Cleaning and lubing

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Hahahaha

I have teflon lube here (for Speedplays) but not chain lube. I'll wait for tonight. Hopefully Liam, doesn't find me before then...

Just seen this posted in another thread: seems I need to eat my words, with a dash of chain lube...

So basically, people who race track bike have been doing it wrong all the time with the chain a little slack?

I'm thinking of trying out some of that fancy Morgan Blue stuff as it gets great reviews. I also like the look of the long brush they do, though I'll probably check the local pound type emporiums for similar shaped items before dropping any cash on that.

csb etc

I lubed it this morning. I'm not worried about efficiency, I just wondered if it would stay cleaner, longer without undue wear sans-lube?

Is that why they do it: greater efficiency?

Where's @mdcc_tester when you need him?

Without lube for le grime to stick to, then you'd think so and that paper suggests the increase in wear is negligible.

But the sound of a dry chain though >>>

So basically, people who race track bike have been doing it wrong all the time with the chain a little slack?

No, the tension they are talking about is in the driving section of the chain. It's actually not rocket science, there are two kinds of loss in a chain, one related to tension and one which is invariant with tension. For a given set of sprockets, increasing the power (and therefore the chain tension) will increase the tension-related losses but not the invariant losses, so the efficiency goes up. It's easier if we show some numbers:

Let's say we have a nice fixie-skidder set up of 48/19 and we're cruising along at ~20mph/100rpm. We'll assume that's consuming 200W at the crank, and the invariant losses are 5W (mostly friction between the plates and between plates and the sides of the sprocket teeth) and the variable losses are 5w too (mostly fiction at the rollers, both on the pins/bushes and on the sprocket teeth). There's now 190W at the rear wheel, and our efficiency is 190/200=95%.

Now we come to a hill and hammer up it to maintain our 20mph/100rpm, consuming 400W at the crank. The invariant losses stay at 5W because we haven't changed the speed of the chain or the angle through which we bend it, but the chain tension has doubled so the variable losses double to 10W because the pressure at the roller bearing surfaces has doubled. That gives us 385W at the rear wheel and an efficiency of 385/400=96.25%

TP-42 for DT Swiss star ratchet freehubs. Mine seemed to dry up after three months and this bloke (albeit flogging his own product) doesn't reckon it's the best, even though it's what DT supposedly sell

http://forums.mtbr.com/general-discussion/dt-swiss-specific-hub-grease-dow-corning-tp-42-not-good-853797.html

"As far as the DT Swiss rebranded TP-42, it is not just rebranded, but actually thinned ("admixed") with 5% mineral oil"

Front suspension forks.

Copper grease or lithium grease after stripping down, cleaning and reassembling?

Copper grease or lithium grease

There is a grease thread, but in general copper for things which don't move after assembly and lithium (or calcium, with or without molybdenum- or tungsten-disulphide...) for things which do.

Ta.

(Didn't know there was a grease thread...)

Has anyone got one of these brushes they'd recommend? I find I abuse mine probably above average and keep destroying them periodically. They are cheap and that's not the issue, but I'd rather pay a bit more for a sturdier one and produce less waste in the long run if possible.

I got some squirt lube but didn't get on with it. I think this way my fault for applying it to a wet chain.

I am currently using finish line wet and it gets my chain so gunky despite being applied to a degreased chain properly (as far as I am aware). After a week the chain has attracted so much shit. This is on a daily-ridden road/commuter.

My mtb seems okay with it as that tends to get washed/re-lubed as soon as it comes home from a ride.

You want to wipe off any excess wet lube before it attracts too much 'orrible gunk. The only place lube should be is inside the rollers.

Cheers. So like really hold a rag tight to it when wiping off the excess? Any rag contact with the inside of the chain?

I hold a rag, tight, against the rollers within the chain coming off the rear derailleur whilst turning pedals backwards, with the intention of getting the gunky wax out.

When I re-apply the lube or start afresh on a new chain I drip it onto each roller and use a specific rag against the underside to get the rollers to drag the wax inside. I probably re-apply every ~120mi and fully degrease every 500mi.