Never Buy Chain Lube Again? Comparison Test

chain lube according to renegade riders this is an industry trick to make us spend money on something we don't need or more conspiratorial II I'm something that actually helps change to die sooner huh such treachery such cause to investigate at once after some branding what is chain lube for Lube lubrication most motorcyclists will say lubrication but most motorcycle chains say no let's prefix our test with a piercing game of Pictionary motorcycle chain makes morons like me think of metal on metal links please well these should require lubricant oh no [ __ ] half-wit but plain chains paint too simple a picture 95% of us don't run these anymore our asinine asses i pulled around by o or x-ring chains which are internally permanently lubricated when you have some outer plates here that hold fast to rivet pins and then inner plates which do not right here is where your pivoting happens so there's a bath of factory grease to smooth that along here's the part I can never seem to get through my head no matter what you put on your chain it can't touch this if it could that would mean that your factory seals are shot in which case the chain is about as useless as a ventilated condom now sure and there's also movement here where the o-ring joins two independently moving plates but whatever bollocks moose power your lubricant claims to find it won't really decrease the friction between the seal and the steel your wallet will if you're poor like me you bought a Rings these squish to a relatively large contact area a nitrile on steel doesn't produce a ton of friction but multiplied by two seals per link 100 some odd links well suddenly the chain doesn't like to been that much rich [ __ ] with their fancy ex rings get less surface area they get a second failsafe seal they get some extra grease lifts in between they get a chain that bends easier if an o-ring chain steals one horsepower on its way to the ground a fancy X ring anklet is gonna take only about half a horsepower but wait up wiseguy and there's also friction here where the chain contacts the sprocket true but that's why we have the rollers so they can hit the socket and then pivot relative to this inner bushing and that's happening right about here I'm putting lubricant on the outside of a roller is not gonna help anything in fact it simply will not stay there it doesn't matter how clingy your lubes film strength is the monstrous force of a motorcycle cast it aside like a one-night stand wherever rollers contact the sprocket under pressure lube gets squished away this is not the inside of an engine there's no system constantly resupplying oil under pressure train rollers will be metal on metal contact within a few rotations and that's okay so what is chain lube for well the primary answer is manufacturers are unafraid to admit is rust prevention which is awkward because wd-40 will do that engine oil will do it help cooking spray should do it of course there's also a second reason to lube modern chains and that's to replenish this tiny bit of unsealed grease between the roller and the bushing maybe some fancy lubes will stay there longer maybe penetrants like wd-40 will seep in there better and maybe some of them pick up so much salty abrasive grit that they undo their own benefit these are the conspiratorial questions we ask now let's test some answers [Music] Bellary super clean is the most popular conventional Lube perhaps because it dries white and that takes the guess work out of application but you pay for it it's 22 bucks a can Maxima chain wax is only 12 bucks a can and rivals Bell Rays popularity for that reason it's a wax based lubricant paraffin to be precise so it should excel in repelling water and rust Oxford's mint dry weather Lube is the opposite it's not waterproof at all but it contains PTFE substance like Teflon with one of the lowest coefficients of friction ever measured nothing will stick to this stuff it should win our grit pickup test funny side note Oxford is legally obligated to warn that sniffing their product can kill you yet they made it smell like tasty mint hmm muck off boasts an equally feckless feature and that it glows in ultraviolet light I don't know about you but I keep many black lights in my toolbox and of course I want to keep my over spray patterns hidden to everyone except Nancy Drew in the cast of CSI no anyway this long distance chain lube uses ceramics to be exceptionally durable tiny dots in the formula roll around like a million ball bearings simultaneously creating very low friction and also an armadillo esque coat of armour Markov says you can go longer between applications critics say that ceramics are abrasives at worst and the gimmick at best we'll see modal's c5 chain paste goes on like paint so I never worry about spritzing my brake discs by mistake I also never worry about throwing it in my side case only to pop a lid and soak my undies and aerosol in fact without needing a carrier to propel active ingredients through the air you probably get more of the good stuff in 150 mils of this and then 400 mils of the others it's the Rafal unit choice wd-40 is your famous water displacer rust preventer and we saw in the last test video that it makes a passable chain cleaner so if it survives our lube tests that's gonna be a damn tempting one-and-done gear oil is another cheap fix it's also what my current chain recommends which I'd have known a long time ago if I actually read the instructions that came with it most chains suggest something thick 75 80 90 weight so it doesn't fling off everywhere and turn your motorcycle into a green piece wet nightmare and finally cooking spray because I'm curious if household lubes do a passable job and this is the most pg-13 one I could find the contestants are given 10 minutes to dig in before being assaulted by salty water blown completely dry and then soaked once more how much rust appears will be our measure of a lubes ability to hold its barrier against rainy windy rides muck off and Belle Rae invite all their fairest friends over to party there are some middling options who keep it to a small gathering then maxima and gear oil completely lock the door on rust however we know that replenishing the rollers lubricant is also relevant the fluidity of this rotation is what we're trying to isolate so I harvest a bunch of inner links as always from a brand new chain then strip them of existing grease with a nice relaxing gasoline bath the links are then re lubricated with each of our chain lubes and left to dig in or dry out as the case may be overnight I placed the first link on a scale and use a rubber wheel of constant power output to get the rollers rolling pressure is slowly applied until the friction force beneath the rollers overcomes the force of our electric motor this control link which was stripped with gasoline but never really brocaded grinds to a halt at a mere 380 grams of pressure if our lubes do anything to decrease that friction they should stay spinning under heavier loads than that [Music] so muck off ceramic balls are no joke neither is Maxima or gear oil both of which slipped beneath our rollers similarly well it seems that wd-40 had the least benefit over an unlubricated chain my guess is that it penetrated all right but evaporated overnight so we've tested what we want our Lube to do stop rust and roll rollers but there are also a couple things we don't want it to do and make a mess of our rear wheel and pick up abrasive grit 8 test subjects are thoroughly cleaned lubricated and given time to set they are spun at a constant speed and the splatter pattern is observed at a constant distance the chains are then allowed to pick up a teaspoon of conveniently colorful grit and flung for another 10 seconds true to its name Bell Ray's super clean chain lube left our spray catcher pretty clean a visual inspection of the chain shows that it's stuck to a decent amount of dirt though I'll spare you the tedious repetition of a light and science which I've narrowly if not completely avoided and zoom ahead to the results in order of messiness cooking oil wd-40 maxima and engine oil immediately sling off the chain and make a murder scene of my index card meanwhile muck off slimy long distance lube holds true to its name durably clinging to links and therefore leaving nearly no splatter Britt adhesion hosts the Revenge of the reasonably-priced with wd-40 and cooking oil keeping their noses clean Oxford's Teflon loaded dry lube also unsurprisingly does well modal gear oil and muck off are middling than Bell ray and maxima lose picking up every salty abrasive chain killing Colonel they come into contact with so we have four scores from four tests rust prevention roller lubrication anti splatter and anti grit thus our combined ranking is finally set assuming that performance in every area matters to you I'll know that gear oil Oxford and modal are the most consistent contestants [Music] so I for one will never buy chain lube again gear oil is what most manufacturers recommend and almost as if they done R&D on the subject that proves to be the best choice I had hope wd-40 would make a passable lube because cleaning and greasing my chain with one cheap thing would make my heart sing but alas science cares not for our hopes and dreams nor their hopes and dreams of selling an inferior product for 15 bucks it can stay greasy my friends what is that [ __ ]

Channel: FortNine

Views: 2,442,812

Rating: 4.9099298 out of 5

Keywords: best, chain, lubricant, lube, motorcycle, tested, comparison, 2019, 2018, fortnine, ryanf9, ryan fortnine, bicycle, wax, diy, dirt bike, mountain bike, scientific, test, chain oil, maintenance, canada, how to, chain cleaning tips, motor oil, motul, wd40, oxford, muc-off, maxima, bel-ray, bicycle chain, tips, tricks, Motorcycle (Automotive Class), How-to (Website Category), Automobile (TV Genre), lubricate

Id: VnPYdcbcAe0

Length: 12min 38sec (758 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 19 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/JackRabbit_IM]

Fortnine, once again, setting the bar for informative motorcycle content.

[u/Grobyc27]

FortNine videos just keep getting better and better. Great production quality with very informative and well delivered material. I've since gotten past the fact that Ryan looks disturbingly similar to Geoffrey from GoT. Took a little bit to be completely honest, but he's good shit. Smart and funny guy.

[u/Geralt_De_Rivia]

I’ll give gear oil a go. Tired of spending money in sprays.

[u/[deleted]]

Instructions not clear, use gear oil instead of PAM for cooking?

[u/HansChuzzman]

Fortnine
Advanced
Research & Testing

Lol another great pg13 joke in there

[u/rylark]

The maxima test seemed really unfair. Wax products need way more time to settle in. Giving Maxima only a few minutes to rest and jumping immediately into a messiness test, well no shit it'll fling everywhere and serve as glue for every particle that touches it.

[u/F-21]

I like the initial presentation, he explains quite well how the main part of the chain is actually lubricated, and really that the main reason for the oil is to prevent rust - not only on the chain rollers, but also on the sprockets. The hardened surface of the sprockets and rollers will last a long time without lubrication (and lubrication does not work in this way, as he described), but since it is constantly rubbing, it promotes oxidation if there is no lube. Rust takes the surface hardness away too...

Still, if you compare a motorcycle chain to a classic industrial chain with no seals, a motorcycle chain will be functional a lot longer if both are never lubricated, since it is factory lubed and sealed...

[u/samcuu]

Did not expect the one sneaky "shit" allowed for PG-13 at the end.

[u/fresh_n_clean]

Had Chain Wax and a Grunge Brush in my Revzilla shopping cart. Guess I'll be removing the Chain Wax and getting Gear Oil instead.

I wonder if the 75W-90 rating is significant for chains though?