Wednesday Wisdom - Chain Lubrication

Chain Lubrication--One of the Most Underrated Pieces of Bike Care
Michael Raynor, Service Department Manager

I know your bicycle chain doesn’t sound very exciting and it rarely gets much attention, but your chain takes an incredible amount of stress and strain and works hard to keep your bike moving. With lots of pivoting and articulating points, it’s important to keep it clean and lubricated to extend the life of your chain as well as its performance (think good shifting and smooth pedaling). Your chain is a critical piece of your bike, and your chain cleaning and lubricating should be a critical part of your regular bike maintenance.

Chains are a high wear part of a bicycle, and that wear can come from a few places, all of which result in extra friction. Riding in wet, muddy, and/or dusty conditions can cause more dirt to end up on your chain. With every pedal rotation, this dirt slowly mixes in with your chain lube and works its way into the inner, “working parts” of your chain. These extra dirt particles create additional friction and cause the chain to wear faster. Under-lubricating your chain (not lubricating it frequently enough, often referred to as a “dry chain”) results in there not being lubricating compound in the inner, working parts of the chain, leaving bare metal on metal contact which drastically reduces chain life and efficiency. On the other end of the spectrum, over-lubricating your chain creates a thick paste that can attract dirt and road grime, which then creates a thick liquid sandpaper that works its way into the chain and wears away at the chain. The extension of all of this is that the faster your chain wears out, the faster it’s causing wear to your cassette, chainrings, and derailleur pulleys. Not replacing chains as soon as they’re worn can cause expedited wear to these other components, drastically shortening their lifespan. As a result, a dirty, an under-lubricated, or an over-lubricated chain can drastically increase the cost to keep your bike going. Especially in the current market where many parts can be hard to come by and prices are increasing, this is obviously not a favorable thing.

So what can you do about this? First and foremost, keep your bike and drivetrain clean. A clean drivetrain is much more efficient than a dirty drivetrain (10+ watts faster), so not only will your drivetrain last longer, it’ll help make you faster as well. We really like using a chain cleaning device because you don’t have to remove the chain from the bike and it does a pretty good job of cleaning the chain. If you’re comfortable doing so, removing your chain, putting it in a bottle with degreaser, and shaking it provides a very thorough cleaning. After you’ve cleaned it, you need to rinse it off, dry it, and then re-lubricate it. Don’t worry though, this doesn’t need to be done every time you ride. We typically recommend doing this every couple of weeks or when your drivetrain is noticeably dirty, whichever comes first. As for lubricating your chain between cleanings, the interval for this will depend on the chain lube you use. Something like a dry chain lube needs to be reapplied every 125 miles, a wet lube will need to be reapplied every 125-175 miles, and a wax drip lube (like CeramicSpeed UFO drip or Silca Super Secret Chain Coating--both of which we stock) will need to be reapplied every 200-250 miles. 

Proper lubricating technique matters. With a dry or wet lube, drip the lube onto the chain, making sure to hit each link (this is usually easiest to do with the bike resting against something and while spinning the crank backward). Once chain lube has been applied to every link, stop applying lube but continue rotating the crank backwards until the chain has made 5-10 full revolutions through the drivetrain (this helps to work the lube down to the inside of the chain where it’s needed). Then take a clean rag and wipe off the excess lube. If using a wax drip lube, re-application is best done when you return from a ride. Drip the lube onto your chain, run the chain backward 5-10 times, and then allow to sit overnight, then wipe off the excess with a clean rag before heading out for your next ride. With a wax drip lube, this additional time is needed to allow the thick wax to work into the inside of the chain and for the carrier fluid to evaporate.

What if I told you there was a way to lubricate your chain less, be even more efficient, always have a clean drivetrain, and prolong the life of your drivetrain? That all sounds pretty great, right? You may have heard of it, it’s called immersive hot melt wax. This is where the chain is removed, immersed in a melted wax, swished around (to get wax into all of the inner parts of the chain), then removed to cool and dry. This process leaves you with a drivetrain that always stays clean, is more efficient, and will last longer. When using a standard drip lube (like a wet or a dry chain lube), even when well-cared for and properly lubricated, we only see chains last about 2500-3000 miles at the most. With immersive hot waxing, when reapplied every 200-250 miles, your chain can last up to 10,000-15,000 miles. Not only does the wax reduce drivetrain wear, but it’s more efficient as well, saving as much as 8 watts over standard drip lube. So if you take someone with a very dirty drivetrain, clean it all up, and wax their chain, they could be saving on the order of 15-25 watts. Hot melt wax treatment does require a little additional work up front to prepare the chain for waxing, but to make this process easier, we do sell pre-prepared, pre-waxed chains, so all you need to do is install the chain, and then reapply the wax periodically to reap all the benefits. Chain waxing is a big topic and will likely be a Wednesday Wisdom topic of its own eventually, but if you’re thinking about waxing your chain, stop in and talk to our mechanics, buy yourself a bag of Silca’s Secret Chain Blend or send me an email to raynor@insideoutsports.com; I’d love to chat about drivetrain care with you!

Interested in reading more about chain waxing? We highly recommend checking out Zero Friction Cycling for some incredibly in-depth information. Adam Keirin from ZFC is probably the leading expert in chain wear and chain lubricants.  https://zerofrictioncycling.com.au/