[Closed] Bulk chain oil

Is [url= http://www.tredz.co.uk/.Finish-Line-Cross-Country-Wet-Chain-Lube-3-8-Litres_60233.htm ]this[/url] enough for you ?

Get a tin of putoline wax. Its a kilo for under £30 will last you years and is far better than any other chain lube.

I keep meaning to try some chainsaw chain oil on the bikes but not got around to it yet. Can get that in 1L or 5L sizes.

Last autumn, 1 litre Muc Off C3 wet for £8 IIRC from PX, sorted for the rest of my life, possibly. 😆

Chainsaw lube is sticky

But cheap

Just use left over car oil , my last motor was 10 -40 semi synthetic my current is 5-40. I still have 2 ltrs of the latter and If I clean my chain after every ride Im sorted.

Im sure some STW regulars will be spitting their tea out in disgust . 😀

A bottle of Purple extreme lasted me 3 years 7500 miles. How much are you using?!

Wouldn't bother trying chainsaw chain oil, sticky layer all over the combi cans and on the barrel at work. Damn stuff won't even pump out the barrel when it's cold. Gums up the saw pumps and everything sticks to it.

On the upside, it comes in 200l barrels, think the last one was about £195.

Even the Finishline gallon works out at £14 a litre. I can buy synthetic racing two stroke oil for less than that per litre!

It's mostly wet in the Lakes and the chain needs cleaning and listing after every ride and I have a daily commuter plus wife and kiss bikes so it all adds up.

Putoline wax in a cheap small fat fryer. Lifetime amount. (just like Tjagain)

Have to say the MucOffC3 wet I tried a couple of winters ago was the dirtiest, hardest to clean off chain lube I've ever been anywhere near. It did keep things quiet, but when the drivertrain gets that filthy I have a hard time imagining I'm not getting increased wear from muddygrittydebris stuck to the filth.

I was a huge fan of waxes (Squirt until it froze on me in winter and then WL Clean Ride which was great but got a bit sick of the white dribbles down sidewall of back tyre) and right now I'm on Epic Ride which seems to pretty much do what it says on the tin. It's fairly light, doesn't get too sticky mucky and lasts reasonably well if you're aiming to clean the drive regularly. The Purple Extreme I've only had once but seemed ok. I've never seen the White Lightning lubes in bigger bottles than a couple of hundred ml (8floz?) but if anyone knows of family size servings I'd love to know... 🙂

Ive often wondered what they actually make the finnish line lube from.....unicorn spunk apparently.

Halfords often sell Progold Prolink in big bottles at cut price, 759ml or 1litre ones, at around a tenner. The extreme version is very good for winter muck and the regular progold pretty clean all year.

[url= https://www.aldi.co.uk/mini-deep-fat-fryer/p/094031106722400 ]special buy this week in aldi [/url]

just need the tin of Putoline now

This winter I've been making my own special mix of chainsaw oil and white spirits. It's cheap and works very well even in the wet.

About two thirds oil to a third spirt.

Tastes great too 😉

It did keep things quiet, but when the drivertrain gets that filthy I have a hard time imagining I'm not getting increased wear from muddygrittydebris stuck to the filth.

Don't be too sure. Crud works its way out, what you need is a thin film of oil on the metal inside the chain. If the chain is still oily then the gritty water doesn't stick as much so it's going to wear less.

If it's hard to clean off then I reckon it's going to be good for your chain.

Re the op, I clean my chain every ride, I am out twice a week on average ish and a small bottle of lube lasts me easily a year. Sounds like you are using too much.

Rock and Roll Blue in the bulk bottle for me.

I looked at bulk buying but IIRC a gallon of oil was going to last me and the next generation of my family.. so instead I asked my @ my LBS, they let me fill from there bulk container (have to supply a funnel) & charge a lot less..

I'm a big fan of Stihl's BioPlus lube in my saw (346XPG) & on my bike chains. ~£20.00 for 5Ltrs.

I find it a bit less 'sticky' than a lot of bar/chain lubes (but it's still stickier than a straight bike chain lube).

100 applications from 1 bottle molgrips?

Maybe not 100 then.. 50 or so easily. 1cc per application.

I don't think I've bough any chain lube for about 10 years. Apart from free samples and prizes I just use whatever I've got lying around that's plain-ish oil, and not too sticky. So car/motorbike engine oil, Scottoiler oil, suspension oil, whatever. On most bikes it's better to use something that'll clean off easily when you was he the bike IME.

FFS DO NOT use chainsaw oil or motorcycle spray chain oil. It makes the most dreadful mess of your bike and it's flippin' impossible to get off.

Otherwise get this:

http://www.tredz.co.uk/.Finish-Line-Cross-Country-Wet-Chain-Lube-3-8-Litres_60233.htm

"Wouldn't bother trying chainsaw chain oil, sticky layer all over the combi cans and on the barrel at work. Damn stuff won't even pump out the barrel when it's cold. Gums up the saw pumps and everything sticks to it."

I use nothing else, and experience none of the above. Stihl Synthetic.

Another vote for left over motor oil, specifically 5/30 fully synth vw spec but not sure tht matters.

Best chainnoil I've used and theres been a few.

TBF the chainsaw oil I bought was screwfix...

Why spend hundreds or more likely thousands on a bike and scrimp on a bit of decent lube?
Squirt lube everytime for me and I don't get a load of crud stuck to my drive train like you'll get with engine/chainsaw lube.

Shimano wet lube is much better than finish line IME.

Why spend hundreds or more likely thousands on a bike and scrimp on a bit of decent lube?

How much are you paying for a chain??? 🙂
But to answer the question - Because it's pointless spending loads of money on lube. Go ahead and throw money away if you like though...
A chain is essentially a plain bearing. Very simple to lubricate, and, as with all plain bearings, having fresh clean lubrication is FAR better than posh lubrication*. So something easy to remove and cheap to apply fits the bill perfectly. Engine oil is also designed to lubricate plain bearings.

*I have a chain oiler on my motorbike which essentially drops light oil constantly onto the chain, keeping it lubricated and washing it clean. It's well known that chains last far longer on motorbikes with a system like this than a sprayed on sticky lube. It can literally double chain life.

The barrel lasts about a year for 2 or 3 of us cutting, so maybe it is just the sheer volume that gums up the kit.
Still don't fancy it on the bike.

OCB - What's the Stihl bio oil like? Tried bio ones in the past and they didn't do the pumps any favours long term, but that was a while back, it was like a yellow emulsion in suspension. 4x the cost is quite a hit too for us.

We tried the chainsaw oil on the fleet bikes last year as a bit of an experiment. It was shit.

I think I have the answer.
Went to a round of British Super Bike. A mate of mine used to be a big player in one of the teams. Saw the mechanic pouring oil over a chain and enquired what he uses thinking it may cross-over to the pedal bike. Was informed it was LHM. The stuff used for Shimano and some other hydraulic brakes. Cheap, Mineral base, doesnt get effected by temperature, Cheap in bulk. Used it for years and its better than anything I have ever tried. All my mates use it too and no complaints.

Squirt lube everytime for me and I don't get a load of crud stuck to my drive train

I like Squirt but this time of year I find it has washed off in first 20 mins of ride.

theboyneeds - Member
This winter I've been making my own special mix of chainsaw oil and white spirits. It's cheap and works very well even in the wet.

About two thirds oil to a third spirit.

Tastes great too

This, although I think I was probably closer to 20% white spirit. Thinning it back makes it easier to put less on initially and you get less oil on in total when the white spirit evaporates.

It is sticky and does collect dirt but this is only a problem on my summer road bike and my mountian bike in prolonged periods of dry weather. My summer road bike doesn't need much lube so I use a dry one. It is rarely dry long enough for it to be an issue on the mountain bike. Through winter I normally lube the chain every ride as the bike needs cleaning.

I have used engine oil in the past as well on my commuter. Works fine but tends to wash off a bit too easily. Cheap for me though as I had some lying around.

This winter I've been making my own special mix of chainsaw oil and white spirits.

Yes, mine is chainsaw oil diluted in petrol. Gets the oil where it's needed, then the petrol evaporates. Clean surplus off the outer surfaces - job done.

Screwfix for the chainsaw oil.

Perhaps this explains my need for oil
[img] ?efg=eyJpIjoidCJ9&oh=0328d16a0be1af34648a86595d29e458&oe=5941EBE3[/img]

Bought one of those 3.8l buckets of finish line many many many years ago now. Have barely made a dent in it. It's great and I've left it too my eldest in my will as well. Problem solved

Has anyone tried out of date goose fat? There's a lot of it about apparently 🙂

Not tried it yet as my current bottle never seems to run out but heard great things about progold prolink which I get the impression is a solvent and mineral oil blend

raw virgin organic coconut oil for the win. Sustainable, vegan, cold pressed GMO free.

I really like Squirt...it needs to be followed properly though as applying it just before a bike ride will have it washed off before you have left the driveway/car park...it needs to dry in and then it lasts very well...in the summer, I apply it about once every 4-6 weeks (depends on frequency of usage, but it should be a couple of times a week), in winter, the bike gets washed every 3 weeks and I reapply it then...I do prefer applying quite a lot though to make sure it is covered and then I go through the gears to make sure my cassette is also covered...then it dries in and all is good.

in winter, the bike gets washed every 3 weeks

Did I read that right? If so, I'm gob smacked.

Round my way in the winter, if I don't wash my bike and re-lube after every ride, I'd need a merchant bankers salary to sustain the replacement costs.

Use decent lube then! I rarely wash bikes, I relube the chain every few hundred miles and get thousands of miles out of a chain

We're talked about this before TJ.

I've tried putoline, it's good for less than 20 miles in my locality, and barely better than anything else. At that re-lube interval, it's not worth the hassle.

After a great deal of experimentation, I'm with Peterpoddy on this. Frequent re-lube with something that's easy to strip out and re-lube is best for me.

I started using squirt a few years back and it works for me

I used to be obsessive about drivetrain cleanliness - completely cleaning and re-lubing every ride (almost)

Now my boys ride with me every week and I just can't be bothered - better things to do

I just re-apply a bit of squirt when required and do a full clean when I can't see the chain

Not noticed any difference

To be honest, I think most of us overthink it. Just keep some form of lube on the chain. Most of the crud on a chain is on the side plates and does no harm

Nigh on 4 years ago I bought this little lot and divided it up with my riding buddies:[img] [/img]
I think we got 3/4 litre each for £11 .I got a bit extra being the dealer 😀 I'm only just running a bit low now so it's only cost me around £2.75 a year with fairly heavy usage .

[quote=Scienceofficer ]

in winter, the bike gets washed every 3 weeks

How much effort you need to spend cleaning and lubing your bike depends on the type of mud you get. So those who said 'I rode a million km last year and only lubed my bike once', they have the nice kind of mud.

To be honest, I think most of us overthink it. Just keep some form of lube on the chain.

For me, in a sandstone area, keeping lube on the chain is the hard part. My chain can be gritted to buggery (by which I mean making a griding sound as I pedal) in the wrong weather at the top of the first climb on my local loop. The challenge is to find something that will still have any trace left on the chain at the end of the ride. That's why we are putting thought into it.

FWIW I jetwash the chain until it no longer makes a gritty sound when I twist it in my fingers (jetwashing is the only way of achieving this for me. Shaking in a jar doesn't cos it re-circulates the grit; likewise a chain cleaner). Then I leave it to dry and lube with Shimano wet lube. That stuff is good enough that there's still a film on the chain after the jetwash, which prevents rust.

As way of comparison, I did around 7,000km last year

How many chains out of interest?

Fair enough molgrips.

Squirt works for me in the Chilterns as long as 'topped up'. Your conditions are different.

I guess you need something heavier - though that will lead to an inevitable build up of crud on the drivetrain

I never get crud buildup in the mud - it all gets washed or ground off before it has a chance to turn to black crud like it does on the road bike.

I've tried a fair few different things over the last 20-odd years, nothing really survives a really wet long ride. And topping up half way through seems a bit stupid when the whole thing is just full of wet gritty water.

You have much softer rock which absorbs water, so you don't get the wet surface paste that's the worst for chains (and brake pads). I'd imagine that you can't get much riding done there when it's been properly pissing down? Too gloopy?

Exactly that molgrips

My first ride on moving to the Chilterns was on my (then) rigid Kona Lava Dome.

Tyres so clagged up that they jammed in the seat & chain stays.

I don't ride much locally this time of year - just load the car and go to Swineley (35 mins) which holds up pretty well in the wet

Over here most of the stony tracks make a decent ride perfectly possible, but cos the rock is impermeable you get quite a bit of surface water. Cos the rock is hard, you get grit suspended in the water, so your bike is sprayed with grinding paste all the time.

As above, Putoline, nothing else comes close. Nothing else is even doing the same job! It's not for people who like their chains to look clean, though. But as long as you understand that looking clean doesn't mean anything, it's grand. Never found conditions it can't handle, sometimes it lasts longer, sometimes not so well but it always works.

TBH the cost of chainlube is pretty much an irrelevance in the grand scheme of bike spending so IMO the only thing that counts is hassle and effectiveness- which often means "does it work for the length of a ride". I use Epic Ride basically when I can't be arsed to do putoline, or when I'm away on a trip and relubing's required, a 240ml bottle is £7.49 and lasts a good long time, I spend much more on haribos. And I probably waste as much as I use.

(the commuter gets old engine oil from a wee squirty can, that's environmental. But ime plain oil is **** all use on a mountain bike, as is scottoil)

iainc - Member

I like Squirt but this time of year I find it has washed off in first 20 mins of ride.

Squirt just seems really situational- I used it for a couple of months and mostly it was great, then every so often it'd be incredibly awful. I never did work out what the pattern was, it wasn't just mud, it must have been particular soils or wetness or something. But it made me give up on it, anyway

I'm similar to molgrips. Sandy clay. It's not so bad as the Chilterns in that most of the time you can still ride in it, but as mol says, in the wrong weather, I can have a gritty chain after the first descent/climb, with added schlock so absorb any lube in record time.

It's asking alot of any lube really.

Also similarly to mol, my chain cleaning has evolved to blasting with a hose until it's not gritty, wiping with a rag and then re-lubing.

Northwind, do you mean used engine oil? Thats not very environmental.

TBH the cost of chainlube is pretty much an irrelevance in the grand scheme of bike spending

This ^^^^

Northwind, do you mean used engine oil? Thats not very environmental.

I think he means it's environmental because it's already there and his lube doesn't have to be manufactured and shipped to him etc. However it's also pretty bad directly because that amount he puts on his chain ends up in the environment, not being disposed of correctly.

Compared with drips and leaks from cars etc, that's all irrelevant tbh, I've dropped much more oil on the road from the scottoiler on my motorbike.

And yep, no shipping, no manufacturing, no packaging- I take something that's already at end of life and recycle it. No chain lube gets carried away by the oil fairies, it's no different when it ends up on the ground.

molgrips - Member

As way of comparison, I did around 7,000km last year

How many chains out of interest?

Blimey some of you guys are getting good chainlife,I'm getting through a chain every 5/6 weeks as they go beyond 75%.I'm guessing dirty higher torque draggy winter miles hurts them.

Yup, 3 weeks as I prefer not having the extra couple of pounds of caked on mud...it is washed down with just a hose, so it isn't a full clean, but the chain gets relubed with Squirt then.

Winter sees the roads covered in salt which does nasty things to the bike if left on it...I don't drive to every ride, so the bike sees enough salt and road grime to make a 'regular' hose down a sensible idea.

Unsure what the issue is, it is a 5 minute hose down, then I get myself cleaned up then I apply the Squirt...dead easy.

No chain lube gets carried away by the oil fairies, it's no different when it ends up on the ground

I use green oil's "slip". I like to think that it gets carried away by healthy, happy Fairies.

Also used in on the combination gate lock on the farm over a year ago as within a month it was starting to get a bit sticky. Didn't expect an eco lube to last so well but after an intial bit of residue coming out on fingers making it hard to turn the dials (kind of obvious when you lube a combination lock) and then going sticky the lock is still lovely and free. Not sure if that is a sign that it's not degrading or a sign that it has staying power on the inside of a metal lock where it's less likely to biodegrade.

As a matter of interest, how do you lot decide your chain is worn beyond use?

Chain checker, or doing it properly, 12" centre to centre?

And following on from this thread, i had a rummage through the workshop yesterday. I had 26 bottles of oil. Varying from only having the faintest smear round the inside (now in the recycling), to still sealed.
5 and 7 part used bottles of my wet and dry lubes of choice, now decanted into less (only have 6 bottles instead of 12!) Also 3 bottles of wax lube and another half dozen assorted bottles from various promotions/offers/random purchases. Mostly 3/4 or more full.

Then i found a 3 pack in another box, still wrapped. A part used bulk bottle (1L) on a high shelf, hadn't seen that for 4 or 5 years, and two bottles in the workstand box. Which i use every time a bike gets cleaned/serviced.
Oh, three bottles in the tool box as well.

Not to mention 5 bottles of DOT/mineral/LHM, three bottles of shock oil (different weights, so not all bad), three bottles of fox fluid, 5 bottles of stans "fluid" (one had been there ~3 years and had gone solid).

And 2 tubs of lithium grease, only one tube each of fibre grip and copperslip though.

Think i might need another tidy up in there.

Chain checker, or doing it properly, 12" centre to centre?

The chain checker measures the same thing, so both are 'properly'. However I'd suggest another metric. If you look at the chain as it comes over the cassette, as you push the pedal forward slightly with your hand, you can count how many sprocket teeth the chain is touching. Three or four means that you can change the chain and the cassette will probably still work, ime. Less and your cassette is toast.

Unsure what the issue is, it is a 5 minute hose down

Clearly easy for you, perhaps not for others. Maybe people don't have gardens, or even ground floor access; maybe there's a garden but no access to it so you have to change out of muddy clothes, go through the house, drape hoses and washers over the fence, go back out, hope your bike's still there, get buckets out of garage etc etc. Then there's cleaning of the patio and so on.

It's easy if you have a bike wash station ready set up, less so if not.

We used to stop off at the vet school (my friends were students there) on the way back from ride as they had a lovely hot outside tap/hose for washing down after being out on calls. Nice warm wash for the bike and us and then a quick blast home to dry it off.

Back at the flat I used to have buckets of water ready behind the gate. Couldn't risk leaving the bike for 30 seconds let alone time to fill a bucket.

Few points:

Area definitely matters, I live in Suffolk which is very sandy.

I tried Squirt, liked it initially but couldn't get a wet 100 from it when friends were doing fine on oil products.

I don't use engine oil because its cheap, I use it because it lubricates well, lasts well and isn't too dirty.

How long a chain last will depend on the design, I have 8 speed on the winter bike the chain and cassette are on at least their third year, probably outside the test but works fine. Its the best standard IMO.

I don't clean it very often, maybe once a month with a few rides a week.

[quote="Molgrips"]The chain checker measures the same thing,No, it really doesn't.
A "normal" chain checker doesn't measure pin to pin. It doubles up on the float in the rollers. And it's the pin to pin that determines pitch, so thats what you should measure.

And a 12" steel rule is usually cheaper than a chain checker, AND you can use it to measure things.

I've been using Stihl synthetic chainsaw oil in the Lakes for a decade now. Outperforms everything else within a wet ride. Non messy if you clean and re-apply after every ride. I feel your pain Tomaso!

Moving from near Edinburgh to the Cairngorms means a whole different soil type. I no longer have that heavy, clay stuff to deal with. It's now a finer sandy/granite compound that falls off easily when dried. In terms of bike wear, it seems that I've started to go through jockey wheels at an accelerated rate. They're not something I thought much about previously.

As for 8/9/10/11 speed, our hire fleet (50+ bikes) went from 8 to 9 speed last year. Chain and cassette life improved significantly.

As for 8/9/10/11 speed, our hire fleet (50+ bikes) went from 8 to 9 speed last year. Chain and cassette life improved significantly.

You must be using better quality components (you did check that everything else in the use/maintenance was the same?).

There's thick chainsaw oil and quite runny chainsaw oil - I prefer the latter in my chainsaw because I like to see it spray out onto the wood, so that I know it's doing the job.

Yup, perhaps the 'bike station' would be an awesome idea but there are ways to ease it...couple of buckets by the door as you leave or one of those pressurised greenfly portable hose things if you need a pressurised spray.

I don't have a bike station, I do have a space outside the house that I can hose the bike down...or throw a bucket of water over it if there is a chance of freezing.

Wasn't trying to sound tricked out for cleaning, just highlighting that for me, a bike clean is (at the most) a 5-minute job every 3 weeks, so is no hardship.

Would be different if it was thick claggy mud...but for me it isn't.

I'm highly tempted to construct a bike cleaning station.

Afternoon.

There is a massive difference between clean synthetic and mineral oils versus used oil, which is full of post combustion products, many of which a persistent and carcinogenic.

I take your point about drips and losses from cars, but that's generally confined to the urban environment where wastewater is generally combined and soil quality is cooked anyway. Using it off road introduces those contaminants to generally higher quality soils.

I generally need to wash my bike after every ride and apply something to stop the chain rusting when locked up. It is always wet in the Lakes. Riding through constant puddles and bogs just removes any lubrication from the chain.

A mate of mine carries out religious levels of the chain cleanliness and lubes his chain halfway round on a short ride.

How folk on here manage weeks between lubes is beyond me. But just like a thread about tyres, the environment you ride in means everything to what your needs are.

I may try some Stihl oil and see what its like and if I don't get on with it I will use it in the chainsaw. But I may just stick with my current cheap alternative at £3.75 a can.
[img] [/img]

cynic-al - Member

As for 8/9/10/11 speed, our hire fleet (50+ bikes) went from 8 to 9 speed last year. Chain and cassette life improved significantly.

You must be using better quality components (you did check that everything else in the use/maintenance was the same?).

Maintenance routine hasn't changed .

I'd guess that bottom end 8s chains are junk and bottom end 9s ones are OK.

Still running (decent) 8 speed here!

I dont think I would go out of the way to buy 8 speed now ( or if I even could). My theory thats its the most reliable is based on a) my personal experience comparing it to 9 and 10 on MTB and 10 and 11 on Road and b) its the biggest chain links and cog teeth.

Given everything else being equal I cant see why the newer stuff would be more reliable but you have a better sample size there so maybe it is.

[quote=cynic-al ]I'd guess that bottom end 8s chains are junk and bottom end 9s ones are OK.Could be. We always start with whatever the OEM chain is (the bikes have been Trek for the last couple of years). TBH, I was sort of expecting the 9 speed to wear quicker, so was a wee bit surprised.

so do you clean the chain before chucking it in the melted putoline or just chuck it in without?