I know this ranks amongst the most boring questions conceivable, but what lube do you use on commuter bikes? I ride between 8 and 17 road miles each day.

For me Finish Line wet lube leaves thick black crap all over the chain/chain stays/ seat stays, but at least it seems to lube well and last a long time.
Squirt dry lube seemingly doesn’t work, and lasts only a few miles (2 days max).
Pedros dry lube – quite difficult to apply (but my bottle is probably 15years old now!)

Obviously summer is coming so I want a clean long lasting ideally dry lube. What is good?

Finish Line Dry is what I use year round. No mucky chain, just need to reapply more regularly during the winter.

Finish Line Epic Ride is the best I’ve used. Lasts far longer than FL Dry (or anything else I’ve tried) and is less gunky than FL Wet. Some might find it the worst of both worlds, I suppose, but it’s been broadly the best of both for me.

Putoline solid wax. Much cheaper, much better apply every thousand miles or so. Enjoy a chain lasting many thousands of miles

I use Putoline on my commuter (in fact on all my bikes…) and it lasts weeks between relubes.

Doesn’t all the oil and crap kicked up off the road do a perfectly good job? Manages to keep my braking surfaces wonderfully lubed…

I just use finish line wet all year around.

Putoline here too, but I’m rewaxing every 200-300 miles or so.

This when in stock…
https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/weldtite-tf2-performance-oil/rp-prod5960

Not as gunky as Finish Line wet.

Wax (putoline or similar) that chain!

Forget about splodging gunky overpriced ginding paste on your chain every other day…

Just done a quick calc and I get about 1000 miles between lubes with Putoline (6 miles each way, approx 4 days a week, and approx 5 months between lubes).

On a hub gear it’s fine. Haven’t tried it on a derailleur.

It’s a bit yucky though.

Finish line wet.

My bike is a lot cleaner since I started wiping the excess off after lubing.

8 miles a day 4 times a week for me

progold prolink here. Needs to be regularly applied then excess wiped off but it gathers so much less gunk than FL wet lube

Squirt dry lube seemingly doesn’t work, and lasts only a few miles (2 days max).

You sure it isn’t working? I use squirt all the time and the chain ‘looks’ dry but it’s inside doing work, not outside collecting crud.

Muc off dry lube is a ‘wetter’ lube in the same spirit of squirt and does a good job, often on sale too (and made in the U.K. if such things are important).

finish line wet used on the road creates a special kind of black paste that has a live personality and wants to mark every item of clothing you own.

I use putoline too

It does leave your fingers black if you have to remount the chain but it’s not anything like as bad as a wet lube for that.  Lasts a couple of months in winter and then pretty much one application for the rest of the year

Putoline users how do you apply it?
Assuming you don’t use a purpose bought chip fryer (which I’ve seen mentioned before).

Purpose bought chip fryer for me I’m afraid… Straightforward and pretty mess free.

I just put the tin on the stove as per the instructions.

Chip fryer here too, doubles the cost but I’ve not bought lube in years as a result (apart from some Scott oiler stuff recomended on here which was worse than useless and resulted in a noisy chain after 50miles on the road).

Before that i just did it on the trangia. Careful of drips as it’s hot and stains anything permeable.

I do all my bikes at once as once it’s melted it only takes a few minutes to remove a chain and Chuck it in with the rest.

Aye – a £20 tin lasted me six years for multiple bikes and I ride most days summer and winter.

I use the Fenwicks Stealth, it is the least gunky one i’ve used.

Goes on thick, wipe off the excess and lasts months even in wet weather.

https://road.cc/content/review/182930-fenwicks-stealth-road-bike-chain-lube

Finish line wet, and clean the drivetrain when necessary, it only takes 5 minutes if you know how and have a hose.

I’ve tried dry lubes but even in dry weather they don’t even last 100 miles.

It’s not a boring question, because it will result in a few hundred (or thereabouts) different answers for you to go through and decide who is after the same lube qualities as you. Ha. Good luck.
I realised in about 1999 that Finish Line Wet was crap – when I was having to scrape gungy black shit off my jockey wheels with a screwdriver.
For my commuter I mostly use Fenwicks dry lube, but hardly ever re-apply in the summer. Just when it gets squeaky.

You all have much more interesting commutes than me if you need lube enroute!!

I do mine on the kitchen hob (gas or electric ok). Since getting a new kitchen and induction hob I do it on a camping gas stove in the garage.

This is an interesting thread, lots of good replies.

On a related note I use one of those chain cleaning baths – you know, they have little brushes that go round as you turn the pedals.
It seems to do the job pretty well, but I’m wondering what fluid others use to fill theirs. Muc-off works, but it only comes in small bottles. any suggestions?

Thanks for the replies so far. This has generated more interest than I thought it would! Yes, I wipe off the excess routinely.

Putoline here too, but I’m rewaxing every 200-300 miles or so.

Are the Putoline enthusiasts on here removing your chains, firing up a stove, melting wax, bathing the chain then fixing it back on the bike each time? If so, that doesn’t sound too appealing. 200 miles is every 2-3 weeks for me which seems quite onerous, not to mention weakening the chain by constant splitting/rejoining.

I think I might try the stealth lube.

I’m wondering what fluid others use to fill their [chain cleaner]. Muc-off works, but it only comes in small bottles. any suggestions?

Anything. Alcohol/ Meths / currently a large bottle of citrus degreaser I got from somewhere. Or Muc Off chain degreaser spray is the most potent thing I’ve found for really dirty chains.

yes you have to remove the chain – quick links do not weaken by being unfastened. Its a faff but its worth it for the vastly increase lube intervals – for me around a thousand miles on road and also for the longevity of the chain – IME around 4 times as long, Its of course nice to have a well lubed chain all the time.

Takes around 10 mins to do including the time to heat the wax and is of course hundreds of times cheaper.

Are the Putoline enthusiasts on here removing your chains, firing up a stove, melting wax, bathing the chain then fixing it back on the bike each time?

I couldn’t be bothered with that… few drops every couple of weeks. Chains last me about a year (11spd)

B&Q do this white spirit substitute that cleans chains really well, if you’re into that kind of thing. Says it’s biodegradable. £2 a bottle –
https://www.diy.com/departments/diall-clear-water-based-clean-spirit-0-75l/1059029_BQ.prd

I bought that stuff by mistake. Didn’t touch the oil on my chain.

Dezb – not fancy a four year life for your chain and if you only put a ferw drop of lube on every couple of weeks then you would only need to do this a few times a year – and always have a nicely lubed chain.

Lots of folk on here have tried it after my evangelical promotion of it. Only one has stopped I think

I think it saves me a good few hundred pounds a year in lower replacement costs and on the lubes.

Are the Putoline enthusiasts on here removing your chains, firing up a stove, melting wax, bathing the chain then fixing it back on the bike each time? If so, that doesn’t sound too appealing. 200 miles is every 2-3 weeks for me which seems quite onerous, not to mention weakening the chain by constant splitting/rejoining.

Yea, but it’ll last a lot more than 200 miles. Mine does that on the single speed mid winter! And that’s in crappy mud! My commuter ive done once in 1000miles (probably at the 700ish miles mark).

And just do all the bikes at once, takes less than a minute to get each quick link off, then they all go in the chip pan to be fished out later once I’ve finished whatever else I’m doing.

four year life for your chain

The only reason I change my chain is because they stretch and I run 2 wheelsets on my commuter… How does a wax stop chain stretch?

Didn’t touch the oil on my chain

Er, did you soak, then (gently) rub with a brush? Worked the same as white spirit on mine!

chain “stretch” is wear on the pins and bushes. By having high quality lube in there all the time you reduce the wear dramatically and thus extend the life of the chain dramatically. For me its about 4 times the life at least

how does a wax stop chain stretch

The theory is that grit is a major factor in chain wear. Repeated oil lubrication may mix with and carry grit into the critical pin-bushing/link interface where the wear that causes stretch occurs. Or water carries the grit into this area. For this reason various lubrication regimes try to either avoid grit entry and/or remove any that enters.

A wax lubricant fills this area with wax and solid lubricants (eg graphite, PTFE, molybdenum disulfide etc). As the wax is not mobile it can’t carry grit in and its presence prevents grit getting into the critical interface.

Of course it doesn’t eliminate wear, just slows it.
I find that wet conditions can lead the wax to breakdown and road salt can cause the exterior to rust. I don’t try to run it for long intervals, I just use several chains in rotation for about 2-300 miles each. Then rewax them all in a batch

Yea, but it’ll last a lot more than 200 miles. Mine does that on the single speed mid winter! And that’s in crappy mud! My commuter ive done once in 1000miles (probably at the 700ish miles mark).

The second time I did a Putoline wax on my commuter I ran it for a month, and the chain had started going rusty. So now I rewax every three weeks, which is about 200-300 miles.

I use a repurposed rice cooker, the “Swisher” method (there’s a good how-too on the Molten Speed Wax website), and the first time I apply it I clean a brand new chain with mineral spirits and boiling water etc. before the first wax. I’m not putting anything else on the chain between waxes.

So – to those who are getting 1000 miles+ from a wax – what am I doing wrong/differently? The Molten Speed Wax website says you can expect about 300 miles between waxes too…

I love squirt lube, Ride approx 100 up 200 miles a week during the summer and it works amazingly well for me. tend to reapply every 7-10 days.

I’ll be using my PX £7 bargain, 1 litre bottle of Muc Off C3 Ceramic Wet on all bike for the next few decades, used to use Progold Prolink, but as my memory has failed even more it’s easy with these dry lubes to forgot to reapply after pretty much every wet ride… Original Wazoo chain was technically worn in under 600 miles, replacement KMC chain lasted ~4000 miles with the C3.

finbar – I suspect I am more tolerant of the cosmetic rusting on the outside of the chain – sometimes I run the chain thru an oily rag if the outside is dry and the wax is still in the rollers. It also depends on the conditions. I let mine go until the lube in the rollers has gone or redo before a tour. You can tell by twisting the chain. the instructions on the putoline are for motorcycles