How To Lube A Bike Chain | GCN Tech’s Guide To Oiling Your Bicycle Chain

Lubricating your chain is not as simple as it seems! In this weeks Maintenance Monday Jon is showing you how to properly oil your bike’s chain.

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Correctly applying chain lube is vital for the smooth operation of your bike’s drivetrain. Too little lube and it’ll squeak, too much and it’ll attract a lot of dirt! Jon also talks you through the different types of lube available on the market and what conditions they are designed for.

How do you lubricate your chain? Let us know. 👇

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Watch more on GCN Tech…
📹 Back To Basics Show Ep. 21 http://gcntech.co/tech21
📹 How To Wax Bike Chain http://gcntech.co/wax

Photos: © Velo Collection (TDW) / Getty Images & © Bettiniphoto / http://www.bettiniphoto.net/

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(upbeat music) – Lubricating your
chain is not necessarily as easy as it may sound, certainly not for everybody out there. So the purpose of lubricating your chain is basically to have more
efficient drivetrains, that means a lower friction, as well as reducing the
chance of any corrosion, plus the chance of
wearing out prematurely. So today we’re gonna
look at various methods of lubricating your chain, as well as different lubes for it. (upbeat music) Well firstly let’s talk about Wet Lube. So as the name says, it’s
wet when you apply it, and basically it’s designed
for poor weather conditions. So it does attract generally
a little bit more dirt, grime, dust, that kind of thing. But importantly, it stays in place when the heavens open and
the rain starts coming down. Doesn’t wash off, therefore giving you a squeaky bike. Well worth it for the winter. Then for dry conditions,
we’ve got Dry Lube. All sounds logical, doesn’t it? Although it’s not strictly dry is it, because look, there’s
some liquid in there. Although if you apply it
properly onto your chain, after a few hours basically it leaves a dry film-like coating
across the chain links and also the rollers too. If you don’t apply it properly, it’s just gonna attract a
lot of extra dirt on there. Now if you use this in the wet, it is going to wash off pretty easily giving you a loud squeaking noise, and basically annoying
everybody as well as yourself, and importantly not giving you
the efficiency you deserve, as well as possibly wearing out too fast. Now there are various
different specialist lubricants out there on the market. Basically the purpose
behind them is exactly like the previous two we’ve just mentioned, but generally they are gonna give you a lower friction when
you’re pedaling along, therefore allowing you
to go a little bit faster but for less effort. So for example, you’ve got
UFO Drip from CeramicSpeed, you’ve got TS Bicycle Chain Lube, Race Day Spray from Rex, Chain Lube from Rex as well, plus all importantly
that chain waxing video I did a little while ago where basically I submerged a chain in some melting wax, revealed it, and the results speak for themselves. But how to apply it? This is probably where I’m
at my absolute fussiest when it comes to bike maintenance. So important to remember
is to basically have your drivetrain as clean as possible, so wipe away any excess lubricant, use a degreaser and get
it absolutely spotless. Then find your joining pin, or link, and then rotate the chain backwards until essentially you
find that joining pin in the bottom run of the chain, that’s quite important to remember. And then I prefer to use
a lubricant from a bottle, because I find it easier to apply, don’t have the steadiest of hands. That way as well you can also control how much comes out as you’re going along. And then I start at that joining pin, and basically only apply lubricant to each individual roller. And then as I’m going along, just turn that pedal backwards, and then so forth, until that joining pin comes
all the way back round, then you know you’ve
completed a full revolution. Allow it to settle in for a little while, so just 20, 30 seconds, and then pedal it backwards maybe for about 30 seconds this time, and allowing the lubricant to work its way fully into those rollers and pins. Then in a couple of hours, just wipe away any
excess that you may well have gotten outside of the chain links because you don’t need it there. The only place you need that lubricant is inside of the rollers and pins. Let’s not forget though about aerosols, because they are a very,
very popular choice out there for lubricants. Personally I don’t find
them as easy to use as that of something in a bottle, that’s probably just
because I’ve always tended to use a drop-on type roller
rather than an aerosol. But with a little bit of caution, they can work just as well. But firstly, what are we gonna do. Well if you’ve got disc rotors or calipers on the bike, you’re gonna wanna try and protect them from any wayward spray from the aerosol. So get yourself some cloth and basically cover them up. And the same goes for
braking surfaces too, so try and work away from a rim brake so basically you don’t have poor braking after you’ve lubed your chain. Now there’s a couple of
different techniques here that we can use. The first one, and my preferred one, is find yourself a friend and essentially get them to backpedal whilst you loosely grasp
the chain with a cloth, and then with the aerosol
you spray each roller. And then they’re doing the
hard work for you really, pedaling that backwards. Again, just like with the
lubricant from a bottle, start and finish at the same place on the lower run of chain. The other method is to do it yourself, it’s slightly more labor intensive, although let’s face it, it’s not really much work there is it. So again you would just hold
it and spray, spray, spray, and then backpedal, spray, spray, spray, and so forth. Does take a little bit longer, but hey, it’s not that fun is it. Now some of you out
there will be wondering why on earth I’m not just spraying backwards and forwards, and spinning the cranks around, and using up half a can or
half a bottle at a time. Well, it’s for that exact reason, wastage. And also, you’re not knowing where exactly it’s going that way, are you? Be accurate, and that bottle of lubricant or that aerosol of lubricant
is gonna last you a lot longer. Now just like the other methods, spin the cranks round a couple of times before wiping away any excess, and then you’re good
to go out riding again. But what I want to know is
how do you oil your chain? What’s your preferred method, from a bottle, from a can, or do you wax it, who knows? Let me know in the comments
section down below. Also, remember to like and share this video with your friends, especially if you ride with someone and they’ve got a squeaky chain. My pet hate. Now remember as well to
check out the GCN shop at shop.globalcyclingnetwork.com. And now for another video, this time when I waxed a chain, that’s right, I dipped a chain in hot wax, click just down here.