So, for the first time in my 15+ years of riding, I've tried out a DRY chain lube. Yes, I know, but I've always used Cross Country lube & been happy with it, apart from the gunk build-up that's finally gotten me to try something more suitable for the "warmer" months.

Anyway, I fully degreased & dried the chain, applied two full squirts of that Ceramic Juice malarkey, let it settle for an hour or so & wiped off the excess.

After one ride (the STW Winchester ride on Saturday…mainly dry, bit of drizzle), I'm struggling to tell whether there's actually any lube left on the chain. With wet lube it's easy enough to tell, but I'm feeling a bit dense with this dry stuff. The chain looks…well, a bit dirty, but more or less dry, though it's entirely possible the lube is still on there doing it's thing, it is a DRY lube after all…but I just can't tell. Incidentally, shifting was a bit crappy on that ride, unusually so. Any thoughts (be gentle)?

A poorly lubed chain will be noisey. You'll really be able to hear it turning and there'll be some higher frequency (metal on metal) squeaking. What are the manufacturer's instructions? Should you have only left it an hour, or should it have been left over night? If the lube doesn't have time to go off it'll mostly be forced out from the rollers and onto the gears and inside the links, so you can be running an unlubed chain within just a mile or so.

I've no experience with the CJ you're using, but I use Prolink on one bike's chain and Squirt on another. Bothe are 'dry' lubes and both contribute to quiet and clean-shifting drivetrains (until they've been expended).

I have the same questions myself and I'm fairly lube-savvy, so don't feel daft! My dry lube seems to vanish rapidly (duh!) and it's hard to tell if it's still working or not, but I did find that my chain snapped the other day with no warning and on inspection I wondered if the lack of lube was the reason, despite it running quiet and clean.

Snapping a chain is unlikely to be lube related, unless corrosion has weakened the metal. Most likely is shifting under load; next is as a result of an incorrectly fitted, or reused, link pin. A combination of the two will also do it.