Chain oiling - how do you do it?

[dbmtb]

Oh dear.

Lots of bad practice here I can see....

Wipe dirty chain with cloth dipped in few drops of spirit.Remember to clean your jockey wheels while at it.If THAT is too hard work, then get your compressor out and shoot all the gunk off.

When clean (if you used spirits/petrol), go and have a beer, visit the wed. night RB chat, whatever - to kill an hour or so.

Relube on inner side with Pedros Chain J/Synlube, Finish Line Ceramic Lubricant, Delta Bike oil or your oil of choice depending on weather/riding type.

Basically the secret being - a reasonably clean chain prior to relubing, done frequently.

It's really not that difficult.

 

[FluffyChicken]

Recently after my chains have been getting a bit of rust on them from chucking the bike away after a good wet ride I've unlinked them, placed it in a plastic zip up bag (posh food bag) and liberally sprayed with some spray grease that smell nice* left to soak till I next need it if I can remember where I chucked the bag.
It cleans and lubes it well, I've found.

Of course when you fit it in a sandy/dusty car park and it trails on the ground as you rushed out to get to a retro meet it's no help

This dry weather on the other hand means it just gets left on the bike.

Bit lazy but works for me.

BiTD I used to clean and lube clean and lube, but they didn't last as long as my current ones have so far**
Sometime I dab my lube (wet) on if it's going to be really muddy.

* Probably from Laldi (aka Lidl/Aldi, much and much the same shop and I forget which one is which, they are always across the road from each other anyway)
**could be that I don't ride half as much now

 

[RZero]

I find the bike oil from wikos is very good for for lubing the chain as well as giving them a rub down with a cloth with a drop of oil on it also Wilkos do a very good bike brush that helps clean all the gunk out of the rear cassette, gogs and chain.

 

[orbeas]

chain

My method is

remove chain, leave to soak in petrol for an hour or so, then remove and leave to dry. before fitting I use an airline and give the chain a good blow to clean out the dryed dirt.

refit to bike, and a quick spray with WD40 followed with 10/40 engine oil.
after a few revolutions and changing all the gears I wipe off the excess off the chain.

On my X bike I use MTB wet lube, but still wash it off with petrol as above and a squirt of WD40 on all the gear mechs.

 

[Jonny69]

Just got a bottle of bike oil for mine. If the chain is mangy then I'll clean it with a rag but otherwise just a liberal application of oil and off I go.

 

[lae]

I use a baby wipe (or several baby wipes) to clean the chain (wipe over and thread it between the plates too - it doesn't take as long as you'd imagine), then relube with car gearbox oil (£5 for a litre bottle... and I like the smell).

I used to take it off and soak in diesel but I can't be bothered with that now, not unless the chain is really dirty.

 

[simonaspinall]

I use rock n roll lube - It really gets the grime out of the links and the residue doesn't tend to attract to much dirt.

Will also add a little green finish line should it be winter or looking like rain - Really good quality stuff!

 

[GordonB]

I use Finish Line dripped onto the chain and the excess carefully wiped off with a clean rag BUT the most important part to prolong the life of all the drive train components is to get them as clean as possible. I take what might be regarded as the extreme route; chain taken off and soaked in white spirit, same with the rear mech. I've devised a little tub fitted with a wire handle that hangs off the rear dropout to hold the white spirit with the mech dipped into it. Use a stiffish long bristle brush to get all the crap off the mech and jockey wheels and use at least two changes of white spirit.

I clean the chain with two changes of white spirit then comes the cunning bit. Some while ago I bought a cheap ultrasonic cleaner from Aldi and I put the chain in this with white spirit and run it for 3 minutes. The amount of additional crud that comes out is amazing. Change the white spirit and repeat. As white spirit is flammable I do this outside, but the white spirit doesn't get warm and the cleaner unit is sealed so it should be safe. Safer than using petrol!

I also clean the chainset with white spirit on a rag and take the cassette off and clean with white spirit.

What I end up with is a drive train that is totally spotless and ready for lubrication. Whilst it might seem an extreme route to take, chains do seem to last longer and the whole drive train runs exceptionally smoothly. All white spirit gets decanted into a bottle, allowed to settle and re-used. Everything gets cleaned this way about 300-500 miles.

Gordon