If you ride your bike a lot, you will frequently be lubing your bicycle chain.
You’re in luck, we’re going to take a look at it and I’m going to show you the easiest and fastest way to lube your bike chain.
Now that you’ve had a quick look at what it takes to lube your chain lets take a look at the parts involved and a more detailed look at what we are doing.
The Parts We Are Working on
We took a look at the parts involved a little while back in our look at When To Shift Gears, here’s another look at them.
Here again we are working with the drivetrain on the bicycle. Specifically the chain, chainrings and cassette.
Materials We Need
In this case we just need 2 things. The chain lube, and an old but clean rag.
Lately I have been using an excellent new lube made right down in Austin Texas. Check out Orange Seal’s Orange Slide Chain Lube. Good stuff!
In the video I used a bottle of Rock N’ Roll Gold Lube, also a very good quality lubricant.
How to Lube Your Bicycle Chain
So you see the parts involved. The rest is easy, watch the video above first and I will give you the step by step down here.
1. Stand your bike up or put it on a repair stand
You really don’t want to flip it upside down, if you have hydraulic brakes – which a lot of bikes have now – you risk getting air caught in the lines causing your breaks to potentially fail. It’s best if you have a repair stand, but so long as you can spin your chain backwards you will be set.
2. Clean your chain, cassette and chainrings
Use a degreaser, my recommendation is for Simple Green. It’s cheap, powerful and available at pretty much every Wal-Mart, Home Depot, or Lowes. Spray it on, let it sit for 5 minutes and then spray it off with a garden hose. But be sure not to use high pressure or it could get into your bikes seals.
3. Put the chain in the middle ring
Having the chain in the middle ring is good practice. From this position you can easily move it up or down once you’re done.
4. Place the lube bottle applicator tip on the chain
Seriously, it’s that simple. Turn it upside down and put it the bottle of lube right on the chain. It should immediately start dripping lube onto the chain.
Warning! Make sure you don’t accidentally get any lube on your disc brakes.
5. Spin the chain backwards
Spin the chain by pedaling backwards with your hand while you keep the bottle of lube on the chain. You’re tire will remain still but the chain should be spinning freely. Do this for 4-10 slow revolutions. After that you should have an evenly lubricated chain.
6. Shift up and down
Shift through all of your gears, including the front derailleur’s rings. This will get just a bit of lube on each of the rings.
7. Wipe off the excess lubricant
Take your clean rag and gently hold it around your chain, spin the cranks once or twice again backwards. This should remove any excess lubrication that is on your bike chain.
You’re set!
Get on your bike and ride man, you’re chain is a well-lubricated, singletrack-crushing monster!
I hope that helps you keep your bike in great condition. Having a well lubricated chain will certainly help your parts to last and save you some money in the long run. Lubing your bicycle chain is easy and so is sharing this post. Please help us out in sharing the content, Give us a Facebook Like or a Google +1 if this helped you.
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