OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
I had recently bought a (used) Gary Fisher Wahoo bike from a buddy of mine. He had bought it at the beginning of the season, drove it a couple of times, and then moved. I hadn't owned a bicycle in over a decade and so this is my first "new" bike in ~15 years at least.
I had previously, on my old bikes, just used whatever random oil my dad had kicking around. I had been experimenting with Castrol motorcycle chain lube for a bit (mid 90's) but this bike....
It had something that looked like a light grease on the chain? Or it could have just been dirty, thick oil.
I had .5L of M1 0w40 kicking around, so I put it in a baby vitamin D dropper bottle and cleaned my chain with dawn and a toothbrush. I cleaned the sprockets as well.
Used the dropper and lubed everything with the oil. Nothing was dripping. Brought the bike inside and parked it.
Woke up this morning to find FILTH puddles on the floor beneath the chain. Black as TAR. The chain looked clean. I am assuming this is whatever gunk was inside the links that I couldn't get with the toothbrush and the oil has displaced it.
Went for a nice long ride today. The bike shifts smoother, there is no audible noise from the chain, and the bike just seems easier to ride. Obviously, whatever was on the chain was not performing well.
What does everybody use on their chains?
I had previously, on my old bikes, just used whatever random oil my dad had kicking around. I had been experimenting with Castrol motorcycle chain lube for a bit (mid 90's) but this bike....
It had something that looked like a light grease on the chain? Or it could have just been dirty, thick oil.
I had .5L of M1 0w40 kicking around, so I put it in a baby vitamin D dropper bottle and cleaned my chain with dawn and a toothbrush. I cleaned the sprockets as well.
Used the dropper and lubed everything with the oil. Nothing was dripping. Brought the bike inside and parked it.
Woke up this morning to find FILTH puddles on the floor beneath the chain. Black as TAR. The chain looked clean. I am assuming this is whatever gunk was inside the links that I couldn't get with the toothbrush and the oil has displaced it.
Went for a nice long ride today. The bike shifts smoother, there is no audible noise from the chain, and the bike just seems easier to ride. Obviously, whatever was on the chain was not performing well.
What does everybody use on their chains?