Best lubing strategy

I feel like I’m going full circle and returning to wet lubes for durability and ease of re-application, but with regular chain baths to try and flush out contamination and extend chain life.

I’ll finish off my bottle of Fenwick’s Professional first, it certainly seems to outlast hot wax treatment in mixed gravel conditions but still needs to dry overnight. If I thought I could get up to 200km out of an application (the single longest gravel ride I’m likely to ever do) then I’ll maybe stick with it.

^^ I recall you were going to try the Silca Synergetic ?  How did you get on with it ?

No putoline or anything crazy like that, though.

Just bite the bullet and do it.

I suspect there are now better options than putoline, and I’m not sure it’s not changed recipes over the years, my 2nd tin was a lot softer than the first.

Currently I’m working on a DIY formulation, but I’d not recommend it.  There’s a bit more to it than just adding some tungsten disulphide or PTFE powder to some candlewax.

 I recall you were going to try the Silca Synergetic ? How did you get on with it ?

That’s the ‘wet lube’ that I intend to use once I’ve finished up the Fenwicks.

I don’t know whether to run a Fenwick’s chain through a chain cleaner or not, I get the impression the Fenwick’s accumulates over multiple applications, but don’t know if it’s also accumulating grit and contamination!

I cleaned mine pretty thoroughly in a park tool cleaner with Muc off degreaser before applying the first dose of Synergetic.  I remain impressed with it after 6 months or so use on the gravel bikes.

I’d just like to say that, other than on this forum, I’ve never, ever heard of anyone in my world hot waxing their chain. I’ve come to believe it must be a STW thing.

There’s no such thing as self cleaning.

Maybe not self cleaning but it does seem to have made it more repellent to muck sticking to it.

There’s no such thing as self cleaning.

No but (and I’ve found with my recipe experiments) you can trade off between a hard/dry wax which flakes off (taking any contaminants with it), which is “self cleaning”. Or a softer blend which is till pretty hard which seems to leave a is super hydrophobic smear* over the drivetrain to which nothing wet seems to stick.  The stumbling block i have at the moment is really dry dusty conditions.  The hard wax doesn’t last long enough (~100miles before the drivetrain starts to whirrr), and the softened wax picks up dry dust. So my next set of experiments are going to be making a a very hard “grease” via saponification of stearic acid and lime in the molten wax which if I’m right should make the softer wax blend harder, but more malleable without flaking off.  The other option is a to use tallow rather than stearic acid,  which actually has the advantage of working better when wet!

*it’s a mucky grey from the WS2 additive but i guess if it was just the wax, oil and PTFE it would be clear/white.

I’d just like to say that, other than on this forum, I’ve never, ever heard of anyone in my world hot waxing their chain. I’ve come to believe it must be a STW thing.

Well then this forum is clearly sustaining a small industry including (off the top of my head) at least four manufacturers of hot wax, several dedicated products, two or three dedicated online stores, countless podcasts/YouTube vids and of course some world tour professional teams and riders.

Good job STW! (winky/smiley emojji etc. etc.)

I too have gone back to wet lubes after trying all sorts of other types. For 100km rides in wet dirty terrain nothing else stays on the chain long enough.

Id rather have a so-called ‘grinding paste’ of soft mud than dry metal on dry metal, and I need to wash the bikes down every few rides anyway at this time of year.

Id rather have a so-called ‘grinding paste’ of soft mud than dry metal on dry metal, and I need to wash the bikes down every few rides anyway at this time of year.

I think I’d rather the bike industry looked at developing drivetrain solutions which don’t rely on exposed metal chains running on metal components with no protection from contamination. It feels like, bar the number of expensive metal sprockets involved, mainstream bicycle transmission technology has moved at a glacial pace. You pay £10k for some carbon fibre, lightweight, full suspension e-mtb thing and there, at the heart of it, is basically the same last century technology you’d find on a 50 quid bike-shaped object.

I can’t believe that anyone creating a modern mountain bike from scratch would spec an exposed metal chain drive for year-round use, yet here we are. Meanwhile brakes have gone from cantis, to vee, to cable discs, to hydraulic ones with ongoing optimisation, seatposts go up and down at the touch of a button, tyres have gone from tubed to tubeless, forks and rear wheels go up and down etc etc, but we’re still stuck, mostly, with the whole unholy combination of chains and derailleurs.

We shouldn’t be discussing chain lube at all because in a saner world, we wouldn’t need it.

Surely it’s because they have a vested interest in continuing to sell you replacement ‘consumables’.

I like to imagine that somewhere in the world,there is a person that has just bought a new MTB.

They ask the shop person ” What do I need to do about chain maintenance?”

Shop person : “Well, first get yourself a small deep fat fryer…

😀

Surely it’s because they have a vested interest in continuing to sell you replacement ‘consumables’.

Possibly, I was thinking about this from the perspective of general sustainability and it’s pretty horrendous how wasteful it is throwing away steel and aluminium cassettes and chains because of a millimetre or two’s wear.

But this is just going the direction of multiple gearbox threads. We should follow the Honda DH bike example of encasing the drivetrain in a carbon fibre box or something.

We should follow the Honda DH bike example of encasing the drivetrain in a carbon fibre box or something.

I think the E-mtb market will push this forward with things like fully enclosed belt drive.

Coming from an MX background,part of my weekend routine used to be boiling up chains.

I tried it for a while with my commuter bikes over the winter,but in the end I went back to a fit and (almost) forget chainsets practice.

Along with cleaning and wet lube,for me the seasonal swap thing also worked.

Take the cassette and chain off the summer bike and fit to the winter/commuter bike…destroy.

The summer bike then gets a new cassette and chain.

Rinse and repeat.

Surely it’s because they have a vested interest in continuing to sell you replacement ‘consumables’.

You overestimate the value of the market of active hobbyist mountain bikers for consumable parts. I’m out in all weathers (rare) I ride 2-3 times a week, and do over a hundred miles a week (rarer still) and I can easily get 18-24 months form a chain with an off the shelf wet lube from dropper bottle, If people like me are the basis for a business model selling replacement parts, someone’s not done their sums properly.

I can’t believe that anyone creating a modern mountain bike from scratch would spec an exposed metal chain drive for year-round use

They don’t have to, see my previous answer, the riders going off road all year round in the sorts of weather that UK riders face is a teeny segment  that can pretty much be ignored. Proper all road commuter bikes solved this a long time ago with fully encased drive-trains. Beside chains are what upper 90’s percentage efficient, something like that, any alternative has to over come that and buyer inertia.

Am confused by how you are cleaning the chain after every ride and yet lots of crud has built up

Maybe look at your cleaning routine.