To clean a chain? The best and cheapest thing to use is kerosene. You can use it, capture it, filter it, and re-use it multiple times. Kerosene is a great solvent making it awesome at dissolving other petroleum products. Off the bike, soak the chain in a tub. On the bike, go buy a spray bottle at the dollar store. Once the chain is wet with it, use a brush to help work it into the grime and loosen all the crud up. Rinses and wipes right off. I like to use chain brushes, but old tooth brush or paint brush works too if you are trying to be as cheap as possible, just takes a bit longer. My favorite brush I have used so far. https://www.amazon.com/DuPont-DMB00...1715576324&sprefix=chain+brush,aps,183&sr=8-7
Once that's done, let it "dry" for a little while. Putting lube on something wet with solvent is just an exercise in futility.
As for what type of lube to use. Hands down the "best" chain lube is gear oil, the heavier the better. The downside to gear oil is mainly that it slings like any other liquid oil and tends to have dirt stick to it. The upside is that it easily gets into the rollers and between the link plates, preventing wear.
Wax is great for a longer lasting solution that is a bit better at avoiding collecting dirt and other crud, but it also doesn't work its way into the rollers to properly lubricate the chain so it doesn't wear. The best way to get around that is to actually bathe the entire chain in melted wax. Paraffin wax melted and mixed with graphite is the absolute best way to do it. Cleaning wax off tends to also be a little more labor intensive.
Grease is one of the best lubes, but it collects dirt worse than oil does. You can actually grease bath a chain just like you do with wax, but you need something that gets hotter than what can melt wax since most grease has a melting point north of 350 degrees. A food fryer is actually a good way to do it, or a pan you don't care about. Just be very careful melting grease over an open flame, as it really likes to catch fire when in liquid form.
Once that's done, let it "dry" for a little while. Putting lube on something wet with solvent is just an exercise in futility.
As for what type of lube to use. Hands down the "best" chain lube is gear oil, the heavier the better. The downside to gear oil is mainly that it slings like any other liquid oil and tends to have dirt stick to it. The upside is that it easily gets into the rollers and between the link plates, preventing wear.
Wax is great for a longer lasting solution that is a bit better at avoiding collecting dirt and other crud, but it also doesn't work its way into the rollers to properly lubricate the chain so it doesn't wear. The best way to get around that is to actually bathe the entire chain in melted wax. Paraffin wax melted and mixed with graphite is the absolute best way to do it. Cleaning wax off tends to also be a little more labor intensive.
Grease is one of the best lubes, but it collects dirt worse than oil does. You can actually grease bath a chain just like you do with wax, but you need something that gets hotter than what can melt wax since most grease has a melting point north of 350 degrees. A food fryer is actually a good way to do it, or a pan you don't care about. Just be very careful melting grease over an open flame, as it really likes to catch fire when in liquid form.
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