What chain lube do you use in the claggy winter conditions and what cleaning regimen do you follow?

Finish Line country something (I still have 2 litres of a 4 litre can left)
Run the chain though a park chain cleaner every couple of weeks

I used to paint degreaser on before cleaning the bike but the park thing works well so I prefer that now

Rock n roll Extreme is good. Recently got some of this from TF Tuned and it is even better. Long lasting in the wet and mud, yet not dirty and easy to clean. Quick wipe down with a rag post ride, or a rinse with hose and reapply.

At the moment whatever I use appears to be gone in minutes. So use use Finish Line Cross Country, and reapply often, especially as it’s so cheap at the mo.
On a particularly grotty ride I’m just taking the chain off and leaving it in paraffin at the moment!

In previous years, I’ve used squirt in the summer and switched to putoline when the squirt gave up.

This summer, I switched to Smoove and I’m still using it. Not needed to putoline yet.

This evening I will probably wipe the chain down with a baby wipe or two, then put an extra drip of Smoove on each line.

Wickens & Soderstrom No.3 applied to a chain blasted through with the hose at close quarters.

I used to be a chain rotation, solvent degrease and oil bath guy, but Wickens no.3 has saved me all of that.

Effectively its a drop per link on the aforementioned hose blasted chain after every ride. Its literally saved me hours and has the benefit of running wonderfully clean.

Its not the most tenacious lube in the wet, and it does a fine job of sounding really graunchy in heavy mud, but 5 minutes later, you realise that the mud has worked out of the links and its running smoothly again. I’ve not previously encountered any lube that does that.

Further, the longer you use it, the better this ‘recovery effect’ seems to be.

I really like it, can you tell?

Chainsaw bar oil doesn’t seem to leave it a complete mess and is fairly cheap. Not sure I would use it on the posh bike but for the winter one it’s fine.

Wickens and Soderstrom no.5. Was always a Finish Line XC user before (tried others but they were always worse in some way), but Wickens lasts almost as long and it just doesn’t pick up crap.

^^^ is the number 5 better than the 3 ? It costs a bit more…. I linked the 3 earlier and find it really good, way longer lasting than RnR and just as clean.

I found no.5 not quite as good in the gloop, and crucially its twice the price as no.3, which was too much for me to swallow when using it after every ride.

Once my stock of 5 is gone, I’ll only be running no.3.

Squirt all year round, 2 applications in winter.
Works well for 3 hours of wet riding…
Not bad for a wax type lube.
No mankyness at all

+1 what Jonny M said. Squirt all year round has been fine for me (so far…)

For the chain I always try to get this:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/BRUNOX-Top-Kett-100ml-1unit/dp/B004KQJK7Y
(but way cheaper. Not for this price tag / not via amazon)

I NEVER clean the chain and NEVER use “decreaser” or so.

I clean the Shimano front and rear mech with water & brush then I spray plenty, thin oil onto these parts (cheap oil from hardware store).

The chain I lube AFTER riding with Brunox Top Kett.
This is maybe not the best lube – but the mud doesn’t like to stick on it (or better: once the mud dried the mud falls off).
Anti stick function is more important to me than the “best lubrication”.

Linkage bearings and bushings of the rear suspension: spray those with silicone spray (also cheap stuff from hardware store).
This not as lubricant. Also as “anti stick”. Mud and water pearls off from silicone…

Other posts, above, “decreaser”: I don’t even get close to the bike with that stuff. The bike will look shiny for a short time.
And then all the bearings are suddenly damaged…???
😥

Chainsaw bar oil

tried that. Ended up in a mud / dirt / sticky mess…
Never again!

mud – science:
mud is not mud.
Where I live right now the mud is not aggressive / doesn’t include too much sharp sand corns. This mud doesn’t kill the chain in short time.

But lived in areas (close to the sea) where I couldn’t find a perfect lubrication procedure. This mud was hell and was eating every year 250 bucks worth of Shimano stuff…

Fenwicks Stealth. Really rate it all year round. Previously used Squirt but it was crap in the wet. Stealth is a bit of a faff to apply but it keeps the chain super clean

Putoline chain wax tin melted into an Aldi small deep fat fryer.

https://www.cyclorise.com/store/p77/SMOOVE

Been using this for months, really rate it…

Never got on with putoline so if someone wants to buy a pretty much full tin off me at a reduced cost.

Muc Off wet lube. Applied sparingly. Will last a day or two of wet riding when I’m bikepacking decent distances.

As for cleaning, wait until it dries then knock/brush it off. Bike only really gets cleaned if I’m visiting or returning from other locales – primarily to help contain the spread of some plant diseases.

I’ve tried Squirt a couple of times. I can piss better chainlube than that and it would stay on the chain longer.

GT85. I just spray it on my regularly than I do in the summer.

shortyj15 – Member

Never got on with putoline so if someone wants to buy a pretty much full tin off me at a reduced cost.

Me – PM me. Mine is just about finished after many years. I am evangelical about it and persuaded a fair few to try it so feel some responsibility for those who don’t get on with it

Putoline wax is the only lube I will ever use. chain life up 400%, lube a chain every couple of hundred MTB miles or thousand road miles. NO filthy drive trains no cleaning required. A £30 tin has lasted me years Dunk the chain in the molten wax and let excess drip off. wipe it down refit

Wickens and Sodstrom no 3 again – I like the No 5 but it is pricey and the 3 seems to last a bit longer in the wet. Amazing stuff when it comes to keeping the chain clean despite Devon gloop, Dartmoor peat and granite grit! I use it all year and the drivetrain looks amazing!

the drivetrain looks amazing!

good.
😈

Another brunox fan here. No cleaning or degreasing, just apply before a big ride.

Was using squirt in the summer and liked it, will possibly try smoove next summer as reports seem good. When the weather went wet (well around september I think it was) I switched to W&S no5 that I got on a 2 for 1 offer. Was really liking it, easy to use, lasted fairly well, clean drivetrain. But after a couple of really wet rides recently it didn’t seem to last quite long enough so switched to some ProGold Prolink, seems to last a bit better in the wet than W&S no5. Will probably give the no3 a go when I’ve used all the no5.

tjagain, I messaged you but not sure if you’ll get it. Email me on iainjagger @gmail.com

shorty – better remove that email address or it will be spamtastic in no time. I got the message

I’m just trying the muc-off wet ceramic one.

I’m hoping it’s a bit less sticky than the normal wet lube that I had on before. That’s not bad but Hampshire clag beat it twice in the run up to Christmas.

Squirt all year round. Take it with you in the wet. After a ride, let the bike dry, brush the chain, reapply. Clean drivetrain. I love squirt!

One of the reasons I love the putoline is that it lasts many many rides. recently I did a GT day out in very wet conditions – grinding paste thrownup from the wheels and a filthy bike. the chain had not been treated for a couple of hundred miles before this and it still does not need retreating – and there is no build up of gunk on the drivetrain either. rinsed with cold water and its good for a good few more rides yet.

Similar to scienceofficer I too use wickens and soderstrom chain lube.
Brilliant stuff… Easily outlasts anything else I’ve used from other well known companies.

woodlikesbikes – Member
GT85. I just spray it on my regularly than I do in the summer.

Just this… .just works…

Holy Cow or Rn’R Extreme right now. No cleaning needed, bar a wipe with a rag. Squirt when it dries up. It’s sandy here so any proper wet lube turns into a grinding paste, so best avoided.

mud – science:
mud is not mud.
Where I live right now the mud is not aggressive / doesn’t include too much sharp sand corns. This mud doesn’t kill the chain in short time.

Ha ha .. so true. I could bore everyone to death with mud properties (something I deal with professionally) but suffice to say they are hugely variable with regards to stickiness, how they react with water and oil and hard particulates (and drive chain damage something I live with in a personal capacity).

I have had good performance form ProGold Prolink, and the Extreme version, though both dirtier than RnR or W&S No 3.

Just bought some Smoove, on the back of this thread. Will be interested to see how it compares…

Juicy Lubes wet has been fine lately for me (Shropshire mud). Of vital importance is the correct application of any lube. Amazes me when I see even the most gifted riders with the best bikes applying lube in the car park before a ride.

Mucoff wet pub all year. I tried the drylub in summer, but wasn’t impressed, it’s ok for oiling the door hinges in the house tho.

As for cleaning, i’ll give it a hose down after a ride, especially if I’ve been near the beach with it. Periodically I’ll scrape the gunk from the chairing and jockey wheels.

Not sure how many miles are on my chain/cassette on that regime, over 1000, maybe nearer 2.