I’ve always degreased new chains of that thick grease they come packed in, and then relube with my favoured jollop of the moment. Does everyone / anyone? Or am I wasting my time and destroying the environment 116 links at a time?

Never bothered.

Will I die?

wet/dampen a rag with degreaser and wipe off the outside faces of the chain and then ride – that shit lasts for ages IME

I do degrease new chains too. Then a few drops of my favourite tipple:

+1 never bother.

same as mr smith, can’t be bothered, it’s going get cleaned and re-lubed so many times anyway

Nope. Just use as it comes and as Scaredypants states, it lasts for ages.

I leave the grease on there 🙂

Degrease, only to re-grease? Nah, sounds like too much effort.

What is this new chain thing you speak of?

Take off their specially selected/made grease lubricant…why? 😯

Most brands used to use a heavy packing grease that was very tacky and an absolute dirt magnet. It’s more of a preservative for the metal than a lubricant. Some manufacturers have moved away from that type of grease to a lighter lube that you can use out of the package (Shimano moved to this lighter lubricant if I remember correctly, SRAM has not).

I use SRAM. Doesn’t get as dirty as when I used to use lube TBH.

Wd40 on a rag, wipe off most of the sticky crud. Lube. Ride.

Always ‘ degrease’ and ‘ Oil’ afterwards. Its an anti rust protector , not a lube.

The sticky-as-**** KMC packing grease can be a terrible dirt magnet, I destroyed a brand new X9SL in about 30 minutes of pentlands riding. Getting mud stuck to it would have been annoying, getting little sticks stuck to it was pretty bad.

They warranty replaced it and I never made that mistake again, always clean them off first. I reckon it’s anti-corrosion storage grease rather than actual chain lube- if it’s chain lube then it’s the worst I’ve ever used.

Get rid of it, it’s for protection in storage, it’s sticky as f88k – you might just as well put cutting compound on your chain.

I personally would de-grease, that grease is far to sticky and collects crap really quickly, then the chain rings and sprockets get gunk on them too. Drop it in some white spirit.

wipe and fit. It’ll degrease itself after a few wet rides anyway.

Most brands used to use a heavy packing grease that was very tacky and an absolute dirt magnet. It’s more of a preservative for the metal than a lubricant.

Really? Do you have a definite source for that gem of info?

Get rid of it, it’s for protection in storage,

Really? Do you have a definite source for that gem of info?

Most brands used to use a heavy packing grease that was very tacky and an absolute dirt magnet. It’s more of a preservative for the metal than a lubricant. Some manufacturers have moved away from that type of grease to a lighter lube that you can use out of the package (Shimano moved to this lighter lubricant if I remember correctly, SRAM has not).

SRAM Factory Lubricant: GLEITMO™ — biking’s best chain lubricant — coats chain for superior protection against friction and dirt.

I often wonder how on earth people manage to wonder through life avoiding bumping into any facts or knowledge.

I was told to do it by one of the shimano mechanics at mayhem about ten years back. I didn’t know better then and I always have since. I’m still not sure if it’s right though.

Hi TuckerUK – Yes 30 years’ experience of riding bikes – and some writing about them too, plus some simple observation skills. Take the chain out of the pack, observe how much crap gets stuck to it. Observe a different chain, with a purpose-made chain lube on it, much less crap sticks.

As far as my experience goes, it seems fairly normal to pack ferrous parts in some kind of protective coating, sometimes sticky grease, sometimes a thinner oil.

HTH 🙂

I’ve just taken a brand-new PC991 out of its packet and dropped it on my bedroom carpet… it now has dog hairs and grit stuck to it (note to self: vacuum bedroom carpet more often).

*wonders if she has just “bumped into a fact”*

I wish they sold the stuff the Shimano chains come coated in.

I use sram chains but i wipe down the outer links with a rag soaked in GT85 first to remove the excessive surface lube whilst keeping the essential lube contained within the chain rollers. I wipe them down after every ride and lube as necessary with muc-off nano strawberry pink lube, usually remove chain every couple of weeks and soak in my degreaser and fit a clean chain that i removed/soaked and lubed previously.

SRAM Factory Lubricant: GLEITMO™ — biking’s best chain lubricant — coats chain for superior protection against friction and dirt.I often wonder how on earth people manage to wonder through life avoiding bumping into any facts or knowledge.

I bow to your superior knowledge. I read it on another forum, probably the same as you did. I still prefer to lube a new chain myself. At least i know it done right then.

And i think you mean ‘wander through life’.

And just in case anyone thinks SRAM probably don’t know what they are talking about:

From the late great Sheldon Brown

‘Factory Lube
New chains come pre-lubricated with a grease-type lubricant which has been installed at the factory. This is an excellent lubricant, and has been made to permeate all of the internal interstices in the chain.

This factory lube is superior to any lube that you can apply after the fact.

Some people make the bad mistake of deliberately removing this superior lubricant. Don’t do this!

The factory lubricant all by itself is usually good for several hundred miles of service if the bike is not ridden in wet or dusty conditions. It is best not to apply any sort of lube to a new chain until it is clearly needed, because any wet lube you can apply will dilute the factory lube.’

From This Page

I read it on another forum, probably the same as you did.

No. I read it on my SRAM chain box.

With rare exceptions, I don’t actually get my education or knowledge from forums. And on those rare occasions when I do learn something new from an unknown source, I double, triple, and quadruple check if for validity before repeating it as fact.

I’ve just taken a brand-new PC991 out of its packet and dropped it on my bedroom carpet… it now has dog hairs and grit stuck to it (note to self: vacuum bedroom carpet more often).

Which has what exactly do with the lubrication properties? Dog hairs stick to metal coated with my cars engine oil, is it not a good lubricant then?

Yes 30 years’ experience of riding bikes

Ah, I see the problem. I have 42.

if the bike is not ridden in wet or dusty conditions.

there you have it then…..

FWIW, I usually remove and relube. On my new bike I didn’t and approx 100 road miles later I had a hell of a job cleaning up a salty, gritty, greasy, noisy, sticky mess of a chain.

You do what you want though……

TuckerUK – Member

The factory lubricant all by itself is usually good for several hundred miles of service if the bike is not ridden in wet or dusty conditions.

Yep, because we never ride in the wet.

Still, I agree that anyone who places their own personal experience above SRAM marketing must be mad.

I personally found that my drive train felt/sounded gritty and horrid with that factory lube.

Not talking about lubrication properties, I’m talking about the fact that the sticky goo my chains come coated in attracts grit. This makes grinding paste. If you want to do that to your chain, that is up to you, I don’t mind what you do.

I don’t know how to type this without sounding confrontational so I’ll just type it anyway: do you believe all the marketing hype that you read?

fuds.

people here actually ride their bikes?

Get the best of both worlds…

As a number of people have already mentioned above, wipe clean the outside surface of the chain with a solvent to remove the sticky surface that grit adheres to, but leave the factory lube inside the bearings to do its job.

By the way, Gleitmo isn’t SRAM marketing hype, its a German made high quality industrial lubricant – try Googling it and you’ll get this description, “Lifetime lubrication of machine elements at medium and high pressure (sliding bearings, slide rails etc.) where dry lubrication and good corrosion protection are required.”

However, my feeling is that its designed for industrial applications where the components aren’t exposed to dust and grit which will stick to it. So when used in a bicycle application its best to remove the exposed outer coating first.

I’d like to see the chain manufacturers justify their chain lube assertions. I don’t see them offering their chains lubed for different conditions, it appears to be one lube fits all. This doesn’t seem realistic even with road bikes, let alone mountain bikes.

I’d suggest there’s reasons why chain lube manufacturers don’t make lube like the chain manufacturers, but there could well be vested interests on both sides relating to selling you more lube or more transmission parts.

I find when you soak a new SRAM chain in degreaser that you still have to rub the last of the lube off the outer faces, so there’s probably still some left where it’s really needed internally. It’s dusty most of the year here so I would only use a dry lube oiling each roller.

If your transmission soon gets covered in dried on mud it doesn’t matter because the lube and gunk will come off with the mud.

sometimes I think people worry too much or read too much into stuff.

I’d suggest there’s reasons why chain lube manufacturers don’t make lube like the chain manufacturers, but there could well be vested interests on both sides relating to selling you more lube or more transmission parts.

It’s partly about application methods. Gleitmo is only available in industrial quantities, and has to be hot dipped to penetrate into the internals of the chain. SRAM do this in their factory, but there’s very few of us who would bother to do that at home, or can afford to throw away the remaining bucket full of very expensive chian lube after dipping our one chain. Much easier to give it a squirt from a little bottle while turning the cranks!

But I also agree with with your suggestion that after market chain lube is becoming a bit of a racket. Gone are the days when we carefully applied a single drop of the precious nectar to each chain link. With the new chain lubes we’re urged to to flush the dirt away with a stream of the stuff – at how much a bottle!?!

So, who’s peddling the marketing ‘hype’ here? The chain manufacturers who provide your chain ready lubed with a high quality and expensive industrial chain lubricant, and suggest that for long service life of their product you leave it on for as long as you can. Or the aftermarket chain lubes and the bike shops that sell them, who tell us its just a storage protectant, to wash it off as soon as possible, and flood the chain with their inferior lubricant at every opportunity possible?