THIS grinds my gears......

[Ajax Bay]

 

[T4tomo]

..........chain / drive-train lubrication.

Apologies if this is the 4-trillionth thread on it. But having quite a few bikes, and hoping to do alot more riding this year - i'd like to not be 'maintaining' in every spare interim moment

I've religiously been using Tru-Tension Bannaslip with Tungsten for a couple of years (?). Came recommended and is pretty highly rated [4.4/5 on amazon]. After cleaning up old. application of new and drying the drivetrain sounded GREAT. Quiet, slippery etc. And lasted for 100-150 miles before i could hear the difference. No huge issue as i'm a serial cleaner. So a quick wipe / re-lube was not too much hassle once i already had the bike upside-down. **It went on / was kind of a Grey colour; but by 100 miles was pretty 'Black' - and i'm not sure if a component of it was Oil-based. But it soon changed colour. Indicating it was changing / picking up dirt etc

https://www.amazon.co.uk/BananaSlip...9103880789-B07TWG1KTT-&hvexpln=0&gad_source=1

So before i went on Holiday i literally stripped the chain completely, 100% thoroughly cleaned the rear sprocket / front mech with spirits until spotless - and then lubricated with some Weldtite Dry Wax - which again had good reviews and i happened to have some i didn't know about [4.4/5 on Amazon]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/WELDTITE-D...19666-B00WKRC4FU-&hvexpln=0&gad_source=1&th=1

I came back from Hols and did a 50km / 31m ride on Tuesday in the dry. And 25 miles commuting yesterday - so 56 miles total. And the chain sounds dry / noisy as heck compared to when freshly lubed. Surely this can't be normal / expected so quickly ?

*I may be getting close to new chain time (?). I'm imagining from looking at Strava mileage records; this one could have done around 1500 miles. Most of that in Winter. So i'm probably going to change that regardless at the weekend. **Rear sprocket and crank sprockets are both newer than the chain.

But how many (Predominantly 90% dry) miles should i see before seeing / hearing / noticing serious degredation of chain lubrication ?

Any / all / every thought and suggestion appreciated

wax based lubricants are best applied just after a ride rather than just before, so they have time so soak in and "dry" (solvent evaporate) then its ready to go next ride. give chain a quick wipe clean, apply wax lube, spin chain around a few times and hang your bike up.

If you just lube and ride it doesn't do as good a job.