Lube when long distance touring

[BikeliciousBabe]

If you apply lube at random intervals, does rotating the chain really spread the lube to the rest of the links?

Absolutely. Recently lubed my LHT's chain during a three-day tour the week before July 4th after a storm the first evening. Maybe 6 random drops. Spun the chain then wiped down the sides. Still quiet as a mouse.

[TCS]

The one exception that comes to mind is the old method of dipping the chain in melted paraffin which I stopped using decades ago and never used on a tour.  ...  I think there a (very) few still doing this method though.

Commercially available & 'winner' of a chain lube test:

https://moltenspeedwax.com/

and a competitor:

https://silca.cc/products/secret-chain-wax-blend

 

[TCS]

Somewhere there's a Gates (or Veer) belt user silently laughing.

I’m hesitant to name the product as chain lube debates are almost religious.

Perhaps only saddle choice brings out more personal opinions than lubes.

 

Fun fact: 3inOne oil (these days marketed as 'Multipurpose Oil', with a black label) was put on the market in 1894.  The name came from the product's promise to 'clean, lubricate and rustproof' - i.e. three benefits in one treatment.  And what was it supposed to perform these feats on?  Bicycle chains!  You can do better in 2020, but amazingly enough after 126 years, there are other chain lubrication products available at your LBS that don't perform as well in tests.

[TCS]

Some 40 years ago the automatic Scottoiler system was developed for chain-driven motorcycles.  It's remained a viable but nitche product.

A few years back Scottoiler spun off an automatic chain re-oiler system for bicycles:

http://flaer.com/revo-via/

While I've wondered if it would have some application to long distance cycletouring, I don't know anyone who has used one nor have I ever seen the (bicycle) system given a long term test in the electronic or forest-products media.

[Ty0604]

I personally don’t bring chain lube on tour. I’m more than happy to swing into a bike shop and give them a few bucks to use whatever they have in the shop.

Personal preference but I’m picky about weight and it’s worth it for me.

[John Nelson]

I personally don’t bring chain lube on tour. I’m more than happy to swing into a bike shop and give them a few bucks to use whatever they have in the shop.

Personal preference but I’m picky about weight and it’s worth it for me.

I do take lube, but I certainly don't take any more than necessary. I know how many drops of lube it takes to lube my chain, I can compute how many times I'll need to lube based on the length of the tour, and I take a container that only holds that many drops. One issue that lube is smelly, so you want to wrap it very well so that your clothes don't all smell like lube.

[staehpj1]

Great, thanks.  There were some people that would actually use a spray solvent and clean the chain every month, but I really don't want to be doing that or carrying a bottle around.

I am a little late to the party on this, but some of us, myself included, believe that solvent or detergents do more harm than good by allowing more grit to get deeper into the chain.  I can't prove it, but I read it way back when on Sheldon Brown's site and it made sense to me.  I made it a practice and have had really good results wrt chain life by using solvents and detergents almost never.  The rare exception has been when a chain got gunked up with something that couldn't be gotten off without harsher treatment.  In those very rare cases I have bought a can of WD40 cleaned the chain with it and given the remainder away if on tour.  I think I have done that twice over the years.

[froze]

As I mentioned before I tried the Dumonde Tech Lite lube, and I believe this is the lube I will be using when I tour.  I realize I have to bring a small bottle of it along and reapply it ever so often, but so far testing on my touring bike the third application of it proved to be a lot longer lasting.  I found the first application only lasted about 100 miles of dry conditions, the second application lasted about 200, and the third application lasted about 400 miles!  I wiped down after every ride as other posters said to do, and which I do anyways with any lube I've ever used, and the chain stays relatively clean.

I read a lot of chain lube reviews and they're all over the map.  But for touring purposes, it seems the consistently best ones are Dumonde Tech, and Chain L.  The Chain L has had a wide area of durability though, with reports of one guy saying he has to reapply every 40 miles? yet another will say every 1,000 miles?  So, it was very difficult to nail down how long Chain L would last, and is it any better than Dumonde Tech?  I think that Dumonde Tech should make the chain cleaner to the touch vs Chain L since it's a tacky wet lube, due to the tacky nature of Chain L it's very difficult to wipe clean with a rag, thus the chain gets too dirty you have to clean the chain off completely of the lube and then reapply, whereas Dumonde won't get that way from what I've read.

It took me a while to respond back simply because I needed to use Dumonde Tech Lite for a while before I said if I liked it or not. 

Thanks for all the responses, if anyone has any other suggestions or thoughts then let's hear them.

[canalligators]

Keep your chain clean and lightly oiled.  Some oils repel water well, others (like water-soluble 3-in-1) do not.  If your oil doesn’t repel water, you’ll have to apply it more often.   The rest of the oil discussion is just so much unfounded personal preference.

Take oil on tour.  Once you ride in the rain, you can’t be sure you’ll hit a bike shop soon, and you don’t want to ride on a dry chain.  On some tours it could be a week to the next shop.

[UncaBuddha]

I wiped down after every ride as other posters said to do, and which I do anyways with any lube I've ever used, and the chain stays relatively clean.

You wipe down after every ride without putting new lube on first? I want to make sure I'm reading this right.
Thanks and way to resurrect this thread!

[froze]

I wiped down after every ride as other posters said to do, and which I do anyways with any lube I've ever used, and the chain stays relatively clean.

You wipe down after every ride without putting new lube on first? I want to make sure I'm reading this right.
Thanks and way to resurrect this thread!

Yup, you read it correctly.  There is no need to reapply lube after every ride, there is such a thing as over-lubing a chain, but some lubes are crap, and will only last a single ride.  I go by sound, and when my chain starts to make noise I re-lube it, with Dumonde Tech lube I'm using that is around 500 miles before I have to reapply it, and after each ride, I wipe the chain down, why is that? because the instructions say so that's why, in fact most lubes if not all lubes recommend doing that.

So, congratulations, you get an A in reading comprehension...that is actually sort of rare these days.

[canalligators]

Wiping down the chain removes dirt. Dirt increases abrasion and shortens the life of a chain.  (Stone dust is especially bad.). Wiping also minimizes oil on the surface, so less dirt sticks to it.  And wiping won’t remove lube from inside the chain, where you do want it.

That said, daily wiping is not my habit, though maybe it should be.  At least after riding on a trail surfaced with rolled stone dust.  When I used to ride daily on rolled stone dust, my chain didn’t last as long, maybe 25% less mileage until elongation to limits.

[froze]

I wipe the chain down after every ride as I said, it doesn't take long, maybe 60 seconds at the most by the time you grab a rag, spin the chain backward, and put the rag back.  I average about 8,000 miles on a chain and about 3 times that on my gears, so I think I'm doing this stuff correctly.  Some lubes I've used in the past I didn't get that 8,000-mile range, but with RnR Gold, and ProLink Progold I did; not sure yet about Dumonde Tech, but when I checked the chain wear after 3,000 miles it was only about 10% on my regular road bike with a Shimano 105 chain, so I have a feeling I should see 8,000 or hopefully more. On my touring bike using a standard KMC X10 chain, which put a lot more load on a chain due to carrying additional weight, that chain with Dumonde Tech is showing 15% at 2,000 miles, so I consider that really good.  I check my chain wear at the beginning of every season. 

[PeteJack]

I’m hesitant to name the product as chain lube debates are almost religious.

Amen

[PeteJack]

What's T-9

A Boesheild product.  It is sold and used for stuff other than bike chains.  The aircraft industry use it as do gunsmiths and enthusiasts to name a few other uses.  It comes in aerosol cans, squeeze bottles, and in larger (gallon etc) cans.  Bike shops tend to have the small squeeze bottles or sometimes the aerosol cans.  I think it is paraffin based.

It says it's paraffin based on the bottle.
A mechanic once advised me "Use the cheapest chain you can find and change them every 800 miles" I may try that in future: not the most convenient for a long tour but I find the chain cleaning quasi ritual a PIA and I'm not sure it makes them last any longer.