Ask the experts

[jm2e]

yeah, no chamios creme leads to all kinds of problems

Considering your current level of butt hurt, maybe time to reconsider?
Instead of cream, I wear two layers of chamois. Three if it's a long day in the saddle.

[Dee Hubbs]

What's your favorite chamois cream?

I prefer the hot wax method.

[grskier]

I prefer the hot wax method.

I knew that was coming....
I still laughed


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[XXX-er]

ok so if you don't care or would rather use chamios butter don't look at this,

Squirt on a piece of cardboard, yesturday AM some in a little column made of tape just to see what happens



24 hrs later its gone clear, its more or less dry, you can scrape it up with a fingernail and roll it into a little ball but its not really very hard

the column of squirt didnt really solidify as I thot it might, I assume it must need air to dry ?

SO Squirt does not remain liquid , I think you do want to apply it apres ride so it can dry in your chain for your next ride




so I promised the dirt on squirt and here it is, a scoop of #1 potting soil was handy, so as you can see the dry globs of squirt do not attract dirt, the wet glob of squirt does, so i think anything that is wet will attract dirt even something that will be dry and not attract dirt overnight

[XtrPickels]

also the toilet seat is up

That's because you got vagasil on it

[XXX-er]

That's because you got vagasil on it

you missed the big lebowski inference you dumb fuck

go play with your pickel

[grskier]

Re: XXX's post.
Is this an actual realization for anyone in an 'expert' thread? It's how MOST chain lubes are designed to work. Hence the shake the shit out of the bottle before applying because it is a lipid in water suspension.

[XXX-er]

for someone who doesnt care enough to use a product properly shaking the bottle might entail reading the instructions or making exrta motions

better stick to the chamois butter which doesnt need shaking

[RootSkier]

Nobody needs to see that.

[XXX-er]

Considering your current level of butt hurt, maybe time to reconsider?
Instead of cream, I wear two layers of chamois. Three if it's a long day in the saddle.

I am sure i speak for the rest of humanity when I say if you were to pull one pair over yer head it would improve our lives

[Roxtar]

You guys fret way too much about lube.

My chain gets cleaned maybe a handful of times a season (and by "cleaned" I mean I wipe it with a rag, and maybe a toothbrush. It does not come off the bike). I throw a bit of whatever lube is lying around on the chain immediately before most rides. I rarely bother to wipe off the excess.

That procedure is the same for spring mud, mid-summer dust, or late fall freeze/thaw. The bike shifts fine, regardless of conditions (at least until I smash a rock and bend something).

I get 1200-1500 miles out of a chain. So that's like ~$0.04 / mile. If I spent hours fretting over the care and maintenance of the chain, I could maybe get that down to $0.03 / mile. So over the course of a shitload of riding, that'd save me like... $7.

OK, this may be getting a little silly. OK, a lot silly.
And yes, it might be slightly my fault.
Let me explain why I do what I do.
Nothing against Toast, I generally agree with what he has to say but not here.
Can you get away with doing this, just wiping off the chain occasionally, squirting on whatever slippery shit you have lying around?
Of course.
Just like you can probably get away with putting 50K miles between oil changes with a modern engine. Does that make it a good idea? Saves time and money. I guess?
I don't know how many miles I get with chains but I'd wager that they stay in a lot better shape than the chains described above. Same with my cassette and chainring.
Mountain biking is something I really love and my bike shows it. I buy top quality and (to me) it's worth a little effort to properly take care of it. I don't "fret over it", it's just something I do.
It has nothing to do with $/mile. It's just doing things correctly.
Is standard liquid chain lube bad? Of course not. However, to properly use that method you need to do a lot more than just squirt it on over and over. Dry lubes have relatively poor lubrication value and wet ones WILL attract grit into the rollers and WILL need to be cleaned properly, off the bike, soaked, and blown out. Often.
My point was that if you're going to go through that much effort, why not do hot wax? Once set up, it's actually much easier than (correctly) doing squirt lube.
Instead of cleaning the grit out over and over, why not keep it from getting there in the first place?

[XXX-er]

My point was that if you're going to go through that much effort, why not do hot wax? Once set up, it's actually much easier than (correctly) doing squirt lube.

you gota find a hot wax implement, take the chain off , put it back on all without kacking the quick link or burning down your house

actualy hot wax is not easier than dripping petro lube or Squirt or something oily you found in the garage or everyone would be doing it and by everyone I mean everyone who rides a bike not just a few techno geeks

but hot wax was the very best option back in the day whereas now with the wonders of modern science you can just drip wax on yer chain

[greasyslope]

Did I somehow get transferred to MTBR?

[grrrmountainman]

are you just jerking off onto pieces of cardboard and posting pics?? baby batter lube... new product launch coming soon...

ok so if you don't care or would rather use chamios butter don't look at this,

Squirt on a piece of cardboard, yesturday AM some in a little column made of tape just to see what happens



24 hrs later its gone clear, its more or less dry, you can scrape it up with a fingernail and roll it into a little ball but its not really very hard

the column of squirt didnt really solidify as I thot it might, I assume it must need air to dry ?

SO Squirt does not remain liquid , I think you do want to apply it apres ride so it can dry in your chain for your next ride




so I promised the dirt on squirt and here it is, a scoop of #1 potting soil was handy, so as you can see the dry globs of squirt do not attract dirt, the wet glob of squirt does, so i think anything that is wet will attract dirt even something that will be dry and not attract dirt overnight

[Roxtar]

you gota find a hot wax implement, take the chain off , put it back on all without kacking the quick link or burning down your house

actualy hot wax is not easier than dripping petro lube or Squirt or something oily you found in the garage or everyone would be doing it and by everyone I mean everyone who rides a bike not just a few techno geeks

but hot wax was the very best option back in the day whereas now with the wonders of modern science you can just drip wax on yer chain

You didn't read the whole post.
To do drip lube CORRECTLY.
IOWs, thoroughly cleaning the chain inside and out, removing it, letting it soak in solvent, brushing the grit out, blowing the solvent out, reinstalling the chain, and then applying the lube.
That process now has to be repeated what, once a month or so? At least every two months?
I do none of that. I turn on the crockpot. (Are you seriously afraid of using a crock pot?) and drop in the chain. Once a month. Pretty simple.
And no, I've never had to replace a quick link in this process. Using a quick link pliers hardly qualifies as techno geek stuff.
If chain link use is beyond your mechanical abilities, I'm curious how you get the cap off the lube.

[toast2266]

Just like you can probably get away with putting 50K miles between oil changes with a modern engine. Does that make it a good idea? Saves time and money. I guess?

But if I maintain my engine poorly and it wears out prematurely, then I've effectively totaled a car that's worth many thousands of dollars. Replacing a worn out engine isn't financially viable.

If I maintain my bike chain poorly and it wears out prematurely, I replace it. I spend $50 on a new chain a little bit sooner than I would otherwise. I'm more than happy to waste ~$10 to avoid having to spend a couple hours fucking around with my drivetrain every month.

There was a time, many years ago, when chain lubes weren't great and there was a substantial and tangible benefit to hot waxing. But lubes have gotten a lot better - they lubricate better, they run cleaner, they last longer, and they take less fussing to reap the benefits. Hot waxing these days is unnecessarily anachronistic.

But to be fair, it's still better than jizzing in little cups and posting pictures of it on the internet.

[Roxtar]

But if I maintain my engine poorly and it wears out prematurely, then I've effectively totaled a car that's worth many thousands of dollars. Replacing a worn out engine isn't financially viable.

If I maintain my bike chain poorly and it wears out prematurely, I replace it. I spend $50 on a new chain a little bit sooner than I would otherwise. I'm more than happy to waste ~$10 to avoid having to spend a couple hours fucking around with my drivetrain every month.

There was a time, many years ago, when chain lubes weren't great and there was a substantial and tangible benefit to hot waxing. But lubes have gotten a lot better - they lubricate better, they run cleaner, they last longer, and they take less fussing to reap the benefits. Hot waxing these days is unnecessarily anachronistic.

But to be fair, it's still better than jizzing in little cups and posting pictures of it on the internet.

I understand your point.
But it takes me about 3 minutes to change out my chain before a ride if I have to.
Doing the actual waxing takes me almost no time (It just sits in the crockpot, getting lubed). I put it in at my convenience.
That's my point. It really takes nothing, once set up.

[Canada1]

Roxtar, when I lived in LA and white rock, myself and everyone I rode with hot waxed. The sand and tuff dust there gunks up drive trains like no where else. that coupled with the fact that 75% of the green material everywhere was goat heads in a pre tubeless world made bike maintenance a daily before and after every ride thing.
Now It really is more effective where I live to drop something on it. Not to mention that if I rotated chains, my kids would constantly be taking my clean one!

[dcpnz]

Diversion from the wax discussion.........

What flat pedals do I want?
Been an spd rider for decades. New bike is in my possession and I want to learn how to jump better cos my skills in that area are woefully lacking. Thinking of just picking up some cheap composite flats to start out with - is everything crankbrothers still crap or are stamp 1's decent enough <$50? What else should I look at or am I wasting my time if i don't go with some unobtanium deity tmacs or similar blingy alloys for 5x$.
Will still ride spds for pedally outings.
New steed pic for specific color matching recommendations

[grskier]

chesters are many peoples go tos.
There are a lot of knock offs out there, fookers et al. that are cheap and may just not have as good of bearings.
I'm not going to litigate his channel....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BoEZWUh9Nw

[Dee Hubbs]

Re Pedals: I saw Shimano PD-GR500 flat pedals on sale a Jenson for %25 off. Sale price of $49.99 reg $80.

[Andeh]

I've got a set of grey OneUp alloy pedals I can hook you up with for, say, $45 if you're in the US. Less than half year old, fresh bearings.

[dcpnz]

[Mention]Andeh[/Mention] might just have won this pedal round. PM inbound

[nickwm21]

I’ve got a set of the plastic oneups. I’m happy.


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[John_B]

I was going to suggest the OneUP composites but the above deal for the alloys is likely a better bet.