Do you oil your chain?

[peanut]

It never ceases to amaze me how many cyclists oil their chains . Its complete waste of time and actually accelerates wear of the chain and cassette sprockets . It also prevents smooth chain transition . Smothering the transmission with oil is a lazy persons solution to maintenance when all that is required is often just a little adjustment

All that oil and grease attracts grit and abrasives from the road which then clog up the chain links, and rear mech jockey wheels. The suction created by all that gooey mess simply prevents the chain shifting smoothly from sprocket to sprocket.

The only part of a chain that needs any lubricant is the internal bearing surfaces of the chain links. Putting oil onto the outside faces of the chain links is a complete waste of time.
Cassette sprockets and rear mech jockey wheels require no lubricant whatsoever. Nor do the external faces of the chain links

These components are designed to run smoothly without a load of oil and grease all over them.

If you really must lubricate something take your chain off and carefully apply a tiny smidgin of fine machine oil to the end of each link pin of the chain.
Wipe off all the excess oil .Remove your cassette sprockets and soak and clean them off.
Remove your rear mech and clean off all the accumalated muck especially the jockey wheels. Apply a smidgin of grease to the faces of steel bearing tubes that the jockey wheels run on.

Heres what it should look like . Completely bone dry, as new. I guarantee your transmission will run and sound a lot better.

 

[Steve Austin]

Yeurgh. You ride a yellow bike!!!

 

[peanut]

Yeurgh. You ride a yellow bike!!!

sooreeey

 

[numbnuts]

WD40 and don't tell me it's not a lubricate

 

[Fab Foodie]

http://www.kmcchain.com/index.php?ln=en&fn=service#1

 

[yello]

Okay.

 

[Mr Pig]

WD40 and don't tell me it's not a lubricate

It's not a lubricant ;0)

Not oiling a chain would be fine if it was a sealed system. Unfortunately, on a bike water and dirt is going to get into those rollers no matter what you do, unless you leave the thing in the shed most of the time!

You want to get the dirt out, and you can't get the dirt out without taking the oil out as well. And if you take the oil out you need to put it back in again.

What you suggest might work fine on a road bike but it would be useless on a mountain bike. I'm literally just in the door from a traipse over the fields and I washed half a forest off my bike!

 

[velocidad]

agree, well mostly agree with you peanut. while there is no mechanical reason why the outer face plates of the chain need lube, a thin layer does prevent rusting, which is just not a nice look for any bike, even a yellow one ;-)
i think the 'advice' should be not to over oil your chain, rather than don't oil your chain.
i find a blob of finish line cross country lube where one link joins the other, a quick wipe off, which puts a thin layer of lube on the outer surface from the now slightly oily cloth, works fine.
for something so mundane, it does seem to raise quite a bit of debate this oiling/cleaning chains thing ;-)

cheers, velocidad

 

[velocidad]

i never apply lube to my cassette any more than i would apply it to my chainrings. i just move through all the gears after lubing the chain, this puts a thin layer of lube from the chain to the sprockets, nothing more than that is needed. i don't know anyone who actually squirts lube all over their cassette.

cheers, velocidad

 

[Steve Austin]

What about scottoilers? 'giggles'

 

[Smokin Joe]

Very good post from Peanut. I've used all sorts of concoctions over the years, from expensive oil to WD40 and none have made any difference to chain life. I am now just using a cheap aerosol to clean it and keep the rust at bay and the chain doesn't attract half the muck it used to with oil.

No oil you apply will lubricate the rollers, it just wont find a way in as the fit is too tight but the factory grease in there should last the life of the chain anyway. The biggest way to waste an afternoon with no benefit whatsoever is to remove the chain and soak it in degreaser. A toothbrush and some WD with the chain in situ is all you need for cleaning.

 

[peanut]

WD40 and don't tell me it's not a lubricate

WD 40 is petroleum based .It is primarily intended for use as a water dispersal and rust inhibiter not as a lubricant. WD40 is an extremely poor lubricant .
I use WD40 too its excellent but once dry you should use a recommended lubricant

 

[peanut]

You are joking right? o.k you run your bike without any lube on the rear cassette, and I'll run mine with oil on and we'll see who goes down the lbs to buy a new cassette first?

Lee you do not need any lubricant on the sprockets and teeth honest the only lubricant required on a cassette is a little grease inside the freehub .
Read the manufacturers recommendations for installation and use

 

[peanut]

No oil you apply will lubricate the rollers, it just wont find a way in as the fit is too tight but the factory grease in there should last the life of the chain anyway. The biggest way to waste an afternoon with no benefit whatsoever is to remove the chain and soak it in degreaser. A toothbrush and some WD with the chain in situ is all you need for cleaning.

Thats a good point there Joe. WD40 or detergent degreasing of the chain is likely to remove the grease from the pins if its too rigourous. Its amazing how folk cling to old wives tales of oiling chains and the myths are passed on and on.

 

[Mr Pig]

The biggest way to waste an afternoon with no benefit whatsoever is to remove the chain and soak it in degreaser.

I don't agree. There is a very big difference to the way the chain feels and runs after you clean and re-lubricate it. I also don't agree about the oil not getting into the rollers. As long as it's thin enough, like my favourite Finish Line Cross Country, it'll seep in just fine. Oil is pretty good at that.

I think that where I would disagree with you is the notion that the chain will not get dirty, or loose its lubricant, if you don't oil it. I agree about excessive oil being bad though. And I think yellow bikes look smart ;0)