FRICTION FICTION
Regular blog readers have seen posts about chain lubes and questions about waxing rather than simply oiling your chain. Zio's firmly in the oil camp and sees no reason to buy-into the claims of the wax-cult.
But someone who REALLY wants you to join the cult is the guy who runs what Zio laughingly calls "Friction Fiction"
Before you take the plunge you might want to read THIS. This huckster is a former cop with zero engineering, mechanical or bike industry background it seems?
Photo above is of Zio's "secret blend" chain lube. Nothing more than an under $20 jug of synthetic automotive gear oil. Thick enough to stay on but thin enough to get inside the chain rollers. He's used it off and on for years but is only now trying a test of how fast a chain wears while using this exclusively.
Some oil gets dripped-on when the chain appears dry with a wipe-off after backpedaling a few times. When the bike gets washed a bit of diesel fuel is brushed on the chain and rest of the drivetrain, then washed-off with the same dish soap used for the rest of the bike. The oil left behind is usually good for a few rides before more oil needs to be applied.
So far, 2000 kilometers on a new chain with ZERO measurable wear. Note that unlike Friction's test this chain was NOT chemically or ultrasonically cleaned, the lube was just dripped on over the lubricant (grease) that was on the chain when it came out of the package. Since there's no issue mixing oil and grease (unlike oil and wax) why anyone using oil would spend time and money REMOVING the grease makes no sense to Zio.
KMC recommends replacement at .08 mm of wear but Zio will replace it before .04 just to make sure the cogs and chainrings don't get worn. Another bike we have here has 4000+ kilometers on its chain with just .02 mm of wear, so a simple oiling regimen (this time with various lubes including FinishLine green and Mobil1) seems just fine as chains are cheap, disposable wear items like tires, so why spend all the money and time pulling 'em off, cleaning 'em in ultrasonic gizmos and then boiling 'em in wax?
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