1504
Murica (lemmy.ml)
submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by to c/greentext@sh.itjust.works
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[–] 2 points 2 years ago (3 children)

I literally lubbed my bike chain with olive oil once in a while for a couple of years whilst using it almost daily to commute to work.

One can get away with A LOT when it comes to bicycles.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago* (2 children)

    I mean oil is oil, some are better as lubricants but all of them are going to reduce friction somewhat. When I rode fixies there were all sorts of weird home solutions being used in my group, but it didn't really matter because those chains are bomb proof.

    I can't say for certain but if you tried the olive oil trick in a modern 10/11/12 speed drivetrain it would not last long. Not really because of an increase in friction but all of the dirt olive/vegetable/mineral oil attract. Lubricant is much thinner and doesn't 'hold' dirt to the same degree, especially inside the roller links.

    Wax improves the lifespan not by dramatically reducing friction, but by making dirt ingress virtually zero. The actual power gains are maybe a few watts, and that's if you use special wax additives to further reduce friction.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (1 child)

    Well, my bicycles have always been 2nd hand (or 3rd, 4th or 5th) or very cheap brand new ones because something I was going to leave tied to a post in the middle of the street whilst at work or shopping isn't going to be something that when it eventually gets stolen it would really hurt my wallet (a Bicycle Philosophy I learned whilst living in The Netherlands) - so, run-of-the-mill bicycles with run-of-the-mill parts which I just regularly used, treated with no special care and just did some basic maintenance on.

    They all lasted years being used and abused like that, all up until each was stolen (I kid you not!), except the last one which hasn't been stolen yet.

    So my point is that for one's everyday cheap bicycle that one doesn't really have any special emotional attachment to, olive oil on the chain is fine if one can't be arsed to buy the proper materials ;)

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago

    My point was never that waxing chains is the perfect end-all solution. I originally replied to a person that said they degreased their chain and only got about 2-3k miles before needing to replace it. From my experience that's due to stripping away the factory oil, and if you are degreasing anyways you are halfway to just waxing the chain.

    If you want something to be dead set reliable modern group sets aren't going to be your friend, no matter what you are using on the chain. A single speed chain with geared hub is going to be more reliable than pretty much anything else on the bike.

    Waxing has real benefits but it's not always worth it depending on where and how you ride. For instance, the dirt in my area is extremely dusty and destroyed my lubed MTB chain in about 2k miles. Waxing was a massive improvement and has already saved me from replacing $300 worth of chain and cassette.

    It's your bike though, and different strokes work for different folks. I fight against cars, not fellow bikers.

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