MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
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I'm out of chain oil and, being a terminal cheapskate, I'm thinking about alternatives to paying the best part of a tenner for 100ml of lube. I notice Bonthrone are doing Finish Line wet for £45 3.8litres posted which sounds good if I can find a few others to chip in.
Before I go down this route, what about chainsaw oil, motorbike chain oil, other DIY concoctions? Does anyone have any experience?
It needs to be fairly good in the wet for me - I rarely manage to do a ride that doesn't involve several full immersions.
Castrol chain wax for me, applied after washing the bike (not before riding as it takes a while to dry) clean it off occasionally with white spirit and start again.
Lubes oh god been through them all, purple,progold,squirt,fenwicks,finish line you name it.
In the dry id say squirt, runs very smooth but once it gets wet i can kill it off in 20 or so miles.
In the wet hmm purple extreme or finish line wet both are good.
But for an all rounder im loving white lightnings clean ride, goes on clean stays clean and has better longevity than squirt, not sure about proper wet weather but atm it holds up better than the squirt.
Just use water - it's an excellent chain lube.
(Which is why I only ride my bike in the rain)
I rode with a guy in Italy last year whos chain was dry by lunchtime so at the restaurant he applied extra virgin olive oil! It was still on 3 hours later but was also attracting all the dust too!
+1 OLIVE OIL!
It must be extra virgin. If you compare prices, it's still cheaper than finish line!
I also like chainsaw oil, but my next door neighbour gives me that for free....
any oil is better than no oil. I'm sure there used to be a pro team who lubed the chains with the dipstick from the team truck.
Tried motor bike oil before, the stuff i used was much to heavy and the chain didn't like shifting at all well through the gears, also picked up loads of crap..
+1 chainsaw 🙂
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another one for chainsaw oil.
+3 chainsaw oil user.
I've got some Scottoiler stuff (winter and summer weight) left over from the motorbike. I keep wondering how well that would do.
+4 for chainsaw oil, use sparingly though it does gloop up the chain a bit. I only use it on my Rohloff bike. I use 'duck oil' which is a silicone free penertrating oil, used in the motor trade, on a rag and run the chain through that in between, and on my full sus bike. I've been using a free sample of Purple Extreme on the geared bike, it does work well I must say, with no clogging, but I have been using duck oil for years without any probs.
Any cheapo ideas for the expensive wax+solvent approach of Rock-n-Roll? Solvent washes it down and wax sets inside.
I am thinking mixing together (say) Halfords chain wax with - er- some light solvent: white spirit, or diesel oil, or maybe even WD40.
I am using putoline solid wax. By far the best chain lube I have used and its £15 for a kilo.
Its a faff to apply being a solid wax you need to melt - but it manages the miracle of staying on the chain and keeping clean.
Chainsaw oil here, soak the chain and if it is dry i wipe the excess off and if it is wet dont wipe so much off, bought a gallon from the local farm shop a couple of years ago and probably still have half left even after filling my chainsaw up six or seven times. Cheap considering the price they ask for the the 100Ml stuff in bike shops.