Winter Chain Lube

What’s a decent chain lube for the current wet and muddy conditions?

I’ve no interest in using wax and slow cookers etc, just want something I can squirt on the chain after I’ve given the bike a quick post-ride rinse.

We use squirt all year. Just apply it the night before a ride then the chain stays reasonably clean and it lasts few rides even in winter slop

I’ve been using this one:

https://juicelubes.com/chain-juice-wet-conditions-lube-cjw-g2.html

TBH I bought it as a general purpose lube as they were out of the Viking one at the time but I’ve been impressed with it this winter. Lasts pretty well and is reasonably resistant to turning into black plastercine glop on the jockey wheels.

I’ve been having good luck with Peatys all conditions lube, goes on wet but runs clean. Doesn’t seem to get washed off easily when out in wet conditions but also doesn’t attract much dirt so a quick hose down after the ride gets it looking very clean again.

Downside is it’s pretty expensive to be honest.

I’m trying Green Oil wet chain lube at the moment and I’ve been pleased with it – effective and lasts well per application through several rides in the current slop + post-ride bike washes.

Have a look at Zero Friction Cycling.

It’s not all about crock pots, ultrasonic cleaners and immersive hot wax.

Decide what level of chain/drivetrain care suits you and pick the best lube from that category.

The drip emulsion waxes are the next best thing if you don’t want to hot wax.

If you don’t clean much and just want the bare minimum, just accept the accelerated wear, pick whatever wet lube you can find and change your entire drivetrain once a year.

But once you’re into wet lube territory, it’s all much of a muchness.

Finish Line green works, you don’t need much otherwise it gunks up.

I swapped too Smoove from viking juice, seems much better ,doesn’t get a build up of gunk and lasts well.

I’ve been using Peaty’s All Weather Premium all year and can’t fault it. Expensive, but the best one stop shop for the variable U.K. weather I’ve found.

Finish Line green works, you don’t need much otherwise it gunks up.

And how it gunks up. I’ve just been using FL Red reapplied after every wet ride and that seems to be fine.

Another Peatys all weather premium user, doesn’t wash off to easily, but doesn’t gunk up either.

I’ve been using Muc Off dry lube. It survived the mudmageddon of the Bucks Off Road Sportive on Saturday which was a gloopy slithey muddy horror show.

Squirt here. But it only lasts me 1 wet ride.  I reapply as soon as poss after washing the chain. I take a small bottle for overnight trips and apply at end of the day.

Squirt is great if you ride in Sandy areas a lot.  Wet lube and sand acts  as an abrasive chain batter.

And how it gunks up

If you use too much. A bottle lasts me forever and my chain isn’t black. Which is annoying because I’ve habitually bought it to top up orders for free postage and have a stockpile of the stuff.

What’s a decent chain lube for the current wet and muddy conditions?

It really does depend on what you want your lube to do.

If you want to prolong the life of your drivetrain then you will need to accept that there is a certain amount of faff involved for maximum gains (as with all things though once you are used to the process and implement your own time saving efficiencies then it becomes much less of a faff, in fact less of a faff than drip lubes IMO ). If you really CBA with waxing then some of the drip on lubes are the next best thing, however they are a compromise in all sorts of ways, they take a while to dry, they inevitably drip onto the floor, they need doing pretty much every ride in the winter, they are more expensive in the long run etc etc. For a drip lube you want something like the Silca Super Secret, and you do need to clean a brand new chain to get the maximum benefit from it.

Whatever you get, stay away from anything MucOff, it’s all awful.

As above have a look at recommendations on Zero Friction Cycling and choose one of the methods that most suits your level of acceptable faff!

For fit and (virtually) forget then Putoline is your best option.

Rock n Roll extreme (Blue)

You need to clean the chain properly first coat. Off the bike.

After that it’s a very clean ride. Rinse off the outside muck, use a cloth.

Oil on the inner links. Spin. Wipe off excess with a second cloth.

I swapped too Smoove from viking juice

Oooh, interesting, I’ve been a real fan of Viking, but might give Smoove a go just to see what its like if you think its better?

Tried Smoove didn’t do the job for me.

Tried Juicy Viking. Worse.

Might go back to Muc-off ‘ceramic’

Putoline (someone had to!) every 2-300km in winter.

Buy a small, cheap deep fat frier, and honestly it’s not much more hassle than normal lubing.

I’m going to do all 3 bikes tonight.

FWIW here is my process. 

Remove used chain and drop into waxing pot. Take ready waxed chain out of drawer, fit to bike. 

Come back in an hour and swish and remove now freshly waxed chain from pot and allow to cool. 

Put chain into drawer.

Repeat every 2-300km. 

Initial cleaning of a new chain takes 10-15 mins using Ceramic Speed UFO Clean. 

For reference I have done about 3000km on a SRAM X01 Eagle chain with zero wear so far using the above method with Molten Speed Wax. Previously using Putoline on an XTR chain and SLX cassette I did about 6000km and the chain was still less than 0.5 worn. I sold the bike before I wore the drivetrain out and I did about 12000km on it using 2 chains in rotation. 

Squirt – but you need to use it regularly (every ride). Don’t use anything that’s ‘wet’ or can accumulate mud as that’s what rapidly destroys chains. Any chain lube that remains wet on your chain is terrible imo.

But once you’re into wet lube territory, it’s all much of a muchness.

Not strictly true, if you look at how bad MucOff lubes are compared to just about anything else, it shows you that there is a difference. Although anything but MucOff would be good advice.

https://zerofrictioncycling.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Lubricant-detail-review-Muc-Off-Nano-revision-3.pdf

TLDR: MucOff have world class marketing and absolutely rubbish products which eat drive chains far faster than any other known lube….

Personally I use Smoove drip on wax lube on all bikes except my winter road bike, where I use immersive wax. Mainly as that bike only does shitty miles and comes back after ever ride covered in crap.

Another Smoove fan here. However  it is easy to forget to renew it as lasts longer on the chain !

@footflaps

Fair point on muc-off marketing promoting an unlube.

I eventually went with hot wax although I’d used Finish Line wax lube before that with reasonable success. Agree about Muc-Off, their lubes have been very hit and miss.

Wet lubes just gum everything up and turn into a thick black gunk.
Dry lubes will wash out during long wet rides resulting in a drivetrain that sounds like a bag of spanners.
Wax generally stays put and stays clean.

The faff of hot wax (especially without a crockpot) is a big downside to the whole thing but it does mean I can get back from a ride and just put the bike away, the whole thing stays pretty clean. I’ve topped it up a couple of times with wax lube, I guess at some point soon I’ll need to re-do the whole messy thing but I view it as a bit like tubeless – it’s more of a faff when changing tyres or fixing a really bad puncture but it does mean you don’t need to change all the minor punctures.

Another vote for Squirt wax(albeit on the road & cross bikes). Just add, no cooking pots or any of that garbage that people like to bore me to death with.

Another vote for r&r blue here. Needs putting on before each wet ride round here as the local grinding paste tends to remove it in about 40km.

Tried just about every different type of lube there is over the years. Including Putoline which i first used on MX bikes BITD.
Kept going back to RocknRoll blue for a long while.
Then Switched to Smoove and have stayed with that for the last five or six years.
Currently trying some Maxima wax on a couple of bikes while sticking with Smoove on all the rest.
I don’t think I’ll be buying any more Maxima as it doesn’t appear to last as well as the Smoove.

It does smell nice though.😂

+1 for Peatys for winter, & Squirt for the drier months.

I keep toying with idea of putolining again but after two years or so I’ve only just got my drivetrains clear of the thick black gunk of last time. I can’t be bothered facing that again.

Been using Peatys wet lube which seems ok but it gets washed and reapplied pretty much every ride.

I keep toying with idea of putolining again but after two years or so I’ve only just got my drivetrains clear of the thick black gunk of last time. I can’t be bothered facing that again.

You need to make sure you wipe the chain really well after waxing.

I didn’t when I first started using it, and got a build up of wax, especially on the jockey wheels.

However, I now hang the chain up after waxing, and while it cools, wipe it down really well. You don’t really need any visible wax on the outside of the chain (though there will still be a thin coating), just in between the plates and rollers.

No gunk you say – I give you my 4 month old drivetrain used with Molten Speed Wax..!

The downside to Putoline seems to be that it makes the whole chain sticky to the touch and it’s grotty if you need to handle it (e.g. putting wheels in and out).  

The upside is it’s pretty bombproof in terms of low maintenance riding.  

I’ve only got one bike not running Putoline at the moment as the FS had a new drivetrain and it’s often in bits to go in the car so I’m trying conventional lube at the moment.  

IME the muc-off dry lube is ok for one ride in dry/damp conditions. The wet ceramic lube was ok too for one ride in the wet but woe betide you if you chuck either on 5 minutes before riding. 

I’d buy something else though.  

I’m always put off Squirt/Smoove type products due to the prep.  It’s the spotless + dry thing.  Especially in winter getting the residual moisture out of chains always seem to take longer than you think it should.  

while it cools, wipe it down really well. 

@ajantom how do you get enough off?  

I hang mine fairly quickly after removing from the dip and wipe down repeatedly with blue roll but it still seems to be loaded in gunk once cool.  

Usually cook it about 130 iirc. 

Repeat every 2-300km

That seems quite often; and not so easy for a multi day trip.

130 is too hot. I asked Putoline what temp and they said anything above 90 will evaporate some of the chemical compounds and affect performance.

I could never get it to run as clean as I’d like either,  despite wiping with a microfibre – I hung the chain and wiped it with a fair amount of downward pressure in the hope that some would squeeze out of the rollers but it was still not that clean, which was OK on the MTB but my road bike lives in the house hence switching to MSW!

Repeat every 2-300km
That seems quite often; and not so easy for a multi day trip.

It is quite often (wet rides need even more frequent rewaxing with MSW – not so much with Putoline though but it’s not so clean).  In the case of a multi day trip the trick is to “top up” with one of the better drip lubes like Silca Super Secret or Tungsten All Weather. If you do that then a hot water flush is all that’s required to “reset” it ready for rewaxing. Also take a spare ready waxed chain if weight isn’t an issue.

Repeat every 2-300km

That seems quite often; and not so easy for a multi day trip

That’s in grotty winter weather on the MTB, re-do every 4-6 rides.

However, On the gravel bike last summer I did at least 600km on one treatment. If you were on a very long trip, then you could top up with a dry/waxy lube. Or even carry a spare, treated, chain.

Engine oil (got litres in the garage). Lubes fine each ride and doesn’t leave my drivetrain black and gunky.

@garage-dweller – it’s never going to be totally clean, you’ll still get black fingers if you grab the chain. But I found that a good few wipes hit enough off to stop it clagging the jockey wheels up.

About 100-110° on my frier seems to work best. Don’t get it so hot it starts smoking!