Chain oil

[Gareth]

Scottoilers are horrible things, chain is well lubricated but oil and shite sprayed everywhere else.

Scottoilers are brilliant, but yes can be messy, but then chain drives are messy.

I would do 30,000 miles on a DID ZVM and I couldn’t find any measurable wear on the chain. I never adjusted it between tyre changes. I only ditched them at over 30,000 miles because I was wary of running a third front sprocket on the same chain.

Anyway I’m currently running a R1250R, so no chain to lube, and yeah I do notice how clean the rear of the bike is.

So, back to bicycles. Used various lubes on my emtb. Tried a few wet lubes but came to the conclusion that they just attract dirt and form a grinding paste.

Any bottle of drip on dry wax does me. Currently using a bottle of that Squirt stuff.

 

[mooby77]

For anyone that wants to DIY a chain lube, here is my winter formula with ingredients commonly available from Amazon

• Liquid Paraffin (125 ml) – primary oil that is light enough to penetrate the chain while still providing proper lubrication.
• CVT Fluid (25 ml) – maintains a low viscosity that allows the formula to penetrate chain links and hold on in wet conditions.
• 0W-40 Synthetic Oil (35 ml) – ensures proper lubrication in extremely cold temperatures, making sure the fluid doesn’t thicken too much to flow.
• Fluid Film (2 teaspoons / ~8 ml) – a small amount for rust protection, helping displace water but not too much to inhibit fluidity.
• PTFE Powder (4 g) – reduces friction and ensures ultra-slick performance to make sure the chain runs smoothly even in freezing temperatures.
• Titanium Dioxide (TiO₂) (4 g) – protects the chain from abrasion and offers durability for the cold, hard conditions of winter riding.

Procedure:

1. Combine Liquid Paraffin, CVT fluid, and 0W-40 synthetic oil to form a lightweight and penetrating solution.
2. Add Fluid Film to assist with corrosion protection while keeping it relatively lightweight.
3. Stir in the PTFE powder and TiO₂ for friction reduction and extra wear protection against dirt or salt.
4. Allow the formula to settle, ensuring uniform distribution of all components.

Shake it well before applying to chain.

I am using this recipe , well about to but struggling to find fluid film in the UK at a reasonable price , any readily available alternative , liquid type form

 

[Tom Sellers]

I am using this recipe , well about to but struggling to find fluid film in the UK at a reasonable price , any readily available alternative , liquid type form

I see you are in Snowdonia. A few years back we made it to the world cup downhill in Fort WIlliam. We wanted to visit Snowdonia, but the 7 hr drive from Ft WIlliam did not fit into our timeline as most of our trip was focused on going as far north as Shetland and biking everywhere we could.
Also, many years before that, I bought a big pail of fluid film to undercoat our vehicles. I ordered it from NAPA, and shared the cost with a buddy that also wanted to undercoat his Delica. In fact, when I was renovating a condo, we used to go buy materials at an auction in Calgary. One of the pallets I bought had about 25 litres if liquid paraffin on it, which I was about to dispose of when I had the idea to start spraying it on our chains. And as my spouse has a vehicle with a CVT, I bought a bunch of CVT fluid when it went on sale recently. I always use 0W-40 in all our vehicles, so I also buy that in pails. So the only ingredients I needed to purchase were the PTFE, and TiO2. In fact Boron Nitride would be superior to Titanium Dioxide for the ceramic component of this recipe and I would have used it, but when I looked it up on Amazon it was too expensive. You could always leave the FLuid Film out of the recipe, but I seem to find that for other projects I always seem to have a need for it anyway, so I still have a few cans hanging around that I picked up on sale years ago. I also did up variations on this recipe for cable lube and summer chain lube using the same ingredients. If there is any interest, I'd be happy to post them as well.