Interesting experiment with chain life

Garry

Member
Mar 29, 2021
10
12
Brampton, Cumbria
I have used 'just' GT85 for years on MTBs and road bikes and have had excellent chain life. I clean the chains with it, too. Funnily enough, even though my motorbike has an x-ring chain, I still use chain lube even though I suspect that it's pointless. I suppose it's the thought of a motorcycle chain snapping at high speed .....
 

lightning

Well-known member
Apr 5, 2021
715
410
UK
Okay, the bike is now on 2,400 miles
which is 1,000 miles on the new chain, lubricated only with GT-85 every other ride.

Chain checker says 0.25 so there's no measurable wear after 1,000 miles.

ln addition the drive train and chain are still clean, and not covered in black gunge from oil.

The experiment continues

l remember back in the 1990's when l was on a MTB weekend with a friend, he was using GT-85 on his chain and l thought "all that will do is stop it from rusting"

Maybe my friend was on to something all those years ago.
 

mtb-steve

Member
Nov 4, 2021
113
98
Cumbria
My Cube is on it's original cassette and just short of 1800 miles, I've gone through about 5 chains though, just the cheap shimano ones or kmc. The cassette looks good still too.
Cleaned and oiled after every ride unless it's completely dry and dirt free, I'm just using any oil I have laying around though.

Steve
 

Bearing Man

Ebike Motor Centre
Patreon
Sep 29, 2018
976
2,332
UK
My Cube is on it's original cassette and just short of 1800 miles, I've gone through about 5 chains though, just the cheap shimano ones or kmc. The cassette looks good still too.
Cleaned and oiled after every ride unless it's completely dry and dirt free, I'm just using any oil I have laying around though.

Steve
Just think how many chains you would have saved if you didn't keep fitting them to a worn cassette. ;)
 

mtb-steve

Member
Nov 4, 2021
113
98
Cumbria
QUOTE="Bearing Man, post: 353676, member: 1308"]
Just think how many chains you would have saved if you didn't keep fitting them to a worn cassette. ;)
[/QUOTE]
It's not worn though as I change my chains early.
However if I wanted to change the (shimano 12 speed) cassette I can't get one at the moment so I'm better changing chains and keeping the cassette in good condition until they're easily available again.

Steve
 

lightning

Well-known member
Apr 5, 2021
715
410
UK
Well, nobody is picking up on the fact that l've now done 1,000 miles on a single chain and there's no measurable wear.
Also the cassette is still fine, l tried a new chain on it yesterday just to check if it jumped in the high gears....it didn't.

I am using the cheapest SRAM chains l can get, they are around £30
 

mtb-steve

Member
Nov 4, 2021
113
98
Cumbria
Well, nobody is picking up on the fact that l've now done 1,000 miles on a single chain and there's no measurable wear.
Also the cassette is still fine, l tried a new chain on it yesterday just to check if it jumped in the high gears....it didn't.

I am using the cheapest SRAM chains l can get, they are around £30
It'll be interesting to see how far you get on the one chain, I fitted a new chain to my dads analogue bike and the smallest ring is so worn the chain jumps, but thats done about 12k km with my dad so it's had a good life.
 

lightning

Well-known member
Apr 5, 2021
715
410
UK
They last much longer on analogue bikes. l was getting 2-3,000 miles from a chain on my Foxy, riding the same trails as l do on my Ebike
 

lightning

Well-known member
Apr 5, 2021
715
410
UK
Now 1200 miles of only using GT-85 on the chain
Weather here is pretty bad at this time of year, so most rides are muddy/wet.
Last nights was no different.

Drive train has remained clean because there's no sticky oil being used, although l would have been looking at a new cassette by now probably and a third new chain.

image.jpg


image.jpg
 

lightning

Well-known member
Apr 5, 2021
715
410
UK
After every ride in this weather, followed by wiping off the excess while turning the cranks (bike on a workstand)

l spray it onto the chain from about an inch away while it's going round the cassette, so any excess just ends up on the cassette
 

lightning

Well-known member
Apr 5, 2021
715
410
UK
I am actually surprised that this has had so little interest, after all the threads complaining about chain life/cassette life
 

greengenes

Member
Jan 14, 2021
45
24
uk
I steer well away from we lubes, as they immediately attract muck and probably contribute to speedy wear. I use dry lube all year; obviously a copious regular coating on the chain over wet months is required. Important to wipe off excess after application, otherwise it just attracts dirt.
 

steve_sordy

Wedding Crasher
Nov 5, 2018
9,017
9,458
Lincolnshire, UK
After every ride in this weather, followed by wiping off the excess while turning the cranks (bike on a workstand)

l spray it onto the chain from about an inch away while it's going round the cassette, so any excess just ends up on the cassette
You don't want any lube on the cassette. To adapt your technique, I would hold a cloth behind the lower strand of chain and spray then.

The other problem of spraying near the cassette is increased risk of brake pad contamination. Do the spraying in the middle of the lower strand and you are nowhere near anything to be bothered about.
 

Coolcmsc

Well-known member
Oct 29, 2019
526
473
U.K.
I’m interested.

What would be great is if Adam at Zero Friction Cycling in Australia used his test rig to assess GT-85 (Home - Zero Friction Cycling).

I don’t see how getting Adam to test GT-85 could be arranged, but maybe @lightning you could just email him and cite this thread, simple as that?

But he would agree with your assessment that virtually everything that comes out of a bottle or can to be squirted in a chain has little effect, other than accelerating wear.

The reason has already been given: putting must things on attracts grit which is ground so fine it gets between the plates and wears the rollers. More lube doesn’t move that and attracts more grit. So, whilst I’m guessing, I recon he’d not be surprised by your findings. His rig demonstrates what a few have already said here, namely that formal wax methods help a lot. He also shows how that’s quite an easy thing to do. Wax works because it fills the gaps between the plates and rollers which prevents that grit getting in to grind that ‘bearing’. And the wax doesn’t come out easily if you use the correct wax. It just stays there lubricating the ‘bearing‘ at every link. It comes out more quickly on muddy MTB rides than dry tarmac road rides, obvz and so slooshing with water and sometimes re-waxing is done more often for mtb.

I use wax and get great duration too (I also rotate 2 chains which helps maintain the cassette and chain ring).

You’ll find Adam gets extraordinary duration from waxing the hardest wearing chains (SRAM XX1, as long as the sticky stuff it comes painted with is completely removed before anything else, including from the rollers and between the plates, which takes a bit of messing about with turps then meths). You’ve got a lot more riding to do yet to show GT-85 would compete with wax on his test rig - OK, I know that’s not a fair comparison, but I hope you get the point I’m trying to make, if not go and look at the test and how long the best chains/cassettes/chain rings last when correctly prepped.

His test takes account of quite a lot of things we’d all like to see. It doesn’t fall into the traps some other methods do that relate to failing to stress the chain (tension) in the same way cycling does. He has phases with the ‘test lube’, dry, with water, with a ‘standard’ dirt and all with the appropriate chain cleaning regime for the ‘test lube’. He also gets asked by manufacturers to test their products, but won’t do that unless his results can be published by him independently - his blog documents the stories of how manufacturers commonly end up pulling out of using his system. In other words, his business model encourages his independence.

Perhaps he has tested it? I haven’t seen that on his site, but that’s as verbose as my posts here, so perhaps I missed it 🤣

He’s started YT vids this year: I find them informative, but he’s got a few production skills to learn - here’s episode 2 of 10 about types of lubricant
 
Last edited:

jimbob

Active member
Aug 3, 2020
523
433
East UK
Very interesting thread. I use dry lube as much as possible as I find wet lube just gets so much muck everywhere. I tend to get less than half the distance from a chain in the winter on wet lube than with dry lube in the summer.



I'm tempted to give this a go when I change the chain next. Worse that will happen is a chain worn out a little early!
 

Coolcmsc

Well-known member
Oct 29, 2019
526
473
U.K.
It's all I use and I don't get any premature wear.
Great fo my clippers aswell
@thebarber I use large animal clippers for my horses. I’m assuming you’d recommend GT-85 for them too - I use ‘clipper oil’ which works, but it’s hard to avoid a stain on the horse’s coat after lubing.
 

thebarber

E*POWAH Elite
May 28, 2018
986
598
Norfeast
No harm in trying it.
You can hear the clippers pick up when spraying em.
What clipper oil ya using?
Yo could use light clear machine oil but the fact its an oil means it'll tarnish the coat.
 

Coolcmsc

Well-known member
Oct 29, 2019
526
473
U.K.
No harm in trying it.
You can hear the clippers pick up when spraying em.
What clipper oil ya using?
Yo could use light clear machine oil but the fact its an oil means it'll tarnish the coat.
Thanks! I have these V-Series Premium Variable Speed Clipper . I use this oil that does tarnish the coat Horse Clipper Oil 100ml . My daughter uses this stuff and now I think about it, it’s probably not much different than GT-85 and it doesn’t stain Andis 5 in 1 Blade Cool Care for Horses
 

thebarber

E*POWAH Elite
May 28, 2018
986
598
Norfeast
Give gt85 a go before and during the clip .
Biggest thing is to clean off the clippers after use, the residue evaporates and gums them up.
 

Beekeeper

🍯Honey Monster🍯
Aug 6, 2019
1,751
2,197
Surrey hills
QUOTE="Bearing Man, post: 353676, member: 1308"]
Just think how many chains you would have saved if you didn't keep fitting them to a worn cassette. ;)
It's not worn though as I change my chains early.
However if I wanted to change the (shimano 12 speed) cassette I can't get one at the moment so I'm better changing chains and keeping the cassette in good condition until they're easily available again.

Steve
[/QUOTE]

that’s a very good point. I think I’ll change my chain earlier until the cassettes become more available and cheaper
 

Coolcmsc

Well-known member
Oct 29, 2019
526
473
U.K.
It's not worn though as I change my chains early.
However if I wanted to change the (shimano 12 speed) cassette I can't get one at the moment so I'm better changing chains and keeping the cassette in good condition until they're easily available again.

Steve
that’s a very good point. I think I’ll change my chain earlier until the cassettes become more available and cheaper
And the next cassette is one of the few things worth keeping an eye out for at a decent price. See it —> buy it —> put it on the shelf. Same for the next tyre. It’s paid off for me over the last 12 months.
 

jimbob

Active member
Aug 3, 2020
523
433
East UK
I've just been using GT85 on my chain for the last few rides, and I have to say, I've never seen the drivetrain look so clean in the winter!

A quick hose off over it all at the end if the ride and all the mud just washes away. Dont know what its doing for longevity, but so far I would give it a thumbs up.

Its almost time for a new chain, so will see how long a new one lasts just doing this.
 

Zimmerframe

MUPPET
Subscriber
Jun 12, 2019
14,028
20,818
Brittany, France
Thanks! I have these V-Series Premium Variable Speed Clipper . I use this oil that does tarnish the coat Horse Clipper Oil 100ml . My daughter uses this stuff and now I think about it, it’s probably not much different than GT-85 and it doesn’t stain Andis 5 in 1 Blade Cool Care for Horses
I switched to using spray silicone lubricant when clipping the horses. No colouring/tarnishing (I assume you mean when clipping and not other times you might have lubed .. o_O ) and the hairs don't stick to the clippers like they do with the oil.
 

jimbob

Active member
Aug 3, 2020
523
433
East UK
Just over 100miles on the new chain just hosing off after each ride and then spraying with GT85. Riding through slop in the forest which completely covers the chain in the first few 100m.

The drivetrain looks like new. All the crap just washes straight off by running the hose over it. No notable chain wear so far, but early days of course. Will be interesting to see how it continues, but liking it so far!

I think ill stick with dry lube in the summer, but for the winter, this looks like a way forward, even if just for ease of cleaning.
 

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