On the mtb I use Finish Line wet (I think) lube, and add a few drops every month or so. It builds up gunk, but given the amount I ride it’s not a huge issue to occasionally take the chain off and clean it and the drivetrain.

Ideally for the road bike I’d prefer something that needs less maintenance though – I don’t mind applying a bit more before a ride, but the gunk builds up too quickly with the wet lube. What’s the collective recommendation?
(and does it work well on MTBs too, given the different surfaces/ environments they’re ridden in?)

Squirt. Lasts ages, stays clean.

Jesus, a few drops a month? My chain need oil after every few hours of riding nowadays even in the dry, it’s driving me insane…

I normally use a wax lube on both road and mtb, rather than wet lube. I find wet lubes get gunky quite quickly so I only use them in really diabolical weather when wax lubes aren’t man enough.

Putoline or similar melty wax type lube is very effective on just about any bicycle chain IME from the point of view of lubricating the chain for a good duration and not picking up crap.

I find the key on the road bike it to wipe the excess lube off the chain after you’ve applied it. It really helps with reducing the crap building up.

I’ve been using squirt on commuter/gravel and mtb for about a month, runs quiet and lasts quite a few rides.

Putoline
Much cheaper. Much more effective.

I get no buildup of gunk with Squirt. It’ll attract a small amount of dirt, but for the most part I rarely clean my chains. Use it on all bikes.

Squirt on all my bikes works perfectly

The tail fat of a narwhal culled on the autumn equinox then heated over a volcanic fissure and applied from an ancient bronze crucible.

Or putoline, if you can’t be arsed to faff.

Another vote for Squirt. Probably not perfect, but minimal faff. Have often been tempted by Putoline but the up-front cost puts me off, I seem to have a never-ending supply of Squirt knocking about the garage for some reason.

Is Pedros Ice Wax any better/similar?

I used the blue Rock N Roll stuff for both the road and mountain bike but switched to Wend Wax in December. First on the mountain bike after a call to Jam Cycles. They knew of people using it for Cyclocross and it had worked well. So I gave it a good. It is lasting really well in-between rides. Super easy to clean and reapply. No issues in the mud/grit of the North York Moors or a winter of riding in the Dales. Now use it on all of the bikes and don’t plan on getting anything else.

13th – its what £25 for a kilo compared to £5 for 2a few grammes?

I’ll do a chain for yo if yo want so you can see how good it is

I used to switch between Squirt in the summer and Putoline in the winter so I have extensive experience of both. Squirt was great but didn’t last too well in really wet conditions and Putoline wasn’t better enough to justify its use in summer.

Anyway, a while back, I switched to Smoove in summer which seemed to last longer and feel slicker than Squirt. It worked so well, I didn’t bother switching to Putoline in the winter.

Been on Smoove ever since and it’s been great. Mate of mine managed the whole HT550 (one of the wettest) on a single application of Smoove.

How much Smoove are you using to get it to last so long? I read reviews of it that suggested multiple wet rides, but I’m finding it no better than others I’ve used. Nice while it does last though.

Squirt, lasts ages, works in all weathers, super clean chain all the time too😎😎

White Lightening wax for me
Fully degreaase chain first then apply afer vigorously shaking bottle for about 3 secs. Apply to each roller, run chain slowly round with light finger pressure to esure coverage .
Repeat every 100 miles
No chain tats , no chain noise , chain seems to stay clean even if caught in a shower

Putoline +1

It’s not even that expensive, that £25 will last forever vs a £5 bottle of dry lube each summer and a couple of bottles of wet lube each winter?

I lost all faith in those water based lubes after someone suggested scotoiler ubs on here. The single most shite bike product I’ve ever spent money on. Left the chain noisy and dry after 50 dry road miles (I.e. a days commuting in perfect weather), required monastic levels of dedication to keep going out to the shed all evening and adding a few more drops to build it up. Then washed off in the first puddle.

And as a spray to protect the frame, it turned a white bike yellow.

At least squirt give you a free sample to find out it’s not much better.

Only downside of putoline is its a PITA to make your drive chain look good. It’ll look good for a few hundred miles but you can’t clean the wax off the cassette without taking it off and soaking it in paraffin. Normal degreasing doesn’t touch it and scrubbing does half a job.

I use rock n roll becuase keeping your chain clean is more important than keeping it lubed.

I heard about Wend and it seemed a good clean idea….until I read some reviews and tests on it, and it basically doesn’t lubricate the internal surfaces of the pins and rollers – the bits that really need lubricating.

I’ve used Squirt, White Lightning Clean Ride and also Rock n Roll Absolute Gold with fairly clean results. Not perfect but not black grime everywhere.

Plain old parrafin wax melted down also isn’t too bad either, comes out well in efficiency tests too.

Anyone want a chain treated with putoline I will do one for them postal or edinburgh based. I am still evangelical about the stuff if you hadn’t noticed! 😉