Lubrication is one of the most terrible sounding words I
know.
No innuendo intended; I mean literally, the sound of the word irritates me.
Its shorter relative, lube, is even
worse.
The end of that word, lube, is just
awful—bordering on nails-on-the-chalkboard grating.
I will endeavor, however, to write an entire
post around this affront.
Bringing you
the ups and downs, the ins and outs, and even the rounds and rounds of
lube.
As fall approaches, the cyclist, the wild untamable south
eastern Pennsylvanian cyclist to be specific, needs to prepare for the
elements. Lube is a big part of
this. Your bike will not survive a wet
fall and winter of riding without some serious attention paid to keeping your many drive-train components on good terms.
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| Morgan Blue: Maker of fine greases, lubes, and assembly compounds |
Bicycles abhor friction.
It quite literally grinds their gears.
It wears their bearings.
It
amplifies every little tick or tack, creak or crack in your bike.
Luckily for you, lubrication and grease
rebuff friction’s every advance.
That
is, provided that they are regularly used on your bike.
Regular lubrication and re-greasing are
crucial to keeping your bike quiet.
Bicycles don’t fall under the “set-it-and-forget-it” category.
Like small children, they need regular
attention to work correctly.
Also like
small children, they can be taken away by the authorities if you don’t take
care of them.
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| Greases and lubes come in many different types. Choose the right one for your situation...or else. |
So what do you need to know about lubrication to keep your
two wheeled babies behaving as they should?
Well it really depends on how much you want to embrace your inner DIY
home mechanic. At the very least, every
bicycle parent should be well versed in chain and cable lubrication.
First things first.
Proper application technique is crucial to having success when lubing
your bike. Lubing your chain may not seem
like a process laden with pitfalls and opportunities for disaster, but it is suprising the problems that over-lubrication delivers.
While your bike sits on a level surface, spin your pedals
backwards and apply lube as the chain rolls over the rear cassette, like so:
Apply until the chain appears wet. If your chain is squeaking, apply until the
noise dissipates. Don’t over apply. We are not looking to coat your entire
drive-train in this stuff. A thin layer
on the chain is fine. Give the lube a
minute or two to soak down into the rollers of the chain. Left sitting on the outside of the chain,
lube accomplishes nothing. We want the
lube to soak into the chain. Wipe the
chain clean with a dry, lint-free rag after the soak in period. While pedaling backwards again, run the chain
through the rag from the bottom side of the chain, like so:
This is probably the most important step. Wipe until the outside of the chain appears clean. Excess lube left on the outside of the chain
attracts dirt like a magnet. Clogging
your drive-train with dirt only leads to bad things. Don’t believe me? Go to a cross race and check out what dirt
can do to a bike.
Apply small drops of thin chain lube to the pivot points of
your derailleurs, brakes, cable ends, and pulley wheels like so:
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| Use the ProLink Pin Luber to make pivot points and cable lubing a breeze. |
Wipe away any excess lube.
That is just a general rule of life—bicycle life. Heed it in everything that you do.
So now that you have the technique down, we need to decide
which lube is best for you. All lube is
not created equal, so unfortunately you will actually have to put some thought
into what will be best for you. Think of
all lubes existing on a wide spectrum from thin and viscous to thick and
goopy. The general rule is that thin
lube (Prolink, for example) is cleaner and easier to use, but needs to be
applied more often. Because it is
cleaner, it is best used in dry dusty conditions. Thick lube (Chain-L, for example) is quieter
and lasts longer, but has the potential to attract a lot of dirt. Because it is thicker, it stands up to bad
weather well and does not get washed away quickly.
Where do you fall on the spectrum?
Most riders fall near the thinner end, and
would do well with a lube like ProLink or Morgan Blue Bio Bike Oil.
These thinner lubes should always be used on
cables and pivot points, regardless of conditions.
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| We love Morgan Blue Bio Oil. Not only a great lube, but it is also friendly to the environment! |
Thicker lubes will last up to 1,000 miles, but unless you
pay close attention and wipe any excess often, they will attract dirt.
If you don’t mind the extra care, they often
run wonderfully quiet and will protect your stuff through the heaviest weather.
If you’re an all weather rider, look into
thicker lubes like Chain-L or Morgan Blue Syn Lube, especially for the fall and
winter months.
Grease has a similar spectrum.
Using the right viscosity of grease can be
the difference between perfect and broken.
The grease that you use to rebuild a cup and cone hub may not be the
same as the grease that keeps your BB30 bottom bracket silent.
Carry over the same rules we learned from the
chain lube.
Thin is fast, but thick will
keep the water out.
Use the most water
proof stuff you can find to protect your bottom bracket from the most extreme
elements.
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| Different greases for different pieces. |
For the most part though, maintenance that requires grease
requires some kind of mechanical knowledge.
Rebuilding bottom brackets, headsets, hubs, freehubs, cartridge
bearings, pulley wheels, and the like can all be left to your LBS if
you so choose. If you do decide to dive
into one of these though, choose your lube or grease—depending on the job at
hand—wisely.
So there you have it.
A bare bones rundown of the stuff that makes things move: lube. Don’t brush it off. It is important—but also, literally don’t brush it off, unless, of course, you plan on re-applying it.
