of the bottle, back pedal slowly about 4 revolutions to get the whole chain lubed.
6. Wipe off the access. (Refer to step 3) This is huge for mountain bikers. If you leave a ton of lube sitting on your chain it is asking to get dirty again. Depending how dry your chain was to begin with you might want to leave on over night but remember to wipe it off before your next ride.
Disclaimer : I used my road bike for photos don’t nag me too hard.
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What about those chain washing rigs? Are those a joke or are they Fo Real?
Those chain washing rigs do work, but this post was more about week to week maintenance.
I don’t recommend degreasing your chain on a weekly basis. I’ll have to write up on more indept service.
Has anyone used any of those newer plant oil based lubes? Pedro’s even has one now. Any good?
Grant: Yes, I’ve used both the Pedros Chanj and a few soybean based lubes as well. They are great, but used very, very sparingly. I don’t like it on my mountain bikes so much because of it’s sticky nature, especially the Pedros. In wet, rainy, wintry weather the stuff is awesome.
(Actually, my very favorite lube at the moment is in Arleigh’s picture!
)
And while I’m at it, Arleigh, that lubing of the bottom run of the chain from the top is very “Sheldon Brown” of you!
Just curious, I was looking at pic #4, and notice that you can see almost 90 degrees of the arc of that wheel yet no spokes? Somethin spooky goin on here
Invisible spokes!!
If you look hard enough you can see the nipples, but that is pretty neat.
The soy based stuff sounds like a good replacement for the green Finish Line lube.
Surface dirt doesn’t matter. It’s the stuff inside the rollers that will do the damage. I don’t think this method will accomplish anything except improved aesthetics.
Chain machines do an excellent job. They scrub between the rollers and flush out the grit. Repeat until the grit is gone.
For the record, Park ChainBrite is a ripoff. Try 90% Isopropyl Alcohol, it’s cheap and works just as well. It also dries rapidly and obviously there is not water to rust the chain.
An alternative method involves an empty two liter bottle (presumably leftover from a Mentos experiment) and diesel fuel. It does of course require that you remove the chain from your bike.
The reason for wiping off the “surface dirt” is so that when you do lube your chain it doesn’t push the dirt/grime into the rollers. Same idea for wiping off the excess, you are trying to rinse out the rollers and relube, wiping off the excess lube from the chain keeps the chain from picking up more dirt than normal.
Chain machines do work well, and in another post I’ll address the ones I’ve used. This was mainly to inform the every day rider how to keep their drivetrain from squeaking or getting excessively over lubed.
I’ve never used Park ChainBrite. I tend to use a Citrus degreaser.
Lately I’ve started using the premix from my weedeater to degrease and clean my chain. Now before you go bashing me, hear me out. I pour the premix into a container with a sealable lid, then add chain and shake, fish out the chain with a coat hanger and wipe it down with a rag. After that, I pour the used premix through a couple of coffee filters back in to the weedeater. Works great! the oil in the premix makes the fuel much less explosive, and also coats out the chain so I don’t get any rusting if I happen to miss an area during relube. By doing the cleaning in a closed container, I’m not gassing off a bunch of vapors, and by filtering it and putting it back into the weedeater, I’m not generating a bunch of hazardous waste. I mean lets face it, I was going to use the weedeater anyways, might as well get an extra use out of the fuel right. Anyways, it’s a pretty efficient and effective method for the degrease, use whatever works for the relube. For those of you who want to burn me in effigy for cleaning with gas, you can use the coffee filters that I used on the premix…..I still haven’t figured out what to do with them yet
I like these how-to’s for bike maintenance. I like checking with how other people do things compared to my own techniques- thanks!