[Closed] Lubing a new chain?

Opinion varies, so get popcorn and settle down for a long night.

Personally I leave the factory waxy stuff on until I need to clean the chain - usually a week or two.

Removing before fitting is popular though.

Wot he said ^^^^

Every bike I build or chain I fit leaves the shop with a quick once over with a spot of lube.

I removed the excess from the outer plates after fitting. My thoughts were its the innerspring of the chain that need lube. The outside just collects crud.

Looking forward to hearing other opinions.

I leave the original lube on then clean and apply new lube when needed. I find the original stuff lasts longer than everything else.

Another vote for leaving the original stuff on until it needs cleaning. I do give the outside of a new chain a quick rub down with some GT45 though to stop it going black.

After a couple of weeks riding I then give the chain a thorough degreasing, dry it well then use a good quality all-weather ceramic or wax lube like Squirt.

Tended to clean them of the factory packing grease/lube and re-lube with something thinner when i was racing. Chains got cleaned lots, if it was a muddy race then they got cleaned before race runs and re-lubed.

Varying choices of cleaning agent..... jam jar of unleaded or thinners or proper degreaser/solvent.....of course do so at your own risk 🙂

Been singlespeed for the last few years so not really bothered.
The old logic was the factory stuff made for a sticky chain, so a full degrease and relube was a small performance gain and better shifting.
Most likely in practice with Time trailers and road racers, i expect there is a chart somewhere showing wattage variation of sticky lubed and cleaned light lubed chains.

I had a KMC self destruct on the first ride when using the sticky factory lube, chainsucktastic. I went home, straightened it and replaced some damaged links, cleaned it, relubed with whatever it was I used back then, and carried on- no bother, on the same trails. So I emailed them, they sent me a new one on warranty and said "Clean it and replace with something more suitable for your riding conditions".

So, that's what I do, and it works.

Many various answers to this. I 'usually' degrease the new chain before fitting and lube with finish line. My new Cannondale, I thought, I would leave it on and see if it was the 'so called' better lube than aftermarket. Well, after 4 miles, it sounded rough. Really rough. Like gravel in a washing machine. I was so glad to come home, degrease it and carry on how I usually deal with chains. Not had the issue since. So , its not really a lube, more an anti rust oil in my theory.

I was told that the new chains were waxed under pressure to force it into the chain internals where the wear occurs. So for me, it's a light wipe down on the outside with some degreaser and only lube it later on.

With a new chain; wipe down outside with rag and white spirit till there is no residue. Run for a while, lubing and wiping as needed until it is gritty, then clean with degreaser then in white spirit, then relube. Repeat until too stretched.