AKA The “Old Rag Method”. Being an old method which requires a rag.
You’ll never find a rusty chain on the bicycle of a ‘proper’ cyclist. One of the first things we learn about bike maintenance – after the importance of keeping our tyres pumped up – is that ‘oiling’ our chains is essential for pedalling efficiency and transmission longevity. Most general-purpose ‘oil’ is free-flowing but not tenacious so it will end up on the hall carpet, and is incredibly sticky if you throw dirt at it but cannot cope with high loads. It is oil. It is not as bad as rust – but it’s categorically not cycle chain lube.
Most multi-purpose aerosols have very low viscosity which renders them too light to provide any long term molecular barrier between surfaces and washes away at the first sign of rain. One particularly well-known brand is (in spite of the manufacturer’s claims) designed for Water Displacement and shouldn’t be in the same room as your bike. It’s good for getting sticker glue off. It’s not a chain lube. Cycle specific chain lube is formulated to be tenacious, to stay attached to the surface of the metal but not so sticky that dirt is attracted to it. Also free-flowing, so it can get to where it is required by the process of capillary action but robust enough that it’s not easily displaced by the enormous pressures found within a chain under load. Lubrication reduces friction and wear between moving surfaces. The only chain surfaces which move against each other are on the inside – because as a section of chain arrives onto a sprocket the side plates and rollers stop moving. Knowing this we can conclude that a chain doesn’t need lube on its outside surfaces. It won’t achieve anything there except attract grit and dust. The horrible black gunk which accumulates on the exterior surfaces of your chain and eventually smushed all over your jockey wheels, chain rings and best trousers is composed of grit and dust from the environment, mostly flicked up by the front wheel, mixed with the chain lube you left on the chain last time you lubricated it. Adding more lube to this mess results in more mess. To make it even worse: Lube + grit = a really effective grinding compound which is eroding your chain – and a worn chain will set about demolishing your expensive chainrings and sprockets with every turn of the pedals
You can remove your chain and soak in a solvent to get all the gritty cack off. A jam jar full of petrol/ paraffin/ white spirit will get it all off and can be helped along by a bit of agitation. Lots of companies make dinky little solvent baths with spinning nylon brushes which you can hang off your chain. I’ve used them all, and never found one which didn’t spray black solvent all over the shop. Using solvents to remove the accumulated cack certainly works but has the unavoidable downside of also removing all the lube from inside the chain. And … you now have a chain full of solvent – which you need to remove because if you apply fresh lube onto a chain full of solvent it will destroy the lube. So you wash the solvent off with – presumably – soap and water which leaves you with a chain full of water. Either leave it hanging for a few hours on a radiator or pop it in the oven? Who can be arsed? And let’s not forget about the contaminated solvent – which must be disposed of safely because solvents are terribly bad for humans or anything else that lives and breathes.
There is a way of getting chain lube into a chain without leaving it a sticky grit magnet on the outside It’s remarkably quick, easy to do and requires nothing more than chain lube and an old rag.
Preparation: Purchase a bottle (not an aerosol) of Proper Chain Lube of the kind manufactured by Finish Line, Pedros, White Lightning, Muc-Off et al and sold in your Local Bike Shop.
Step 1. Wipe the chain. Use the bike’s freewheel mechanism to your advantage (if it has one) by grabbing the lower run of chain with the rag and dragging it backwards, slide your hand forward and the chain will feed backwards through the rag presenting a new section to wipe. Wipe, wipe wipe. Rotate the rag to get a clean section every so often. Eventually, depending on the mankyness of the chain, you wont be able to get any more off.
Step 2. Now, lube the chain. With one hand slowly rotate the pedals backwards whilst dropping lube onto the lower run of chain in front of the rear mech (or wherever). When you are happy that every link has a drop of lube spin the pedals backwards a few times to allow the lube to seep in.
Step 3. The last thing you do is wipe, remember you don’t need any lube on the outside of the chain (aside from a very thin smear to discourage corrosion). You spend very much more time wiping than lubing. When the rag stops picking up black crud the job is done. Except just one thing,
Step 4. Ride the bike a few miles and wipe it again. And wipe up any excess that’s found its way onto chain ring or jockey.
The more often you do it the cleaner your chain will be – and the cleaner your chain is the quicker the job. So little and often is better. Once a week when it’s dry is more than enough, more often if you do lots of miles in the rain. So wipe, wipe, lube, wipe, wipe, wipe. Ride it a few miles and wipe it again. Once your chain has become accustomed to the new regime it should take no more than a couple of minutes each time. Please note: The Method is for chain maintenance – for keeping a chain in good usable condition for its lifespan. It’s not an effective method of rescuing a severely manked up chain. Start with a clean or new chain for the best results.
Chains are consumer durables. They wear out. Better to replace sooner than later. Buy a chain checker – it’ll pay for itself before long. Sprockets and chain rings are only eroded by dirty or excessively worn chains. They’ll last for years if you keep your chains clean and replace them regularly. The notion of replacing your chain and cassette at the same time is a cycle industry scam designed to make you spend more money.
