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After what seems like several years, my bottle of Finish Line Green has run out. I was surprised to read comments on here recently that suggests its far from the best (true, my drivetrains do get covered in black gunk, which I had assumed applied to all wet lubes but the comments suggest not)
So, lets hear your recommendations for a dry or wet summer chain oil, and a winter chain oil that will deal with my tendancy to aim for every puddle in sight. (for mountain biking)
Stop using wet lube off road, dry will work fine in the wet and far less mess in mud.
Use a wax based lube where the lubrication is focused on the inside of the rollers where it matters without leaving a sticky residue outside to suck in dirt.
Factory lube is the best you'll get. Unless you're prepared to pull a chain apart and bake the stuff in like they do.
Anyway... Squirt lube. Is my recommendation.
Have a search on here for smoove lube. It's been covered a number of times recently. Same idea as squirt but seems like a step up from it.
So good in fact, it's been in my bike all winter as well rather than switching to putoline.
Wickens and Soderstrom No.3 is my latest. Performs slightly better than Squirt in 'mixed' conditions - Squirt would have lasted 20 miles of my ride yesterday, W&S was still doing its job at the 60 mile mark. Needs reapplying between rides during wet conditions, but hopefully when it dries out a bit it will just need a wipe down.
You have to apply it to a properly clean chain to start with, and stick it on the night before a ride.
I'm still using Rock n Roll Extreme. Nice clean chain with no black gunk.
I've tried many dry lubes in the wet, they don't work as well as wet lubes in my experience. The Muc Off one was ok but still not great for more than an hour.
Shimano wet lube is great for not gunking up. A top tip is when you clean the bike just spray Muc Off bike cleaner or similar (not degreaser) on the chain and use a garden hose to wash it out. It cleans out the grit but still leaves a film which helps keep it lubed.
I’ve tried many dry lubes in the wet, they don’t work as well as wet lubes in my experience. The Muc Off one was ok but still not great for more than an hour.
Smoove is a lot more tenacious than any other dry/wax lube I have tried, including Squirt but not tried Putoline. Have done a couple of rides on my 'winter' hardtail running Smoove and haven't had to reapply yet.
For a wet lube I like W&S no3 or no5 (only buy if on offer as the price differential is not worth it, they seem similar) or Progold Prolink. Both are 'clean' wet lubes that don't build the dreaded black gunk, but will need applying often in the wet, just a wipe in the 'summer' and reapply every few rides.
Started using W&S no.5 last summer and have been really impressed, more so the nastier the conditions.
Excellent, thanks 🙂
W&S no.5 Here as well, very impressed on my gravel bike
Rock n Roll extreme in side by side tests stays far cleaner than Muck off Ceramic wet. Jockey wheels are far less gunked up with RnR. Though I have to get my RnR from Pushy’s in Australia!
Usual dry lube is White Lightning clean ride. Though on long rides or a ride with wet bits then I might top it up with a small bottle of finish line dry.
All of them work best if lubed the night before.
Weldtite TF2 teflon all weather.
Its about £3.50 from CRC. I use it all year round. Chain can get a bit black in the winter but it wipes off super easy.
Been using squirt on my CX bike since day one. Approx 2.5k miles - bearing in mind it gets used for some of the worst weather, usually through the winter. Bike has been cleaned a handful of times in 2 years. Original cassette still looks relatively clean. No oil or gunk. The only thing on there is mud which cleans straight off with water. I'm actually quite amazed by it.
I'd loath to put a wet lube near a bike now.
I used squirt lube for a very wet and muddy weekend at Afan recently - it worked really well. It needs to go on a clean chain and dry fully before use. Apply it the night before ideally.
Weldtite TF2 teflon all weather.
I have this for winter MTB use, and I wipe the chain regularly to prevent gunk build-up. I have a litre of it which cost £11 or something.
I prefer White Lightning Epic Ride for the less-soaking-wet seasons, it's very clean and lasts well enough.
Putoline
Everything else is just a spectacular failure to keep the chain lubed in comparison. Every other lube its just accepted that the lubes washed off after a wet and/muddy ride. With putoline its an actually surprise if you go out to the garage and find the chain dry.
The only other thing I use is chainsaw oil (the nice baby robin friendly bio stuff). It's not great but I already have it in the shed so works if/when I forget to soak the chain in putoline.
Factory lube is the best you’ll get. Unless you’re prepared to pull a chain apart and bake the stuff in like they do.
The stuff the chains come with is just to stop them rusting , its not applied hot or anything clever, just grease.
Putoline is however applied hot and does get (and stays) inside the links without having to be mostly solvent (meaning most of it s gone) or stay wet (and draw in filth).
Putoline sounds good if you can be arsed, but I just use finish line ceramic and clean the drivetrain when it gets dirty, which is usually every ride on the MTB.
Have a search on here for smoove lube. It’s been covered a number of times recently. Same idea as squirt but seems like a step up from it.
Formerly a Squirt user, I'm not finding it that much more really. It lasted the Builth Marathon - 4hrs/60k - and then I still has some chain rust 2 days later. Cleaned, re-applied dried and used for yesterdays XC race - 90mins 33k - I can't see or "feel" theres any left, although I'm sure someone will tell me it probably exists at a molecular level.
All of which means I'm applying it as much as I was with Squirt but paying a premium TBH.
Rock n roll extreme, easy to use nice clean chain and ring/cassette, no black gunk 😃
putoline. Nothing else comes close
I really like RnR extreme lube in as far as it keeps the jockey wheels Gunk free and keeps the chain looking pristine compared to the bottle of mud off wet. However, it doesn’t take long til it sounds like a bag of nails in truly vile conditions. I don’t mean trail centre dampness I mean wyre forest winter. For that reason I’ve been continuing to use the muc off and looking forward to it being a smidge drier. The bottle is now empty so I’ve taken advantage of the pedros sale and ordered a bottle of their syn lube. I’ve heard really good things about the putoline technique and had a tin of it on my eBay watch list for months now but still haven’t pulled the trigger. Maybe next winter!