When you buy your first bike everything works in harmony like a clockwork. If you use it regularly, such as for bike commuting, after a few weeks of use and maybe a few rainy days you will start to hear some noises coming from your chain, which can become pretty annoying. You may wonder why a brand new bike makes such an awful noise. Suddenly you realize that you haven’t applied any chain lube on your bike yet.
Lube your bike chain at least every month or every 150-200 miles (240-320 km) if you use it regularly. Your bike chain needs more maintenance in winter and on muddy roads than on dry summer days and on paved roads.
This chain lube is an ultra durable, low friction bike chain lubricant suitable for use in all weather conditions.
This Park Tool kit includes everything you need to keep every bit of your chain clean.
Why lube the chain?
Cyclists lubricate the bike chain to protect the chain itself and the cogs of the chainring and cassette, and to improve riding efficiency.
Your chain is what transmits the power from your legs to the wheels, and it is exposed to some serious wear and tear. Since it is located relatively low on the bike, it easily picks up mud, grime, dirt, salt, and water. It is under constant tension when you’re riding.
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A rusty, unloved chain is noisy and can sound like it’s ready to snap at any moment. Chain snapping is fortunately not common and doesn’t happen easily. You have to neglect and abuse your chain for a long time for that to happen.
An unmaintained chain causes unnecessary friction, making you work extra hard to get you to your destination.
Chain damage
Your chain is strong; it doesn’t snap easily and is not caused by a lack of lubing. The problem is that if you don’t maintain the chain, it will wear out the teeth on your cassette and chainrings more quickly.
Over time it will affect how your bike shifts gears, it will make all kinds of noises and it affects how your bike rides overall. If you neglect your maintaining your chain and you don’t replace it whenever it reaches its end of life it can eventually lead to snapping.
Wet vs Dry lube
Wet and dry lubes are specifically designed for wet and dry conditions, as their names imply. Wet lube is more resistant to rain, slush and snow. Its advantage over dry lube is that it’s more resistant, but its main disadvantage is that it attracts more dirt.
Dry lube, on the other hand, attracts less dirt than wet lube, but in return, it needs to be applied more often, about every 100 miles (160 km) or so. It is used in dry climates.
You can use dry lube in the rain, but expect that you need to lube your chain after every use, as the rain washes it off very easily. Using dry lube on a bike that you don’t maintain on a daily basis, such as a commuter bike, is impractical and is best avoided.
Wet lube can also be used in dry weather, but you can expect it to attract a lot of dirt and dust. When you lube your chain again, you will have much cleaning to do.
WD40 as chain lube ?
WD40 should not be used as a regular
The reason why WD40 is a tempting option is its ease of application. WD40 is a degreaser and it can be used to clean off the dirt from your chain, but it is not designed to be used as lube for a low-maintenance bike, such as a commuter bike. It is too thin and wears off quickly.
You may have heard even pro cyclists (Simon Richardson from GCN) say that the use WD40 both as a degreaser and as
If you use your bike to commute and you want to keep it as low-maintenance as possible, then it’s not the best choice. Unless you’re willing to perform bicycle chain cleaning after every use (or at least fairly regularly) you should stay away from regular WD40.
Keep in mind that WD40 has started making proper degreaser and
Chain wax vs chain lube
Chain wax is an alternative to
Since you need to remove your chain for waxing, melt wax, and hang the chain after to let it drip and dry, you need tools and time, which makes it highly impractical.
Its main advantages are that it attracts virtually no dirt and it doesn’t need to be applied as often as
Chain wax is practical for long rides where you have no access to a degreaser and lube, but it’s impractical for most people because the effort it requires outweighs the advantages it offers.
Ceramic lube?
Ceramic
How to lube the chain properly?
You may think that lubing should involve every part of the drivetrain: chainrings, cassette, and chain, if you’re new to bike chain maintenance. This is a very messy approach.
The amount of lube needed to keep your chain running smoothly is very little, and it is only needed for the connection between two links to reduce friction and thus minimize wear. You don’t need to apply any lubricant to the cogs. Unnecessary oil or lube only attracts dirt and builds up grime.
This is how
Step 1: Apply degreaser to your chain
Step 2: Remove oil and grime from your chain and cogs. You can scrub off the grime with a brush and a clean cloth, but this can get quite messy. To keep the black stuff away from your clothes and the surroundings you can use a chain cleaning tool, which keeps everything contained and easy to dispose of. The Park Tool Bicycle Chain Cleaning System chain cleaner is durable and inexpensive. You can check it out on Amazon here.
Step 3: Dry your chain with a rag.
Step 4: Apply
Step 5: Wipe off excess lube from the chain.
Happy riding!
