Pretty simple really – what dry lube is going to stand up to a UK spring and summer?

I’ve always used wet lube all year but I run two chains and clean / swap them regularly so if one gets mucky I can stick the shiny one on. Now I’m going to 11 speed taking the chain off is going to be a pita (tell me if I’m wrong!) so want something that’s not going to wash off with a bit of rain but won’t attract every piece of grit.

Suggestions please!

Finish line ceramic wax works for me.

Rock n’ roll blue. All weathers, all the time. Ride, hose down, splash rnr blue around liberally, wipe chain, put bike in shed. Repeat. No need to take the chain off. Good for at least 40 miles of mixed mud/slop/grinding paste. I’ve tried all sorts of dry and wet lube and this is the least fuss and best lasting. And it works in the dry too.

Jonwe is bang on.

Thank you nobeerinthefridge. You have just reminded me there is one beer left in the fridge and there’s an England game on.

White Lightning “Epic”.

Putoline wax (chain has to come off, but only once in a long while)

Scottoiler Ultimate Bike Spray.

Another vote for the mighty putoline.

11 speed chain goes on and off with mine no bother… I’m not entirely sure the kmc quicklink is supposed to be reusable, but it is.

I happened to have a bottle of Weldtite ‘Pure’ Dry wax lubricant, so when the Epic ran out decided to use it. Very impressed so far, even when wet. I believe Oldgit uses it, so need him to the forum to confirm wear rates.etc

Wet lube all year surely.

Definitely Muc Off dry. It’s not a wax, so it doesn’t flake off like the others. It dries to a really thick slightly soft coating, so stays on very well.

If you use wet lube in sandy or dusty conditions – quite common in the SE in sandy soil – wet lube is a disaster, you end up with a caked black mess that’s extremely difficult to clean.

Squirt for the drier months for me. Can’t be doing with anything sticky in my local sandy soil. Proper wet-every-ride weather does need a wet lube though, but again something not too sticky so green oil or Viking juice does it for winter.

Another rock n roll blue evangelist here.

Muc Off for me too.

Rock n Roll Blue for me, Squirt when it gets dryer

I find dry lubes a bit faffy to put on and gloops up horribly if you get it wrong.

anyone tried the WD40 motorbike spray wax lube? Spotted it in Aldi, going to give chain a clean at work and try it(industrial cleaning fluids available) 💡

Rock n Roll blue all the way, use it on all my bikes all years round.

Rock n Roll blue, or Purple Extreme. All year round

I’m currently conducting an experiment (ish):

I’ve used Muc Off C3 Ceramic Dry year round for ~1400 miles on my hardtail.

I got hold of some Rock’n’Roll Extreme Blue last October, at the same time as I got my fat bike, and have used it exclusively on the fat bike since new (450-ish miles).

My experiences:

The Muc Off is really easy to use, and really clean – just hose the chain off after a ride and put a drop of lube onto each roller as you wind the chain past. Job done. It’s quite ‘treacley’ and clings well to the chain which makes it easy to get it in the right place, and it doesn’t drip on the floor. Works perfectly well on a wet chain. Lasts all day unless it’s really wet (very wet, muddy trails – not just rain), then you can feel things starting to get crunchy after a couple of hours.

The R’n’R lasts longer than the Muc-Off, and resists the wet better, but you can feel it wearing off after ~30 miles in the wet. It was quite clean to start with, but has started developing black gunk now. Dirt doesn’t rinse off with a hose, so you need a good supply of rags for wiping the chain off after lubing, and I find it needs several wetting / wiping cycles before the dirt stops coming out of the chain. Because of this, I find it marginally more of a faff to apply. Also it is much thinner (less viscous) and doesn’t really cling to the chain, so tends to drip on the floor / squirt onto the wheel rims unless you are very careful.

On my hardtail, I’ve also tried the ‘Normal’ Muc-Off dry lube (I think it works nearly as well as their posher stuff, but doesn’t last quite as long), Finish-Line (no discernable lubricating properties, and it went black), Squirt (didn’t get on with it at all – chain went rusty, and it wore off really quickly – yes, I did de-grease the chain, and follow all the instructions twice, but it wasn’t for me. YMMV – it obviously works well for some people.), Halfords own ‘bike hut’ (built up and went black in no time) and Scottoiler UBS (Very, very thin – I didn’t find it had any lubricating properties worth mentioning).

So at the moment, I’m not sure which is ‘best’ for me: R’n’R for longevity/performance or the Muc Off for cleanliness / ease of use.

I’ve still got a supply of both, so will continue as I am for the time being.

I have to say that I’m curious to try the Putoline Wax, though.

Rock and Roll Blue, removing 11sp chains in no more a PITA as others if you buy the tool. Although I’m not sure there is anything more than anecdotal evidence for the swap/deep clean methods or the fancy hot melting oil/grease. I prefer to run them and swap at the wear points.

Muc off dry in the dry, used r&r blue before and found it good but prefer muc off, it’s not as thin as r&r and seems to last a bit longer for me.

Vaseline all the way

I tried Rock n Roll though kept getting a rusty chain after a wet ride.

I found muck off dry lube to be pretty useless.. I just use cheap generic wet lube all the time now.

Juice Lubes – Viking Juice 🙂

I use Muc Off Dry all year round which works where I live (fairly well drained area) so would imagine it is pretty good in summer for most places.
Wet lubes are too ‘oily’ for me and just end up a black mess which takes longer to clean.

So let me get this right.

I’m OK if I use/don’t use dry/wet all year around and make sure I buy/don’t buy Muc Off/R’n’R/Viking Juice/Putoline/Finish Line/Squirt/Scott Oiler?

Top work chaps 😉

It’s because we all have differing maintenance regimes, riding frequencies and different soil types. There is no ‘one size fits all’.

White Lightning “Epic”.

+1

Wipe and re-apply after each ride.

Very clean is the best thing about it. No more greasy black gunk for my lovely bikes.

+1 for Scotoiler UBS.

Used it all winter for road, cx and mtb. Great for minimum maintenance when riding/commuting everyday and regular washing /cleaning is too much of a faff.

It’s abit like marmite though … people either love it or hate it

I like UBS too. Popular up here in wet muddy Scotland.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/kmc-missing-link-remover-pliers/rp-prod46600 Don’t believe SRAM (or whoever) when they say 10 and 11 speed quick links aren’t re-usable.

Although if you get a chain cleaner (cheap on-one ones are good) + some of this there is no need to remove them – 5 mins and they are gleaming whatever lube/muck combination you have!

3rd Putoline in a mini fat frier. A very simple effective solution.

purple extreme year round – works a treat and doesn’t pick up loads of gunk

I’ve been using Morgan Blue for over a year which has been fine.

At the weekend I was doing the Braunton 150 and the first few off-road sections were wet sloop which dried on the chain and made a right noise (it was so bad I thought it was my bottom bracket). A river crossing cleaned everything off, that night I applied some Muc-Off dry and it coped with the storm the following day. I’ll give it a go for a while but so far it seems pretty good.

Purple Extreme, the best lube on the planet, for all conditions.

Squirt.

Another vote for Viking by juicelubes, doesn’t end up as a black gunk, lasts both wet and dry conditions.