That's because you don't clean it, I guess? @rovers1875
WD40 for your Chain!
- Thread starter bpsmith
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confusedcyclist
Veteran
About the degreaser?I can't tell whether you are joking.
No I was serious, cycling specific degreaser can be seriously expensive too! I did my own research and white spirit comes up trumps.
If it was about the application of oil, you can hardly tip over a 5 litre bottle over the chain and not expect it to go all over the place
winjim
Straddle the line, discord and rhyme
Yes, but buying a 5 litre bottle of oil specifically to lube your chain would be an absurd thing to do. As for degreaser, I find a good wipe with a dry cloth usually does the trick.If it was about the application of oil, you can hardly tip over a 5 litre bottle over the chain and not expect it to go all over the place
Gravity Aided
Legendary Member
- Location
- Land of Lincoln
Still going through mine from when I did have a chainsaw.I don't think it counts if you actually own / use a chainsaw
confusedcyclist
Veteran
If you clean and re-lube your chain once a month a 120ml bottle would last 10 years and I would be inclined to agree...
However to reflect my current usage I'm not so sure your point stands. I went through a 120ml finish line wet lube bottle in 18 months maintaining two bikes with highest consumption through the colder periods when constant cleaning of the chains was required to prevent early wear of the drive train due to gritting on the roads. Yes this required investing more time into maintenance, but it saved time working to buy replacement parts, taking the bike to the LBS for a service and fitting (if you are that way inclined) so it makes sense.
The maths has already been done above so I wont bore you, aside of having to invest in an oil can for dispensing (a useful tool to have in the garage at any rate), a 5 litre bottle of oil would pay for itself in 2-3 years (in my case) but last decades, now correct me if I am wrong, but oils like these do not degrade over time if kept in ideal conditions and if your a committed cyclist, your not going to stop cycling this year, so chain saw oil may make sense.
Now, this seems ludicrous on the face of it, but stop to think and apply the same principles to everything in life... If you are willing to spend 1250% over the odds on everything so it could be handed to you in a convenient sized container that needs to be replaced constantly creating an industry and jobs based on waste and over consumption of the worlds resources, think all that extra packaging, shipping and distribution, marketing, sales teams, invoicing, legal support.
This is exactly what you are paying for when you buy a tiny bottle of ceramic chain oil, a small fraction of your purchase was to buy the resource you required (oil). You will be significantly worse off financially in the long run if you apply this to every purchase you make in life. Think of a £3.50 coffee habit at Starbucks every morning vs buying 1KG of bag of roasted and frozen Coffee beans and making it yourself in a flask at a cost of 7p a cup, or eating take out instead of taking a home made packed lunch to work. I bet this can be applied to almost everything bought and sold nowadays with the exception of perishables.
Of course, if you earn 1250% more than everyone else every year, this is less of a worry, but for normal people aiming to upgrade to a nicer bike, or quit the rat run earlier, it is no long such a silly think to think about (not just with oil, but every consumable good).
There is also of course the environmental impact of using inefficient and wasteful packaging of the small individual 60 ml bottles. 10 x 100ml bottles will use more plastic than 1 x 1L bottle. We all have an responsibility to ensure we avoid unnecessary waste or future generations will be paying for our stupidity for generations to come. Time to start thinking outside the box, there are more ways of solving problems than need to buy lube, £7.23 for 120ml, vs £15 for 5L for what is effectively the same thing, which makes more sense? Most people can do the maths, but are too bogged down in the drudgery of their miserable lives to realise the hideous waste of resources most of use commit daily and hide behind phrases like "it's worth it for me" to realise what they are actually doing!
I won't be buying cycling specific oils ever again! I realise I sound like I have a massive chip on my shoulder but I just read an excellent book recently which has made me question everything I thought I knew about consumerism!
/rant over.
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Well thought out and written @confusedcyclist. The chink in the armour being that you're not actually comparing the price of the same product. If it was significantly cheaper to buy 5 litres of the same product as the SAME 120ml product then I am sure that we would all do this or maybe even share!?!
I wouldn't buy chainsaw oil in 120ml bottles if it was a third of the price, or even a tenth of the price, as it's not doing the job that I want!
I wouldn't buy chainsaw oil in 120ml bottles if it was a third of the price, or even a tenth of the price, as it's not doing the job that I want!
youngoldbloke
The older I get, the faster I used to be ...
confused cyclist - I'm sure that a 50 kg bag of coffee beans would be cheaper than 1kg. Storage might be a problem of course. Me - I'll continue to be profligate. I figure I've done my bit by buying a 16oz bottle of Progold and decanting it, and if you use a hypodermic and apply one drop to each link waste is minimal. Now, I wonder how much a full container load of toilet rolls would cost?
Having read through this thread I think I need to change my chain oiling method, all this one drop per link stuff has made me realise that sticking a sheet of cardboard underneath and pouring the stuff on from a jug whilst back pedaling isn't the only way to do things
I dunno, it's got me convinced.
I'm off down Homebase at the weekend to buy a few gallons of oil. (Need it to last a couple of months at least)
With a 5 litre container of chainsaw oil, there is no other way?Having read through this thread I think I need to change my chain oiling method, all this one drop per link stuff has made me realise that sticking a sheet of cardboard underneath and pouring the stuff on from a jug whilst back pedaling isn't the only way to do things
Mugshot
Cracking a solo.
Well in my defence that is what I've got
Gravity Aided
Legendary Member
- Location
- Land of Lincoln
Sewing machine oilcan. Must be millions of those about.
confusedcyclist
Veteran
Ah, but coffee is a perishable item, so I wouldn't buy more than I could use in a couple of months. 2 months in the freezer and it would be ok, any more and you will get the jitters trying to use it up before it goes rancid
Naturally, with any investment in time you will reach the point of diminishing returns on your efforts to save. Where abouts on the curve you sit, you need to decide, but I’d rather not sit at the bottom, as unless you are Sir Alan Sugar you probably cannot afford to be this wasteful. Right at the bottom you have the LBS applying lube on your behalf because its "convenient" and you don't like your nails getting dirty. Just above that you are buying small bottles of lube to DIY, somewhere near the point of diminishing returns you have chain saw oil. I wager with determination and skill you can find an even more cost effective and efficient method of oiling your chain, e.g. using a pipette to dispense the oil between each link. However by now you have reached the point of diminishing returns and the effort to save returns little for the time you put in.
You can look at chain saw oil in isolation and scoff at the efforts made to save such a small amount of money, or you apply a little bit of effort to every financial decision you make and save vast sums over the course of your life. To me, buying chain saw lube at B&Q as well as an oiling can while I am out buying timber anyway is very little effort, yet the returns huge (figuratively speaking). If I bumble through life without stopping to think about these things I wouldn't be on track to retire at 35. If I had seen the light at 18 I might have retired at 26.
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confusedcyclist
Veteran
No this is the problem with comparing apples with pears, but I wager you could buy a drum of cycle specific oil if you really wanted and save a substantial amount.
However, did we not hear from someone avidly claiming that it worked well, despite the need to clean more often (weekly), which I am doing already anyway. It would make sense in that case to buy chain saw oil.
