Latest News 54 – How to maintain your chain!

Alrighty – been on the to do list for awhile!

Good news is so many cyclists are getting onto a lovely low friction lubricant option vs previous options.

But then of course – it is important to know how to maintain your low frictionness!

How you do so, and how often you need to do so, varies by depending on;

• Your lubricant type – immersive wax, refined paraffin base wax drip lubricant, other wax base type drip lubricant, wet lubricant
• Your maintenance preference – off bike (recommended), or on bike
• How you ride – dry road? Dry off road? Wet conditions?

So what to do, how should you do it, and how often – for your lubricant type and your riding – yeehaa – finally a concise guide (for me, and considering the number of variations from the above) is here!

How to use the Zero Friction Cycling chain maintenance guide.

• Largely delete previous knowledge of chain maintenance. Too many people have learned chain maintenance from just really not great sources re chain lubrication. And some may have seemed like they should have great knowledge – like your bike mechanic, or major media like GCN / GMBN – but alas – when it comes to chain friction – what causes it and how to prevent it – whilst there are some exceptions of excellent info from local bike mechanics – often they can be a source of just really bad information dressed up as knowledge. If there is one area in cycling that too many bicycle mechanics lack – it is chain lubrication and maintenance. Again though, there are exceptions – and some great shops / mechanics – you need to know how to tell the difference
  (*if they try to sell you muc-off or finish line or white lightning lubricants – run).
• Similar with most online cycling media and the comments that follow below the articles – (not all – articles by David Rome & James Huang of cycling tips are excellent in the is area, and lennard zimm of velonews is doing great, and mike stead for road.cc as well as simon Bromley of Bike Radar – all have been doing better focused work in this area of last couple years),
• Most definitely discard information from forums / reddit etc. You will be told 50 ways by 50 people that oh what I do is I do a petrol bath, then a diesel bath, then a degreaser spray, then soapy water, then I spin 3 times and face north whilst holding a magnet near the chain, and that was how the head mechanic for Contador showed my bike mechanic who showed me etc etc. I develop a nervous twitch when I read articles on chain maintenance!
• Read the initial info at start of the guide, then scroll to the section of the guide that is relevant to you (lubricant type, on or off bike, type of riding – follow the instruction flow).

Overall the maintenance is simple. Very simple. ON or off bike. It just takes in some cases ensuring you have the correct cleaning agent – aside from that – very easy.

If you swear by your diesel / petrol / kerosene / shellite / naptha / napalm etc etc routine – its your drivetrain – if you believe your way works – have at it and be happy.
If you have been unsure and want to follow a maintenance guide from a strange person who has devoted a ridiculous amount of time resources and independent testing focused in a very narrow band in the world of cycling being that of chain lubrication – the guide is found in the instructions tab on zfc website.
https://zerofrictioncycling.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/chain-maintenance-guide-v4.pdf

I didn’t bother putting in there as it was long enough already the main things to really avoid – like the above – I will probably cover the big no’s another time.

Very quickly though – why not the above?

Well, are you cleaning your chain using such brushes, or pushing contamination from outside the chain to inside the chain where it will do a lot of damage? (it is far better off hanging out on the outside of the chain). If you are reaching for a brush to clean your chain, you may get a clean outside – but you should be worried about what is on the inside. You can undo the damage if you put enough solvent product through to flush chain – but it would be best to just not put more contamination inside to start with that you then need to try to get out.

Lastly – on the lubricants stocked and recommended by ZFC – they will generally require MUCH less maintenance time to remain low friction vs a meh or poor lubricant choice. Some lubricants really take so much maintenance and product cost to try to keep them relatively low friction and wear, it just becomes a false economy.

As such as always, step one is just make sure you are on a proven top lubricant choice that suits your riding first. Then learn the quick process to maintain that lubricant choice.

So many things are oh so much easier with just a little bit of correct knowledge. Again this area is just so flooded with so much terrible information – it is a battle to try to penetrate all that mess / noise – but over time see if you can help more cyclists get onto correct maintenance, and a proper lubricant product – and lets keep saving so many drivetrains from an early death.

Have fun and stay low friction!
https://zerofrictioncycling.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/chain-maintenance-guide-v4.pdf