Chain lubricants

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Lakal
Posts: 192
Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2020 12:20 pm

by Lakal

There is still airborne contamination indoors. Just less than outdoors.

TobinHatesYou
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by TobinHatesYou

MikeD wrote:
Wed Oct 19, 2022 5:17 pm
TobinHatesYou wrote:
Wed Oct 19, 2022 4:40 am
You could have the cleanest drivetrain on the planet and only ever ride on an indoor trainer, and your lube will still turn slightly black / dark gray because that's the metal from the chain abrading away at a microscopic level.
One would think that in a clean environment, like riding indoors on a trainer, that there would be no chain wear as that means there's metal to metal contact. That shouldn't be on a properly lubed chain with a decent lube in the absence of dirt/grit.

Wear rates are indeed reduced dramatically. I had 17000mi on a chain lube primarily with RnR Gold that never even hit 0.5% elongation. The primary type of wear this chain experienced was on the plates themselves during shifting, so much that the middle portion of each plate had begun to appear slightly more curved.
Last edited by TobinHatesYou on Wed Dec 21, 2022 5:38 am, edited 1 time in total.

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yinzerniner
Posts: 206
Joined: Tue Jun 13, 2017 8:54 pm

by yinzerniner

TobinHatesYou wrote:
Wed Oct 19, 2022 9:52 pm
MikeD wrote:
Wed Oct 19, 2022 5:17 pm
TobinHatesYou wrote:
Wed Oct 19, 2022 4:40 am
You could have the cleanest drivetrain on the planet and only ever ride on an indoor trainer, and your lube will still turn slightly black / dark gray because that's the metal from the chain abrading away at a microscopic level.
One would think that in a clean environment, like riding indoors on a trainer, that there would be no chain wear as that means there's metal to metal contact. That shouldn't be on a properly lubed chain with a decent lube in the absence of dirt/grit.

Wear rates are indeed reduced dramatically. I had 17000mi on a chain lube primarily with RnR Gold that never even hit 0.5% elongation. The primary type of wear this chain was experience was on the plates themselves during shifting, to that point the middle portion of each plate had begun to appear slightly more scalloped
Also I've noticed that on indoor trainer use my waxed chains go a lot further between rewaxing / re-Silca SS lubing. Something like closer to 500 miles vs the 200-300 miles outdoors before I notice any noise coming from the drivetrain which is usually the sign to reapply.
Only negative is that there's a decent amount of wax particles after riding post-relube. A bit of extra cleanup but more than makes up for it in sound, wear and other cleanliness.

TobinHatesYou
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by TobinHatesYou

I can’t be bothered by my drivetrain noises when I have 2 centrifugal blowers and a 18” fan running all the time.

psi
Posts: 19
Joined: Sat Oct 15, 2022 8:30 pm

by psi

AW84 wrote:
Fri Sep 23, 2022 4:18 am
Recently tried Silca wax and will never go back. In hindsight, I feel like an idiot for spending a whole decade riding with absolutely filthy drivetrains and getting greasy prints everwhere during maintenance. I found a home-brew recipe online that's apparently popular with triathletes, and came to find that a small company makes said home-brew and sells it cheaper than I can bother to make it myself, so going to give that a try and will report back.
What's the homebrew recipe? I've been using hot melt Paraffin for 5 years now. I used to put Molybdenum powder but I moved and can't find it anymore so just running straight paraffin. I can't tell the difference either way, I think the paraffin is doing the bulk of the work. The PTFE added to some commercial formulas might get it a bit slipperier but I am sort of personally opposed to shedding bits of PTFE everywhere into the environment.

One thing I also do is drop the chains into an ultrasonic with boiling water in a ziplock with Simple Green aircraft for a few mins before rewaxing. I know some people just pour boiling water over the chain, but I did an experiment to see what came out of the chain in the ultrasonic after pouring boiling water on it. Still lots of dirt came out of the chain. Since dirt appears the #1 enemy of chains, why not clean them properly if you're going to the trouble of hot waxing.

BTW still all on the same chains after 5 years. None of them have even stretched to the 0.5% mark yet.

TobinHatesYou
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by TobinHatesYou

psi wrote:
Thu Oct 20, 2022 12:45 am

BTW still all on the same chains after 5 years. None of them have even stretched to the 0.5% mark yet.
With a rotation of 5 chains, my chains greatly outlived my big ring. My cassette outlived my big ring as well. Like yours, none have hit the 0.5% mark, so I think I am going to bump down to just 3 chains.

kode54
Posts: 3749
Joined: Tue May 23, 2006 9:39 pm

by kode54

Same here. I re-wax more often than others. The 3 chains I have on rotation still less than .5 so I have lots of life left in them. I now switched to 12-spd while the LS gravel bike is still on 11-spd so all my good used chains get rotated for gravel…which takes more of a beating than road bikes.
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C36
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Joined: Fri Mar 03, 2017 3:24 am

by C36

To complement what Tobin and Kode mentioned it’s really the overall drivetrain wear that « disappears ».

« Removing » chain elongation means you enter a virtuous cycle : the chain / cassette / rings pitch remains « perfect » reducing further all the wear factors.

For the marginal gains fans that also means a better efficiency especially if you have different cassettes: you don’t have to combine equipment with different wear rates.

I lost a bit track on the mileage of my Edco super light cassette but i am sure the ones I used « pre-wax » didn’t last nearly as long as this one.

MikeD
Posts: 1000
Joined: Thu Dec 11, 2014 9:55 pm

by MikeD

psi wrote:
AW84 wrote:
Fri Sep 23, 2022 4:18 am
One thing I also do is drop the chains into an ultrasonic with boiling water in a ziplock with Simple Green aircraft for a few mins before rewaxing. I know some people just pour boiling water over the chain, but I did an experiment to see what came out of the chain in the ultrasonic after pouring boiling water on it. Still lots of dirt came out of the chain. Since dirt appears the #1 enemy of chains, why not clean them properly if you're going to the trouble of hot waxing.
Because that takes a lot more time and effort. Couple that with the frequent redo of the hot wax and there goes all the supposed time savings of using hot wax.

psi
Posts: 19
Joined: Sat Oct 15, 2022 8:30 pm

by psi

MikeD wrote:
Sat Oct 22, 2022 4:04 pm
Because that takes a lot more time and effort. Couple that with the frequent redo of the hot wax and there goes all the supposed time savings of using hot wax.
Since when was hot waxing supposed to save time? If you want to save time just drip some lube onto the chain like the unwashed masses and be done with it.

MikeD
Posts: 1000
Joined: Thu Dec 11, 2014 9:55 pm

by MikeD

psi wrote:
Mon Oct 31, 2022 6:54 pm
MikeD wrote:
Sat Oct 22, 2022 4:04 pm
Because that takes a lot more time and effort. Couple that with the frequent redo of the hot wax and there goes all the supposed time savings of using hot wax.
Since when was hot waxing supposed to save time? If you want to save time just drip some lube onto the chain like the unwashed masses and be done with it.
Because there's folks claiming that hot waxing takes no more time then doing it right with drip lube.

darnellrm
Posts: 285
Joined: Thu Sep 10, 2009 1:06 pm
Location: NC, USA

by darnellrm

MikeD wrote:
Mon Oct 31, 2022 8:57 pm
psi wrote:
Mon Oct 31, 2022 6:54 pm
MikeD wrote:
Sat Oct 22, 2022 4:04 pm
Because that takes a lot more time and effort. Couple that with the frequent redo of the hot wax and there goes all the supposed time savings of using hot wax.
Since when was hot waxing supposed to save time? If you want to save time just drip some lube onto the chain like the unwashed masses and be done with it.
Because there's folks claiming that hot waxing takes no more time then doing it right with drip lube.
It probably does take less dedicated time. Especially if you wax several at once.

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C36
Posts: 2471
Joined: Fri Mar 03, 2017 3:24 am

by C36

MikeD wrote:
psi wrote:
Mon Oct 31, 2022 6:54 pm
MikeD wrote:
Sat Oct 22, 2022 4:04 pm
Because that takes a lot more time and effort. Couple that with the frequent redo of the hot wax and there goes all the supposed time savings of using hot wax.
Since when was hot waxing supposed to save time? If you want to save time just drip some lube onto the chain like the unwashed masses and be done with it.
Because there's folks claiming that hot waxing takes no more time then doing it right with drip lube.
Doing it right ? mean with a full decontamination of all the dirt that penetrated into the rollers ? Cause if you do this then I can ensure that it takes way more time to do this 3 times than waxing 3 chains together (yea you need to mutualise some of the effort).
If it’s just dropping more lube into a “contaminated” chain, sure it’s way faster, but that’s nowhere near the same thing.

The #1 thing I realise when I cleaned chains properly before waxing… is that I had very rarely properly decontaminated a chain before… it takes quite a lot of time and different baths!

TobinHatesYou
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Joined: Mon Jul 24, 2017 12:02 pm

by TobinHatesYou

Trying Effetto Mariposa Flower Power after ZFC's glowing review.

1) It's "cheap" compared to UFO Drip and Silca Super Secret. US$50 for a 500mL bottle.
2) It's milky white in appearance and applies easily. A little watery compared to UFO Drip, but TBH I have one bottle of UFO Drip that is more watery than another... Nothing like Silca Secret which just loves lubricating my floor.
3) Penetrates very well, especially after backpedaling a few times.
4) Dries pretty quickly.
5) Runs incredibly silent. It's quieter than Silca Super Secret, much quieter than UFO Drip.
6) "Feels like" Squirt as you pedal, as in the lube is seemingly damping out vibrations in the chain/drivetrain.
7) It's gummier than Silca whereas UFO Drip is powdery. Wax buildup appears on the edges of the chain and on the chainrings/cogs/pulleys. I recommend wiping down the chain after the first ride.

Given the "damped" feel of the drivetrain, I would be shocked if FlowerPower is as efficient as UFO Drip or Silca Super Secret. It runs longer, but that's because its wetter/plasticized. I don't doubt the claims that this lube could last 650km per application in dry road riding.

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JoO
Posts: 439
Joined: Thu May 04, 2017 7:30 am

by JoO

Mocs123 wrote:
Wed Sep 28, 2022 5:22 pm
Does anyone have any experiace with Tru Tension BananaSlip Race Lube and/or All Weather Lube? If so what are your thoughts? The All Weather Lube appears to be a wax based lube but what about the Race Lube? It really doesn't say.

I'm about to get a new chain on one of my bikes (currently using Rock N Roll Gold) and I'm thinking of going to a Wax Based Drip for cleanliness and efficency. I am using Silca Super Secret on one of my bikes, but it seems to get loud quickly. Is the Banana Slip better? It's certainly seems cheaper.
I used tru tension banana slip all wheater. I had to stop using it because the smell was horrible. My whole place started to smell like chemical bananas. No complaints on the bike though.

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