My spreadsheet for 2024 will be published as a Google Sheet on my Google Drive account. There will be a link on my cycling page. I rode my Cannondale Topstone. I rode 7,581,67 Km.
I continued to make notes of maintenance. I continued to lubricate the drive train with paraffin, which protects YBN SLC11 chains from elongation wear.
I had a shop rebuild the wheels with new rims and hubs. I installed new pulley wheels in the drive train, with Shimano Ultegra pulley wheels with sealed bearings. Those pulleys are compatible with Shimano 105 drive train components. I installed a new stem to raise the handlebars a couple of cm. (which seems to be only way with a carbon fork and steerer in an alloy frame, as I could not install an extender compatible with Cannondale components on the steerer tube). My tires stood up well but I will replace them.
The weather in November and December restricted rides.
This is Part 4 of a series of 8 posts organized as a single article. individually published as posts on this blog. The series is organized into sections, numbered for reference in the table of contents for each post. In March 2024 I began to reorganize and revise the long article. The article is organized into sections, numbered for reference here and in the table 0f contents for each post.
bicycle “drip lube” lubricants, with notes on pricing;
in sections:
people and projects,
testing chains and lubricants for efficiency and wear, and
innovations in lubricants.
This part mentions products that will be discussed in Part 7:
paraffin wax applied by immersion of a chain in melted paraffin wax, and
wax based chain coating fluid products applied to a chain wet, that dry to wax-like states.
Some sections of this part refer to subjects and persons discussed in Part 2 in this series, on Roller Chain, and Part 6 on durability.
7. Lubricating Fluids
Motor Oil
Motor oil, the lubricating oil refined/processed and sold for use in 4 stroke internal combustion engines, was sold in quart containers for most of the 20th century. For decades the containers were cardboard cylinders with metal end caps. Automotive service centers (garages) issued workers spouts that could both puncture a metal end cap, and pour oil into the filler tube of an automobile engine. By the end of 1990s
motor oil was sold in plastic bottles by the quart or gallon;
most motor oil is formulated with “detergent” additives to chemically affect the productions of combustion left in the cylinders of internal combustion engines.
Some motor oils made for automobiles have been tested for efficiency (power lost to friction; see below) as bicycle chain lubricants, and have done reasonably well. Motor oil has tradeoffs:
Viscous friction – it takes slightly more energy to move a chain lubricated with a viscous oil than a “thinner” oil
Additives – modern additives have changed the lubrication properties of motor oil. There are
Adhesion – dirt sticks to motor oil, and oil sticks to clothing and skin when the rider contacts the chain or the chain flings lube. Motor oil can only be removed from a chain with detergents or mineral spirits. Cleaning an oily chain can involve removing the chain from the bike frame.
Additives in motor oil can be avoided by purchasing additive-free oils if available; some bike lube manufacturers use high quality motor oil as a base stock for bike lube. For instance Silca Velo uses a synthetic motor oil, without “detergent”. Other disadvantages of purchasing from the automotive section of the market:
having to buy a whole quart (or litre, if that is the standard container), and store it for years,
disposing of waste material in an environmentally sound and legal way.
A quart (946 ml.) of high quality Mobil 1 synthetic motor oil cost about $15 (Canadian) at Canadian Tire and other retail outlets in British Columbia in February 2022. Half a cup, valued at about 50 cents per ounce, would be worth $2. Canadian Tire sells other automotive motor oils in 5 liter (one gallon) sizes. It sells its house brand MotoMaster (distilled by Shell) non detergent engine oil in a 1 quart size for about $6. It sells MotoMaster motorcycle 4 stroke engine oil at $11 per quart. Conversions:
Lubricant manufacturers and bike shops began to sell bicycle chain lubrication fluids, often labeled “wet” or “dry”, in small applicator bottles in the 1970s and 80s. Other lubrication products are sold in applicator bottles.
The online magazine Road Bike Rider made a list of manufacturers or brands of drip lubes in 2019, updated in 2021. It includes:
Dupont, a brand mow held by the successor of Dupont DeMours and Dow, both chemical manufacturers,
the automotive lubricant brand Dumonde Tech,
the solvent and household lubricant brand WD-40 (which owns the venerable brand and intellectual propery (“IP”) of 3-in-One), and
several bike drip chain lubes sold in bicycle shops and online including:
Ceramic Speed,
Finish Line,
MSpeedwax (Molten Speed Wax),
Muc-Off,
Park Tool,
Pro-Gold,
Pedros,
Rock and Roll,
Squirt, and
Tri-Flow.
The list does not include manufacturers new to bike lubricant market since 2019, including Silca Velo, Tru-Tension, Rex. None of the drip lubes in the list above did well in Friction Facts efficiency testing or Zero Friction testing for chain durability.
The article, like most printed and online magazine articles, does not discuss the ingredients, the manufacturing processes or the way the lubricants are supposed to work – are they oils, or delivery vehicles for polymers believed to reduce friction in the moving parts of the chain? No manufacturers or vendors disclose it, and few journalists, mechanics and riders know.
Prices
None of the independent bike shops in Victoria post lube prices online (as of early 2022). Chain stores in Victoria BC with web sites include:
Trek store;
Mountain Equipment Coop (a Canadian retail chain selling “outdoor” products);
Canadian Tire (a Canadian retail chain selling “outdoor” products);
Walmart (retail chain selling “outdoor” products) has a confusing and overheated online market.
Prices in 2022 ($ Canadian except $US in US stores noted) for a 118 or 120 ml. (4 oz.) bottle of common bike lubes. I have not updated prices after inflation in the period 2022-24:
Trek Store
MEC
Cdn. Tire
ProGold Prolink
14.95
ProGold Extreme
18.95
Muc-Off Wet or Dry
14.95
Muc-Off C3 Ceramic Wet or Dry
23.95
Squirt Long Lasting Dry
19.95
Squirt Low Temperature
23.95
Bontrager (Trek store house brand)
11.99 9.50 (US)
Park Tool CL-1
13.99
White Lightning Clean Ride Dry
8.99 (US)
White Lightning Wet Ride
8.99 (US)
White Lightning Epic Ride
9.99 (US)
Finish Line, Wet or Dry
9.99 (US)
WD-40 Bike Chain Lubricant Wet or Dry
12.99 (US)
9.99
Silca Velo’s oil based wet lubes: Synergetic and Synerg-e (e-bike lube) are available from Silca by mail order. The price of Synergetic, as of April 2022, was $33.95 ($US) for a 59 ml. (2 oz.) drip bottle. Shipping is free on orders over $99 ($US). Synergetic is available in some bike shops in Victoria – e.g. Fort Street – I have not checked prices.
Drip lubes are more expensive than motor oil. Drip lube prices do not seems to be based on the cost of base stocks. The cost of making, filling and handling dozens of bottles for each quart of product may be a factor. Prices are set by manufacturers and vendors based on supply and demand, and the perceived marginal utility of the product. Cycling lube is often a small product line for chemical processing enterprises or conglomerate enterprises, although a profitable revenue stream.
Efficiencies and Wear
Among the drip lubes tested for chain wear by Zero Friction Cycling (“ZFC”), there were bad results for
several Muc-Off products,
White Lightning products,
some Finish Line products and
several other wet and dry drip lubes.
Finish Line Dry with Teflon, a favourite with online reviewers, was assessed by ZFC in 2023 as “not terrible”.
ZFC found that Silca Velo’s Synergetic, a wet oil-based lube, was reasonably good when applied while the chain was run under low contamination conditions, and under moderate contamination for a reasonable time.
Manufacturing and Marketing
The cycling lubricant field is influenced by the engineering and manufacturing practices of the automotive lubricant industry. Drip lubes are made with base fluids, carrier fluids and additives. Manufacturers acquire fluids distilled from petroleum – solvents or oils (respectively, mineral spirits or mineral oils), mix them with additives, package the product in small plastic drip/squeeze bottles or aerosol or spray vessels, sell to bike shops and department stores, and market. The bottles do not have:
detailed ingredient lists,
use instructions, or
warnings about the product’s durability.
“Dry” drip lubes made of volatile carrier fluids are popular. One selling point of dry drip lubes is avoiding entanglement of clothing in or contact with the dirty, oily chain, and avoiding the fling or spray of oil droplets from the chain without using devices (e.g. pant clips) to restrain clothing, metal or plastic chain covers or chain guards.
Pedro’s Ice Wax, marketed as an “advanced natural dry lube” was a drip lubricant. Pedro’s describes its history as a lubricant maker:
In 1989, roommates Bruce Fina and Andrew Herrick founded the Pedro’s brand around a revolutionary chain lube called Syn Lube developed by Bruce’s tribologist brother. Friends of Bruce and Andrew were living and racing mountain bikes in the Pacific Northwest and couldn’t find a lube that would last an entire race in the muddy conditions. The other Teflon-based chain lubes couldn’t handle the mud. Formulated with extreme pressure additives, corrosion inhibitors, and tackifiers to provide incredible wear protection, lubrication, and staying power in extreme wet and muddy conditions, Syn Lube quickly became the lube of choice. Once mountain bikers tried Syn Lube and experienced its performance, word spread, demand skyrocketed, and the Pedro’s brand was officially off to the races!
The wax is/was probably paraffin. The original formulation of Pedro’s Ice Wax, as tested by Friction Facts in 2013 (below) was relatively inefficient. Pedro’s introduced Ice Wax 2.0 and “Slack Lube” later. There are several other drip lubes with wax. It is useful to distinguish drip lubes marketed as wax from wax emulsions. Wax emulsions are fluids, and applied with drippers but differ from most drip lubes.
Bicycle lube manufacturers often claim that drip lubes clean while lubricating. These claims are never supported by evidence or test results. Few manufacturers even venture to explain how a lubricant can contain or coexist with detergents and solvents. Riders can hear an unlubed chain, a dry chain, or a corroded chain and may notice dirt sticking to a chain or caking on the chainwheels, cassette cogs or derailleur pulleys. Riders may apply large amount of lube to “flush” out dirt. Lube can work on a chain that has dried out after being exposed to large volumes or flows of water (water can break down oils. The chain flings off water but lacks lubricant and behaves poorly after drying). Fresh lube may help to dissolve surface corrosion on a lightly oxidized chain. Flushing out dirt contamination “in” the chain with lube is a theoretical possibility but has not been demonstrated.
Lube manufacturers claim that their products are superior. A few make explicit efficiency claims based on proprietary/confidential test reports. Such behavior by established brands tends to conceal or discredit claims that these are inferior lubricants.
Consumers know, as matter of principle, we can not rely on and should not trust marketing claims. The law in most of the industrialized world – and particularly in the UK and USA makes it hard for consumers to hold manufacturers liable for misleading claims of quality. The leading legal principle is caveat emptor (buyer beware). Courts traditionally brush marketing claims off as puffery. While most consumers think they can detect bullshit, most are overconfident about their capability. Consumers rely on misleading indicators of quality – e.g. brand, packaging, price? Often consumers buy because they need something, and will accept whatever they can find.
Teflon – Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) – has been a drip lube additive. Rock ‘n Roll and other drip lubes with Teflon did well in Friction Facts efficiency tests (below). Finish Line USA markets itself as a firm specializing in cycling, and markets its Finish Line dry lube for coating chain parts with Teflon. Teflon is a Dupont brand and trademark, and the common name for PTFE. Finish Line USA is the manufacturer of the Dupont brand of bike lube. Finish Line USA states in its marketing that it was founded by an engineer who had worked for Mobil, the automotive lubricant distiller/manufacturer. PTFE is a fluorocarbon. Some lubricant manufacturers, in the 21st century, disparage competitors for using fluorocarbons, which are greenhouse gases.
Some additives promoted by manufacturers have not been proved to decease wear:
“ceramic” additives;
carbon tubes or particles or nano additives;
micro-sized tungsten spheres.
The marketing-driven model that microscopic particles act like bearings is theoretically flawed. Indeed the empirical evidence suggests that such particles, like dust and grit, contaminate the oil and contribute to chain wear.
8. People and Projects
Introduction
This section touches on scientific and industrial testing of materials. Mainly, it discusses sources that have been mentioned in this series, and this post. The inventions are cleaning and lubrication products. While useful products have come to market, maintenance and cleaning of drive trains is not well known.
The inventions, plans and goals had economic factors. I mention the economic factors to understanding how manufactured items operate, and which ones were sold and distributed. Some of the people challenged the consensus narratives of the lubrication industries and bicycle component manufacturing and sales industries by
testing bicycle chains and lubricants;
publishing the results of testing in journals, magazines, web pages and social media, and
developing, producing and marketing durable chains and lubricants that provable reduced chain wear.
The persons discussed had a combination of curiosity and economic interests or hopes. Many of the projects and publications discuss new products that mechanics and rider might use. My interest was how they increased knowledge and awareness of chain maintenance and effected changes in the bicycle markets.
Testing Materials
Standards for materials and testing materials and testing devices to measure the properties of materials were developed by individuals and by industrial entities, often by commercial entities.
The Rockwell scales of hardness, typically used in engineering and metallurgy, were named for its inventors, the Rockwell brothers who worked for a company that made ball bearings.
1.1 This test method covers laboratory procedures for determining the resistance of materials to sliding wear. The test utilizes a block-on-ring friction and wear testing machine to rank pairs of materials according to their sliding wear characteristics under various conditions. 1.2 An important attribute of this test is that it is very flexible. Any material that can be fabricated into, or applied to, blocks and rings can be tested. Thus, the potential materials combinations are endless. However, the interlaboratory testing has been limited to metals. In addition, the test can be run with various lubricants, liquids, or gaseous atmospheres, as desired, to simulate service conditions. Rotational speed and load can also be varied to better correspond to service requirements. 1.3 The values stated in SI units are to be regarded as standard. The values given in parentheses are for information only. Wear test results are reported as the volume loss in cubic millimetres for both the block and ring. Materials of higher wear resistance will have lower volume loss. 1.4 This standard does not purport to address all of the safety concerns, if any, associated with its use. It is the responsibility of the user of this standard to establish appropriate safety, health, and environmental practices and determine the applicability of regulatory limitations prior to use. 1.5 This international standard was developed in accordance with internationally recognized principles on standardization established in the Decision on Principles for the Development of International Standards, Guides and Recommendations issued by the World Trade Organization Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Committee.
The ASTM G77 standard is used in machines like the ones use by Josh Poertner of Silca Velo, discussed below. In those videos a metal sample “pin” or block (not a pin from a chain) is held against the ring of the device.
BTI Site and Writers
The Bicycle Technical Information pages written and published by Sheldon Brown were noted in Part 1 in this series. The pages on that site were written by Sheldon Brown and other authors including John S. Allen. I cited papers by the late Jobst Brandt on lubrication and cleaning. Brandt is the author of a published and well regarded book on bicycle wheels, and was involved in many ventures including the Avocet cycling computer, one of the first cycling computers.
Journalists, Cycling Publications
VeloNews was a printed magazine about cycling, and at of 2024 is an online publication. It covered technical issues seriously at one time. In 2018 it was folded into the Outside magazine brand which treats cycling as a consumer lifestyle choice.
CyclingTips was an online cycling publication that was folded into the Outside magazine brand in 2022 and effectively closed by the new owners of the company.
Notable writers:
Caley Fretz, once a technical writer and editor at VeloNews became an editor in chief at CyclingTips, and later at Escape Collective;
James Huang, once a technical writer, was an editor at CyclingTips, and later at Escape Collective until May 2024;
Dave Rome, once a technical writer, became an editor at CyclingTips, and later at Escape Collective;
Brad Copeland, a mechanic who has worked for mountain bike racing teams (Specialized, Scott-SRAM) and worked with broadcast media joined Escape Collective in June 2024
Jason Smith, Friction Facts, Ceramic Speed
Jason Smith, an engineer in Boulder, Colorado, USA ran Friction Facts (“FF”) from 2012 to 2015. I have not read material that explains the business model for FF. FF followed up on the idea of testing the efficiency of bicycle chains lubricated with various products, that emerged from academic engineering theory. Jason Smith became an expert of testing methods and drive train friction. He disposed of FF 2016. A search engine may direct a reader to a site in a domain called Friction Facts. That domain, as of 2022, contained puff reviews of cycling products. It may have been acquired by a cybersquatter.
Jason Smith became an associated with the lubrication and cycling accessory firm Ceramic Speed, which manufactures and sells bearings, drive train products, the UFO brand of bicycle lubricants and several automotive products.
While Jason Smith was running FF, some of the test results were published. The main FF test results can be accessed on a Ceramic Speed web page. Ceramic Speed continued to test lubricants, and components for chain efficiency, but does not publish them. It has shared some results, and some results have become available.
Ceramic Speed launched a wax emulsion fluid chain lubricant product, UFO Drip, in 2017. It was and is made with emulsified paraffin or similar compounds that are applied to chains on the bike, like drip lubes, and left to dry before the chain is properly lubricated and ready for riding.
John Thompson & Molten Speed Wax
John Thompson is a businessman in St. Paul, Minnesota USA. He established Molten Speed Wax to manufacture a commercial paraffin wax blend that could be applied to a bike chain, off the bike, immersed in molten wax. Molten Speed Wax’s story:
The hot wax technique has likely been around since “Mile-A-Minute Murphy’s” era [about 1899?], so why did we wait until 2013 to try it?
Our family’s history racing bicycles dates back to the early 70’s when waxing was somewhat common; we certainly were aware of the technique. To add insult to injury, we’ve sold cross-country ski wax in our winter business for over a decade. We know wax like the back of our hands, including all the eclectic additives and myriad application techniques. You’d think we could put two and two together.It took a clever engineer named Jason Smith to put us on the right path. Jason figured out that a waxed chain rivals the efficiency of a perpetual motion machine. He added a little PTFE (the non-stick coating on your frying pan) and molybdenum disulfide / MoS₂ (dry lube that’s hard to pronounce) to paraffin and published the info for everyone to see. Before we knew it we were “cooking chains” in our basement and experimenting with our own additives and techniques. Now our wax is made in large batches with high tech industrial machines the size of small cars.
Everyone has a Eureka moment in life. For us, it was realizing that we could virtually end chainring tattoos on cyclists’ calves. Seriously, we saw an opportunity to help DIY folks by premixing the ingredients into an easy to use, packaged product. Waxing for top performance is simple if you don’t have to source and mix your own PTFE and MoS₂. We also created in-depth, step-by-step directions with helpful tips so it’s nearly impossible to mess up. If you can make instant pudding, waxing a chain is child’s play.
Molten Speed Wax (web site), About page (quote taken 2023-10-08)
The history of paraffin as a bicycle chain lubricant musthave been recorded in newspapers, magazines, journals, fanzines, letters and correspondence and other sources but little such material is available in a internet/web search program.
Adam Kerin, Zero Friction Cycling
Adam Kerin was and is a cyclist interested in road riding, cyclo-cross, and mountain bikes racing. At one point in his life he was a law enforcement officer.
He started Zero Friction Cycling (“ZFC”), a firm in the bicycle maintenance business in Adelaide, Australia, in 2017/18. It specializes in maintaining and selling bike chains and lubricants. He developed test devices and methods to run different chains with different lubricants for thousands of kilometers with electric motors in his test machines. In 2021, ZFC launched a YouTube channel which is a tool and platform for Adam Kerin to report on his research and explain his ideas. Adam Kerin was and is an advocate of paraffin lubrication. He also presents his finding in reports and other documents published on the ZFC web pages. His style is discursive.
Adam Kerin was interviewed by the Australian mechanic and cycling tech writer Dave Rome for CyclingTips in March 2018. The new owners of CyclingTips repackaged ontent within other Outside magazine branded cycling content. The interview has disappeared.
ZFC tests chains and lubricants. Adam Kerin makes an argument about for the economic advantages of using quality chain and lubricants, and investing time and effort in chain cleaning and maintenance. He has compared the marketing of most drip lubes, wet and dry, to the marketing of “snake oil” in 19th century patent medicines, but has not claimed the marketing is illegal or fraudulent. 1American law banned false medical claims about drugs in 1906. There is no effective consumer protection law against vague claims about automotive, household or bicycle lubricants.
Episode 11 of the Zero Friction Cycling (“ZFC”) YouTube series complains that some lube manufacturers market lubes with claims mainly based in efficiency testing done by those manufacturers or private labs. In some instances manufacturers imply that their product performs better, or that competing products performed poorly in the manufacturers’ tests. ZFC YouTube Episode 12 criticizes most cycling journalists for reporting on lubes based on short observations of whether a bike chain appears to run quietly and shift smoothly.
ZFC has identified the manufacturer of the Muc-Off products – which have not fared well in ZFC tests – as using its own efficiency tests to disparage competitors. ZFC’s post or page Muc-Off Files Part 1 (notes of its discussions with Muc-Off in March 2022) and ZFC YouTube channel Episode 16 and Muc-Off files Part 2 (Cycling Most Dishonest Marketing?), ZFC YouTube channel Episode 20 explains Adam Kerin’s doubts about Muc-Off’s efficiency claims.
His videos mention his collection of bike tools, and his interest in maintaining his own bikes, including cleaning and repacking the bearings on his bikes! He has views on maintenance, cleaning and lubrication.
Josh Poertner, Silca Velo
Josh Poertner is an American engineer and cycling consultant. He was employed by the component manufacturer Zipp (it made wheels; it was acquired by SRAM and is now a SRAM subsidiary). His role was in part to supporting Zipp products in use by professional cycling teams. He set up a Aeromind LLC (Limited Liability Company) in Indiana which acquired the Italian Silca brand in 2013 after he left Zipp. Silca was known for pumps, tools and components. Silca Velo became a manufacturing, wholesale and retail business in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. Silca has improved the pumps and tools under Josh Poertner’s leadership and started new product lines. For instance it fabricates titanium parts – shoe cleats, bottle cages, a computer mounts.
Much of the material published by Silca is informative about cycling and technology. Silca sponsors the Marginal Gains Podcast, and publishes the Silca Velo YouTube channel. Jason Smith, James Huang and Adam Kerin have been guests on the Marginal Gains Podcast. Marginal Gains has done several episodes on chain lubrication (and The Pipeline Problem in June 2021 on the supply chain/logistics backlogs in cycling parts and supplies).
As a guest or host of a technical or industry podcast, including Marginal Gains, Josh Poertner can be well informed, engaged, focused on issues, and often avoids promoting Silca’s products. In that mode, he is nerdy, well-informed about science, engineering and manufacturing, keen, sincere and helpful In that persona, he has also published many useful videos about bicycle chains on the Silca Velo YouTube channel, including:
April 2024: Stop Wasting Your CHAIN LUBE! Know the BEST Way to Apply It, correcting an earlier video about the use of Silca’s Super Secret (wax compatible chain protection fluid lube), and showing how fluid moves into a bushingless chain in a segment about 8 minutes long, starting about 7 minutes after the beginning.
Silca started to sell lubricants, including Silca NFS (the Silca branded and labelled version of the Nix Frix Shun drip lube, which was well regarded by ZFC in 2017-2018). Silca released several lubricants and cleaning products 2020-2024.
In broadcast audio and video Josh Poertner has said that the drip lubricant category is full of snake oil claims – by other manufacturers. I agree.
Josh Poertner told an anecdote about how a professional cycling team decided that red Zipp hubs were faster in the Marginal Gains podcast The Placebo Effect and Marginal Gains (Dec. 16, 2019). The placebo effect can also explain a way that a con man or a saleman sells a deal. His commercial comments can make him look and sound like a character like those played by the late Robert Preston in The Music Man and The Last Starfighter, or Ray Stohler (played by Paul Dooley), the father of the cycling-struck teen in the 1979 movie Breaking Away, a used car dealer.
Josh Poertner promotes Silca products, and makes a case for the value of those products. Silca sells high tech products or improved modern versions of cycling tools and accessories – usually high-priced stuff. Silca emphasizes that some products facilitate “marginal” gains in performance. Silva claims that its products are superior to other products. Silca justifies its prices based on its brand name, and selling the products to demanding cyclists.
When he talks about Silca chain lubrication products he finds it hard not to promote Silca. Silca behaves like other brands in talking about Silca products that it has tested without disclosing how the tests were done.
Lennard Zinn
Lennard Zinn is a mechanic and journalist who has been writing on cycling tech and repair for decades, for print and online publications including VeloNews. He has written books (old fashioned printed books) on maintenance and repair.
Lennard Zinn published an article “We went to Germany to test the most popular bicycle chains” in VeloNews in January 2020 about a visit to the Wippermann/Connex chain factory in Hagen, Germany, a chain breakage test and the company’s continuous chain-durability tests. The tests ran chains until chains were elongated 13.6 mm, which is 1% of the average chain length (calculated as 108 links on a road bike with 50/34 chainrings and an 11-29 cassette, at 12.7mm per link = 1371.6 mm. Removing the master link, 107 links x 12.7 = 1358.9 mm).
9. Efficiency Tests (Friction Facts)
Most chain and lubricant testing was private. Chain lubricant testing was rarely mentioned in academic or professional literature before Professor Spicer’s (Johns Hopkins University) paper in 2001, discussed in the Bike Chains, Part 3, (section 5 of the endless article).
Friction Facts (“FF”), began to test lubricants for efficiency in or before 2012. Friction Facts used test machines, to measure friction losses in a chain moving under load, by the methods of Professor Spicer’s team, with a lower range of error.
An overview of FF testing:
the chains were new, cleaned with warm mineral spirits in an ultrasonic cleaner for 5 minutes, and dried,
lubed by dripping fluid (i.e. drip) lubes,
tested on a machine that
puts out 250 watts at the chain wheel for a test interval of 5 minutes,
measures the power at the chain wheel
measures the power at the cog on the drive hub;
The loss of power, due to friction in the chain parts, is reported as watts.
For more, at the Ceramic Speed site, follow the link “Why Ceramic Speed” to Test Data Reports/Chain Lube Efficiency Reports.
FF’s testing did not confirm the idea that lubrication did not contribute to chain efficiency. Efficiency testing did not generate information on which lubricants extended the durability of chains. FF did not test, directly or indirectly, the “factory grease” that chain manufacturers apply to bike chains.
The FF chain testing protocol was addressed a post published by Ceramic Speed called Chain Efficiency Testing. Also, Adam Kerin of Zero Friction Cycling (“ZFC”, below) summarized the Friction Facts methods:
Full Tension Test … has a chain ring, a cog, a weight pulling back cog to tension chain equivalent to 250w “load”. There is a drive motor and a braking motor. A $6k usd torque sensor is mounted on shaft driving chain ring and braking the cog.
This test method is extremely precise if you have the right equipment (ie the quality of the motors, the power supplies, the torque sensors – the calibration protocol that has all components up to temp and stable, and all tests are conducted at same ambient temp and humidity).
… the measure is taken between two extremely precise torque sensors mounted on the shaft driving the chain ring and the cog. The difference between what goes in and what comes out – that’s your loss from the chain. If you are using the same calibrated control chain, then you have the loss figure for your lubricant efficiency.
… Friction Facts found that many lubricants exhibited a sudden and very high jump in loss if kept running for long periods on an FTT machine as both the top and bottom span of chain are under tension (due to tension being by way of a weight pulling cog to introduce tension).
As such for longer test runs (ie to see how lubricant performs over hundreds of kms. Possibly with contamination introduced etc at certain points) the chain – after a short (few mins) efficiency test on FTT machine would be moved to Full Load Test Machine (basically just set up as a bicycle drivetrain to allow slackening time through bottom span of drive train for lubricant to re align and reset). Long run intervals done on Full load test, then moved back to FTT for periodic outright efficiency measure.
Several FF tests were reported by Caley Fretz in VeloNews in March 2013 and February 2014. The VeloNews articles have pictures of the test machines and many details. VeloNews reported that FF:
compared lubricants on viscosity by letting some lube run along an inclined metal surface;
commented on “longevity” which meant how quickly lubricant wore off or dried up. FF said that some lubricants wore off fast. The methodology of measurement is not clear.
The VeloNews articles appear to be the only accessible reports of the efficiency tests. The articles and test results can be tracked down:
VeloNews – in print; Web copy of the relevant issues were paywalled after VeloNews was acquired by Outside;
by Ceramic Speed with Ceramic Speed’s proprietary test results on its UFO Drip v1 by Ceramic Speed. Ceramic Speed published the VeloNews/FF bar graphs of the 2014 FF results interpolating Ceramic Speed’s wax emulsion UFO Drip Chain lubes as the most efficient lubricant.
Lubricant manufacturers make claims about efficiency to market their products . Some have interpolated their products into copies of the 2013/14 FF/VeloNews bar graphs.
The best lubricants in the FF/VeloNews articles are those that show the lowest “watts expended”. A lube that tests as losing 4.5 of 250 watts is 98% efficient. According to some reports, some chains with some lubes lose may lose as little as 3 watts – i.e. are 99% efficient. These reports are anomalous, or reflect some improvements since 2014. FF tested, among others:
Article
Type
Substance/Brand
Watts lost
VeloNews 2013
immersive wax
Paraffin (ordinary retail) synthetic wax.
≅ 4.8
VeloNews 2013
motor oil
3-in-One
≅ 6.3
VeloNews 2013
“household” lubricant
3-in-One General Purpose
≅ 6.6
VeloNews 2013
bicycle chain dry lube with Teflon
Rock ‘n Roll Gold
≅5
VeloNews 2013
bicycle chain dry lube with Teflon
Finish Line Teflon dry
≅ 5.8
VeloNews 2013
bicycle chain dry lube
Pedro’s Ice Lube
≥6
VeloNews 2013
bicycle chain wet lube
ProGold ProLink
≅ 7.2
VeloNews 2014
immersive wax
Molten Speed Wax
≅ 4.6
VeloNews 2014
wax liquid
Squirt slack wax a byproduct of processing oil into paraffin
Ceramic Speed released some of its later efficiency test results to CyclingTips as above and in 2019:
Ceramic Speed was willing to share some of its recent and typically-secret data about which chains perform best with the UFO V2 race treatment process. The process for applying the secret-formula wax-based submersion lubricant (after a multi-stage cleaning process) is the same across all chain models, and so it provides a clear and precise indication of the most efficient chains.
CeramicSpeed also released some test results to ZFC,
10. Chain Wear testing (ZFC)
ZFC Method
ZFC began testing chains and lubricants for “longevity” or “durability” by testing for elongation wear in 2016. ZFC tested chains and lubricants with an industrial electric motor attached to a stationary bike trainer to measure the wear on chains run under standard conditions:
on reference chains that have been cleaned and treated with tested lubricants, or
on tested chains lubricated with a reference lubricant product.
ZFC produces data on tested lubricants in spreadsheets, reports and comparative charts. ZFC projects the cost of replacing chains into “cost to run” calculations for some chains and a couple dozen lubricants. ZFC has published a few dozen narrative reports about lubricant results as of June 2024. ZFC’s work on the effect of lubricants on longevity (wear) was featured in CyclingTips articles. The links here do not take you to the articles. The new owners of CyclingTips redirect sites to the Velo online magazine, which is on the brands held by the publishers of Outside Magazine. The articles:
The ZFC measurement methods for tests of chain and lubricant are explained in the CyclingTips article How to Check for Chain Wear and the ZFC Test Brief statement. ZFC measures chain elongation with a KMC digital caliper chain checker device that measures to .01 mm. Adam Kerin starts with a new, clean (factory grease removed with solvents), lubed chain and adds lube at intervals. The tests are run on reference test chains. These test run the chains in fixed intervals adding up to 5 x 1000 km test blocks, unless the chain fails before reaching the last blocks. The failure point is .5 mm elongation wear over an 8 link span, which is close to the standard .5% chain replacement recommended by chain and drive train component manufacturers and bike shops. The test machines and the way dirt and water are applied to chain are demonstrated in Episode 9 of the ZFC YouTube series:
Using an industrially motorised Tacx neo smart trainer to control interval load and distance, plus specific intervals that include either no added contamination, dry contamination, and wet contamination – lubricants can be properly assessed over thousands of km’s of controlled testing. Not only can we determine a lubricant’s overall performance – but we can get a break down as to how a lubricant handles different types of conditions, as well as how it stacks up vs the manufacturers claims.
Flat vs Hill Simulations – The chains will be run on a calibrated smart trainer (Tacx Flux) at alternating intervals to simulate flat riding and hill km’s. If just run on flat all the time the km’s clockup too quickly. Most riders ride up hills to some degree so having intervals where the chain is still subjected to 250w load but km’s clocking up slowly delivers an overall average speed for the test of around 29kmh (depending on what block test finishes). It also allows me to rotate through more cogs on cassette and between small and big chain rings for longer wear rates on test components. Flat sim intervals will be on cogs 4, 5 and 6 on large chain ring and be 400km long, Hill sim will be on cogs 1,2 and 3 on small chain ring and be 200 km long. The interval lengths are halved during contamination blocks to 200/100 km.
ZFC measures chain elongation after each test block:
Purpose
1
Lube
lubricant penetration into spaces where metal bears on metal
2
Dirt
performance after chain has been contaminated
3
does lube abate dirt contamination effects
4
Water
effect of water on chain already contaminated by dirt
5
does lube abate contamination effects
ZFC adds lube at fixed intervals. Lube intervals:
Re lube intervals will be every 400 km on Flat simulation intervals, and 200 km on hill simulation intervals UNLESS this rate of re-lubrication would be detrimental according to manufacturer instructions with regards to if re lubing too frequently risks gathering too high a level of contamination. If an adjustment to re lube intervals vs base levels is made this will be noted accordingly in test.
During contamination blocks, the rate of re lubrication is doubled – every 200 km of flat simulation and 100 km hill simulation – as it would be normal behaviour that riders re lubricate more often if riding in harsh conditions, as well as giving lubricants more of chance to “clean as they lube” etc. Again this will be adjusted if manufacturer instructions are clear that this rate would be detrimental and noted accordingly.
ZFC also test lubricants for single application longevity by testing lubricants on reference chains without periodic relubrication.
Adam’s Analysis
Adam Kerin discussed:
what features of a chain resist wear, and
which lubricants resist wear.
and identified:
lubricants that perform well in reducing chain wear, and
some durable chains.
ZFC regards paraffin wax, applied immersively, to be the best lubricant for protecting bike chains from wear. ZFC also regards some liquids, “chain coating” fluids (mainly paraffin emulsions or fluid paraffin precursor petroleum distillate, to be effective. Adam Kerin supports paraffin lubrication as an efficient use of time and money to apply a lubricant that that blocks dirt and water, keeping the chain clean and avoiding the effects of using oil on modern chains.
In Episode 2 of the Zero Friction Cycling YouTube series (published June 2021) Adam Kerin categorized lubricants:
“Dry” drip lubes. These use “carrier” fluids which dissipate or evaporate leaving some kind of material on the chain. Most of these lubes test poorly in wear testing;
Oily “wet” lubes. All of them lose effectiveness because they trap dirt. All of them work for a while under wet conditions but lose effectiveness as they wash out in wet conditions. A few modern products are effective for a long time under adverse conditions;
Immersion (hot) waxes. These are applied when wax is heated to liquid and penetrates the load bearing spaces where it accumulates; the wax cools to the waxy semi-solid state. The wax fills the space, which protects against contamination. The wax is the lubricant. These lubricants work for hundreds of hours but need to be redone or refreshed. Applying these takes some tools (including a slow cooker or Instant Pot), knowledge and time.
ZFC has consistently reported immersive waxes – paraffin with additives – to be the best lubricants in protecting against chain wear. Video Episode 4, Wax Part 1 provides a narrative explanation. Adam Kerin suggests that plain paraffin, in blocks or in the form of manufactured products (melting down candles) is inferior due the low manufacturing standards. He recommended modern immersively applied paraffin wax products – MSW and Silca Secret Chain Blend (and a few others). However he tested some generic paraffin in 2023-24(there are many variants on paraffin, an product of refining and chemical engineering) Paraffin is discussed in Bike Chains Part 7 in this series.
ZFC also recorded good results with some modern fluid products which he describes as wax emulsions or chain coatings. Mr. Kerin initially differentiated between “traditional” “dry” drip wax lubes and some chain coating such as Squirt & Smoove. ZFC tests showed Squirt & Smoove work well, for a time. He had reservations about Squirt and Smoove – they may not penetrate depending on conditions, and can make it hard to clean or reset a contaminated chain. ZFC tested the wax based paraffin emulsion fluids Silca Super Secret Chain Coating and Ceramic Speed UFO (new formula)(March 2021).
In an interview with Dave Rome and James Huang of CyclingTips in the CyclingTips NerdAlert podcast released March 16, 2022 “Finding the best chain lube for your needs” Adam Kerin discussed his experience with modern liquid wax products including products by Ceramic Speed UFO, Silca and Rex Black Diamond, and updated his assessment of drip lubes. He suggested that traditional dry drip lubes had large amounts of carrier and too little lubricant material to coat the chain parts properly, while modern wax-compatible chain coating products coat the chain better. Some of the chain coating liquids dry into a solid wax or paste.
ZFC largely regarded most “traditional” drip lubes, wet or dry, including the wax drips, and most oily lubes, as inferior.
Factory Grease; Cleaning; Waxing
ZFC tested chains treated with Shimano “factory grease‘ by testing Shimano chains without removing the factory grease (see lubricant spreadsheet). ZFC favours removing factory grease before the chain has been contaminated with dirt and water before putting any lubricant on a chain. ZFC says it is worth cleaning a new chain to remove factory grease. His usual routine involves a chain that is not on a bike, and includes rinsing a chain by immersing it in “mineral terps” (mineral spirits) to dissolve the grease, and agitating (shaking). (In Canada, mineral spirits are sold as such, and also available in a more refined and less odorous formulation sold as paint thinner under the Varsol brand). Adam Kerin also does a further rinse in methylated spirits (denatured alcohol) to remove the residue of the mineral spirits. The rationale and method are discussed in Episode 6 “Chain Preparation FAQ” of the ZFC YouTube series from 2 minutes 15 seconds to 10 minutes.
It the spreadsheets, which are complex:
ZFC calculates the of cost to run a lube, $ per 10,000 Km on assumptions about replacing chains and groupsets. ZFC refers to Shimano 11 speed road chains and components – Ultegra and Dura-Ace, as well as GRX. There are sheets for different conditions. I think the currency in the material from the ZFC site is $ Australian and the prices are in Australia;
The wear refers the replacement standard of .5 mm. across 8 links. Wear in Blocks 2 and 5 is cumulative;
Chain life is a calculation assuming the correct use and periodic reuse of the lubricant;
Some “Immersive” lubricants – e.g. MSW were wax pellets; in 2022 MSW changed to selling cakes of wax; – the wax is melted and the chain is immersed in hot melted wax.
ZFC reviewed several “traditional” drip lubes in 2023, including Finish Line Dry (with Teflon), Finish Line Ceramic, PrestaCycle One, Wolf Tooth WT1. In 2023-24 ZFC reviewed a light generic (sewing) machine oil.
ZFC has published videos commenting on manufacturer/retail product claims and the quality of advice from the staff at bicycle shops.
Chain Durability
ZFC has measured chain wear on new chains to test the chains for durability. As of February 2022, 31 chains had been tested. These tests are similar to the lubricant durability tests. ZFC runs the test machine(s) on chains lubricated with White Lightning Epic Ride, a low viscosity dry-drip lube. The tests are explained:
ZFC graphed the results in bar graphs showing the Km before the wear reaches the accepted replacement point of .5%. The actual total wear, over the length of the chain will vary. An ANSI 40 pitch chain has links 1/2 inch (12.7 mm.) long. A chain will normally be more that 100 links long. A road chain may have 108 links or several more; a gravel or mountain bike chain could be longer. It depends on the length of the chain stays and the diameters of the largest chain rings and cogs. A chain of 108 links is 1371.6 mm long. The replacement elongation of .5% of that chain is a fraction more than 6.8 mm. Most drop-in chain checkers measure a span of 8 to 14 links. ZFC measures a span of 8 (half) links, with a precise KMC micrometer chain checker, at two points along the chain. ZFC defines or calculates the .5% replacement point based on wear on an 8 link span as .5 mm. ZFC reports elongation in a graph “km’s to 0.5% wear – Digital Chain Wear Checker (0.5mm across 8 links)”. The Km to .5% wear graph identified a few chains that last 3,000 Km. with the test lube. The average of the 11 speed chains was just over 2,000 Km. The KMC X11 SL (the semi-premium Super Light model) was above average at about 2,500 Km. [My factory chain had been an X11, but not the Super Light model]. The KMC X11 E-bike chain reached the replacement point at about 1,700 Km. [My new chain in spring 2021 was a SRAM 1170, which tested at about 2,700 Km to .5%.
In the test brief ZFC discusses chain material, surface hardening and surface coating. On the chain testing page ZFC says:
Budget chains … will be made of lower grade steel, and will likely have no surface hardening or low friction treatments or coatings applied (or limited parts receive treatment – i.e inner plates are treated but not pins or rollers.) Premium chains you can expect will be made of higher grade of steel, manufactured to tighter tolerances, and may have numerous treatments such as chromium carbide hardened pins and/or rollers, nickel plating or titanium nitride plating on inner/ outer plates, and again a variety of low friction coatings applied to some or all working parts of the chain.
It is expected that premium chains will be lower friction due to a number of factors (design, manufacturing, low friction coatings), and if have had surface hardening treatments, should be longer lasting.
Adam Kerin makes observations of chains during ZFC’s businesses of preparing chains, and testing – e.g. whether lube is expelled from the chain, and the sounds the chain makes as the test blocks proceed. Some observations are based on measurements. He consults with engineers in the cycling lubricant and the chain manufacturing businesses and mechanics and riders. He employs a model or idea of what happens in a moving chain. He says chain wear is not linear and does not proceed at a uniform pace – a chain has tipping points. He is concerned with whether a lubricant penetrates the spaces where lubricant is need, how well it is distributed, and with when and how contamination becomes distributed. The observations are in the narrative reports and web material, or in occasional cumulative “key learnings” papers (May 2019 paper; and updated v. 2.3a paper). His 2022 summary starts with these points:
Do not use wet lubricants if you ride off road.
Remove factory grease before installing or using a chain.
Immersive waxing is the lowest wear option
If you ride in wet weather, you must reset contamination in chain.
We now have some amazingly long lasting lubricants.
Do not underestimate the drivetrain cost to run difference between lubricants.
Adam Kerin recorded a YouTube Video Episode 18 Key Learnings from Lubricant Testing published on the ZFC channel May 8, 2022. It is nearly an hour long. He also consolidated his updates in update 2.3a, including notes on e-bike requirements.
Chain strength
ZFC uses a load cell device by LoadCell Supplies to test chains for tensile strength. As of February 2022 ZFC has published results on 16 chains. The machine broke down and the tests were paused.
For a few years, MSW was manufacturer of the principal paraffin bike chain lubrication product. Competitors innovated in engineering, manufacturing and marketing lubricants and chain cleaning products 2017-2023, inspiring innovation by MSW:
Ceramic Speed launched its UFO fluid chain lubricant product in 2017;
Silca Velo released a hot wax, a wax chain coating, and Synergetic, an oil based (wet) drip lubricant in 2020 and 2021;
Ceramic Speed released an new version of UFO Drip in 2021;
In 2021-22, Molten Speed Wax began to market and sell a new formula;
In 2023 Silca released a new version of its hot wax;
Rex released Black Diamond chain lubricant fluid and race powder in 2022;
Other manufacturers launched other immersive wax products and appliances;
Silca Velo and Ceramic Speed released chain cleaning fluid chemicals
Silca
Immersive Wax, and Chain Coating Fluid
Silca Velo’s immersive wax product, Silca Secret Chain Blend, became a top lubricant in ZFC lubricant wear tests. Its chain coating drip fluid wax Silca Super Secret Chain Coating, is superior. Its prices are higher than the prices of competing lubes but less expensive than several lubes sold as professional grade (racing) lubes.
Josh Poertner said in videos that Silca had been making paraffin wax pellets for a professional cycling team(s) for a few years, and that Silca put the product into production for retail sale as Silca Secret Chain Blend, released in June 2020. Hot Wax X was released in 2022. Silca followed up with advice videos and promotional videos. Silca did not claim, at first, advantages over other immersive waxes. The first mover in modern immersive wax production had been Molten Speed Wax. MSW and Silca Secret Blend paraffin wax products have to be melted. Each has some additives. Immersive wax was seen as a difficult way of lubricating chains when Silca brought its Secret Chain Blend to market. Silca’s entry to the market inspired MSW to improve its formula and change its presentation from pellets to solid pucks or disks. The sales of wax products have not been reported or published.
Silca Super Secret Chain chain coating fluid lube was announced in April 2020. In some ways, it competes with Ceramic Speed UFO Drip and with a few liquids made from paraffin precursor oils, or natural oils:
Squirt,
Smoove,
Effetto Mariposa Flower Power.
Silca says its Super Secret Chain chain coating fluid lube uses the the same paraffin as its hot wax Secret Chain Blend, with water and alcohol to make the product a low viscosity fluid; the fluid it is supposed to dry out and remain in place as a lubricant wax. The marketing is that this is as good as hot wax, and easier to apply. The label on the containers advises the product should be use on an “ultra clean” chain, new or used. This means, after reviewing Silca’s videos and podcasts, a chain with factory grease and residues of old lubricant and dirt removed – deep cleaned with solvents with the chain off the bike. The reviewer at Road.cc noted this, and some problems with the application of this lube in a review posted in October 2020. It is runny – most of it runs off the chain at the moment of application. I found this to be true.
Silca Velo suggests Super Secret Chain Coating be left for 24 hours after application to let the lube penetrate and dry into a wax chain coating. Silca’s product release information about Super Secret Chain Coating did not discuss the conditions limiting the use of this product – although more information was published by Silca.
Josh Poertner answered questions comparing Silca Secret Chain Blend, Super Secret Chain coating and Synergetic in March 2021 in the Marginal Gains channel video “Choosing the Best Chain Lube“. He said that Super Secret Chain coating had to be left for 12 to 24 hours after application, before use. Mr. Poertner said that a user planning a long ride in dirty or wet conditions would choose, among the Silca products, the wet lube Synergetic. (Further discussion of using Super Secret Chain Coating as a wax-compatible drip lube to refresh or top up immersion wax on a chain in Bike Chains 7 in this series).
Josh Poertner has not, as of August 18, 2024, directly attacked the new Finish Line hot waxes with their microspheres, although his discussions of lubrication of circular surfaces seem to criticize the idea that such particles can do what the Finish Line marketing says they do.
However, in a video published August 16, 2024 promoting more Silca custom wax “chips” he claimed that Silca’s Super Secret (Hot) Wax was the best lubricant in a ZFC test when ZFC has not made that call.
Synergetic drip lube
Silca announced Synergetic wet lube in November 2020. Synergetic superceded Silca NFS, which had been on the market as Silca’s wet drip in 2018. (Silca NFS had been endorsed by Adam Kerin of Zero Friction Cycling in his discussions with Dave Rome of CyclingTips for the March 2018 Seeking the Holy Grail article). Mr. Poertner said that Silca Velo had been unable to obain some ingredients and decided to drop Silca NFS and offer a new product.
Silca’s Synergetic wet lube was discussed in the a 22 minute Silca Velo YouTube video November 17, 2020 Announcing Synergetic Web Lube. The video shows the use of an abrasion testing machine with Synergetic and with Silca’s previous web lube, NFS. Silca has done other videos with the device to claim the superiority of Synergetic to Pro-Gold drip lubes and the superiority of Silca’s Synerg-E (e-bike) wet lube. The development of Synergetic was discussed in the Silca Marginal Gains podcast Lubes & Chains & Marginal Gains, November 30, 2020. The dominant theory has been that there must be enough oil on/in the chain to form a durable liquid barrier film on the surfaces where metal bears on metal and can cause wear. The video shows the wear that occurs where the oil does does not adequately coat the metal. For bicycle chain and other roller chains, this is generally believed to be due to the failure of the lubricant to penetrate or the displacement or dissipation of the lubricant.
In the podcast, Mr. Poertner referred to:
racing car motor oils, Polyalphaolefin (“PAO”) and other “synthetic” base stocks,
high quality type 5 (100% PAO) – the original Mobil 1 synthetic lubricating oil,
the invention of hydro-cracked synthetic oil,
litigation between Mobil and Castrol and
changes in the motor oil industry.
He mentions Silca’s testing and comparison of Mobil 1 with Silca’s NFS wet lube product and the new Synergetic wet lube. The podcast discusses the additives that Silca uses. Wear testing establishes that Silca wet lubes with zinc dialkyldithiophosphates and tungsten disulfide are better than other wet bike chain lubes. Mr. Poertner said that Synergetic is formulated with a high quality synthetic motor oil as a base oil. Silca contends this product coats the chain parts with lubricating tribofilm(s). The application of this product requires a film of oil to supply more additives to maintain the tribofilm, and as lubricant.
Silca initially used dripper bottles with pharmaceutical dripper tips to dispense small drops on rollers, for Synergetic. This is useful in aiming the drops at the edge of the rollers, and limiting the flow to a few drops,with little waste . Silca later dropped that feature and started to use conventional dripper bottles.
In November 2021 Silca released its Synerg-E e-bike lube which is like Synergetic, with an additional “tackifier” additive and/or calcium sulfate to enhance adhesion to the chain.
Marketing
Silca’s marketing has some features:
Silca, like Ceramic Speed, has used a bar graph that looks like the Friction Facts or VeloNews friction efficiency graphs, with its products interpolated;
The Marginal Gains episode on the Silca Secret Chain Blend immersive wax pellets show an Instant Pot, the Silca sous vide bag package, and a non-contact infrared thermometer. These will interest consumers with spare cash and a yen for conspicuous consumption.
Silca’s material about Synergetic emphasized the ease of use and minimizes the time and effort of cleaning chains lubed with the product. Josh Poertner, in the 22 minute Silca Velo channel (YouTube) video November 17, 2020 Announcing Synergetic Web Lube used a blue machine that he calles a Timken machine, an ASTM machine and an ASTM G77 machine. The manufacturer is not named; it may have been made by the American Timken Company.
The videos shows the use of the blue machine with Silca products and with some other drip lubes:
Lubricant Showdown #2 between Silca Synergetic and ProGold Prolink and Xtreme lubes;
Lubricant Showdown 3 between Silca Synergetic and White Lightning Clean Ride and Epic Ride .
The machine is not said to be used to test bike chain components on the ASTM G77 standard. The machine is used for product demonstrations to criticize other drip lubricants. Based on FF and ZFC tests, the drip lubricants were not efficient or efficatious to reduce chain wear:
ProGold
FF had showed around 7 watts
ZFC does not show any testing of ProGold products;
White Lightning
Clean Ride – FF had showed around 6 watts, and
Epic Ride – FF had showed 9 watts; it had failed ZFC testing.
The videos shows the wear that occurs where or when lubricant film does does not adequately coat. The amount of lubricant applied or “flung” is not measured; no time is allowed for distributing or settling the lubricant. The ring and pin arrangement is different than the interior spaces of bike chains. A surface area of the machine ring is much larger than the surface area of bike chain pin or the interior surface of roller. The discussion of lubricant being flung seems to be a distraction, given a ring powered by an electric motor at speed will fling any liquid on the surface.
The length of the wear marks are noted and in the videos is measured. The wear marks left by the machine on pins lubricated by Synergetic were small compared to the wear marks made by other products,. In the ProGold/Synergetic video, Mr. Poertner says that he surprized by how small the wear marks left on pin after the ProGold sessions are, implying he expected larger marks. In the White Lightning/Synergetic video, Mr. Poertner showed how rapidly and badly the sample wore when the ring and the sample pin were wetted with the White Lightning products.A failure of a lubricant to form a film on on the moving or load-bearing surfaces in a roller chain can be due to the failure of the lubricant to penetrate into the chain between the moving metal surfaces, or the displacement or dissipation of the lubricant. Some products – e.g. Silca Velo’s Synergetic- use an automotive motor oil base oil and additives that coat the chain parts with metal lubricating tribofilm(s). Mr. Poertner said that the lubricating ingredients in White Lightning and Finish Line products were diluted in a carrier fluid and did not lubricate effectively, which is are fair points for discussion and comment.
In the White Lightning video Mr. Poertner said the White Lighting products and some Finish Line products contained small amount of PFAS “forever chemical” additives. The environmental accusation apparently is that the products contain Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, and persistant organic pollutants. White Lightning markets Clean Ride as a wax lube, and Epic Ride as made of “non-petroleum based synthetic oils”. White Lightning does not use the Teflon™ or claim that its product contains Teflon. It does not appear that White Lightning says it contains PFTE.
When ZFC tested White Lightning products, the company did not respond to ZFC questions about its marketing claims for its products or about its testing processes.
I did not believe that the White Lightning and Finish Line products were good or good value before I saw these videos. In those videos, I saw the the marketing persona of Josh Poertner, more than his engineer persona.
More Innovation
Silca released”Ultimate Chain Stripper + Wax Prep.” in 2023, which competes with Ceramic Speed UFO Drivetrain Clean. Both are innovative, and different than mineral spirit solvents. Both are supposed to be biodegradaable, perhaps avoiding the enviromental and regulatory problems of disposing of used solvents and petroleum products. Both are expensive.
Other manufacturers entered the immersive paraffin wax market in 2022 & 2023:
Rex wax lubes;
CycloWax in Belgium introduced CycloWax, an immersive wax, and dedicated wax pot.
In early 2024 Silca released:
an additive wax to mix with other hot waxes to strip factory grease on a new chain in a one-step process, and
a dedicated wax pot with high temperature settings to melt the new additive wax and remove factory grease and wax a new chain in a single operation.
In August 2024 Silva began to market “chips” of waxes to alter the efficiency and durability of its hot melt wax products, and began to claim that its wax products had been the best tested by ZFC. ZFC had not published review of Hot Wax X, and listed the Silca immersive Waxes near the top of its tested and partially tested products but not at the top of the list.
There were announcements in early 2024 that major manufacturers in the drip lube industry were planning to release immersive waxes, chain coating fluids, and improved drip lubes. By July 2024 Finish Line had launched an immersive paraffin product called Halo. It was reported to have been failing in the first block of ZFC wear tests – to be as bad as Muc-Off and Finish Line drip lubes, relying on marketing and economic dominance of the relevant channels of distribution and sale of products.
Prepared chains
Shops including MSpeedwax, and ZFC sell and ship new chains, with factory grease removed, waxed with a branded immersion wax, ready for use. A buyer can test the riding a waxed chain. The chains will have to regularly reset by users by successive immersions. If the rider is not happy with the paraffin routine, the paraffin washes out and the user can dry the chain and use it with the user’s lube of choice.
Some vendors, e.g. Silca Velo, offered to provide a chain that has been prepared and polished. The theory is that a shop can polish or treat the metal on the inside of a chain that has been rivetted together by suspending diamond fragments in a lubricant to create a paste or slurry – which is removed by throrough cleaning before the chain is lubricated.
12. Choices
Many or most modern chains are not durable.
A few lubricants have been shown to help make chains last longer. The main options for a user or rider, involve recurring effort and costs:
Monitor chain wear and
replace the chain every few thousand Km., or
buy and use a better chain to replace the chain supplied by the manufacturer;
Keep the chain clean and lubricated; and
Use better lubricant.
Bicycle chain lubricants are chemically engineered petroleum products. Cleaning a chain involves other chemically engineered products, often solvents. Most lubricants and solvents are chemically engineered petroleum products. The main lubricant choices:
immersive paraffin waxes:
Manufactured pucks or blocks of processed paraffin and additives, including:
Molten Speed Wax,
Silca Secret Chain Blend,
other products developed by competing manufacturers – e.g. Rex, and
paraffin that some consumers have access to (blocks, candles etc.);
drip (including “wet” and “dry”) lubes,
Most are not very good:
expensive products from vendors that market widely and aggressively e.g. Muc-Off;
apprarently inexpensive products by brands including White Lightning, Finish Line, WD-40, Muc-Off, etc. ;
A few are effecive but fairly expensive e.g. Silca Synergetic;
chain coating or “wax-compatible” fluid waxes,
Ceramic Speed UFO;
Silca Super Secret Chain Coating;
Tru-Tension Tungsten All-Weather;
Smoove;
Squirt;
other innovators;
A few other fluid lubricants – e.g. Effeto Mariposa Flower Power.
Immersive waxing involves deep cleaning a chain to remove factory grease, and regular immersions in heated (“hot”) wax. Deep cleaning is discussed in Bike Chains 5. The repeated immersions involve a minor amount of time. The proprietary paraffin waxes are available from the manufacturers and from some bicycle supply companies:
MSpeedwax in Shoreview (St. Paul) Minnesota ships its Molten Speed Wax (“MSW”). MSpeedwax also is the American distributor of YBN chains and master links. MSW has been available from online retailers in the USA, although online retailers had product shortages in 2022;
Silca Velo in Indianapolis, Indiana in the USA, ships its Secret Chain Blend and other lubricants;
As of April 2023, Rex Black Diamond immersive wax was on the market .
Zero Friction Cycling, in Adelaide Australia sells Molten Speed Wax, Silca Secret Chain Blend and other lubricants. ZFC encourages consumers outside Australia to order lubricants from the manufacturers or local vendors where feasible to avoid the shipping costs for orders that involve shipping product from Australia. MSW and ZFC sell chain, including YBN chains and some other merchandise.
Drip lubes are easy to apply. The chain has to be cleaned often, and the chain wears in spite of cleaning and lubrication.
Chain coating fluids are also applied by dripping but require extra effort and time:
Some (Silca Super Secret Chain Coating, Ceramic Speed UFO Drip), perhaps all these fluids, require deep cleaning the chain to remove factory grease. The grease occupies the spaces that should be lubricated, and affects the operation of the lubricant.
These fluids have to be refreshed, and the chains have to be cleaned.
Chain coating fluid waxes require a a period of at least a few hours after application(the chain has to have time to dry).
This is Part 7 of a series of 8 posts organized as a single article. individually published as posts on this blog. The series is organized into sections, numbered for reference in the table of contents for each post. In March 2024 I began to reorganize and revise the long article. The article is organized into sections, numbered for reference here and in the table 0f contents for each post.
This post mainly discusses immersion in melted paraffin (hot wax) as chain lubrication. It will begin with a discussion of paraffin. It will address:
some attempts to use paraffin in drip lubes,
paraffiin chain coating emulsions and
other chain coatings applied as fluids.
18. Paraffin
Chemistry and History
Paraffin is a wax, a dry solid. Paraffin wax is a refined petrolem product, a synthetic wax made of alkanes. Some of its properties depend on the refining. The melting point can be under 35 ºC, or over 50 or 60 ºC. A company that obtained the corporate name ParaffinCo and the domain name paraffinco.com refers to paraffin wax as “normal paraffin”, it says, on a web page about the industrial uses & applications:
Normal paraffin is a straight-chain alkane, typically derived from crude oil through the refining process. It consists of a linear arrangement of carbon atoms with hydrogen atoms attached, forming a saturated hydrocarbon chain. Normal paraffins vary in chain length, which influences their physical and chemical properties, making them suitable for different industrial applications.
The melting point of normal paraffin varies with the length of the carbon chain, providing flexibility in choosing the appropriate type for specific applications.
Due to its saturated hydrocarbon structure, normal paraffin has low chemical reactivity, making it safe and easy to handle in various industrial processes.
It exhibits excellent chemical stability, resisting oxidation and other chemical reactions. This stability ensures that normal paraffin maintains its properties over time, even under varying environmental conditions.
Normal paraffin is hydrophobic, meaning it repels water. This property is particularly useful in applications where moisture resistance is crucial, such as in coatings and sealants.
…
Normal paraffin is used as a base oil in the formulation of industrial lubricants. Its stability, low reactivity, and lubricating properties make it suitable for various applications.
In metalworking, normal paraffin-based lubricants reduce friction and wear on cutting tools, enhancing their lifespan and performance. The lubricants also help to dissipate heat generated during the machining process, preventing damage to both tools and workpieces.
…
Normal paraffin’s versatility makes it suitable for a wide range of applications across various industries. Its ability to adapt to different formulations and processes makes it a valuable ingredient in many products.
Normal paraffin is relatively cost-effective compared to other raw materials, providing an economical solution for industrial applications without compromising on quality and performance.
The use of paraffin wax as a lubricant was discussed in a paper “The Friction of Lubricated Metals” published in by the Royal Society of London in 1940. Solid paraffin wax lubricates as a solid. The reasons paraffin wax lubricates have not been fully scientifically explained. The 19th century explanation for why ice (frozen water) is slippery when other cold solids are not is still debated – see the Vox article “Why is ice so slippery“.
The practical questions about paraffin as a bike chain lubricant are:
Does it reduce friction?
Since it is a solid
how is it applied to a roller chain?
as applied to open bearings (i.e. not sealed or otherwise protected), how can a user apply it?
Cycling Uses
The manufacturer of Molten Speed Wax says lubrication with paraffin was tried in the era of Mile a Minute Murphy, (i.e. before 1900 in the early days of safety bicycles). I have not explored this factual claim.
The bicycle chain lubrication industries attempted to deliver wax in suspension or solution in fluids, but did not find ways to apply solid paraffin wax to bicycle chains comparable to the practice of bike mechanics and cyclists – lubrication with oils and fluids.
Manufacturers experimented with putting paraffin or other wax in suspension in carrier fluids in dry wax lubricants in the 1980s and 1990s. The drip “wax” lubes originated in that era were not durable lubricants, but they were well marketed and competitively priced.
Immersion
For use as a bicycle chain lubricant, paraffin can be melted down into a low viscosity (thin) liquid, and a chain is immersed in the hot wax. The liquid fills the spaces around the pins and along the edges of the rollers. When the chain is removed from the liquid paraffin cools and solidifies. The paraffin wax is a microscopically thin barrier between the metal surfaces of the pin and the “sleeve” (bushing or half bushings, roller), and the overlapping areas of the link plates. The wax adheres to the metal and apparently sheers to slip, reducing friction. Paraffin may sheer, or form surface liquid films. Solid wax is more water repellent than liquid oils – it is not as easily “washed” out by contact with the stream(s) of water droplets striking and flowing into a moving chain.
As discussed in the post Bike Chains 4 in this series, Jason Smith of Friction (“FF) tested lubricants, including paraffin in 2012 or 2013. The FF test results were published in VeloNews in an article in 2013.
The idea of using a commonly available commodity attracted cyclists ready to experiment. Readers of the 2013 VeloNews article sent questions to the magazine about immersing chains in melted paraffin to get paraffin wax into bike chains. Questions were addressed by Lennard Zinn’s Technical FAQ column in VeloNews.
The positive results of the original article and a further VeloNew article in 2014 attracted attention. A few cyclists experimented with removing chains from bicycles and applying melted paraffin. This was discussed in cycling publications – inially printed periodicals (magazines, journals). As the internet expanded, the discussion moved online. The uses of paraffin (by riders, doing diy “garage mechanic” work melting wax in “coffee cans” in the 1970s or 80s) are mentioned in a few online resources including the CyclingTips Waxing Endless FAQ article by Dave Rome (another article published online at CyclingTips that the publishers of Outside and Velo have unpublished).
Immersive waxing did not work unless the user removed factory grease from the chain by repeated immersion in mineral spirits and agitation. If a clean chain is submerged in hot paraffin, the chain will warm to the temperature of the wax; the wax penetrates into the spaces around the pins, inside the rollers and at the end of overlapping link plates. If previously waxed chain has been properly cleansed of contaminants (washed off and chain dried), it can be treated as clean.
Removing factory grease also appears to be effective for increasing efficiency and reducing wear and noise with wax emulsions/fluids, dry-drip lubes with friction reducing additives, and oily wet lubes.
Lubricating with paraffin presented challenges:
The chain had to be removed – which was not easy without master links;
The chain had to be cleaned;
Paraffin had to be melted;
The chain had to immersed, moved and cooled. The wax had to penetrate the chain and stay in place;
The wax will, as the chain makes its revolutions, break down and flake off. Small amounts of wax are expelled;
The exposed wax at edges of the chain will be contaminated;
While solid wax is more water repellent than liquid oils – it is not as easily “washed” out by contact with a stream of water droplets striking and flowing into a moving chain – waxin needs to be renewed – a chain must be cleaned and lubricated again.
Within a few years after the VeloNews article in 2013:
other proprietary immersive waxes and wax emulsions with special features (additives, special packaging) came on the market;
riders and mechanics began to publish articles and videos on immersive waxing using retail paraffin or proprietary products safely (melt the wax in a slow cooker or Instant Pot, not on a flame). Some described the process, in an ironical tone, as “Chain Spa”, etc.
Molten Speed Wax developed and marketed its proprietary paraffin product within a couple of years after the FF test results were published. Arguably, MSW did not exploit the so-called first mover advantage in the market for hard wax.
Adam Kerin of Zero Friction Cycling (“ZFC”) argues immersive waxing involves less effort and cost than using dry-drip and wet lubes, and provides benefits for cyclists/owners:
It reduces chain wear, which reduces the costs of operating and maintaining a bike; and
Paraffin wax can be applied by a cyclist for modest expense, with little effort.
The users of paraffin say several things about why waxing works, and some of the benefits:
The lubricant penetrates the chain and occupies the spaces,
A waxed chain is not oily. Dirt does not stick to a freshly waxed chain,
Paraffin resists the movement of dust, dirt and abrasive material into the chain, and
Solid wax is more water repellent than liquid oils – it is not as easily “washed” out by contact with a stream of water droplets striking and flowing into a moving chain.
The bike lubricant article at BikeGremlin notes drawbacks of wax as perceived by many engineers:
{A ] shortcoming of paraffin wax is that it isn’t mobile enough to replenish lubed surfaces after being displaced, while not being strong enough to resist being displaced after put under pedalling pressure. This is apparent after some water gets on a paraffin wax lubed chain – it quickly starts squeaking.
That is why paraffin wax lubed chains need to be re-lubed often. Also, chain needs to be completely clean and dry before lubing, so that paraffin wax can stick to it and prevent dirt from sticking to it.
Unless paraffin wax is bought, melted by heating, chain submerged in it, let to drip dry, excess rubbed off … then a “special” dry lube for chain needs to be bought, with a fluid solvent that dries off and a rather high price. Label usually says something along the lines of: “wax based chain lubricant”.
Some commercial paraffin wax based chain lubricants often have other dry lubricants added (usually PTFE), in order to improve characteristics. However, unless some oil is added as well (which beats the purpose of using a dry lubricant to prevent dirt from sticking to the chain), the problem of displacement from friction surfaces (and not flowing back) mostly remains!
A chain needs to be cleaned deeply to remove factory grease before it waxed;
Paraffin needs to be renewed or replenished after a few hundred kilometers of riding.
The wax moves as the stresses of pedalling stress the lubricant in the chain links. A waxed chain may creak if the wax is thin or weak in one place within one link. This may happen if the wax has not fully coated the chain, which happens if the chain is not clean or the wax has become contaminated.
The wax begins to break down within a couple of hundred kilometers of riding. Small amounts of wax are expelled; some of the exposed wax at edges of the chain will be contaminated. Paraffin protects a chain from dirt and water for a limited time and distance. Therefore the chain should be relubricated at short intervals. If a chain is dry and free of contaminants on the visible surfaces, it can be redipped in the same wax. The simplest method of cleaning a waxed chain used in reasonably dry and clean conditions is to put the chain on the unmelted wax and heat the wax and chain until the wax melts. The wax can be melted repeatedly. A half pound of wax will last, according to MSpeedwax, for about 8 lubrications of training chains.
Adam Kerin of Zero Friction Cycling recommends a structured approach to cleaning and lubrication:
Factory grease should be removed before a chain is installed. Removing factory grease is best done before the chain is on the bike, as it involves putting the chain in solvents. A chain that has been lubed with a fluid lubricant and used need additional preliminary cleaning. Adam Kerin and others have opinions about which bicycle or industrial cleaning products can remove dirt and contaminated chain lubricant;
The rider should clean the chain according to the contaminants encountered – dirt, water or both – after every ride;
The best practice is to renew paraffin every 300 or 400 Km. – or at shorter intervals.
A fairly small amount of wax can be melted and used repeatedly, until the wax in the pot is too contaminated.
The critics of immersive waxing view it reservations relating to:
Power Efficiency – some drip lubes may be more efficient in converting the rider’s effort to forward motion (distance, speed);
Economic efficiency – the time and cost of regular waxing;
The difficulties of relubrication during long rides or competitive events – the necessity of taking a break to install another waxed chain
Adam Kerin suggested practices that a rider can follow after recreational and training rides or commuting in wet conditions in his paper Wet Weather/Winter and waxing guide. A wet chain should be wiped down to remove any water clinging to it. A rider can use alternative chains in succession, and set aside the used chain(s) for re-waxing. Adam Kerin cautions against putting a conventional “dry” or “wet” lube on a waxed chain. It is a temporary measure which will contaminate the chain. Serious contamination can lead to a full deep cleaning with solvents. Adam Kerin suggests only using wax-compatible fluid lubricant on a waxed chain.
The manufacturers and vendors of the brand name bicycle chain waxes, and many chain wax advisers:
suggest waxing with a brand name bike chain wax, and
warn against substitutions such as candle wax, canning wax, hobby/craft wax, and industrial paraffins.
However, when ZFC tested a no name paraffin sold as candle wax, it did not do badly,
The brand name chain waxes have been used by thousands of users, and the working methods are known. Users may not know what is in a substitute paraffin or a particular batch, particularly with industrial lubricants.
Prices
The leading brand name bicycle chain immersive waxes were sold as bags of pellets. Silca Velo still sells pellets; MSpeedwax shifted to selling 250 g. (half pound) discs (cakes, pucks?) of Molten Speed Wax in 2022. 250 g. of paraffin pellets, or caked paraffin, can be melted in a small container or device – e.g. a slow cooker – in one session. The chain will not take up more than a fraction of the wax. The unused paraffin can be cooled, and melted again several times. The used chain will surrender some contaminants into the wax. The wax in the pot wax will become contaminated. The prices, per bag, as of the end of April 2022:
Mspeedwax sold Molten Speed Wax in 1 lb. (453 g,) bags for about $25 (U.S.). It changed to 500 g. bags in late 2021 and to pucks in early 2022;
Silca Velo sells Silca Secret Chain Blend in 500 g. sous vide pouches for about $53 (U.S.). Shipping charges apply, but are waived/discounted for orders over $100.
There are other manufacturers and sources of paraffin. Several immersive wax products have been developed in the post was first written. Adam Kerin of Zero Friction Cycling mentions a couple in his news update June 3, 2022, and has reviewed or discussed other.
My start in waxing in 2022
When I began to look seriously at paraffin in February 2022, Mspeedwax was not shipping wax in March and April 2022; MSpeedwax was taking orders for new formula “available 4/30”, hoping to be able to ship product by May. MSpeedwax sold and shipped pre-waxed YBN chains. I bought and received 2 chains.
Among online retail distributors of Molten Speed Wax, some – e.g. Modern Bikes – said that they had no stock in March. Others – e.g. Universal Cycles – said they had stock, but applied high shipping costs to orders and claimed that delivery problems in Canada were attributable to the US Postal Service, the Canadian Border Service agency (clearing Canada Customs), and the Canada Postal Corporation. “One pound” of Molten Speed Wax from Universal Cycle, ordered in March 2022, arrived May 4, 2022. It was a 500 g. bag of pellets. The bag had adhesive labels indicating the wax had Tungsten Disulfide. It was a bag of “new” MSW pellets.
As of mid-April 2022, Mspeedwax explained its supply chain issue, according to updates published by the Australian distributor, Zero Friction Cycling, as a problem with obtaining containers. By the end of April, I had two new prewaxed YBN chains. I scraped dirt and the residue of old lube off the chain wheels and the cassette. I did not scrub the component in solvent.
I put a few hundred Km on each new YBN chain, and notice the chains starting to creak. I did not have wax to re-wax the chains. I tried to refresh the wax with Silca Super Secret Chain Coating (Silca Velo’s wax-compatible drip lube). As the mileage accumulated, I installed a spare SRAM PC1170 chain. I cleaned it with solvents (removed factory grease), put it on the bike and lubed it with Silca Synergetic. I used that that chain to avoid risking wear of my better chains and wear of drive train components until some wax from one of the sources showed up. The use of wet lube on the SRAM PC1170 chain will have consequences. It adhered to the drive train components, and will contaminate waxes.
In late April 2022 MSpeedwax’s “4/30” had become “5/20” and the price of MSW went from $22 to $25 per 500 g. By May 4, MSpeedwax’s goal became 6/10. By May 7, 2020 MSpeedwax announced MSW was being shipped in pucks, and changed product images on its web site. Dealers – e.g. ZFC – began to anticipate filling back orders by June 2022. I received my pucks on my February 2022 order on May 20, 2022. The pucks were wrapped in bubble wrap. I received the pucks on my March order in late July. The supply stabilized, and as of 2024 there are several immersive waxes marketed to cyclists.
Emulsions
Bicycle lubricant manufacturers may process paraffin wax to create their own proprietary emulsions. A refiner, a chemical company or a wholesale distributer may supply paraffin emulsions to manufacturers of bicycle products. ParaffinCo says:
Paraffin emulsion consists of finely divided paraffin wax particles suspended in water, typically with particle sizes ranging from nanometers to micrometers.
Paraffin emulsion appears as a milky-white liquid with a smooth texture. It is easily pourable and can be diluted with water to adjust the concentration
Paraffin emulsion is stabilized with emulsifiers to prevent the wax particles from agglomerating and settling out of solution, ensuring long-term stability and shelf life.
Normal Paraffin vs Paraffin Emulsion: Specifications & Uses
Chain Coating Fluids
I have mentioned drip lubes marketed as paraffin lubrications. In 2024, some of those drip lubes have been reformulated or kept on market.
ZFC use the term chain coating to refer to several fluid products that are applied as drip lubes, including paraffin emulsions. ZFC notes that some wax-compatible chain coatings can be applied to relubricate a chain that has been lubricated by immersion in melted normal paraffin. Two wax-compatible paraffin emulsions, tested by ZFC with good results:
Ceramic Speed UFO Drip;
Silca Super Secret Chain Coating.
Some chain coating fluids are made of refined petroleum products that have not been refined to the point of being paraffin which are not as wax-compatible as paraffin emulsions ZFC has reviewed the South African fluid lubes:
ZFC has reviewed some chain coating fluids including Effetto Mariposa FlowerPower that are effective, but not wax-compatible.
I will discuss the use of drip lubes, chain coating fluids and wax-compatible chain coatings on waxed chains in section 21.
19. The Immersive Method
Removing the Chain
Immersive waxing involves working with the chain off the bike frequentlly. The master link makes removing the chain much easier, and makes working with the chain off the bike regularly feasible. Master links are discussed in Bike Chains, Part 2 in this series.
Factory Grease
The point of removing the factory grease is to install paraffin on a truly clean chain to allow the paraffin to penetrate to the interior spaces and adhere to the metal. This also makes the initial immersion and subsequent lubrications with paraffin faster and simpler. Paraffin can be removed and replaced with a liquid lubricant – but time, effort and money will have been spent. The supporters of waxing say it is seldom necessary, after factory grease has been removed and a chain has been waxed, to do another deep cleaning with detergents and solvents.
Removing factory grease from a new chain is a time-consuming and demanding project. Removing factory grease requires solvents that will penetrate the chain and carry off the dissolved grease. The solvent recommended to cut grease is mineral spirits. It is also necessary to rinse the chain with a polar solvent that will carry off any water. Industrial ethyl alcohol (ethanol) is good. Cleaning a used chain is more demanding. Removing old lube and contamination requires a chain cleaning detergent before the use of the mineral spirits and methylated spirits.
Removing factory grease, or old lube, contamination and factory grease from a chain (or from drive train components) requires buying, storing and using chemicals that have strong odours or may irritate the respiratory organs, and which may need to be disposed of according to environmental regulations. A bike shop may perform the work, but will charge by the hour. This is hard-core DIY stuff.
Dirty Wax
A reasonably clean waxed chain can be waxed repeatedly, until the wax in the pot is too contaminated. Immersing the chain in melted wax will remove dirt. MSpeedwax suggests a half pound of its paraffin can be used 8 times for “training chains” if the chain is rewaxed at intervals and the contamination is simple dust. Contaminated wax will be discarded after a few uses, and replaced with clean fresh wax. A user will observe the wax during wax jobs and learn to judge contamination.
A waxed chain requires basic maintenance. This is mentioned by Dave Rome in the CyclingTips waxing FAQ and other material. The chain should be wiped to remove water if the chain has been used in wet conditions. Dirt on the outside will come off if the chain is wiped. Some substances that adhere to a chain, such as small amounts of old wet lube degrade the wax.
If a chain has been waxed with contaminated wax it should be reset by deep cleaning and fresh lubrication with clean wax.
Hot Wax Safety
The melting point of paraffin is approximately 37°C (99 °F)., but it varies. Some paraffin waxes melt at up to 67°C and congeal at 66.4°C. The melting point of the paraffin chain lubes is above 55℃, above the range of temperatures in the temperate and tropical parts of the world. Further notes on these waxes:
MSpeedwax cautions on the wax package that MSW should not be heated above 220 ℉ (104 ℃). It recommends that the chain and solid wax be heated to 200 ℉ (93℃). The chain is placed on dry wax in the pot, and heated at the same time to the same temperature. It suggests measuring temperature with a candy thermometer. Adam Kerin of ZFC mentions in some of his articles that he thinks it is 60℃. The exact melting point is not easily measured in a slow cooker unless the user has an instant read thermometer. It is in the range of 55 to 60℃;
Josh Poertner of Silca Velo did a YouTube Marginal Gains TV channel video in September 2020 How to Hot Melt Wax your Chain. He said that Silca Secret Chain Blend melts at 140 to 150 ℉ (60 to 65.6 ℃)
At the flash point volatile vapour enters the air, increasing the risk of fire and explosion. The flash point of paraffin varies, depending on the mixture. It may be 250 to 300° C. The boiling point of paraffin is above 370 °C (698 °F). The temperatures are not precise because paraffin is a blend of manufactured hydrocarbons, often mixed with other substances. The melting point(s) and boiling point(s) of paraffin are higher than the melting and boiling points of water. An appliance that generates enough heat to boil water can melt paraffin, but will probably not boil paraffin. The manufacturers of MSW and SSCB do not put product specifications, such as melting point or flash point of the wax on the Internet.
The bicycle chain waxes have additives. The additives do not seem to produce gases that can harm the user, and have minor environmental effects. Without disclosing amounts, the manufacturers list the lubricating additives:
Modern bicycle chain wax advisers discourage the methods said to have been used by the populist mechanic/riders in the 20th century: melting paraffin on a stove top, camp stove, or outdoor burner (e.g. a camp cooker that home brewers might use to brew beer or camp chefs would use to deep fry a turkey in oil). Even if you are careful, shit can happen in many ways – slip on the floor, step on lego, bitten by bug, distraction, inattention, pets, kids, zombie apocalypse. The wax can spill and catch fire from an open flame.
Waxing Nordic (cross country) skis was/is required with wooden skis. and wooden skis with laminated plastic bases. The Norwegian firm Swix made – and still makes a range of ski wax cylinders to rub on to skis to promote glide on the tips and tails and grip under the “kicker” section. (Swix has not brought abicycle chain wax product to market). Some ski waxes were melted by heating a waxing iron with a torch, melting the wax on the hot iron and dripping liquid wax on the ski bases, and smoothing/distributing it with the hot iron. When I was younger and confident, risk meant nothing … Waxing skis has changed too.
Slow Cookers
MSpeedwax and ZFC advise using an electric cooking device called a slow cooker (Crockpot™ is one slow cooker brand). Slow cookers are a mature electric appliance technology. Electric multi-cooker appliances such as the Instant Pot™ are electric pressure cooker devices with “smart” controls and slow cooker functions. Basic slow cookers with ceramic inserts (crocks), without timers or “smart” controls have 3 or 4 settings: Off, Low, High (or Off, Warm, Low, High). The heating element is in a belt in the metal case that surrounds the insert. The element is always on; the switch controls the watts of power that to the heating element. This kind of slow cooker may heat to about 100 ℃ (212 ℉) in spots at the outer edges. It takes over 30 minutes on high to warm a chain and a 225 g. (1/2 pound) of wax to about 65-70 ℃. The contents will get hotter as time passes, specially with lower amounts of contents. A small or medium slow cooker will hold a chain – even two or more chains, and melt enough wax to immerse the chain(s).
MSpeedwax advises to use a slow cooker on high, and set a timer. ZFC advises using the low setting. Low will melt the wax. It takes longer, but is safer and gives the user more time for other things. MSpeedwax suggests a slow cooker with a small crock (1.5 or 2 quarts), and discourages using 4 or 6 quart models. Adam Kerin of ZFC uses large oval slow cookers in videos – he has them in his shop and uses them to wax multiple chains in one session. Adam Kerin provides advice on the ZFC site on locating places that sell 1.5 and 2 quart slow cookers in New South Wales. He recommends staying with small or medium (3.5 quart) slow cooker devices. Basic slow cookers were and still are available in small (1.5 or 2 quart), medium (1.5 or 4 quart), and large ( 6, 6.5 or 7 quarts). Larger retailers still carry brand name small slow cookers with ceramic inserts. In March 2022, I located a 2 quart slow cooker at a Walmartstore in Victoria BC for under $30. Small used slow cookers are available. Buying a small slow cooker is an inexpensive way of getting a dedicated device. It isn’t an elegant device. It uses electricity. It is less efficient than other appliances, but it draws little current.
MSpeedwax advises that the chain should be in the slow cooker, and should heated with the wax. ZFC agrees. Adam Kerin adds that If the chain was left out, the chain should say in the hot wax at least 5-10 minutes.
Some advisers, e.g. the narrator in the Bikes and Blades channel video, suggest a device designed to melt waxes used in beauty spas. Small Rice cookers may be about the same size as small slow cooker. The automated heat controls of rice cookers are set up to bring water to boil quickly and then simmer. MSW has not discussed rice cookers. ZFC says rice cookers are not a good idea for heating bicycle chain wax.
MSpeedwax and ZFC use a swisher tool to manage handling the chain while the chain and wax are hot. A tool that sticks up out of the wax is necessary – it is not feasible to get the chain out of 70 to 100 ℃ liquid without a tool. MSpeedwax sells one ($15 US) but has posted an article “Making a Swisher Tool” with detailed dimensions to make one by cutting and bending a metal coat hanger. The dimensions are for a tool that will lay a chain in the bottom of a small or medium slow cooker. When the waxed chain is removed, the chain can be removed from the swisher (use gloves – hot) and hung over the pot (if the working space is ready) to catch hot melted wax that will drip from the chain until the chain cools and the wax congeals in place. The pot, if you do not plan to cook in it, can store the wax, which can be reused.
Instant Pots™, Multicookers and other devices
Silca Velo suggests using an Instant Pot™ (or a comparable multicooker). An Instant Pot can melt paraffin, safely, using the slow cooker program setting. Silca Velo executive Josh Poertner recommends, in the Silca Velo waxing video, using the multicooker slow cooker settings. . As Mr. Poertner demonstates, an Instant Pot is faster to reach the desired temperatures than a conventional slow cooker. Silca does not appear to be concerned about chemical effects of overheating the wax. Silca does not think the risk of heating above the flash point is serious. An Instant Pot™ should hit a burn warning and shut down before it heats the contents to the flash point of paraffin in any of its programs. The high energy programs that need the lid locked should not be used to melt bicycle chain wax.
Other videos on other sites (e.g. Russ Roca at Path Less Paddled) show users using the sauté program. The wax melts from the bottom. The user can break the cooler crust and stir the wax to distribute the heat. The user may have to tend the pot.
Instant Pots are electric pressure cookers, with powerful heating elements to heat fluids to temperatures above 100 ℃, and safety features to prevent burning or overcookingfood. An Instant Pot’s sensors and programs turn the power off and on to maintain the temperature. Josh Poertner said in the Marginal Gains video How to Hot Melt Wax Your Chain that an Instant Pot was better than a conventional slow cooker at melting paraffin. Mr. Poertner suggested putting the wax in the Instant Pot’s liner/insert/pot and melting it in the pot. He recommends buying a liner/insert/pot for wax, and keeping the wax liner in the garage or workshop. He would use a multicooker without the pressure lid, in a lower heat program.
Multicooker devices can be operated without the pressure lid in slow cooker and sauté programs. The medium slow cooker program setting puts out comparable heat to a conventional slow cooker on low; the high slow cooker program setting puts out comparable heat to a conventional slow cooker on high. Culinary publications – e.g. America’s Test Kitchen – warn that Instant Pots™ heat large amounts of water (4 quarts in a 6 or 8 quart pot) so slowly in the slow cooker program settings that the water will not reach temperature that the user expects. The low or medium sauté settings can melt wax or heat water faster than the device in slow cooker mode, but may cut out when the device hits the top of a range. The heating element of an Instant Pot heats the food at the bottom of the pot (nearest the heating element) to these temperatures, which are lower than the flash point of paraffin:
Setting
℃
℉
Slow cooker medium
88-93
190-200
Slow cooker high
93-99
200-210
Sauté low
135-150
275-302
Sauté medium
160-176
320-349
Silca Velo suggests a way to use an Instant Pot with Silca’s Secret Chain Blend Wax – putting the resealable waterproof plastic bag into hot water in the Instant Pot liner/insert/pot. Silca describes the bag as a sous vide bag; the point is that the bag can be placed in near boiling water and will not melt or degrade. The Instant Pot is used to heat water quickly to a temperature that will melt the wax, a temperature at or below the boiling point of water (212℉; 100℃). The pouch is put in the water; the wax is melted without melting or tearing the bag. In this method, the chain is waxed in the bag and the wax does not touch the pot.
In the Silca Velo video, Mr. Poertner builds a swisher with a used spoke, and uses it to lower the chain into hot wax rather than putting the chain in with the unmelted wax. He says that the liner/insert/pot can be removed to a place where the chain can be hung.
Silca endorsed using an Instant Pot™. This approach works if you have a device and use it safely. Buying a liner/insert/pot for wax may be more expensive than buying a dedicated slow cooker. You may be reluctant to operate an Instant Pot outside your kitchen, or reluctant to carry a pot of hot wax and a chain around.
Some users have tried to adapt tdevices used to melt wax for beauty industry uses (i.e. depillatory), but devices for that industry may not melt wax to the proper temperature.
Some specialized cycling industry products were in the markets in late 2023 or early 2024. Cyclowax sells a wax pot in Europe. Silca has a special hot that will handle paraffin and a special wax developed by Silca to strip factory grease and wax a chain in one step.
Temperature and Agitation
MSpeedwax recommends using a candy thermometer to check the temperature of the melting/melted wax. It said when the wax was heated to 200 ℉ (93℃), the user should agitate the chain for 45 second and take it out. In ZFC videos, Adam Kerin uses a digital thermometer and says the user should agitate the chain. ZFC does not have a recommendation on how long to leave the chain in the wax if the chain has been heated in the slow cooker.
Mr. Poertner of Silca Velo demonstrated the use of a non-contact infrared thermometer to check the heat of the wax, at the surface, as it heats and cools in an InstantPot. Russ Roca of the Path Less Pedalled site uses such a device in his November 2021 video “Watch This before you Wax your Bicycle Chain“, basically following the Silca method. Silca is looking for melted wax – above 140 to 150 ℉ (60 to 65.6 ℃). Silca agrees that a chain should be agitated when the wax is melted. Mr. Poertner recommended leaving it in the wax until the wax begins to congeal. If a user knows the congealing temperature, a user with any device that reads the temperature can leave the chain in the pot and take it out as the wax is congealing. This means, I think, less wax will drip off or out of a chain?
Chain Spa
The user needs to have or acquire devices, and set up a working space and routine to use wax.
20. Wax-Compatible Fluids
The solid wax on a waxed chain should block dripped fluid lube from penetrating the chain when the wax is fresh. After the chain has been used for a while, a dripped fluid may have some spaces that it can penetrate. The main direct consquences of using a fluid on a waxed chain:
The fluid may lubricate places where the wax has been compressed, displaced or deteriorated;
A fluid may trap contaminants or weaken the wax; and
The user may need to reset the chain to get rid of contaminants including the residue of the fluid by deep cleaning before re-waxing.
ZFC’s advice was to not use most drip lubes on a waxed chain, including the traditional low reputation dry-drip lubes marketed as depositing a wax or waxy lubricant on the working parts of a chain. ZFC says that wax-compatible drip lubes can be used on an immersion waxed chain. The term seems to refer to a lubricant that will come out of a chain immersed in melted paraffin without contaminating the paraffin or interfering with the application of melted paraffin to the chain. Adam Kerin said, at one point:
Can I use a drip lube to supplement waxing? Sort of. I have tested Smoove with msw, and if a single application (as per my advanced [Smoove] application guide in instructions tab), and you run that application until it is starting to feel a bit dry, then re waxing straight over seems to go ok – just not you will be contaminating wax in pot somewhat. Same with UFO Drip. I have heard from a customer similar with Squirt (which is same type of lubricant as Smoove). If you add any other drip lube on top, then you will need to fully strip clean and prep chain again prior to waxing following Waxing Zen Master guide – with the addition of boiling water rinses first to melt off majority of wax before moving to solvents. Remember for chains the wax needs to bond to clean film free chain metal, if you put drip lube on top and then just rewax – expect wax will not bond to chain metal, and it may contaminate wax in the pot such that all future waxing’s wont go too well either. Smoove / squirt is often used for long extreme events like 24hr mtb racing or mtb stage races over top of msw as that works brilliantly, but cleaning prior to re waxing after is required to keep wax in pot clean and ensure good wax bonding to chain metal.
Silca Velo promotes Silca Super Secret Chain Coating drip fluid as almost chemically identical to Silca Secret Chain Blend immersive wax, and requires users to “ultra clean” a new chain, to remove factory grease. Silca Velo sells it as the cold equivalent of hot wax in a drip bottle. It is low viscosity (very runny) drip. It must be left to dry. If factory grease is not removed, or if it is not dried, it will not lubricate as well as advertised – or as reported by ZFC. Applying this stuff makes a mess; a lot of fluid is wasted dripping off the chain. Super Secret Chain Coating was intially sold in 4 ounce and 8 ounce dripper bottles. Silca later released the product in 12 oz. quantity in a 16 oz plastic jar, for immersing a chain in the product. There is no video for the use of this jar. ZFC has not done a report on this method of application. A user posted a video April 1, 2022 of using a chain cleaner cassette tool to apply the product.
Josh Poertner of Silca Velo addressed topping up an immersively waxed chain in the March 2021 Marginal Gains TV video “Choosing the Best Chain Lube“. When a hot immersion is not possible. and Silca Super Secret chain coating drip is not practical (the user has to give the fluid coating 24 hours to penetrate and dry), his solution, within the Silca products, is to use the oil based Silca Synergetic wet lube for the event or ride. For a rider who rides waxed chains, this means changing chains before the event or, resetting (deep cleaning and hot waxing) the chain before (and after) the event/ride.
Silca recommends “topping up” a chain waxed with Secret Chain Blend by dripping Super Secret Chain Coating on the waxed chain, as demonstated in the Silca Velo YouTube channel “Ask the Expert” video episode 7 “Chain Maintenance“. Josh Poertner presented this advice again May 11, 2022 in the Silca Velo YouTube “how to” episode How to Extend the Life of your Hot Wax Treatment. In the “how to” video Josh Poertner:
gives a reason for using a wax-compatible fluid lube. He says that the original wax is compressed and displaced, leaving spaces that a fluid will penetrate, providing addtional lubricant;
suggests that the chain should be cleaned by running it through a microfiber cleaning cloth before dripping a wax compatible fluid on the chain.
I used Silca Super Secret Chain Coating to top up MSW waxed chains in April 2022. It worked when I gave the chain coating fluid time to set.
Adam Kerin does not address the time requirements for low viscosity liquids to dry or set. Using a fluid that needs time to set is not feasible when the lube is applied during a ride when a rider on a long or extreme ride on a waxed chain needs to relube during the event.
Adam Kerin of ZFC addressed the use of wax compatible chain coatings in the ZFC YouTube video Episode 18 Key Learnings from Lubricant Testing May 8, 2022. He suggests (at about 6:30 in the video), for a rider who uses a wet lubricant for a long ride, using the “least wet” product. His advice for best option for a multi-day event or a bike packing trip (at about 40:15 in the video) depends on conditions. He suggests wax compatible drip lubes can be used to top up a waxed chain if on a ride under dry condition, when a rider is making a long stop – such as stopping overnight on a long ride. He favours owning and using a second waxed chain and carrying and changing to the replacement chain on a long ride under wet and very dirty conditions, or using a “dedicated race chain”. Eventually his advice involves compromises; there is no free lunch with chain lubrication.
In the CyclingTips NerdAlert podcast March 16, 2022 “Finding the best chain lube for your needs” Adam Kerin expanded on using fluid chain coatings with a waxed chain. He mentioned Ceramic Speed UFO Drip, Silca Super Secret. He mentioned, in passing, Rex Black Diamond which is a wet lube. (The Finnish ski wax firm Rex released two bicycle chain fluid, 2015-2022.) ZFC has tested and reported on UFO Drip, Silca Super Secret. There is no ZFC report on the Rex product. ZFC has not reported structured test reports of any of these products to “top up” an immersion wax. The site has notes that Rex Black Diamond was in the store and being tested. In the “Concise” waxing video, posted in April 2022, at the 10:55 point, Adam Kerin recommends 3 wax-compatible drip fluid lubricants for use to refresh the lubrication on a waxed chain:
Silca Super Secret Chain Coating;
Ceramic Speed UFO;
TruTension Tungsten All Weather.
Adam Kerin recommends using these products, as needed, to keep the chain running smoothly, between immersive applications of melted paraffin. He suggests a few wax compatible products can be used 3 to 5 times between immersions; he still recommends immersions as the primary way of re-lubrication of a waxed chain. He followed up with a video in September 2022 – ZFC YouTube Channel Episode 21, Lubricant Choice Guide.
Modern tires allow cyclists to ride pavements, gravel, trails, dirt, mud, and other surfaces. Pneumatic tires, pneumatically inflated with compressed air, were invented and industrially produced before the end of the 19th century. Earlier, solid rubber was used to manufacture bicycle tires. It was better than other material. Getting a bouncy wheel that did not keep bouncing was one puzzle. Making the tire durable enough to survive contact with the road was another. Rubber proved to be elasic enough to bounce and deform and durable enough to roll for hundreds of miles.
The use of rubber for tires for automobiles and truck led to developments in material science and manufacturing, and to sophisiticated suspension systems. Suspension systems need to be damped to prevent the repetition of cycles of bouncing. Large industries rested on the discoveries that natural rubber was elastic, and could be used to manufacture devices that would contain compressed air. The development of pneumatic rubber tires for cars and trucks allowed bicycle manufacturers to acquire material and devise ways to mass produce tires. Tires have inspired the invention of tire materials, wheel rims, valves, pumps, tire levers, tools, patches, and adhesives. The newer tubeless bicycle tires have led to tire sealant, tire plugs, and tubeless repair kits.
Resources
Cyclists are interested in evaluating tires and learning which tires are efficient and economical. Tire manufacturers will happily say that they manufacture a product, and that their product is superior to other competing products. Scientific material that explains how tires work is more scarce.
Bicycle Tires and Tubes by Sheldon Brown and John Allen at Bicycle Technical Information (the Sheldon Brown site) is a well constructed page with links to terms and topics covering materials and construction. It discusses tire sizes and dimensions. BikeGremlin also explains Bicycle tyre sizing and dimension standards and other technical issues.
BTI is not a resource for information about mountain bikes. BTI published Jobst Brandt’s 1998 “A Brief History of the Mountain Bike ” which said: “The first successful high quality fat-tire bicycle was built in Marin County, California by Joe Breeze”. BTI has “suspension” in its glossary, but does not explain mountain bike suspension systems. Internet seach engines can find pages about bicycle suspension systems – for instance the Wikipedia entry Bicycle suspension but search engines do not respond fulsomely to queries about losses of energy operating bicycles on rough and irregular terrain due to vibration. There is a section on vibration in the Wikipedia entry Bicycle and motorcycle dynamics and a Wikipedia entry on vibration.
Current and historical Information on tires, rubber, and manufacturing tires available in Wikipedia, including pertinent articles explaining:
There do not appear to be standards for how to describe the quality of tires. In a rational world, a manufacturer would have goals in developing new tires and test experimental prototypes and production models. Wikipedia has not found that many industries have adopted methods and standards. Wikipedia, as of June 2022, has pages about
Engineer and blogger Tom Anhalt wrote about tires, tube and pressure at the online triathlon magazine Slowtwitch.com, some listed here, and wrote articles on his own Blogspot blog Blather ’bout Bikes:
A bicycle tire is a strip of durable and stretchy materials laid out in a circle, with edges pulled up to shape the tire in a U-shape. Most tires have beads, a structural part that is durable but not stretchy:
Conventional tires used on 99% of all bicycles are “clincher”type … They consist of an outer tire with a U-shaped cross section, and a separate inner tube. The edges of the tire hook over the edges of the rim, and air pressure holds everything in place.
….
The “bead” is the edge of the tire. On most tires, the beads consist of hoops of strong steel cable. The beads hold the tire onto the rim, and are, in a sense, the “backbones” of a tire. While most beads are steel, some tires use Kevlar ® cord instead.
Wire beads are less common than they were in the 1980s. Modern bicycle tire manufacturers use synthetic compounds to manufacture tire beads. Synthetic aromatic polyamids (Aramid) are popular. The rim of a clincher wheel is machined to turn inward to hold the bead in a “bead” hook. Clincher tires use an inner tube, which is airtight and inflated. The butyl rubber inner tube is the ordinary tube; latex tubes for clincher tires are available.
Tubeless tires are clincher tires without inner tubes. They have to be airtight to be inflated without inner tubes. The wheel rim is sealed with a airtight rim tape. The valve is sealed to the rim (and not to inner tube, passed through and opening. A tubeless ready tire is a clincher tire with an inner tube. A tubeless ready wheel rim may have tubeless rim tape, but a tubeless ready system has an inflatable inner tube – the valve is attached to the tube. Tires have been securely clinched to the wheel and sealed airtight by matching the bead with a bead hook structure or bead channel in the wheel rim.
Tubeless tires need liquid sealant in the tire to seal the tire to the rim. The liquid sealant is also supposed to block small leaks and punctures, as well as sealing the bead. A rider can carry tools to plug a small puncture and reinflate it if the sealant has remained in the tire and still functions. As of 2022, manufacturers of wheel rims are building and promoting rims without bead hooks for tubeless tires. There are cost savings in manufacturing wheel rims, and time and cost savings in changing tires, at the risk of tires coming off the rim.
A “tubular” tire, not to be confused with a clincher, also uses an inner tube. Tubular tires are explained at BTI. Tubulars are uncommon and mainly found on racing bikes.
Casing, Sidewalls & Tread
The body of the tire, technically called the carcass, commonly referred to as the casing, is made of “threads”, coated with plastic and rubber compounds:
Cloth fabric is woven between the two beads to form the body or “carcass” of the tire. This is the heart of the tire, the part that determines its shape. The vast majority of tires use nylon cord, though some use other polyamides. … The fabric threads don’t interweave with crossing threads as with normal cloth, but are arranged in layers or “plies” of parallel threads. Each layer runs perpendicular to the next layer(s).
Some tires use thick thread, some use thin thread for the fabric. With thin thread, there are more threads per inch (“TPI”) and this number is often considered an important indication of tire performance. The higher the TPI number, the thinner and more flexible the tire fabric is. Thin-wall (high TPI) tires tend to be lighter and have lower rolling resistance, but they’re more easily damaged by road hazards.
Bicycle tires have the threads of the fabric running diagonally, (“bias”) from bead to bead. Modern car tires have the main threads running straight over from one bead to the other, known as “radial” construction. Radial tires will also have a “belt” of plies running all the way around the circumference of the tire, crossing the radial plies.
In automobile and truck tires, the threads are called cords and may be made of metal. The term cords is also used to refer to bicycle tire threads. Few modern bicycle tire threads are not made of natural plant fibers (e.g. flax, hemp, cotton). Most are filaments of petroleum synthetic (i.e. plastic), often nylon, spun into threads. The threads are not woven into a cloth or fabric. Thread count is a (vague) measure of the texture of woven fabrics – particularly cotton bed sheets. Thread count is not generally a selling point for modern bicycle tires, except that high thread count was used by some manufacturers to mean that that a casing is strong and “supple”.
The threads cross each other in a grid, and are coated in an elastomer – a plastic compound. Some machines produce ribbons of the specified width; some machines produce sheets that are cut to ribbons of the required width. The ribbons are folded over the beads and welded. The threads reach from bead to bead, on the bias (diagonally). Layers of rubber or synthetic rubber compound are applied to the ribbon to form the sidewalls and the tread. The tires are pressed into moulds, shaped, and laminated. In some tires groups of threads (belts), are laid down with the bands crossing each other.
The tread is the part of the tire that contacts the road:
… This area usually has thicker rubber than the “sidewalls” of the tire, mainly for wear resistance. Most tires have some sort of 3-dimensional pattern molded into the tread, which may or may not enhance traction.
Manufacturers mix different additives with the rubber to achieve desired traction/wear characteristics. Generally, a softer formulation will give better traction, but at the expense of more rapid wear. Rubber is normally a sort of tan color, but most tires are black. This is the result of adding carbon black to the mix. Carbon black considerably improves the durability and traction of the rubber in the tread area.
A tread pattern of grooves in a thicker tread is common for automobiles. It was common for bicycle tires through the greater part of the 20th century, except for some special purpose tires. Tread patterns on bicycles do not displace water. Hydroplaning on a bicycle on concrete or asphalt is not a risk . BTI addressed this in a general article and in a 1997 article by Jobst Brandt, “Tires with Smooth Tread. A writer at CyclingTips addressed treads in 2014 in Rubber side down: the function of road tyre tread patterns:
A road tyre is already very effective at displacing the water thanks to its round profile so Jobst Brandt has argued that a patterned tread is unnecessary. A broader survey of current thinking amongst tyre manufacturers supports this view, though some see room for marginal gains through a tread-pattern design.
Slicks or near slicks have become a popular choices for “road” bikes. Some favour a file tread pattern (thin shallow closely spaced ribs at an angle to the path of travel; like the cutting edge of a file – the tool). Jan Heine, the editor of Bicycle Quarterly, and principal of René Herse Cycles addressed this:
… we are examining myths in cycling – things that we (and most others) used to believe, but which we have found to be not true. Today, let’s look at tire tread: Tread patterns matter – they can make a difference – even on the road. “Bicycles don’t hydroplane,” declared some experts many years ago. “Hence, tire tread patterns don’t matter on the road.” The first part is true – even wide bicycle tires are too narrow to lose traction due to hydroplaning – but tire tread doesn’t only serve to evacuate water from the tire/road interface.
In fact, the tread of bicycle tires has other purposes. I once cycled on the polished stone that surrounded a college library, and I was surprised by the lack of grip: I crashed. Even though I was unhurt, I learned the hard way that the coefficient of friction between our tires and the rocks that make up the road surface isn’t very high. Yet we don’t crash on roads made from the same rocks, but in the form of rougher aggregate in pavement. What happens is that tire and road interlock to create grip.
If our grip came only from pure friction, the size of the contact patch wouldn’t matter. Physics tells us that if you double a tire’s width, it will be pushed into the road surface with half as much force – the two cancel each other. Yet race cars run ultra-wide tires because they provide more grip. What is going on?
Tires interlock with the road surface. Imagine each little surface irregularity like a spike that pushes into the tire. The wider the tire, the more surface irregularities it touches; hence it has more grip. A softer tire also has more grip because the road surfaces pushes deeper into the tire. That is why the tires of race cars use very soft rubber, and why wider bicycle tires at lower pressures offer more grip than narrow ‘racing’ rubber at higher pressures.
There is another way to increase the interlocking between tire and road: provide edges on the tire that ‘hook up’ with the road surface irregularities. Each edge provides a point where a road irregularity can hook up. The more edges you have, the better the tire hooks up.
Contact Patch, Deflection, Tire Drop, Rolling Resistance
The weight of the bicycle rests on the contact patches of the tires, the area where each tire deforms from the circular shape of the tire in cross section to the (flat) shape of the surface as the bike rolls forward.
… the role of air pressure in the tire is to hold the fabric under tension — in all but one place, the contact patch with the road surface.
Air pressure can’t add tension at the contact patch, because the contact patch is flattened against the road. Air pressure can only push directly outward, and so here, it pushes directly downward. The downward force of the air must equal the weight load, and so the area of the contact patch approximately equals the weight load divided by the air pressure. (Edge effects and skewing of the weave of the fabric may result in some difference.) For example, if the air pressure is 50 PSI and the load is 100 pounds, the contact patch will be about two square inches.
The threads of the tire fabric can transmit loads only lengthwise and in tension. How then, do they transfer the load from the contact patch to the rim?
Because the contact patch is flat against the road, the curvature of the sidewalls next to it is increased, decreasing their tension, and the angle at which they approach the contact patch becomes shallower. These effects produce the bulge seen at the bottom of a tire under load and transfer the load from the contact patch to the tire sidewalls. The threads of the fabric are pulling downward less and outward more. The load is similarly transferred from the sidewalls to the rim. The sideways forces at the right and left side of the tire are equal and opposite, and cancel out.
Sheldon Brown, John Allen, Bicycle Technical Information, Bicycle Tires and Tubes (see How a Tire Supports its Load)
The rubber at the contact patch bends and rebounds like a spring. The rubber is under tension. The air everywhere in the tire is under pressure but the the tire bulges at the contact patch. The tension of the tire supports the bike.
Because the contact patch is flat against the road, the curvature of the sidewalls next to it is increased, decreasing their tension, and the angle at which they approach the contact patch becomes shallower. These effects produce the bulge seen at the bottom of a tire under load and transfer the load from the contact patch to the tire sidewalls. The threads of the fabric are pulling downward less and outward more. The load is similarly transferred from the sidewalls to the rim. The sideways forces at the right and left side of the tire are equal and opposite, and cancel out.
….
A tire, then, supports its load by reduction of downward pull, very much the same way that spoking of the wheel supports its load. The tension-spoked wheel and the pneumatic tire are two examples of what are called preloaded tensile structures, brilliant, counterintuitive designs working together remarkably to support as much as 100 times their own weight.
The rolling resistance of a tire is an example of elastic hysteresis. The deformity also causes the steering tire to experience pneumatic trail.
Frank Berto (deceased December 2019) was the technical editor of Bicycling magazine, before it became a travel and lifestyle publication. He wrote a book on derailleurs, The Dancing Chain – the 2016 5th edition is still on the market. Frank Berto wrote notable articles on “tire drop” – the change in the height of tire when it bulges under load. Some appeared in Bicycling and other print publication, but were not digitized. He rewrote and updated an article called All About Tire Inflation in 2006. Berto wrote or contributed to an article for Jan Heine’s Bicycles Quarterly published in Issue 19 (V. 5, No. 3, Spring 2007). Steve Vigneau has a pdf copy of “All about Tire Inflation” at his site: https://nuxx.net/files/bicycle/various/Frank_Berto-All_About_Tire_Inflation.pdf. Perhaps other copies and other articles can be located on the Web. Frank Berto explained why road bike tires should be inflated to endure tires stayed on the rim under the forces of cornering, and to avoid “pinching” and deflating an inner tube. For road bikes on pavement, he suggested the pressure should be high enough that tire drop was about 15%. He thought that road riders were overinflating their tires. He thought that mountain bike rides should ride softer, but needed guidance to know the minimum pressure to avoid damage to tires and rims.
Frank Berto largely agreed that road bike tire pressures could be lower than the manufacturers’ marked safety warning. He thought that bike tires need pressure to support the bike and rider and to handle properly. He suggested that the pressure should be enough to keep tire drop around 15% for the bike, rider and load. Tire drop is hard to measure. Like rolling resistance and durability, it is dependent on pressure and the thickness and composition of the tire casing
“Rolling resistance” is the mechanical friction generated as the tire rolls. As a segment of the tire tread rolls into contact with the road, it deforms from its normal curved shape into a flat shape against the road, then back to the curve as the tire rolls onward. The deformation of the rubber in this process is what causes the friction. A bias-ply tire has some additional friction because of the “Chinese finger puzzle” effect of the bias plies. The edges of the contact patch scrub against the road as a segment of the tread becomes shorter and wider where it flattens out, then longer and narrower as it becomes round again.
Manufacturers and consumers used wider tires for some bikes and some kinds of riding for a long time. Mountain bikes had and have wider tires. Gravel bikes have wider tires. Cyclo-cross bikes have wider tires than road bikes. Wider tires hold larger volumes of air at lower pressure than narrower tires:
Tire width and pressure are inextricably linked. It is a serious mistake to consider one independently of the other. Generally, wider tires call for lower pressures, narrower tires call for higher pressures.
Consider, for example, a tire one inch across, at a pressure of 100 PSI (pounds per square inch). Air is pushing down against the bottom half of the tyre cross-section with a force of 100 pounds per inch of length. Each sidewall of the tire bears half that load, and so each inch of length of tire sidewall will be under a tension of 50 pounds. Now let’s consider a tire twice as wide, two inches across, at the same 100 PSI. Each inch of sidewall will be under a tension of 100 pounds. So, a wider a tire would ride harder, and need stronger fabric, if inflated to the same pressure,
The part of the tire that is actually touching the ground at any moment is called the “contact patch.” Generally, the area of the contact patch will be directly proportional to the weight load on the tire, and inversely proportional to the inflation pressure. For instance, if the rear tire of a bike is supporting a load of 100 pounds, and the tire is inflated to 100 PSI (pounds per square inch) the contact area of the tire will be roughly one square inch. If the pressure is reduced to 50 PSI, the tire will squish out until the contact patch has become 2 square inches (or until the rim bottoms out against the tire.)
A common debate among cyclists centers on the issue of whether a wider tire has more or less rolling resistance at the same pressure. The constant pressure is proposed because it appears more scientific to eliminate this as a variable, but this is not realistic in practice. The short answer to this question is that, yes, a wider tire of similar construction will have lower rolling resistance than a narrower one at the same pressure. This fact is, however, of no practical value. If you are comparing two tires of similar construction, with the same load, and the same pressure, either the wider tire is overinflated, or the narrower tire is underinflated!
A tire is supposed to deflect a bit under load. This deflection [is] the whole purpose of pneumatic tires. When you sit on your bike, your tires should visibly bulge out at least a bit under your weight. If they don’t, they’re overinflated.
Stiffness can come from thicker casing and rubber. Tire designers can make tires “supple” by making them with thinner casings and thinner rubber layers on the sidewalls and treads. A supple tire stetches and rebounds rapidly with little loss of energy. It rolls with little rolling resistance, and suspends the bike.
Supple tires have drawbacks:
There are four ways to reduce [rolling resistance], each subject to trade-offs:
[1.] The thinner and softer the rubber/fabric of the tire are, the more flexible they become. The trade-off with this is that the thinner the tire gets, the more fragile it is, and the sooner it will wear out.
If the casing and tread are thin, the tire is fragile. The entire contact line of a supple slick tire is exposed to contact with and penetration by small sharp debris. The tread and sidewalls can be gashed by impacts with sharp or pointed edges including broken glass, metal objects etc. on paved roads., and rocks, thorns on gravel and trails.
A patterned tread of hard rubber provided reasonable protection against punctures from small debris, although a pattern leaves an area of the tread with less rubber. The industry addesses puncture resistance with thicker or stronger tire casings and with protection belts. See Cycling Weekly’s Best puncture-proof tyres for cycling 2022.
Knobs & Cleats
Bike, wheel and tire manufacturers designed mountain bikes and gravel bikes with wider tires than road (and cyclo-cross) tires. Tires, with raised tread features – i.e, knobs, ridges or cleats were and are common on mountain bikes. Hybrid mountain bike tires are wider than “traditional” narrow road bike tires but narrower than mountain bike tires. Hybrid mountain bike tires, commuter bike tires and utility bike tires tend to have flat, patterned treads. Generally, gravel tires have knobs.
According to Jan Heine of René Herse Cycles, knobs and other tread patterns do not increase traction on loose aggregate surface materials (gravel). The tires ride on the aggregate material on the top.. The top aggregates slide or tumble on the lower loose material. Knobs do not increase grip on such a surface. Knobs can grip irregular firm surfaces and surfaces covered by thin layers of loose materials.
Some knobby tires can “squirm”:
Knobby treads actually give worse traction on hard surfaces! This is because the knobs can bend under side loads, while a smooth tread cannot. The bending of knobs can cause discontinuities in handling: the tire grips OK for mild cornering, but as cornering force exceeds some critical value, the knobs start to bend and the traction suddenly goes to Hell in a handbasket.
It depends on the size and shape of the knobs, the tread material, and the way the tire deforms and contacts the road. The tire streches and deforms around around knobs when the knobs are under the contact patch.
Thick knobs are less vulnerable to puncture than the thinner parts of the tread when the knobs are in the contact patch. The risk of puncture depends on the shape and size of the debris, the angle of impact, speed, and weight. I can’t find any discussion of the role of knobs in protecting the tire from puncture by small debris.
The knobby mountain bike tires made in the 1980s and ’90s were noisy. Tires with knobby tread were also generally thicker and stiffer. Knobby treaded tires were slower because the tires were stiff and slow. I switched from knobby tires to a patterned tread tires on my Giant hardtail mountain bike, and rode patterned tread tires on my hybrids and my old road bike for years. I was quieter and I thought I was faster. I don’t really know.
Manufacturers have modified tread patterns with knobs and cleats to reduce noise. Modern raised tread patterns are more likely to hum rather than buzz or roar, but can still be noisy.
Valves, Chucks, Gauges
The Schader valve used on automobile tires was used on bicycles in North America. Presta valves were once found mainly on the narrow tires and tubes of road bikes. Presta valves have become common on gravel bikes. mountain bikes and hybrid bikes. Bicycle Technical Information lists Schrader, Presta and Dunlop and illustrates these valves. Wikipedia’s valve stem entry has a 4th type.
A valve stem is a self-contained valve. Cyclists refer to the exterior shell, which is often threaded, as the stem. Some small bike pumps can be attached to the stem. Most pumps attach to the stem with a hose fiting on the pump hose called a chuck.
The Schrader valve allowed cyclists to use air pumps at automobile service stations. The pumps had chucks to fit on Schrader valves, and worked on Presta valves if the user had an adapter. These pumps were useful for cyclists if a service station was near (before service stations began to put coin meters on air pumps) if the user could limit or control the volume and pressure. Some industrial pumps could blow out a bike tire, delivering large volumes at high pressure.
In the 1950s and 60s young cyclists learned to test pressure by grasping the wheel rim and pressing the tread to see if the tire would deform under that pressure. It was not a measurement and it depended on strength and effort. Modern riders have access to analog and digital gauges to test pressure, cycling computers to record speed, location and elevation and power meters.
Pressure – Warnings, Manufacturer Recommendations
Many riders expect the manufacturer to specificy an optimal recommended operating pressure. The value stamped or marked by the manufacturer on the sidewall is not the an optimal value or the optimal value:
Most tires have a “maximum” pressure, or a recommended pressure range marked on the side of the tire. These pressure ratings are established by the tire manufacturers after consultation with the legal and marketing departments. The lawyers want the number kept conservatively low, in case the tire gets mounted on a defective or otherwise loose-fitting rim. They commonly shoot for half of the real blow-off pressure. The marketing department wants the number high, because many tire purchasers make the (unreliable) assumption that the higher the pressure rating, the better the quality of the tire. Newbies often take these arbitrary ratings as if they had some scientific basis. While you’ll rarely get in trouble with this rote approach, you will usually not be getting the best possible performance. … Optimal pressure for any given tire will depend on the load it is being asked to support. Thus, a heavier rider needs a higher pressure than a lighter rider, for identical tires.
….
Rough surfaces generally call for a reduction in pressure to improve ride comfort and traction, but there is a risk of pinch flats if you go too far. Even at the lower appropriate pressure, wider tires, because they also are deeper, are more immune to pinch flats.
Testing of tires for automobiles and aircraft (landing gear) for safety was established by governments, regulatory agencies and regulatory bodies. The performance of materials and components in the various situations became a testing point, and testing would have been necessary to sell those products.
Bicycles have been athletic, recreational and entertainment products, and a means of transportation, and even toys. Tire testing, unless required by consumer protection law or the rules of competition, was unusual. The test data for bicycle tires, if any, may be found in the papers of the inventors and manufacturers.
Josh Poertner, the principal of Silca Velo suggested (to Tom Anhalt in an interview (link below), that manufacturers of bicyle tires had no data about tire operation or performance because they were not testing, and that no one knew how to test bicycle tire performance until the early decades of the 21st century. Poertner said that manufacturers relied on their own reputations and industry practice when they made claims that tires were “fast”, efficient, grippy, puncture-resistant, comfortable etc. In a few of the earliest Silca Velo podcasts Josh Poertner discussed tires and inteviewed engineers who had started bicycle tire performance testing:
Cyclists started to demand, unsuccessfully, that when manufacturers claim that competive road casing tires are efficient or fast, they should disclose data. Manufacturers can feasibly test protypes and production samples on testing devices that put pressure on tires as tires are rotated against rollers and drums. Manufacturers prefer to rely on brand reputation and price to persuade riders that a tire is fast, light or high quality.
It is not likely that manufacturers will ever voluntarily disclose research on materials and products under development.
Consumer-led testing
For several decades, from the 1960s, riders, mechanics, bike shops and tire manufacturers shared a common belief and maintained that road bike tires should be narrow and inflated to high pressures. Several sectors of the cycling industry were vested in narrow tires by the 1990s. Road bike frame and fork designs accomodated narrow tires. Wheel manufacturers manufactured wheel rims for narrow tires. Tire manufacturers made narrow tires and tubes.
Cycling magazines seldom pay journalists to test products or challenge the practices of manufacturers who pay magazines to advertise products and publicize cycling. There was some industry reseach on rolling resistance in bicycle tires, but the methods and results are obscure. In an article on the triathlon site Slowtwitch.com:
I’ve heard, though I haven’t seen, reports of rolling resistance studies Continental performed that included an analysis of tire width. … it seems intuitive to me, that there is not much if any measurable difference in the rolling resistance of a 20mm tire versus a 24mm tire, all other things equal. Thinner tires require more attention, though, in that they’re more susceptible to increased rolling resistance if they’re not inflated to a sufficient pressure.
….
After you’ve satisfied yourself (or if you’re willing to take my word for it) that a 23mm or 24mm tire will roll as efficiently as a 9mm or 20mm tire, you can move to the next two issues, which are aerodynamics and resistance to flats.
Cycling computers and tire pressure gauges allow riders to check their real speed, tire pressure and other parameters. This allowed riders to compare tires and tire pressures.
Independent researchers including Robert Chung, Al Morrison, Tom Anhalt and Jan Heine started research into road bike tires at or after the end of the 20th century. They recorded data with gauges, cycling computers and power meters available to them. They communicated with each other, sometimes, on Usenet or in other internet services, or by telephone.
Tom Anhalt’s equations to convert Crr (Coefficient of rolling resistance) on rollers to flat surface were written in 2006 (published in 2013 on his blog Blather ’bout Bikes) Tire Crr testing on Rollers – The Math. His charts comparing narrow triathlon road racing tires were published in 2013 on his blog Blather ’bout Bikes, Tire Crr Testing on Rollers – The Chart … and a “how to”. Tom Anhalt’s 2009 article on inner tubes formulated the theory of the breakpoint, at which increasing tire pressure increases rolling resistance:
When thinking about tire pressure and what is “fast”, it helps to think of it in terms of a “resistance to forward motion” rather than just thinking about the rolling resistance of the tire itself. As we’ve seen above, increasing pressure inside the tire decreases the rolling resistance of the tire itself, and this fact has been observed in tests of rolling resistance vs. tire pressure on smooth rollers. With increasing pressure, the rolling resistance drops at a decreasing rate until at very high pressures it’s basically a flat line. So, does that mean that increasing pressure in a tire lowers the rolling resistance of the tire on a rougher surface as well? The answer is: “Yes…but..” The rolling resistance of the tire continues to decrease with increasing pressure on rough surfaces as well, BUT at some point the increasing pressure stiffens the “air spring” so much that the increase in transmitted energy loss overwhelms the decreasing rolling resistance of the tire, with the result being that the actual ” resistance to forward motion” starts increasing. The net result is that above a certain pressure (what I like to call the “breakpoint pressure”) higher inflation pressures make a rider slower for a given power input to the pedals. Adjacent is a simplified schematic representation of this effect. Very little data is commonly available that shows this effect. Mainly out of curiosity about whether or not this effect was measurable, and to what the magnitude of the effect was, this author undertook an experiment “on the road” armed with a PowerTap power meter and a method for determining the Crr (coefficient of rolling resistance – actually, in this case the “resistance to forward motion” proportional to velocity) illustrated here.
Tom Anhalt, Slowtwitch.com. September 21, 2009, What’s in a Tube
Robert Chung developed a power equation that considered Cda (drag area) as well as Crr. He wrote a paper “estimating CdA with a power meter” which has been distributed on the internet. Tom Anhalt discussed the March 2012 version of the paper in his Blather ’bout Bikes post August 4, 2013 “Aero Field Testing using the “Chung Method” – How sensitive can it be?“.
Lower pressure was an innovation when applied to road bicycle tires. Some professional road racing teams or their consultants began to experiment. Some experimenters tried to protect their data and insights to maintain advantages for racing teams, consultants, and tire manufacturers. Academics publish. Manufacturers and consultants hoard trade secrets.
Josh Poertner, before acquiring the Italian Silca Velo brand, had worked on wheels and tires as a manager in Zipp’s Speed Weaponry division, advising professional road racing teams. He was familiar with the literature, and was involved in testing. Josh Poertner/Silca Velo started to podcast or make videos in 2019. Josh Poertner sometimes suggests that the modern engineering of Anhalt has superceded the views of Frank Berto. Anhalt relied on some of Berto’s work in a post on gravel tires February 16, 2020 and his graphs on rolling resistance and pressure. The reasoning and the math is complicated. It seems that Anhalt did not overthrow Berto’s work.
Bicycle Quarterly
Bicycle Quarterly (“BQ”), is a printed publication founded by Jan Heine, the principal of Compass Cycling and René Herse Cycle of Seattle, Washington, USA. BQ was first published in 2002 as a publication about “vintage” bikes. Jan Heine favours drop bar bikes without mechanical/hyrdraulic suspensions: road bikes, endurance road bikes, and “all-road” bikes. His favoured off-road forms of riding include cyclo-cross. He rode Unbound Gravel in Kansas in 2022 on a vintage design René Herse 12 speed (2 x 6) all-road bike. He reviews bikes built by custom builders – frequently bikes built with steel frames. BQ has discussed the uses of bicycles on gravel roads, and self-supported distance riding (randonneuring). René Herse Cycles has a YouTube channel. Some of the videos are about rides in the Cascades and other parts of the US Northwest. Some illustrate bike design, handling, and maintenance:
Most of Jan Heine’s books were independently published by Bicycle Quarterly Publications and sold by René Herse Cycles, and by Amazon:
The Competition Bicycle (2008, reprinted 2012),
The Golden Age of Handbuilt Bicycles: Craftsmanship, Elegance, and Function (2009),
René Herse: The Bikes • The Builder • The Riders (2012),
The All-Road Bike Revolution (2020).
Several of Jan Heine’s books explore history and document the quality of 20th century bicycles. The 2020 book is a short manual for purchasers and riders, and discusses features of modern bikes. Jan Heine frequently observes that modern bikes originated in bicycle designs in the early and middle parts of the 20th century. He respects innovation, but has raised questions about innovations that fail to improve the owner/rider’s experience. He points out that a steel bike from a home builder or small manufacturer can be a better bike, and less expensive than most bikes produced by modern factories.
BQ discussed tire pressure, tire testing and tire design many times. Jan Heine and other riders and writers associated with BQ began testing and writing about rolling resistance and tire tests in BQ issue 17 (aka Volume 5, No. 1, Autumn 2006). Heine respects Frank Berto’s efforts to measure tire drop – he relied on it in developing the René Herse online pressure calculator tool, which became active in the spring of 2022, and cites Berto in journal entries such as “Tire Pressure Take Home” (March 2016).
BQ writers criticized the lack of testing by tire manufacturers, and the use of machines that tested tires on steel rollers or drums. They preferred to test tires by comparing performance on the same surface, without pedalling, by letting bikes roll down measured distances, downhill under low wind conditions – the “roll-down” test. It is a low-tech process that requires time, and measurements of distance, time, and speed. Jan Heine designed tires, manufactured (according to some sources by Panaracer) for Compass and René Herse in Japan, and brought the tires to market. He can be seen as :
a fan of vintage bikes and
promoting his brand of supple tires, and
questioning some of the practices of bike and tire manufacturers.
Jan Heine maintains that hard narrow tires cause the bike to vibrate, even on smooth pavement, which riders perceive as an indication the bike is fast. He summarizes his reseach as supporting the view that an overinflated (hard) tire transmits vibration which slows a rider down – a hard tire is not an effective shock absorber. Jan Heine expressed his views to the readers of the Adventure Cyclist magazine of the Adventure Cycling Association in March 2009 in the article “PSI Rx“. The article discussed the way tires lose energy the rider put out to get the bike rolling forward:
Suspension losses – a bike that vibrates and bounces from one bump to the next is lifted up time and again. Lifting the bike requires energy. Part of this energy is absorbed inthe rider’s body and, on a touring bike, by the luggage. The rest is returned as the bike rolls off the bump. When you accidentally ride into the rumble stripsthat separate many U.S. highways from the shoulder … you also slow down immediately as energy is absorbed in your body. By smoothing out the bumps, pneumatic tires save energy.
Deformation losses – the downside of a soft and squishy tire is the deformation of the tire as the wheel rotates. Most of the energy necessary to bend the tire casing is returned as it springs back into shape at the rear of the contact patch, but some of it is lost to friction within the tire and is no longer available to drive the bicycle forward.
For the best performance and comfort, you need a tire that is neither too hard nor too soft. Instead of inflating your tires to the maximum pressure, run them at the optimal pressure, where they deflect enough to keep the bike from vibrating too much yet are not so soft that they slow down due to excessive deformation losses.
Tire drop measures how much the tire deflects under the load of rider and luggage (Figure 1). For example, if your tire is 30 mm tall without a load and 27 mm tall once you sit on the bike, your tire drop is 3 mm or 10 percent.
….
Properly inflated, wider tires provide much more comfort. When you hit a bump and your tire drop increases from 15 to 18 percent, the 23-mm tire will give you only 0.69 mm suspension, whereas the 37-mm tire deflects 1.11 mm. The added suspension of the wider tire makes it faster and more comfortable on rough roads.
But aren’t narrower tires faster? Not really. The key to a fast tire is a supple thin casing that requires less energy to deform than a sturdier thicker casing. For a variety of reasons, many wide tires use heavy-duty casings, which are indeed slow. Wide tires with high-performance casings can be very fast. In Bicycle Quarterly’s tests, the five fastest tires ranged in width from 24 to 37mm. … thin supple casing is faster because it absorbs less energy as it deforms.Thus, it will deform more for a given bump, making it more comfortable than a sturdier tire with a thicker casing (for the same tire width and pressure). The downside of a thin supple casing is reduced resistance to punctures.
Jan Heine’s point is that a supple tire deforms and recovers faster, and absorbs road vibration that a stiff tire will not. Jan Heine acknowledges that the thin supple casing has disadvantages and risks, including reduced resistance to punctures. In the printed BQ articles about his attempts in 2021 to record the Fastest Known Time on the Oregon Outback route, he discusses the risks of gashing supple tires on sharp rocks on gravel surfaces.
Jan Heine and Josh Poertner were guests on CyclingTips Weekly Podcast Episode 9, August 21, 2016 “Rethinking road bike tire sizes and pressures“. Elden Nelson, the (former) blogger at Fat Cyclist was the podcast host. (Elden Nelson and Michal Hottner co-host a podcast about the Leadville Colorado mountain bike race, and the Silca Velo Marginal Gains podcast. He stopped blogging in 2022). James Huang, a CyclingTips technical writer, was a guest or co-host. It may be necessary to play the mp3 version – the 2016 episode is not available in the podcast search function in several podcatcher apps. It is over an hour long. Jan Heine and Josh Poertner agreed that lower pressures were faster. The discussion was summarized in an article in/on CyclingTips in 2017 “What is the optimal tyre pressure?“
The amount of energy that is wasted due to suspension losses increases significantly as the surface of the road gets rougher. Jan Heine measured huge losses when riding the rumble strips that border some roads while Josh Poertner found that even a small amount of over-inflation (10psi) could produce an obvious penalty.
….
Much of the data favours wide (25-28c), supple tyres at lower pressures (60-80psi/4-5.5bar), but every rider should feel free to experiment with tyre size and pressure until they are pleased with the performance of the bike.
They agreed that many riders would be better off with wider, softer and more supple tires, and that the optimal tire pressure is usually below the manufacturer’s safety warning. Each had reasons, and relied on particular data points. Poertner cited “supple” practices of professional road racing teams such as the use of latex inner tubes (as opposed to the more common butyl rubber tubes) and the use of thin casing supple tires in races. Poertner agreed that that overpressure beyond the breakpoint (see Tom Anhalt, above) can produce a penalty. They had some differences, but they did not discuss or debate them. The article in/on CyclingTips is imprecise on some points. As the breakpoint is dependent on weight and sensitive to surface, a rider may have to monitor pressure, use data based calculator programs, and test. Rolling resistance cannot be stated for a tire, without knowing other parameters.
The Consultant’s View
Josh Poertner is an engineer and entrepeneur:
He views reducing tire pressure as a way of reducing rolling resistance as a marginal gain for competitive riders;
He favours the idea that new ideas, methods and products are generally better;
He is aware of the costs and constraints affecting the way tires are made – the cost of material, the costs of machines, transportation, energy and labour;
He is aware of the way engineers in the automobile-related industries have addressed the constraints;
He is responsive to the financial constraints of industry.
Like the Ferengi on Star Trek, manufacturers focused on the acquisition of profit as the highest goal can resist making performance the highest standard – it a customer wants high performance, like a professional cycling team manager, the customer needs lots of money.
By 2016, according to Josh Poertner, several road racing teams were using slightly wider tires, and pumping the tires to pressures determined by their procedures for the weight of the rider and bike, and road conditions. Poertner referried to chip seal and gravel as rough. Poertner says he is impressed by Chung, Anhalt and others who have worked with mathematical formulas and gather data with specific tools. Poertner accepts testing on rollers and rotating drums.
This kind of testing involves some machinery. When testing became feasible enough for riders to tinker and test, it also became more feasible for manufacturers and industry stakeholders to test. Testing on machines can be standardized and scaled – and is less costly for manufacturers:
It is relatively straightforward to measure rolling resistance under controlled conditions. A large rotating drum or a set of rollers can be used to reproducibly identify relatively minor differences in rolling resistance allowing different brands, models and sizes to be compared and ranked to identify the “fastest” tyres. The influence of other variables — including tyre pressure, different inner tube materials, and for tubular tyres, the method of gluing — has also been tested.
….
It was Tom Anhalt that first raised the possibility that there was more to rolling resistance than friction alone. By comparing his “lab” data with real-world data, Anhalt noticed an unexpected increase in rolling resistance when high tyre pressures were used on the road. Jan Heine and Josh Poertner subsequently confirmed these observations, ushering in a fresh view on rolling resistance and renewed appreciation for lower tyre pressures.
Poertner says he thinks roll-down testing is very limited. He appears to view Frank Berto’s work as out of date. Poertner is focussed on the marginal gains of improving aerodynamic performance. Poertner’s views are influencing cycling influeners – e.g. Lennard Zinn:
… if there is a question about whether a fatter tire is faster than a skinnier one on a rough road, where the bigger tire should have the advantage, then on a smooth road, the narrower tire will likely come out ahead. And even if there is little or no difference in rolling resistance, the advantage will go to the narrower tire overall, due to its lighter weight and lower aerodynamic drag. Contrary to that René Herse blog you sent me, bigger tires are slower aerodynamically, except when the rim is wider than the tire.
As for the René Herse tire rolling-resistance results … This is the methodology the author (Jan Heine) employed for those René Herse tire tests. I respect the enormous amount of work, time and effort that went into those tests. On the other hand, you can’t accurately quantify a small friction difference between tires, tire widths, or tire pressures when the main thing you’re actually measuring, namely aerodynamic drag, dwarfs those tiny differences.
…..
I’m still left with the fact that the main thing determining the riders’ speeds was wind resistance, since rolling resistance is so much smaller of an effect. That’s why, if we really wanted to be able to quantify what tire pressure, width, or model was faster than another, we needed to do it in a lab, and it couldn’t be just any lab, as I explain[ed][November 23, 2021, Technical FAQ]
“Unfortunately, the only way we can truly know the tire pressure breakpoint for a particular rider on a particular surface is to conduct virtual elevation testing (Chung Method testing), which is a methodology whereby we can use real-world data sets to back-out rider CdA and Crr to very high degrees of accuracy. Having done hundreds of these tests, what we find is that the ‘fastest tire’ in the field is the same one we find on the smooth or rough drum in the lab, but the breakpoint pressure depends greatly on rider size/weight/body composition, as that is what is ultimately driving the whole spring/mass/damper side of the equation.
“If you wanted to test that with a machine, you’d have to do some sort of shake rig testing (as we do with racecars) to determine the spring/mass/damping relationship at each tire contact patch and then model that into your bump drum to simulate that spring/mass/damper on top of the tire. Again, the fastest tire will still be the fastest tire, but you could then accurately predict breakpoint!
“This is what makes our tire pressure calculator so unique; it is a curve fit of thousands of real-world virtual elevation data points taken with pro athletes over a 6+ year period. No, the challenge with this data set is that the selection of tires used is extremely top tier. So, the breakpoint is likely a bit high for those running less extravagant tires, and secondly, our athletes are the fittest in the world, so the breakpoint is likely higher than for the average consumer, as these data were produced with athletes all having very low body fat percentage and therefore, lower hysteresis than most normal people!
….
” … roll-down testing, as you know, is a terrible tool for looking at Crr, and I would go as far as saying that it really just can’t/doesn’t work unless you are trying to parse very good from very bad tires.”
— Josh Poertner, Silca president
” … misinterpretation of smooth drum tests has led to misleading conclusions, and really mostly about pressures. Smooth roller tests on tires of equivalent construction, but varying widths, shows that at equivalent pressures, wider tires test faster on the smooth drums, and, with “appropriate” pressures in each, are basically equivalent. Yes, smooth roller tests, or rough roller tests without damping, don’t properly demonstrate breakpoint pressures. Now that this is understood, it’s also important to remember that below breakpoint pressures, roller testing is a very valuable tool for evaluating tire hysteresis losses.”
Lennard Zinn did not explore or explain Tom Andhalt’s comment on the limitations on drum/roller tests at breakpoint pressure.
Poertner assisted journalists at the Hearst publication Bicycling with an article in the spring 2022 issue (Volume 63, No. 4 at p. 65-66, if one has access to this paywalled magazine. I had access through a public library access licence). A test rider was timed and power output was recorded riding a bike equipped with Pirelli P Zero Race TLR tires in three widths – 26, 28 and 30 mm. Each tire width was at three pressure combinations (F/R psi: 90/95, 70/75, 50/55) over two 2.5 mile courses – a smooth and flat (paved) bike path, and a rolling road with “mostly good quality pavement”. Poertner is cited for explaining Tom Anhalt’s breakpoint math, as saying that wider tires are not necessarily faster, and as a supporting the writer’s interpretation of the test results:
“There is the conventional wisdom that wider tires have lower rolling resistance, and if you took a given tire construction and just scaled it, you would probably find that to be true. But in the real world, because of the way tire makers make their tires, that is not always true. I know this can be hard to hear … but it really just depends.”
….
Its not surprising that a 30 mm tire pumped up to 90/95 was the fastest on … smooth flat road. At [20 mph] rolling resistance is not getting overwhelmed by the aerodynamic penalty of the larger tire.
….
The biggest variable that affects your ideal tire pressure (in terms of speed) will be the surface on which you ride.
Bike and tire manufacturers prefer to test on rollers and drums, and deprecate roll-down tests. there are no standards for the tests or the use of tests in manufacturing and marketing.
In road racing, slightly wider tires and lower pressures have become popular, but the adoption of wider tires in competitive road cycling has been limited. The use of wider tires affects frame design. Bicycle manufacturers are competing to produce lighter and faster bikes. Bike manufacturers are replacing metal with plastic composite. At present, carbon fiber is an expensive single-use plastic. Some bike companies greenwash their use of carbon fiber composite as dematerialization. This uses carbon fuels – the energy costs are significant. The road racing interests have tried to get aerobic gains by reshaping bikes and components and changing cycling apparel.
My Tires
My bike in the last half of 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 was a 2019 model Cannondale Topstone with WTB tubeless ready wheels to fit 700c tires on a 23 mm. (inner bead diameter) rim. I ran the wheels and tires as clinchers with normal basic butyl rubber inner tubes. The WTB Nano tires had knobs, shown in the photo below. The main tread shows as dusty grey; the raised knobs are black. The larger 4 sided knobs were about 4 mm. front to back x 5.7 mm. The thin knobs on the center line were 14.4 mm. fron to back x 3.75 mm. across, and spaced 5.1 mm. apart. An image of the tread pattern of knobs, arranged in chevrons pointing in the path of travel, seen from the front, is below. These were fairly small knobs, and pretty typical of the tread pattern of modern tires. They were quiet – nearly silent. WTB marked the range of inflation from minimum 35 psi/2.4 bars/240 K.Pa to maximum 55 psi/3.8 bars/380 K.Pa.
Those tires, at 700c x 40 mm., were slightly too big to allow me to put fenders on that bike.
Tread pattern WTB Nano, seen head on
I replaced the WTB Nanos with 700c x 38 mm Panaracer Gravel King SK tires. The actual diameter of this tire (distance from the widest point between the sidewalls) on the 23 mm. rim was about 41.5 mm. The tires were marked with tubed maximum pressure 75 psi/5.3 bars/ 525 kpa, tubeless max 60 psi/ 4.0 bars/ 400 K.Pa
These had, as shown in the image below, 3 rows of 3.5 mm. x. 3.5 mm. square knobs (2.5 or 3 mm high) on the center of the tread, 9 knobs per square centimeters, in a waffle pattern, and some slightly larger knobs on the shoulder between the centre of the tread line and the sidewalls (SK stands for small knob). The small knobs on the center line have the center line thick tread on the contact patch, and some grip on pavement. The knobs were soft enough to give with side pressure.
Tread pattern, Panaracer GravelKing (SK) tires.
Tom Anhalt included Panaracer GravelKing (SK) at 32 mm. in his post on gravel tires February 16, 2020.
The Panaracer GravelKing (SK) tires rode smoothly, but seemed to me to squirm on worn asphalt, where bitumen showed on the road surface (Wallace Road, in Central Saanich).
From spring 2021 to May 2022, I rode René Herse Barlow Pass 700c x 38 mm. René Herse has this tire in its “all-road”road line of tires. It is basically a road tire. At 38 mm. itis wider than normal for road bikes. The tread pattern is a faint rib to indicate wear, with a fine file tread on the shoulder. René Herse describes/promotes the tires:
For paved roads and smooth gravel, our all-road tread with its fine ribs is the best choice. It combines excellent performance and grip on pavement with surprising traction on loose surfaces – the supple casing allows the tire to grip the surface much better than a stiffer tire.
René Herse advises that the diameter of its Barlow Pass tires should be within .5 mm of 38 mm. The actual diameter of this tire (distance from the widest point between the sidewalls) on the 23 mm. rim was about 41.5 mm with the Extra Light tire and about 42 mm. with the Endurance tire. The height of the inflated tire was about 710 mm. This is little larger than the manufacturer said I could expect. The maximum pressure specified (tubed) is 75 psi/5.2 bars/515 K.Pa.
I picked up some scattered metal debris, which eventually pushed through the tread and casing and caused a number of small punctures of the tube(s). Some caused rapid deflation. Others caused slow leaks. I may have taken some pinch flats. Supple tires are fragile – as many have said.
I installed René Herse Steilacoom 700c x 38 mm. tires in May 2022. This tire was introduced in 2018. It was the first, and at the time the only René Herse (Compass) knobby tire. Tom Anhalt included this tire in his chart of his test and equations of gravel tires in February 2020. René Herse describes this tire as the ultimate cyclocross tire. It has “dual-purpose knobby tread” which René Herse describes this way:
Our dual-purpose knobbies offer supreme traction on dirt, mud and even snow. They are also a great choice for riders who prefer a more aggressive tread on loose surfaces. On pavement, our knobbies will surprise you with their low rolling resistance and excellent cornering grip. They’re the perfect tire for adventures where you don’t know what lies ahead.
The diameter of the tire (distance from the widest point between the sidewalls) was about 38.5 mm., and the height (inclusive of the knobs) is 710 mm. The maximum pressure specified (tubed) is 75 psi/5.2 bars/515 K.Pa. 38 mm. tires can be run at 40 psi, or less, depending on the weight of rider, bike and gear according to online tire calculators including Silca Velo and René Herse .
The knobs are arranged three rows of overlapping alternating knobs (wider models have 5 rows). The knobs overlapping the center line on the 38 mm. tire are 6.8 mm. x. 6.8 mm. Those knobs are engaged steadily, within the contact patch, when the bike is riding straight. The knobs in the outer rows on the shoulders are 7.7 mm. x 7.7 mm. The larger outer knobs closest to the center row line up with every second gap between the knobs on the center line. Some of the outer knobs seem to be in the contact patch and to bear some load in straight line riding. More of the outer knobs will be engaged when the bike is leaned to turn, or rocked.
René Herse has brought out other wider tires with the same knobs. In 2021-22 René Herse has been promoting the tread design by listing the riders who have used René Herse knobby tires in gravel races and endurance events.
These tires work with my fenders. On my first rides on these tires, I thought the tires lived up to claim that dual purpose knobby tiress were as fast as René Herse’s slick 38 mm. road tires. The hummed a bit. They ran smoothly on fresh asphalt pavement, worn pavement, and packed gravel. The knobby tread does not pick up water from a wet pavement. It does pick up bits of gravel and throw them into my fenders, as other tires do.
Pressure Calculators
Generally
Riders can use online calculators to assist in the determination of optimal pressure. These depend on data sets, and several parameters. The calculators are generally in the cloud – on a commercial site. Some require registration. Few remember a user or previous data. All want the user to state/enter weight, wheel diameter, tire width. Getting the weight of rider + bike + load can involve standing on a scale holding the bike, weighing some gear separately, and adding up the weights.
The calculators depend on the rider’s use of a gauge. A rider needs, of course, a pump. Many tire gauges appear to read the nearest bar and the nearest psi. My gauge can read the nearest psi but only reads the nearest .1 bars. Tire gauges, like hoses, have to connect to tire valves. Some air bleeds off. Gauges are vulnerable to wear and tear, and can deliver inconsistent readings.
Some calculators want the use to classify the riding surface. On any given ride, I may encounter a few hundred meters of new pavement, a lot of worn pavement, some chipseal and some gravel. This parameter cannot even be predicted some days. A rider will live with the pressure in the tires, unless the rider want to deflate or pump tires en route.
Silca Velo
The Silca Pro Tire Pressure Calculator is free – it does not charge a fee for registration or use. It no longer asks me to register or log in, but perhaps has tracked me and identified me. It requires 7 parameters – some are drop-down choices. It asks for weight of rider + bike + load, as other calculators do. It asks me to enter, from drop-down menus:
wheel diameter;
tire width to the nearest mm. – actual measured width, not manufacturer’s stated width (this is possible with a caliper);
“Tire type”;
average speed. The 6 options start at Recreational and include “Pro Tour”;
Weight distribution – a front/rear % split:
Time trial or triathlon 50/50;
Road 48/52;
Gravel 47/53;
Mountain bike 46.5/53.5;
Surface condition
Surface condition parameter has 10 choices (as of June 2022) from “Track (Indoor wood)” to “Category 4 Gravel”. There is a visual guide. The difference in optimal pressure between smooth pavement and chipseal can be about .4 bars (nearly 6 psi). I use worn pavement or Cat. 1 gravel (not “poor” pavement) as the closest estimatse of local conditions.
This calculator will state calculated optimal pressures to the nearest psi or .05 bar. (1 bar = 14.5 psi. At two decimal places, the bar number also give the pressure in K.Pa; 1 bar = 100 K.Pa). The optimal value for a recreational speed on poor pavement, bad gravel or a dirt trail, is almost a minimum pressure. It is worth checking pressure almost weekly and making time to pump tires up in case they have lost .2 or .3 bars.
René Herse
The René Herse Tire Pressure calculator does not calculatedifferent pressures for front and rear tires. It requires only two parameters: weight and tire width. It provides two optimal settings a “soft” setting and “hard setting”. It is based on Frank Berto’s tests and his theory that tire drop was the best signal or symptom of optimal pressure.
The soft setting is close to the Silca setting for Cat. 1 gravel. The hard setting is close to the Silca setting for tires of the same width, for worn pavement.
This is Part 5 of a series of 8 posts organized as a single article. individually published as posts on this blog. The series is organized into sections, numbered for reference in the table of contents for each post. In March 2024 I began to reorganize and revise the long article. The article is organized into sections, numbered for reference here and in the table 0f contents for each post.
The solid surfaces of the bike frame and fork are protected with paint – like an automobile or motorcycle. The painted surfaces can be hosed off or gently scrubbed. Few would use a wire brush, sandpaper or metal scrapers on the bike frame.
When the bike is hosed the joints and the open parts, including the chain, are exposed to dirt, water, and detergents. Many products would not harm the painted finish of bicycle frame and fork. Some may splash or spray into vulnerable areas. Brake rotors may be contaminated by materials used to clean the frame or the chain.
Cleaning Products
Solvents and detergents can be used to clean a chain .
Solvents dilute and wash oils and grease off of surfaces. Water is a solvent, which can dilute oils but is not a good solvent to remove oil from metal surfaces. Most industrial solvents are the product of refining or processing petroleum oils. Some industrial solvents are used clean bicycle chains and components that contain bearings.
Detergents are surfactants or mixtures of surfactants with cleansing properties when in dilute solutions.
Surfactants are chemical compounds that decrease the surface tension or interfacial tension between two liquids, a liquid and a gas, or a liquid and a solid. The word “surfactant” is a blend of surface-active agent, coined c. 1950. As they consist of a water-repellent and a water-attracting part, they enable water and oil to mix; they can form foam and facilitate the detachment of dirt. Surfactants are among the most widespread and commercially important chemicals. Private households as well as many industries use them in large quantities as detergents and cleaning agents, but also for example as emulsifiers, wetting agents, foaming agents, antistatic additives, or dispersants. Surfactants occur naturally in traditional plant-based detergents, e.g. horse chestnuts or soap nuts; they can also be found in the secretions of some caterpillars. Today the most commonly used surfactants, above all anionic linear alkylbenzene sulfates (LAS), are produced from petroleum products. However, surfactants are (again) increasingly produced in whole or in part from renewable biomass, like sugar, fatty alcohol from vegetable oils, by-products of biofuel production, or other biogenic material.
Some detergents may interact harmfully with bicycle chains. Some manufacturers of some chain cleaning products have suggested that some industrial detergents can be a cause of hydrogen embrittlement1Josh Poertner of Silca Velo suggested this about Simple Green and any detergent that was not certified for use on metal parts in aviation.
Clamshell Cleaners
These are devices that can be attached to the lower span of a chain on a bicycle placed against a support, when the bike is not in motion. The chain is rotated through the device by pedalling backward as the user hold the device steady. The device has rollers with bristles that pentrate inside links and bend the chain into the lower compartment, which is usually filled with a chain detergent. The Park Tool CM-5.3 is one modern device.
These devices remove dirt sticking to the chain by rotating the chain in detergent that facilitates detaching dirt from the metal, and rubbing off the dirt. These devices remove dirt in the chain on the outside surfaces including the surfaces oriented inside such as link plates. This gets close to getting a chain clean enough to lubricate. The bristles and cleaning components of these devices do not reach inside the sleeves, around the pins, or in the spaces where link plates overlap with brushes or friction.
Clamshell devices hold tiny amounts of detergent which gets dirty, which leads a user to believe the chain was dirty – which was a given. These devices have to be emptied and refilled at short intervals. They clean the visible surfaces including most of surfaces of link plates and roller pretty quickly.
The detergent will penetrate the chain. It may take a long time to remove internal contaminants, which will also introduce more detergent and water. They only clean the “insides” of the chain to the extent that detergent gets in and out, and carries away contaminants. It is best to wait and let the detergent dry off before re-lubricating a chain. Wet detergent residue contaminates any new lubricant.
The information security consultant Bruce Schnier uses the term security theatre:
Security theater refers to security measures that make people feel more secure without doing anything to actually improve their security.
Chains wear and have to be replaced to protect other drive train components and ensure the proper operation of the gears. The point of cleaning, and using using better chains and lubricants is to delay the replacement of the chain and to avoid damaging other components of the drive train.
Most chain cleaning removes visible material that interferes with the chain. Many pages, videos and podcasts discuss cleaning chains; for instance:
removing the visible dirt that sticks to the ouside and inside of link plates, on the chainwheels, in the derailleur pulleys and on or between the cassette cogs;
cleaning chains that have been lubricated with motor oil, gear oil, and most of the proprietary bicycle chain drip fluid lubes.
It is essential to get the outside surface of a chain clean enough to be able to lubricate it. This is a dirty job
It is difficult to remove the microscopically small particles of grit that adhere to the rollers, link plates, pins and other load bearing surfaces Jobst Brandt, in a paper published in Bicycle Technical Information (Sheldon Brown site), described the problem (emphasis added):
Chain wear is caused almost exclusively by road grit that enters the chain when it is oiled. Grit adheres to the outside of chains in the ugly black stuff that can get on one’s leg, but external grime has little functional effect, being on the outside where it does the chain no harm.
The black stuff is oil colored by steel wear particles, nearly all of which come from pin and sleeve wear, the wear that causes pitch elongation. The rate of wear is dependent primarily on how clean the chain is internally rather than visible external cleanliness that gets the most attention.
Only when a dirty chain is oiled, or has excessive oil on it, can this grit move inside to cause damage. Commercial abrasive grinding paste is made of oil and silicon dioxide (sand) and silicon carbide (sand). You couldn’t do it better if you tried to destroy a chain, than to oil it when dirty.
….
… the chain should be cleaned of grit before oiling, and because this is practically impossible without submerging the chain in solvent (kerosene, commercial solvent, or paint thinner), it must be taken off the bicycle.
The grit in a chain is partly the metal products of friction between steel surfaces, and between chain parts and grit in the lube. The grit includes dust suspended in air or accumulated on the road and suspended in water on the road.
Deep cleaning will be addressed in section 15, below. Deep cleaning of a new, unused chain is the most effective way to remove enough factory grease to let lubricants adhere to bare metal. It is recommended/required as a prelude to lubrication with:
Immersion waxes by manufacturers of the paraffin wax products and the hot waxing advisers; and
Modern fluid chain coating wax products by some of the manufacturers – e.g. Silca Super Secret Chain Coating
A deep cleaning may be necessary “to reset contamination” (as Adam Kerin of Zero Friction Cycling refers to this) if the hard wax on a chain had been contaminated by dirt, water and wear under adverse conditions. Deep cleaning can be used with chains that have been run with drip lubes. It can remove most contamination when a chain has been contaminated during a ride(s) under adverse conditions. It is not a common practice.
Deep cleaning involves removing the chain from the bike. Removing a chain required using a chain breaker to remove and installed a pin for chains without master links. Master links need to be replaced, although not necessarily after a single use.
Deep cleaning also involves soaking the chain in a solvent. The effective solvents have been harsh industrial chemicals which may require handling and disposal as hazardous waste. The detergents have to be flushed with water, and the chain has to be be dried!
The limits of deep cleaning were lllustrated by a parody in an April Fools Day (prank/humour) article “The ShelBroCo Bicycle Chain Cleaning System” in the Bicycle Technical Information (Sheldon Brown) pages. A complete cleaning of a chain could literally require dissassembly of links!
Bike & General detergents
Many users use general purpose cleaners. Some use cleaners marketed as bicycle chain cleaners or degreasers. A 2023 post or page The Best and Effective Degreasers in 2023 at the GeekyCyclist site listed products sold in bike shops including:
Simple Green
WD-40 Bike Degreaser
Park Tool Bio Chainbrite
Muc Off Bio Drivetrain Cleaner
Pedro’s Oranj Peelz
In Canada, the cycling section of any Mountain Equipment Cooperative store sold the MEC store brand Bio-Cycle Chain Cleaner detergents.
Many bike and general detergents are easier and safer to handle than solvents but once used to remove grease or oil, may be subject to hazardous goods disposal rules for oil and grease.
Some users use a chain cleaner/degreaser detergent product to clean the chain. Some use the cleaner/degreaser with brushes or a clamshell cleaner. Some users used a cleaner/degreaser before removing a chain to deep clean it with solvents.
14. Deep Cleaning
The Process
Deep cleaning a new chain or a chain that is not worn is necessary, if the user wants to remove have factory grease, or lubricants applied by previous owners and users. Removal of factory grease and reside of lubrication applied by the seller is necessary before immersive waxing or the use of chain coating emulsion lubricants.
Deep clean of a chain that has been lubricated with an oil based fluid and used but not contaminated with dirt or water may be a choice or option.
A chain that that has been contaminated by exposure to dust and water, and by the products of chain wear (metal dust) may need to be deep cleaned before it is lubricated again.
A deep cleaning may may start before the chain is removed, but often involves removing the chain from the bike. It involves:
Removing visible contaminants and lubricants from the exterior surfaces of the chain and the drive train components that contact the chain – chainwheels, cassette cogs, derailleur pulleys. Some parts can be scraped or brushed. For other, rags can be used, or the strong blue disposable paper towel (e.g. Scott Paper Shop Towel). Some users use microfiber wipes and towels. Small amounts of detergent may be used.
Washing a contaminated chain with/in a detergent. This involves taking the chain off the bike. The methods include soaking, soaking and agitation, soaking and scrubbing any surface than can be reached with a scrubbing device. Some soaking is necessary to allow the detergent to contact the material to be cleaned off inward facing visible surfaces and visible on the edges of load bearing surfaces (edges of rollers and link plate). Some advice cautions against soaking a chain in detergents that may chemically interact with the chain steel, causing “hydrogen embrittlement”. Some advisors recommend automotive or aviation detergents to remove oil from metal without damaging the metal.
Washing the chain in solvents.
When a chain is immersed, it needs to be rinsed and dried before another substance is applied. A chain can be hung on a peg or a nail, in a dry place and left to dry. Users with the tools and time may blow compressed air through a chain.
Deep cleaning means, basically, washing the chain in solvents that remove grease and oil. Some advisers recommend soaking in the solvent before washing. The method is: immerse the chain in the solvent in a closed container, and shake it. The shaking caused turbulent flows of material in the container, including the movement of diluted grease out of the chain and clean solvent into the chain. The shaking or agitation of the chain in the container is shown in many videos on the web. (Many of the videos refer to this method a part of a program of applying paraffin by immersion.) Some use plastic bottles (bottles for Gatorade and similiar products, with wide mouths – not narrow mouthed soft drink bottles). The videos will suggest on attaching something to an end of the chain to extract the chain from the container. Removing factory grease take several rounds of immersion and agitation. It depends on what the chain manufacturer put on the chain, and on how much.
Solvent
The recommended solvent for deep cleaning is mineral spirits (“mineral terps” in Adam Kerin’s Australian English), or white spirits, a low viscocity combustible petrochemical product. Some white spirits are formulated, packaged and sold for specific applications: fuel, solvent, paint thinner or even as lubricant.
Mineral spirits, as opposed to paint thinner, are preferred for degreasing metal items. Turpentine is a paint thinner made from plant resin; it is not used for cleaning metal because it leaves residue.
In Canada, most retailers sell mineral spirits manufactured by Recochem Inc.2Business Wire: “Founded in 1951 in Montreal, Recochem has grown into a leading manufacturer and marketer of branded, private label and bulk automotive aftermarket and household fluids for consumers and industrial customers worldwide. The Company operates a global platform, with a network across North America, Europe, Australia, China, India and the Asia Pacific region. Recochem’s strong reputation in the markets it serves has earned the Company vendor appreciation awards from its customers and long-standing relationships with its suppliers and partners around the world. With innovation and agility built into its DNA, Recochem is poised to continue its expansion into global markets while maintaining its core values of exceptional customer service, consistent product quality and environmental stewardship.” in the H.I.G. Capital3Business Wire: “H.I.G. is a leading global private equity and alternative assets investment firm with $43 billion of equity capital under management. Based in Miami, and with offices in New York, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Atlanta in the U.S., as well as international affiliate offices in London, Hamburg, Madrid, Milan, Paris, Bogotá, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, H.I.G. specializes in providing both debt and equity capital to small and mid-sized companies, utilizing a flexible and operationally focused/ value-added approach. Since its founding in 1993, H.I.G. has invested in and managed more than 300 companies worldwide. The firm’s current portfolio includes more than 100 companies with combined sales in excess of $30 billion.” portfolio under the brand name Solvable. Recochem does not offer a Solvable brand odourless mineral spirit; Recochem makes an “odourless” mineral spirit sold as Varsol, usually as a paint thinner; Varsol is a trademark of Imperial Oil in Canada.
Adam Kerin of Zero Friction Cycling has deep cleaned many chains in the ZFC business and the ZFC tests. In Episode 6 “Chain Preparation FAQ” of the ZFC YouTube series, Adam Kerin notes the differences in the removing factory grease – some chains take 3 rounds of mineral spirits but SRAM chains take 4 or 5. This was a useful aside. Removing factory grease, and using wax or a high-reputation drip lubricant appears to make a SRAM chain run silently.
Mineral spirits cut the grease, but may leave microscopic amounts of water that cause some oxidation of the metal. It is also necessary to rinse the chain with a polar solvent that will carry off any water. Denatured alcohol (“methylated spirits”) is a polar solvent. It is mainly made of industrial ethyl alcohol or ethanol. Ethanol is the intoxicating chemical in potable beer, wine and spirits. In the US, the federal government mandated during Prohibition – the rule was never changed – that industrial ethyl alcohol must be “denatured” (poisoned) with methanol to deter people drinking it and bootleggers from selling it. It is a clear fluid – no food flavouring, colour or sugar. It evaporates quickly. It is cheaper than potable spirits (hard liquor). Using potable spirits to clean a bike chain is inefficient: potable spirits contain other substances that leave residue, and it is expensive. Solvable does not offer a denatured alcohol, but does distibute methyl hydrate or methanol. Some Canadian hardware stores sell the Klean Strip brand “Denatured alcohol clean burning fuel” in the blue metal container depicted in the image on the denatured alcohol Wikipedia page (link above).
Rinsing a chain cleaned in solvent in the polar solvent allows the user to dry the chain. Again, when a chain has been immersed in mineral spirits and alcohol, it needs to be dried before lubricants are applied. Generally, after an alcohol rinse, the alcohol evaporates quickly.
Used mineral spirits may or may not be subject to hazardous goods handling rules. The used spirits are contaminated with fine particles, factory grease residue, and petrochemical lubricant residue. Mineral spirits are petrochemicals. Rules vary.
15. Etc.
New Products
There are new detergents s available in early 2024 that can dissolve oil and be used to remove factory grease or to clean a dirty oiled chain.
Ceramic Speed manufactures UFO Drivetrain Cleaner (and UFO Clean Bearings and UFO Bike Wash).
Silca manufactures and distributes SILCA Chain Stripper, SILCA Bio Degreaser and Gear Cleaner, and a few kinds of wipes and micro-fiber cleaning cloths.
Cleaning a Waxed Chain
This is discussed in Part 7, on immersive waxing (immersion in heat paraffin) and chain coating fluids.
One approach is to remove dust from the exterior of a chain. Modern microfiber towels are resistant to the damage of being shredded in rubbing a chain and can be washed. Chains that have been ridden a few hundred Km. in dry conditions or only for short rides in mild wet conditions can be rubbed clean and dry and simply immersed in hot wax again. This is the Molten Speed Wax manufacturer recommendation for “training chains”. The wax will get mildly contaminated, but this method can be repeated many times before the wax needs to be is discarded. A variation on this approach for more serious contamination is swishing the chain in boiling water to wash off the contaminated wax, drying the chain and putting the chain in the hot wax. Zero Friction Cycling lists the boiling water method, with these comments, among other options:
… There is no tangible benefit to boiling water flush rinses after dry rides – especially road riding where extremely little contamination will get into your solid wax lube – but even for most offroad riding unless extremely dusty – just wipe outside. …. Don’t over complicate things – basically just re wax unless fully wet ride …. With waxing just even straight re-waxing will reset contamination in chain extremely well, and a brilliant job can be done with just some boiling water.
This is Part 6 of a series of 8 posts organized as a single article. individually published as posts on this blog. The series is organized into sections, numbered for reference in the table of contents for each post. In March 2024 I began to reorganize and revise the long article. The article is organized into sections, numbered for reference here and in the table 0f contents for each post.
As of 2022-2024, chain manufacturers make many kinds of chains to supply the need for replacement chains:
Most modern bikes on the market in Canada and the USA, other than e-bikes, children’s bikes and single gear bikes, have derailleurs and rear wheel cassettes with 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 or 13 cogs, and compatible laterally flexible bushingless chains;
Some cargo bikes and e-bike manufacturers make bikes that have:
rear derailleurs, and flexible bushingless chains; or
purpose-designed chains, which may be bushed chains or wider bushingless chains than chains for road bikes, gravel bikes, mountain bikes and hybrids; and
Older bikes requiring wider chains compatible with derailleur shifting with less cogs than modern bikes are in use.
Some chain manufacturers claim that e-bikes with the motor situated at the bottom bracket or chainwheel (as opposed to the drive wheel hub) put higher stresses on chains than chains for non-electric bikes can withstand.
Manufacturers will be making chains for years to come. The flexible bushingless roller chain is an established technology in wide use.
The bushingless, steel roller chain has a short life expectancy. To make chains thin, chains have short pins. To make chains light, link plates are thin; many chains have hollow pins. The chain is vulnerable to wear and breakage. Consumers have been “educated” by their experience with the actions and words of the bike industries to realize that some bike components have limited “service lives“, and to accept that the mean time before failure of a modern bike chain is only a few hundred hours of riding.
Adam Kerin of Zero Friction Cycling (“ZFC”) suggested in an interview by CyclingTips in 2019 that 11 & 12 speed chains are more durable, in terms of wear, than 8-9-10 speed chains due to technological innovation:
It’s commonly said that the wider chains of past drivetrains were more durable. Sure, older 8-, 9- and even 10-speed systems do offer wider cog widths which provide increased surface area with the chain, but does that actually mean the chains are more durable?
It’s a question I posed to Kerin after the previous testing was done, and he got the Zero Friction Cycling torture machine up and running again to find out. In this, he tested the top Shimano chains from each respective speed, and the results may surprise you.
…
It seems that with each gear added, durability has improved. And at least for Shimano chains, 10-speed saw a significant jump in durability from 9- and 8-speed, and Shimano’s latest 12-speed XTR mountain bike chain rules the roost as Shimano’s most durable offering.
The reasoning for this is less clear, but certain materials have improved, manufacturing processes have become refined, and new low-friction coatings have been added. Similarly, the chain designs themselves have changed, and where 8- and even 9-speed chains would see the inner links turn solely on the connecting pins, newer chains typically see these forces shared across the pins and specifically stamped plates, too.
Some internal hub systems, including planetary gear systems are in use or in development:
Sturmey-Archer 3-speed AW internal gear hub system was used on Raleigh bicycles for many years. There are articles and resources at Bicycle Technical Information (“BTI” – the Sheldon Brown site), such as “Servicing Sturmey-Archer 3-Speed Hubs“, and other manuals and support resources. There is a BTI article on Internal-Gear Hubs.
Shimano
had a 3 speed hub in the Nexus line, discussed in a 2017 article at BTI, “Shimano 3-speed Hubs“;
manufactured and supported the Nexus and Alfine internally geared hubs, discussed at BTI – Shimano Nexus/Alfine;
Classified Cycling, situated in Antwerp (Belgium) and Eindhoven (Netherlands), introduced its Powershift system in 2023. It is available for Road, Gravel, MTB and Urban bikes by purchasing and installing new bikes or wheels with Powershift hubs and compatible cassettes. It is on some Ridley road and gravel bikes (Belgian bike brand, no dealers in Canada)
Some internal hub systems had or have a friction or coaster brake. Some are available on bikes or wheels for a disc rotor or metal rimmed wheel (for rim brakes). Most are available with a single gearwheel on the drive wheel for use with a single chainwheel gearwheel. Some recent Shimano Alfine models were also made for a belt drive.
The shaft drive and the belt drive have some history. The shaft drive appeared at the beginning of the 20th century, disappeared, and has been revived in 21st century prototypes: Ceramic Speed is raising funds for its Driven technology – a 99.2% efficient shiftable drive shaft. Belt drives reappeared late in the 20th century e.g. the Gates Carbon Belt Drive.
An alternative drive system may be an option for a home mechanic, or a shop option for an owner with the ability to pay for work and parts, if an owner can find a mechanic who can do the work.
18. Durable Chains
Introduction
Some modern laterally flexible bushingless chains on the market are durable. ZFC tested “top” Shimano 8-9-10 speed chains, and a top Shimano XTR 12 speed chain, and some other chains. In the CyclingTips NerdAlert podcast episode March 16, 2022 “Finding the best chain lube for your needs” Adam Kerin mentioned those chains, including the use of chrome in the manufacturing. The Outside Magazine sites, including its Velo (corresponding to the online verson of VeloNews) have depublished this material. Adam Kerin has discussed durable chains with other interviewers, but I have not located the interviews and passages. Adam Kerin has Chain Wear Test Results on the Chain Efficiency page. The chain wear result graph selected chains for “longevity” in terms of km in wear testing to the .05% wear mark .
ZFC initially planned tests of lubricants and tests of chains but has done more lubricant tests than chain tests. The initial 2018 document laying out the chain “longevity” (durability) testing is still online. The ZFC data chain durability is not as detailed as the material on lubricant testing. ZFC found that some chains were more durable than others in tests run with White Lightning Epic Ride dry-drip lube.
Chains by different manufacturers vary. Bike manufacturers and bike shops do not regard chain replacement as their responsibility, and do not have inventories of chains as spare parts for specific bikes. In modern commercial and economic thinking, chains are consumables. A bike shop can sell a new chain to replace a worn chain.
Not all chains by the same manufacturers are equally durable – it depends on plate, pin and roller, material, machining, metal treatment, coating, lubrication and conditions.
In an interview with Global Cycling Network tech journalist/presenter Alex Paton “They Don’t want your chain to last this long” in March 2024, Adam Kerin diffentiated some SRAM chains as better value than other chains on the basis of SRAM’s “hard chrome” treatment of chain components (which seems to be the use of chromium alloy steel plating on some chain surfaces) on those chains. Durable chains, compatible with modern drive trains and cassettes cost more.
Durable chains are not available from all manufacturers, or to all purchasers and riders in the markets of the world. Buyers and riders have lighter, thinner bushingless chains that are more vulnerable to wear. Light and thin can be cheap or expensive. Durable is more expensive. Modern chains have associated costs.
There were reports of counterfeit chains on the market during the pandemic. The elusive idea/hope buying an inexpensive durable branded chain on the internet has suffered more.
Data, Records
A rider should know when a chain was installed or lubed last, and the distances the bike has traveled. A cycling computer has a trip odometer. Keeping trip records in the device or an app requires tinkering with the device and the settings – and turning the device on. The rider may store trip data in an app that stores it in the cloud, or in spreadsheet or chart or table, or in a notebook.
ZFC is attempting to measure some of the real world effects of chain construction, lubricants, and operating conditions in tests that represents the real world. Josh Poertner of Silca Velo has provided his explanatory gloss on Adam Kerin’s lubricant testing work in a couple of Silca Velo channel YouTube videos:
In 12 speed chains, ZFC thought SRAM Eagle XX1 and X01 could run about 5,000 Km, and the Shimano XTR 9100 to about 4,000 Km., with the control lubricant a low quality “dry” drip lube, based on pure elongation results. The ZFC lubricant tests indicate that a high quality chain will last longer with paraffin lubrication. ZFC suggested, in an extrapolation calculation in the lubricant testing spreadsheets, that a few specific modern Shimano chains, immersion waxed, can be run for 25,000 Km. ZFC is not always consistent in predictions and estimates; its comments refer to specific chains, and not to manufacturers or brands.
Will what manufacturers of the tested durable chains have done be replicated in production lines of chains by any manufacturer?
The best 11 speed chains in the elongation tests, among those tested by ZFC, at over 3,000 Km., were SRAM XX1, Campagnolo Record, and YBN SLA-110. ZFC found, in its cost to run 10,000 KM. calculations, several chains at about $500 (Australian), or about $200 (US), making assumptions about chain replacement and other drive train component replacements. The cost to run numbers in US dollars are in in a bar graph. Several chains show at a price to buy $150-$200 US per 10,000 Km. Online or retail stores list economy and mid price bike chains under the SRAM and Shimano brands from $30 to $50.
ZFC sells the following chains, in bundled waxed chain sales, as of 2024 (not counting some chains for e-bikes2ZFC discloses the shipping costs to consumers outside Australia – more emphatically than most e-commerce sites. I have not matched the description in the ZFC store to the desciptions in the test charts):
10 speed
11 speed
12 speed
13 speed
Campagnolo Ekar
Campagnolo Record
Capagnolo Super Record – C-Link
Shimano HG-901/XTR
Shimano M9100
Shimano M8100
SRAM AXS UFO
SRAM AXS Road
SRAM AXS Eagle
YBN-SLA 101
YBN SLA-110
YBN SLA Ti-N
Adam Kerin was cited by CyclingTips in”Finding the Best Bicycle Chain” (The Outside Magazine sites, including its Velo site, corresponding to the online verson of VeloNews,the owner have depublished this material) as regarding the Campagnolo Record and YBN SLA as “excellent choices”. Adam Kerin did not distinguish between YBN 11 speed SLA chains – SLA 110 and SLA 1100. YBN chains can be ordered from MSpeedwax in the USA and other regional dealers elsewhere, including ZFC in Australia. MSpeedwax lists the SLA-110 chains at about $70 US.
Adam Kerin stated, under the heading “How Long will waxing last?”, on the Waxing Instructions page:
Re-waxing by recommended 300 Km. mark, the average for a top quality chain like YBN to get to recommended wear replacement mark of .5% is 15,000 Km.
….
Erring on the earlier side. i.e. re-waxing in the 200 the 250 mark [range] brings a big jump in chain and drive train life span again. From 100 Km. post re-wax there is literally zero wear … From 100 to 200 Km., the friction and wear increase is minute.
This is Part 3 of a series of 8 posts organized as a single article. individually published as posts on this blog. The series is organized into sections, numbered for reference in the table of contents for each post. In March 2024 I began to reorganize and revise the long article. The article is organized into sections, numbered for reference here and in the table 0f contents for each post.
The project took several months. Since then, I have edited and revised further.
Scope
This Part:
contains cumulative section 5. which addresses the lubrication of steel roller chains, and
contains cumulative section 6, which addresses the history of the extraction and refining of petroleum oil and various kinds of lubrication products.
It discusses lubrication theory for bicycle roller chains from the start of the safety bicycle era (i.e. after 1888) to the early 21st century.
Part 4 of this series will consider consumer-led testing, data-driven assessment of lubricants. Parts 4, 5 and 7 will discuss and some early 21st innovations in chain lubricants and cleaning chemicals.
5. Theory
Development of theory
The idea of lubricating a steel roller chain with oil made was based on observation. Some lubricating fluids did not flow off the chain and were not flung off by the forces of motion. Some fluids adhered to the chain, and lubricated, for long enough, to allow the chain to move under “load” and serve a purpose. In industry, oilers, specialized employees, lubricated open bearings in various devices with lubricating “oils” in the 18th and 19th centuries. This continued into the 20th century in many industries.
The industrial view, historically, was that
lubrication of the contact surfaces of machinery allowed parts to move and reduced the wear on metal parts; and
generous lubrication with fluid lubricants was to be preferred to low lubrication.
People can see what happens when a chain is soaked in solvent. Dirty solvent to see that washes out of the chain. Bike people use mental models of what happens in a chain to explain opinions about what happens and how it works.
The model of how lubricants worked in the 19th century and the first half of the 20th included that lubricants reduced friction and broke down and washed out the products of corrosion (rust) and contamination (dirt, products of operation of a chain, or products of a machine or system, such as combustion).
Engineers and scientists worked out many principles and applications of organic chemistry and chemical engineering in the 19th century, before the modern theories of atomic bonding were established and before the periodic table of elements and other fundamental theories of physics and chemistry were articulated.
Bicycle Chain Drive Train
Introduction
The right way to lubricate a bike chain is contentious among cyclists and mechanics. The mechanic and pioneer cycling Web writer Sheldon Brown observed:
Chain maintenance is one of the most controversial aspects of bicycle mechanics. Chain durability is affected by riding style, gear choice, whether the bicycle is ridden in rain or snow, type of soil in the local terrain, type of lubricant, lubrication techniques, and the sizes and condition of the bicycle’s sprockets. Because there are so many variables, it has not been possible to do controlled experiments under real-world conditions. As a result, everybody’s advice about chain maintenance is based on anecdotal “evidence” and experience. Experts disagree on this subject, sometimes bitterly. This is sometimes considered a “religious” matter in the bicycle community, and much vituperative invective has been uttered in this regard between different schismatic cults.
This article is based on my personal and professional experience and my own theories. If you disagree with them, I won’t call you a fool or a villain, you may be right. I hope you will extend me the same courtesy.
The bicycle roller chain is made of materials and components developed in 19th century. Inventors, engineers, manufacturers, and mechanics, unable to observe microscopic spaces inside the rollers of roller chain, relied on evidence other than direct observation, and draw inferences. While microscopes and electron microscopes can view surfaces at a nearly molecular scale, no one has observed the events on the surfaces inside a moving roller chain.
Some one of the inferences is that lubrication reduces friction but does not stop metal surfaces in contact “under load” (i.e. with force) from wearing. Some modern riders are not aware of wear, and regard it as a sinister excuse to service bikes and sell bike parts. The modern efforts to explain maintenance have led modern engineers to use new tools to prove that wear is real, and to explain what can be done to make bike chains work properly and last longer. Electronic magnifying glasses and microscopes can make still pictures and videos of chain links. Some social media producers are using these tools to explain and illustrate bike chain operations. 2024 videos by Silca Video
Bicycle chains are manufactured on the assumption that the user/owner of the bike or a mechanic will maintain, clean and lubricate the chains at the expense of the user/owner
A bike chain has to bend at the pins several times every time the chain travels the loop from the chain wheel to the gears on the drive wheel. The chain bends around the pins as the chain goes around the chain wheel, the jockey pulleys and the gear on the driving wheel. There is metal to metal contact between:
rollers and
the bushings of a bushed chain or the half bushings (on the inner surfaces of inner link plates) of unbushed chain, and
the inner sufaces of outer link plates;
the pins and
inner link plates, and
outer link plates.
Most or all of these areas need lubrication.
The moving parts of bicycle chain are “open” bearings (i.e. not sealed).
Silca Velo (Josh Poertner or his team1 discussed in post # 4 in this series) explained bike chain lubricants in a blog post Chain Friction Explained published in December 2021. The drawings in that post show plates, rollers and pins and the locations that fluid lubricants should be applied. Silca explains the theory that a lubricant forms a film that lubricates the metal surfaces, preventing the metal surfaces wearing each other down. (Wax penetrates at these points when the wax has been melted to a fluid and lubricates when the wax is solid after the chain has cooled, or the carrier fluid has evaporated).
Chain Lubrication
An article at the web site BikeGremlin in 1986, when it was a text based Web site, described the goals of engineers and mechanics, the science of lubricants and goals of chain lubricants:
5.1. Good rust protection and resistance to water wash off.
5.2. Good adhesion, i.e. remaining between the pins and the rollers, without leaking out, as long as possible. Keeping the chain well lubricated and running quietly.
5.3. Cleanliness, i.e. not sticking dirt to itself and thus making the chain dirty.
5.4. Low price – so that chain lubrication doesn’t cost more in the long run than replacing chains more often
However, that article like many written for cyclists, does not explain how lubricants were believed to operate.
Fluid Lubricants
Fluid lubricants applied to the joints between links of bike chains will penetrate the spaces between the moving metal surfaces. The lubricant is believed to form a film. The lubricant adheres to each surface and slips or sheers. A lubricating fluid for a roller chain needs to have properties of:
viscosity (the resistance of a fluid to shearing flows) – low (thin) to flow (run), but enough to form a film, and
adhesion – enough to stick to the metal and not be disrupted by the forces that are acting on the chain.
Adhesion requires a lubricant to adhere to metal and form a film. It is hard to prevent dirt adhering to a chain treated with some lubricants, and hard to prevent a chain from getting wet under some conditions.
BikeGremlin discusses achieving correct viscosity and water resistance in an oil based liquid lubricant:
[Water resistance] is practically independent of particular lubricant’s properties. For example, a lubricant that is resistant to water washout will be even more resistant if more viscous, and less resistant if “thinned”. It may still be better than another lubricant that isn’t resistant to water washout, but viscosity has a significant effect on a wet lubricant’s characteristics and performance, besides the lubricants inherent characteristics.
Another thing to consider is that viscosity changes with temperature change. The colder it is, the thicker a wet lubricant gets, while in summer heat viscosity (drastically) drops.
Because of all this, each must choose for themselves an optimal wet chain lubricant viscosity, based on riding conditions (temperature, rain, dirt, sand etc.) and how often they (want to) clean and lube the chain. Trade offs are given in table 3.
BikeGremlin suggests motor oil (the oil used in the crankcases of 4 cycle internal combustion engines) was and would be is an adequate chain lubricant, except for additives:
Monograde engine oils, with SAE 10W, or even SAE 30 viscosity, thinned down with diesel fuel (from 4:1, to highly thinned in 1:4 ratio), can be decent bicycle chain lubricants.
Engine oils of lower API grade class (API SF, or API SG), preferably monograde, for petrol (not diesel) engines, are the better choice than modern, higher API class engine oils, because they contain less detergents and other (needles, or harmful for bicycle chain lubrication) additives. As was explained in chapter 6.1, in case of multigrade engine oils, the first mark (before the “W”) is relevant for determining viscosity for bicycle chains lubrication.
As far as viscosities go, SAE 30 is a decent summer candidate (“thinning” with diesel per one’s taste), while SAE 10W is OK for the winter (also with “thinning” if required).
Rough SAE viscosity recommendations for motor oils, for the summer: SAE 10W use straight SAE 30 thinned with diesel in ratio 3(oil):1(diesel) SAE 50 thinned with diesel in 1:1 ratio
….
Engine oils are designed to work within enclosed engine compartment. That is why they are not water washout resistance champions, while additives they have don’t help with bicycle chain lubrication, quite the contrary. However, these shortcomings are not severe enough to make (much) measurable difference from other oil types. Of course, as the following chapters will show, there are better options.
Ibid.
BikeGremlin said that light machine oil, for instance sewing machine oil, had the right viscosity to be used to lubricate bicycle chains.
Fluid lubricants that disperse and suspend in air as aerosols. Aerosols require fluid to be mixed with a gas and propelled to the point where the fluid is to be applied by a pump or pressurized source. Some aerosol lubricants are general purpose and some are for motorcycle drive chains, chain saws, or other chain drives.
Research
Materials
Materials used in manufacturing roller chain meet standards set by ASTM International, formerly known as American Society for Testing and Materials, an international standards organization that develops and publishes voluntary consensus technical standards for a materials, products, systems, and services. One relevant standard is ASTM-G77: Standard Test Method for Ranking Resistance of Materials to Sliding Wear Using Block-on-Ring Wear Test. The method “covers laboratory procedures for determining the resistance of materials to sliding wear. The test utilizes a block-on-ring friction and wear testing machine to rank pairs of materials according to their sliding wear characteristics under various conditions.” A testing machine is shown in a video published by Silca Velo 2a firm discussed in Part 4 in this series which promotes Silca Velo’s drip lubricant Synergetic and criticizes other specific brands of bicycle chain “drip lubes”.
Professional organizations
American lubrication engineers formed a learned society in 1944; lubrication engineering reformulated its parameters and boundaries and now calls it area of expertise “tribology“. It is not molecular nanotech, but it studies and explains the interactions of materials including nanomaterials on moving surfaces. The name of the American Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers was modified. Tribology is not a regulated profession – there is no law or process to prevent any person calling themself a tribologist.
Academic
There is proprietary industrial research, but the results are not published. A university may fund research, but academic researcher need funding, and need research to be sponsored or commissioned. In the neo-classical economics that dominates thinking about innovation, markets and consumption, an innovator can disrupt an industry and established manufacturers – if the invention can attract capital investment, which requires financial engineering.
Research published in academic and trade journals is usually published in the journals used in one of the subfields of the applied science of engineering. There is a good deal of published research on lubrication of industrial machines. Published academic research on bicycle drive trains was scarce for decades. People in business paid attention to published research and used it in developing and marketing products
Josh Poertner of Silca Velo discussed the development of Silca Synergetic, an oil based fluid chain lube, in his Marginal Gains podcast in November 2020 Lubes & Chains & Marginal Gains. His vision of the role of universities and industry in research was:
… it is 100% the job of the people doing the basic science to figure this [what is the reason this works] out … my place in the world is to turn this research into a product that people can get their hands on”
Engineers believe that lubricating fluids can be designed and manufactured to flow while carrying particles of solids in suspension. The academic literature is largely gated or fenced behind publishers’ paywalls. For instance, a chapter on “Applications of Fluorinated Additives for Lubricants” on the 2012 book Fluoropolymer Additives, published by Elsevier, appears to discuss the use of PTFE (Teflon) and other additives in bike lubes.
The academic literature on bicycle chain lubrication was sparse until after 2001. A modern (paywalled/gated) paper by James B. Spicer, published in the Journal of Mechanical Design, in 2001, “Effects of Frictional Loss on Bicycle Chain Drive Efficiency” addressed lubrication. Subsequent published research by Prof. Spicer addresses drive trains for e-bikes. The abstract of the 2001 paper stated:
Chain drive efficiency has been studied to understand energy loss mechanisms in bicycle drive trains, primarily for derailleur-type systems. An analytical study of frictional energy loss mechanisms for chain drives is given along with a series of experimental measurements of chain drive efficiency under a range of power, speed and lubrication conditions. Measurements of mechanical efficiency are compared to infrared measurements indicating that frictional losses cannot account for the observed variations in efficiency. The results of this study indicate that chain tension and sprocket size primarily affect efficiency and that non-thermal loss mechanisms dominate overall chain drive efficiency.
James B. Spicer (of Johns Hopkins University) and others, Journal of Mechanical Design, Volume 123, p. 598 (2001)
In a press release by Johns Hopkins University, Prof. Spicer is quoted (emphasis added in this post):
The researchers found two factors that seemed to affect the bicycle chain drive’s efficiency. Surprisingly, lubrication was not one of them.
….
The Johns Hopkins engineers made another interesting discovery when they looked at the role of lubricants. The team purchased three popular products used to “grease” a bicycle chain: a wax-based lubricant, a synthetic oil and a “dry” lithium-based spray lubricant. In lab tests comparing the three products, there was no significant difference in energy efficiency. “Then we removed any lubricant from the chain and ran the test again,” Spicer recalls. “We were surprised to find that the efficiency was essentially the same as when it was lubricated.”
“The role of the lubricant, as far as we can tell, is to take up space so that dirt doesn’t get into the chain,” Spicer says. “The lubricant is essentially a clean substance that fills up the spaces so that dirt doesn’t get into the critical portions of the chain where the parts are very tightly meshed. But in lab conditions, where there is no dirt, it makes no difference. On the road, we believe the lubricant mostly assumes the role of keeping out dirt, which could very well affect friction in the drive train.”
The stated speculation is why lubricants still work as real chains get dirty and are sprayed with water. The article and news release did not say which lubricants were best.
The researcher addresses efficiency in transmitting power. The researcher does not say that chain should not be lubricated. The researcher speculates that a bicycle lubricant may contribute to energy efficiency in the real world where bicycles are used. The Johns Hopkins tests were full Load Tests (see post # 4 in this series) which had a range of error of +/- 1 %.
Industrial
Industrial discoveries are guarded from imitation and distribution by employee loyalty and legal mechanisms to protect the advantages of existing manufacturers and of innovators. Lubrication engineers, tribologists, and other experts, whether employed by academic institutions or businesses developing and selling products, refer to standards to describe and measure things that are believed to happen according to physical laws.
Lubrication engineers working for private enterprise began to develop specialized “bicycle chain” lubricant fluids in the 1960s and 1970s.
In the early and middle parts of the 20th century, the lubrication and bearing industries developed tests and equipment. The Timken OK Load was a device manufactured and sold by the American manufacturer, the Timken Company. The test method was known as block and ring. ASTM International (formerly the American Society for Testing and Materials) sets standards. The ASTM standard for block and ring testing is ASTM G77,, as last revised in 2017. The paper that lays out the ASTM G77 process is paywalled. The process can be followed with small testing machines that applying known force (a weight on lever) to a sample block of metal against a metal ring turned by the energy of an electric motor at a known speed. These devices are used in industry to test or demonstrate the effects of lubricants in reducing friction. It would be remarkable if any cyclist had such a friction testing machine or the knowledge and skill to use it. ASTM developed a process that manufacturers of bearing and lubricants can follow, but does not certify the tests performed by manufacturers. I am not aware of any agency or body that tests lubricants and certifies that lubricants consistently meet standards. ASTM does not have, as far as I can tell, standards for bicycle chains and lubricants. Bike chain lubricant manufacturers do not to refer to ASTM G77 or any ASTM standards.
Racing was a dominant factor in promoting sales of bikes and parts in the bicycle industry in the affluent parts of the world in the 20th century. Manufacturers publicized their products based on the achievements of racing teams, team leaders and stars. The bicycles sold in parts of the world changed in the 1960s and 1970s. Some riders learned how to repair road bikes. Some riders began to modify and build bikes – this is the origin story of how the first mountain bikes were made, and of many companies selling goods and services to cyclists. The firms manufacturing drive train components developed product lines for road bikes, mountain bikes and for gravel bikes.
Basic terms
The article from BikeGremlin, above., explains lubricating oils, the concept of viscosity, US Society of Automotive Engineers (“SAE”) standards of viscosity of motor oil (SAE has a separate standard for gear oils), and the ISO VG standards. The SAE numbers are usually visible on a container. The ISO VG standard is not necessarily marked.
A couple more terms:
Carrier fluid is a term used by engineers and other specialists who deal with the distillation of petroleum, and manufacturing and using lubricants. “Carrier fluid” was not a Wikipedia entry, as of January 2022, but is used in several entries. Carrier fluids have been used in industrial chemistry and manufacturing for over 60 years (as of 2022) to dissolve polymers and oligomers, and transport additives to surfaces where the additives lubricate the surfaces. Chemical firms manufacture and sell their own proprietary carrier fluids. Dow brands its carrier products as UCON. 3M has branded its carrier products and solvents as Novec. There are a number of published papers on carrier fluids and additives in industries.
Base oils refers to refined petroleum or synthetic lubricating oils with lubricating properties.
Many carrier fluids dissipate or evaporate, in theory leaving a coat of lubricant(s). Some carrier fluids are highly volatile – they evaporate. Some are solvents. The online Encyclopedia Britannica has an entry on solvents and carrier liquids in the application of surface coatings. Journalists and tech writers at CyclingTips used the term carrier fluids as early as 2008. Lennard Zinn mentioned it in columns and articles in Velo News in 2013 and 2014.
Penetration and distribution
A fluid film can be displaced, disrupted, or diluted by the operation of the device or the introduction of foreign liquids such as water. The mains ideas about chain lube were/are that it should be thin enough to penetrate into the spaces where metal surfaces are in contact, and viscous enough to maintain a film, and it should adhere to the metal parts and form a film coating the metal parts it is protecting. A bicycle chain only needs a few drops of an effective lubricant to form a film or deposit a coating in the spaces between the moving metal surfaces that bear on each other in bike chains. John Allen at Bicycle Technical Information (“BTI” or Sheldon Brown’s pages), noted:
There are three points where a chain needs lubrication. First, and most importantly, the link pins need to be lubricated where they move inside the inner links as the chain bends and straightens. Second, the insides of the rollers need lubrication to let them revolve freely around the bushings as they engage and disengage the sprocket teeth. If the rollers don’t roll, they slide along the sprocket teeth, causing accelerated sprocket wear. Third, the surface where the outer side plates overlap the inner side plates can benefit from lubrication as well, although this contact surface is much more lightly loaded than the first two.
When a conventional [bushed] chain is oiled, before oil can reach inside of the bushings to lubricate the link pins, it has to pass between the inner side plates and the outer side plates. With usual oiling techniques, such as sprays, the oil tries to get into both ends of the bushing at once. Air bubbles can get trapped in the space between the link pins and the bushings, and with oil at both ends of the bushings there is no place for the air bubbles to escape. In addition, the cracks between the inner and outer side plates are highly exposed to road dirt, and are often quite grungy. Thus, even if you are able to get oil into the bushing, it is likely to be contaminated.
The air bubble problem may also exist with lubricant flow into the inside of the roller to let it turn freely around the bushing, but the shorter length and larger diameter of the roller, compared to the inside of the bushing, probably make this a non-issue. The contamination problem here is also probably less severe, because the sprockets tend to clean the rollers automatically.
With bushingless chains, the lubricant flow is entirely different. If oil is applied to the rollers, it can easily flow into both sides of the rollers, because air (and oil) can flow through the gap between the “half bushings”. If a bushingless chain is oiled only on the rollers, for instance by a narrow-spout oil can, the oil is able to flow into both sides of the rollers, through the gap and onto the middles of the link pins. The oil then flows out along the link pins to the side-plate junctions. Since the side plates are oiled from the inside, there is a natural self-flushing action that brings dirt and sand out of the chain instead of into it.
The outside of the rollers is cleaned by contact with the sprockets.
… the Sunbeam oil-bath full chain case solved the problem in 1908.
Brown & Allen, BTI, Chain Maintenance
David V. Herlily’s Bicycle – the History (2004) said that an oil bath was designed by the English innovator John Marston, of Sunbeam Cycles, Wolverhampton, U.K. and featured in the Golden Sunbeam model. Versions of the Golden Seabeam were manufactured for several years after 1896. Oil baths has been developed for use with roller chains in industrial settings.
Many driving chains … operate in clean environments, and thus the wearing surfaces (that is, the pins and bushings) are safe from precipitation and airborne grit, many even in a sealed environment such as an oil bath.
Oil baths were featured on some motorcycles. Many modern motorcycle drive trains have sealed bearings. However oil baths and sealed bearing have not been accepted by bike designed and riders.
An uncovered chain needs to be cleaned and lubricated. Generally cleaning should precede lubrication. Sheldon Brown, published material by the California engineer and cyclist Jobst Brandt in the BTI pages:
… the chain should be cleaned of grit before oiling, and because this is practically impossible without submerging the chain in solvent (kerosene, commercial solvent, or paint thinner), it must be taken off the bicycle. Devices with rotating brushes that can be clamped on the chain while on the bicycle, do a fair job but are messy and do not prevent fine grit from becoming suspended in the solvent. External brushing or wiping moves grit out of sight, but mainly into the openings in the chain where subsequent oiling will carry it inside.
Jobst Brandt, Bicycle Technical Information, January 10, 2002, revised November 23, 2004, Chain Care, Wear and Skipping
Regarding lubricants and contaminants in bushingless chains:
Pins inside full bushings … are well protected against lubricant depletion because both ends were covered by closely fitting side plates. Some motorcycle chains have O-ring seals at each end. In the swaged bushing design there is no continuous tube because the side plates are formed to support the roller and pin on a collar with a substantial central gap. In the wet, lubricant is quickly washed out of pin and roller and the smaller bearing area of the swaged bushing for the pin and roller easily gall and bind when lubrication fails. Although this is not a problem for this type of chain when dry it has feet of clay in the wet.
Jobst Brandt, Chain Care, Wear and Skipping, at Bicycle Technical Information, January 10, 2002, revised November 23, 2004
That was not the way that most users maintained bicycles, or the way most mechanics had been doing things at that time. It showed some riders and mechanics the benefits of cleaning chains separately from lubricating chains, and keeping chains clean.
Unsuitable
BikeGremlin pointed out that several fluid lubricants may achieve the goals of chain lubrication in its post or article Comparative overview of bicycle chain lubricants, but also that several fluids are unsuitable. Solvents and multi-use household mineral oils are not suitable for use as bicycle chain lubricants. In the BTI pages, Sheldon Brown & John Allen listed lubricants not to be used on bicycle chains:
Automotive motor oil contains detergent, to wash away combustion products, and is made to be renewed constantly under pressure from the motor’s oil pump. I [John Allen] rode once with someone who had used it the day before, and her chain was already squeaking.
“Household” oil, such as 3 in 1, lacks extreme-pressure additives and is acidic. It tends to gum up. (It’s really bad news inside internal hub gears, too…)
WD-40 and other thin sprays are intended more as solvents than lubricants. They evaporate quickly.
Brown & Allen, Bicycle Technical Information (Sheldon Brown pages) Chain maintenance
Many lubricating fluids can transport substances that adhere or bond to the metal and create a lubricating coating. In the language of tribology, a chain lubricant might form a tribofilm if the lubricant chemically reacts to the metal. Some drip lubes are marketed as made of enhanced lubricants or as containing cleaning agents and lubrication enhancing substances:
waxes,
PTFE (Teflon),
carbon tubes,
zinc dialkyl dithiphosphates (ZDDP), molybdenum disulfide, tungsten disulfide and other metallic additives; and
nanoparticles or other substances.
Mixing additives into oils (refined or synthetic) is accepted in the petroleum and chemical industries. “Detergent” additives detract from the usefulness of automobile motor oil as a bicycle chain lubricant.
The idea of mixing detergents and oils tempts marketers to advertise bike lubes as both lubricating and cleaning. This is a difficult combination for bicycle chain oils. It is tempting to slather new oil on a chain, wipe off the muck and believe that the new lube has replaced or diluted the dirty oil in the chain.
Factory Grease
All bicycle chains are covered in “factory grease” when shipped from the factory. Many bike owners believe it is,or similar to, cosmoline, an anti-corrosive coating developed to ship metal products across the oceans in the 1930s and 1940s, and used to ship US military materials across ocean during WW II. Cosmoline is not a lubricating grease, but chain manufacturers do not disclose that they are using and how it was installed. Some chain manufacturers – e.g. Shimano – claim their factory grease is a lubricant.
Factory grease holds dirt because any dust in the air adheres to this grease. Factory grease on the outside of the link plates should be wiped off. Factory grease adheres to metal surfaces and interferes with the application of clean lubricants to surfaces that should be lubricated. Removing the chain and cleaning with solvents or special products to remove factory grease is necessary to lubricate a chain by immersion in melted paraffin. It is considered by many to be helpful in cleaning chains that have been used with most or all fluid lubricants.
Almost or all bike shops install the manufacturer’s chain, with factory grease, on new bikes. The assumption is that the buyer or a mechanic will start to apply a lubricant to the chain. Some shops may apply some bike chain lube to make the chain sound more quiet and perform when a test rider shifts gears. Bike shops will not strip factory grease unless the buyer asks for the service, pays for the added labour, and assumes the risk. Removing factory grease takes intensive cleaning, which involves removing the chain, and soaking the chain in solvent. Removing the chain, even with master links, is a task. The use of solvents to remove factory grease or to clean a chain raises a logistic and application problems.
Additives
Manufacturers claim that lubes can deliver additives that would form films or tribofilms on the bearing surfaces. This claim has been made for other lubricant products – greases enhanced with particles of “molybdenum” – actually molybdenum disulfide are popular in industry and wth home mechanics. Many bicycle chain lubricants on the market, including most dry lubes, do not demonstrate the results suggested by manufacturers. Efficiency data could be interpreted as demonstrating that drip lubes could reduce friction , or that drip lubes reduced friction for a short period after being dripped into a chain.
Polytetrafluoroethylene (“PTFE), better known as Teflon, is a low friction substance, as a solid. Teflon is known as an ingredient of the coatings of frying pans, woks and other cookware. The challenges of getting a non-stick coating to stick to metal surfaces are nearly obvious. No bicycle chains are coated with PTFE, or any soft coating, when manufactured. Teflon has been a popular additive for household lubrication products and for chain lubes. The benefits of PTFE coating applied in carrier fluid drippers, in theory, would be substantial. Dry-drip lubes with PTFE include or included at one time:
Finish Line Dry Teflon. Finish Line still advertised Dry Teflon bike lube in 2022. It was scarce in some markets in 2021 & 2022; the price has been going it up. Finish Line at times maintained the Dry Teflon product has been replaced by another Finish Line product – an aerosol spray for motorcycle chain. Some consumers maintain in cycling forums that Dupont Multi-Purpose Lubricant with Teflon, manufactured by Finish Line. is an effective replacement for Finish Line Dry Teflon bike lube;
Dupont Teflon Bike Lube and
Rock ‘n Roll Pro-Gold and Absolute Dry.
Efficiency tests3See discussion in Part 4 of the series of PTFE enhanced products were favourable to some products, but the interpretation was not clear. PTFE has been identified as a “forever’ chemical and has been avoided in many applications.
WS₂ (Tungsten disulfide) and ZDDP(dialkyldithiophosphates) have been added to some products. Efficiency and wear testing have been favourable. The theoretical model is that these additive combine to coat load bearing surfaces with a lubricating tribofilm.
Several products are said to have microscopic or submicroscopically small (“nano”) lubricating particles, of durable material (Ceramic?, graphene, carbon) of some particular shape (spherical? to resemble ball bearings?). It is hard to sort out conceptual models from marketing metaphors, hype and puffery without testing and data. Drip lubes with nano particles have performed poorly in wear testing by Zero Friction Cycling. The new Finish Line paraffin lubricant with Tungsten nano spheres has been astonishingly bad in the first block of the ZFC lubricant wear tests 4ZFC and wear testing are discussed in Part 4 in this series.
In the video Microscopic Magic: Save Your Chain from Wearing Out! on Silca Velo’s YouTube channel July 30, 2024 Silca Velo is discussed in Part 4 of this series, Josh Poertner suggested that in a model of lubrication of the rotation of the roller of roller chain around the pin and bushing, particles of some additives interfere with lubrication. He suggested that fluid or waxes should form a film and additives should coat the metal parts of the chain to promote lubrication.
6. Petroleum
Source & Refining
Industry relied on natural oils and fats – vegetable oils and animal fats (including by-products of whaling) as lubricants until after development of the industrial refining of petroleum began in the 1840s and 1850s. Most natural oils and lubricants, according to modern science, are based on esters.
Petroleum is the remnants of ancient plants and animals, trapped in rock, that can be brought to the surface, “refined” (distilled,) and processed (cooked) into more pure useful substances that serve purposes. The refining process separated combustible “spirits” from heavier oils. Petroleum was referred to as a “mineral” oil because it was extracted from deep below the surface of the earth. The history of the geological oils is addressed in works on geology, industry and ecology. Some works have focused on the uses of the combustible spirits as fossil fuels, or as direct energy sources. For instance, Vaclav Smil’s 2010 Energy Transitions: History, Requirements, Prospects.
Engineers, scientists and inventors worked systematically and scientifically with coal tar, coal oil, petroleum, and other raw or processed material to get fuels, dyes, detergents, solvents, lubricants and pharmaceuticals.
The fluid lubricants used in industry and with motor vehicles have been manufactured products made with refined petroleum oils since the late 19th century. Refined and chemically engineered petroleum is used to manufacture many modern products:
combustible fuel (gasoline or petrol, kerosene);
lubricants (motor oil and other lubricating and “mineral” oils);
mineral spirits: solvents, paint thinners and cleaning products;
paraffin;
plastics; and
modern synthetic oils.
Most modern lubricants are made of refined petroleum products. Some lubricants have been lightly refined. Some have been chemically engineered.
Motor Oil
Through most of the 20th century automotive engine oil (motor oil) made of refined petroleum oil was widely available and inexpensive. Low viscosity motor oil was easily dripped or trickled onto bicycle drive chains with small oil cans. Oil could penetrate. It could loosen oxidized metal (rust), and withstood some of the rigors of use as a chain lubricant. Motor oil in internal combustion engines needs to be filtered and regularly replaced. (Fuel and air are also filtered. Fuel has to be stored and managed to avoid contamination with water, dirt or the products of corrosion in the storage vessels.)
Motor oil is made by refining crude oil to with a base stock that must be capable of flowing and adhering to metal surfaces. The refined oil is engineered further to turn it into motor oil. There are differences between refining oil and manufacturing chemicals, but only a chemical engineer could understand it.
The production of automotive lubrication oils became specialized. The oil industry changed the way it makes and sells motor oil. Among other things, Oil industry engineers developed Polyalphaolefin and other “synthetic” base stocks for motor oil for racing, and other premium motor oils.
Chemical engineers also developed some lubricants and additives manufactured with polymers including chemical that are believed to coat metal with lubricating polymers. Such lubricants, like motor oil and other fluids, adhere to dust and grit and to metal dust produced by metal on metal wear. In the video Microscopic Magic: Save Your Chain from Wearing Out! on Silca Velo’s YouTube channel July 30, 2024 Josh Poertner suggested (at about 4 to 5 minutes in the video) that polymer lubricants (he gave Dumonde Tech as an example, referring apparently to Dumonde Tech Original Bike Chain Lube; he alluded to similar products made by Finish Line) trapped particles that contribute to chain wear and dried to form a plastic film on a chain. His video showed a 10 speed chain, heavily worn after 2200 miles of use (and very little cleaning and maintenance)
Motor oil is more viscous that other lubricating oils to operate in the hot conditions of internal combustion engines. Motor oil was widely used to lubricate motorcycle and bicycle drive chains, but is no longer the preferred chain lube. Modern motor oil has additives to help remove the residue of combustion. The additives can chemically affect the surface of metal; few of the additives in motor oil improve oil as a lubricant for bike chains. Many lubrication engineers maintain that these additives interfere with lubricating roller chains. Several factors explain the shift:
the price of oil changes;
refineries have changed the way oil stocks are allocated;
motor oil was a thick or heavy oil and had the drawbacks of “wet” lubes.
Removing dirty oil from a chain could require the removal of the chain and the use of solvents. Without master links and other chain removal tech this was a major task, and it still not a minor task;
environmental factors made it harder to deal with waste material – excess oil and solvent.
Gear Oils
The lubricant refiners and chemical companies manufacture gear oils which many cyclists and mechanics regard as suitable for lubricating bike chains. Some cyclists and mechanics believed that light (low viscosity) machine oils including sewing machine oil were the most suitable.
Limits and Constraints
The limits of fluid lubrication as understood in 1990s were discussed in a paper published online, cited by Sheldon Brown and John Allen at BTI:
There are industrial chains of similar construction and loading to bike chains. When they are run in a clean oil bath, they can have service lives that corresponds to hundreds of thousands of kilometres of cycling. In contrast, five-part derailleur chains rarely give more than 20,000 kilometres of service; four-part derailleur chains rarely give more than about 10,000 kilometres of service. In dirty use, chains can wear in less than 1,000 kilometres.
Chain wear is caused by grit and poor lubrication. For bicycles, grit is often the most severe problem, as grit can pierce protective lubricant films.
Grit is a problem because the bike chain is continually dirtied by grit, dust, and mud. Even in dry conditions, the chain is exposed to a stream of dirt thrown up by the front tire. In wet conditions a greater stream is kicked up and it provides a liquid to carry the grit in to the chain and also wash out lubricant.
Road dirt can be very abrasive: consider that silicon carbide and silicon dioxide are the primary ingredients in both common sand and grinding compound, and that the other major ingredient in grinding compound is oil
Dirt sticks easily to a heavily-oiled chain. Flexing the chain then carries the dirt in to the bushings. The hard particles break through the lubricant that separates the pin from the bushing, gouging out metal and causing wear. The wear particles are also abrasive, causing more wear.
A lightly-oiled chain also attracts grit, but the light lubrication does not act as a wick to move the grit in to the bearing surfaces.
Lubricating a chain with dirt on the surface will carry the dirt in to the load bearing surfaces. Thus, for best drivetrain life and efficiency, the chain should be cleaned before it is lubricated, and the surface should be cleaned again after lubrication to remove surface oil which can attract and hold dirt.
Thorough cleaning is done with the chain off the bike, as the chain must be immersed in solvent and then flexed in order to float out the wear particles. “On-bike” chain cleaning tools lack sufficient solvent volume and soaking time to dissolve and float out the inner dirt.
Since dirt is the primary cause of chain wear, most lubricants do a good job, except those which attract and wick in grit at a high rate.
….
Some lubricants are wax in a solvent suspension. The goal is that the wax does not attract dirt, and the solvent suspension allows frequent reapplication with the chain still on the bicycle (without removing the chain and washing it). These lubricants tend to be expensive to use compared to ordinary oil or conventional waxing, because the lubricant cost is high compared to oil or wax, and because they must be reapplied frequently. However, the drivetrain tends to remain relatively clean, which is an advantage where an oiled chain otherwise gets clothes and other items dirty, and in dry conditions users often report good chain life, albeit with the inconvenience of frequent lubricant reapplication.
Some lubricants are washed off easily by water, and most lubricants are washed off easily by mud. Water serves as a good lubricant while the chain is wet, and even mud can be a slight lubricant. However, upon drying the chain may have no remaining lubrication, and the chain will typically be dirty inside as well.
Author not named, published at Pardo.net, section on Chain lubrication
Bike Drip Lubes
Wet and Dry
Dripper bottles had been used for decades as dispenser/containers for household lubricant liquids. A drip bottle is a small bottle, which can dispense a few drops or a thin stream of fluid. Aerosol and other sprays are used to dispense industrial, motorcycle and household multi-purpose solvents and lubricants.
Bike chain drip lubes – fluids – sold in smaller dripper bottles – became dominant in the 1980s. Drip lubes sold for use on bicycle chains are conventionally labelled wet or dry. Some manufacturers market “wet” and “dry” versions of fluid products. The wet/dry label does not disclose how lubricant is made. It is possible to discuss the composition of a drip lube as involving a base oil and a carrier fluid.
Drip lubes need to be periodically reapplied, on reasonably clean chains. Drip lubes degrade when water gets onto and into a chain.
Wet lubricants are marketed as useful in protecting a chain from water. But:
Wet lubes need time to penetrate the pin/bush/roller “sleeve” and link plate spaces;
Even higher viscosity lubes will be propelled out of those spaces;
Wet lubes pick up dust and contamination.
Oily lubes are not waterproof. Oil does not dissolve in water. Small droplets can become suspended in water and dissipated by water. A heavy oil will last longer than a thin oil when the bike is used in the rain or on a wet surface (the tires pick up water and spray it up onto the bike).
“Wet” lubes have higher viscosity, and greater adhesive properties – most are as viscous as motor oil or gear oil. They look and feel oily. Wet lubes, in theory, are thin enough to run and thick (viscous and adhesive) enough to stick.
Dry lubes are lower viscosity, or runny, and made with more carrier fluid, and additives. The carrier fluid reduces viscosity to enhance the the lube’s ability to flow into the chain’s spaces.
The main weaknesses of dry drip lubes are that:
tcarrier fluid is not a lubricant. It evaporates, and lubricates poorly and temporarily;
any lubricating oils in the blend are thin; and
the additives in most of the dry lubes on the market are much less effective in protecting the chain from wear than advertised;
quality control and testing are performed by the manufacturer. The user has no assurances of quality except the reputation of the “brand”;
they are comparatively ineffective in protecting from wear – some are nearly useless. Durability or chain wear testing, which started in 2017, demonstrated that many drip lubricants, particularly dry drip lubes, are not effective to resist chain wear.
The 2013 & 2014 VeloNews articles (links in Part 4 of this series) interpeted the Friction Facts results of “dry” lubes and additives:
The lubes containing a significant amount of“carrier,” designed to evaporate quickly after application, were by far the worst of the bunch. The aerosols, which are mostly carrier, were all clumped in the last quarter, and the slowest by a large margin was White Lightning’s Epic Ride Light Lube, which is also mostly carrier.
….
Rock ‘n Roll Absolute Dry drops the oil and ups the carrier, but also ups the PTFE even further, keeping it near the top of the list. The lubes with lower PTFE or wax-to-carrier ratios always performed worse — in fact, the bottom quarter of the efficiency test is chock full of them.
The oil industry sold/sells petroleum products, including lubricants, to manufacturers who package and sell bicycle chain lubricant fluids. The relevant industries depends on sales of millions of small bottles. Manufacturers do not describe ingredients or the process with precision. Lubricant manufacturers use the languages of lubrication engineering and manufacturing in marketing their products.
The origin stories of the inventors and manufacturers of drip lubes often appear on an “About” page on a commercial web site. The stories are, to a degree, written to market a brand used by a business entity. Such stories are seldom candid stories about invention and process. The origin story of the entity including the American firm “Finish Line USA” that brands bike drip lubes as “Finish Line” asserts that the firm was founded in 1988, by an engineer who had been employed by the petroleum firm Mobil but does not explain what firms design and manufacture the products – Dupont?
The author of the article “Bicycle Chain Lubricants Explained” at BikeGremlin says:
Dry lubricants are most often made based on paraffin wax, or PTFE (“Teflon”) lubricants. Sometimes as a mixture of both. The dry lubricants are usually suspended in some sort of liquid, or solvent, that allows them to flow between the chain pins and rollers. Liquid then evaporates rather quickly, usually after 2 to 4 hours, leaving a dry (or almost completely dry) film of lubricant. So dry lubricants are still dripped, or sprayed on the chain.
Main advantage of dry lubes is that they attract less dirt – they aren’t as sticky as wet lubes. That is why they are good for dry weather use, especially if there’s lots of sand, or dust. They are also good for riding in the mud – less mud sticks to the chain, so it works better.
Main disadvantage of dry lubes is they are rather easily washed off with water. So they are not good for rainy riding conditions. Even in dry they generally need to be applied more often than most “wet” (oil based) lubes, not lasting as long. Chain needs to be clean of any dirt or other lubricants, before applying them, so they can stick to it well and prevent dirt from sticking to it. When applied, 2 to 4 hours is needed for the solvent to dry, leaving just layer of dry lubricant. If a bicycle is ridden just after applying dry lube, the lube will fall off the chain more quickly and attract more dirt – beating the purpose of using a dry lubricant in the first place. This can be impractical if a chain needs re-lubing, but one needs to go riding immediately.
Another disadvantage of dry lubricants is they can’t replentish the lubed area after they are pushed aside – they don’t flow back like wet lubes. This especially affects multi chainring (multi-speed) drivetrains where cross chaining often happens. If there’s more load on the pedals when cross-chained (like riding up a hill), the problem is more pronounced.
Some retail chemicals have solvent and lubricant properties – e.g. WD-40. WD-40 makes the retail household product WD-40 and a “dry” and “wet”bike lubes. The name and labelling imply that the bike lubes are formulated differently from household WD-40. which uses a petroleum based lubricating oil mixed with isoparaffin and other alkanes. The oil is a penetrating carrier, which disperses water repellant alkanes and removes corrosion.
Solids
Greases are made by blending petroleum lubricant oils with material that thickens the fluid into a semi-solid jelly or cream. Lithium stearate is a thickener for lithium and white lithium greases. Greases are used to lubricate bearings in bicycle components – e.g. the bottom bracket, the headset, the wheel hubs. In most applications on bicycles, greases are retained and protected from contamination and dilution by seals.
Waxes have fairly low melting points – they turn to liquid at relatively low temperatures. Some waxes have lubricant properties. It is difficult to apply grease to a roller chain in a way that properly gets lubricant into the spaces between metal surfaces inside the joints. Waxes have to be melted to a liquid to be applied to a chain – usually a chain removed from a bike and immersed in the wax. Waxes have limitations:
Some poor lubricants give surpisingly good service life. For example, solid lubricants such as wax do not move under surface tension. Thus, once load has pushed the wax out from the bushing surface, it does not flow back in, and the chain runs unlubricated. In compensation, however, dry lubricants typically do not attract dirt. Thus, a waxed chain fails due to poor lubrication, but in compensation, wear is not further aggrevated by dirt. Chain life with wax is typically worse than with oil, but is surpisingly good considering that wax is a poor lubricant, and in dry (not rainy/muddy) service, some riders report better chain life using wax than using liquid lubricants.
Author not named, published at Pardo.net, section on Chain lubrication
Paraffin Wax
The science and history, and the methods, of paraffin immersion are discussed in Bike Chains, Part 7 in this series.
This is Part 2 of a series of 8 posts organized as a single article. individually published as posts on this blog. The series is organized into sections, numbered for reference in the table of contents for each post. In March 2024 I began to reorganize and revise the long article. The article is organized into sections, numbered for reference here and in the table 0f contents for each post.
The project took several months. Since then, I have edited and revised further.
Scope
This post mainly discusses the bicycle chain, an adaptation of industrial roller chain technology, usually made of steel 1an alloy of iron and small amounts of carbon and of other metals, made by melting mineral ores in furnaces.
The chain is a part of a group of components called the drive train, which takes force from the rider’s effort pushing down on the pedals, and turns it into force driving the drive wheel to rotate which pushes the bike. The drive train includes the pedals, the crank arms, the chain wheels, the chain, the rear hub, the cassette of gear wheels on the drive wheel (normally the rear wheel) and the derailleur mechanisms. The drive train must be aligned properly, maintained, cleaned and lubricated to operate efficiently.
Chains are vulnerable to wear if and when they allow contaminated oil and water to carry microscopic abrasive particles into spaces that are supposed to be clean and lubricated. Chain wear elongates a chain, which affects performance and causes damage to other drive train components. Lack of lubrication or contamination of bearings in other drive train components (e.g. hubs, jockey pulleys) can affect performance.
A few new or modern bikes have bushed chain. Many new bikes have flexible bushingless chains. Bushingless chains may be more prone to this than bushed chains, and chains that maintain a direct chainline.
Bicycle chains can break. Usually this happens when a chain comes off the cogs – commonly during shifts with derailleurs – and is caught between components. In this situation the chain is seized, and the rider is applying force to links that are not traveling in the normal direction of travel.
4. Chain Drive
Industrial chain drives
The manufacturing and maintenance of roller chains, bicycles and lubricants was based on trial and error, experimentation and the concepts used by artisans, mechanics, engineers and riders. Chain drives were used in industrial machines before they were adopted by the bike industry late in the 19th century. Chain drives are designed for classes of machine, in some instances, for individual machines. A bicycle chain is made of links connected by pins in a continuous loop. The links must pivot rapidly at the pins as the links move in the loop.
Until modern optics and electronics provided better tools, people affected by wear had theories or mental models for what happens in a lubricated roller chain. With modern optics and electronics it is possible to view components of stationary disassembled chains. Josh Poertner of Silca Velo 2noted in the post Part 4 in this series discusses chain wear as the cause of elongation in the video on the Silca Velo YouTube channel Microscopic Magic: Save Your Chain from Wearing Out! (July 30, 2024).
Bushed Roller Chain
The links in a bicycle chain drive overlap, alternating as inner and outer. Links are made of plates and “pins”. Plates form alternating outer and inner links. Pins attached to the outside plates; the pins also fit into holes in adjacent inner links. Hollow pins made of tubular steel are common. The pins are riveted to the outer plates. The pins connect the links to adjacent links; the links pivot on the pins. On modern chains these are tubular rivets flared at each end, installed as flush rivets. Tubular “bushings” between the inner link plates keep the inner links of a bushed chain separate. The half bushings of a bushingless chain (see below) have the same effect.
Rollers were a late 19th century industrial innovation, adopted by bicycle and component builders when chain drives were adapted for bicycles. Rollers contact the cogs (teeth”) of the gears from which and to which force is transmitted. Rollers are the journals of plain bearings. (the bushing and/or the pins rotate inside the rollers. A chain drive has several dozen open plain bearings. In a bushed chain, rollers revolve on bushings around the “pins” holding the sides of the roller chain together. On a bushingless chain, the bushings are stamped shapes on the inner plates. Most bicycle drive trains from the late 1890s until the 1970s or 1980s were have been chain drives using “bushed” roller chains. Wikipedia notes:
There are … many chains that have to operate in dirty conditions, and for size or operational reasons cannot be sealed. Examples include chains on farm equipment, bicycles, and chain saws. These chains will necessarily have relatively high rates of wear.
Many oil-based lubricants attract dirt and other particles, eventually forming an abrasive paste that will compound wear on chains. This problem can be reduced by use of a “dry” PTFE spray, which forms a solid film after application and repels both particles and moisture
Bushed bicycle roller chain, invented by the Swiss-English entrepreneur Hans Renold in 1880, was common on the bicycles made in the late 19th century, and on single speed and utility bicycles manufactured and sold in the first several decades of the 20th century. The invention of bush roller chain has been attibuted to others:
… the Nevoigt brothers, of the German Diamant Bicycle Company, designed the roller chain in 1898 which uses bushings.
There are two types of links alternating in the bush roller chain. The first type is inner links, having two inner plates held together by two sleeves or bushings upon which rotate two rollers. Inner links alternate with the second type, the outer links, consisting of two outer plates held together by pins passing through the bushings of the inner links. The “bushingless” roller chain is similar in operation though not in construction; instead of separate bushings or sleeves holding the inner plates together, the plate has a tube stamped into it protruding from the hole which serves the same purpose. This has the advantage of removing one step in assembly of the chain.
The roller chain design reduces friction compared to simpler designs, resulting in higher efficiency and less wear. The original power transmission chain varieties lacked rollers and bushings, with both the inner and outer plates held by pins which directly contacted the sprocket teeth; however this configuration exhibited extremely rapid wear of both the sprocket teeth, and the plates where they pivoted on the pins. This problem was partially solved by the development of bushed chains, with the pins holding the outer plates passing through bushings or sleeves connecting the inner plates. This distributed the wear over a greater area; however the teeth of the sprockets still wore more rapidly than is desirable, from the sliding friction against the bushings. The addition of rollers surrounding the bushing sleeves of the chain and provided rolling contact with the teeth of the sprockets resulting in excellent resistance to wear of both sprockets and chain as well. There is even very low friction, as long as the chain is sufficiently lubricated. Continuous, clean, lubrication of roller chains is of primary importance for efficient operation as well as correct tensioning.
Bushed chain is being used for some e-bikes, and some mass-produced bikes without derailleurs, as of 2021-24. On a bushed roller chain the rollers rotate on bushings around pins.
Plain bearings need lubrication, according to the experience and opinions of builders, engineers, and mechanics and riders/users. Lubrication reduces the co-efficient of friction when steel surfaces in contact with each other:
Lubrication is required for correct operation of mechanical systems such as pistons, pumps, cams, bearings, turbines, gears, roller chains, cutting tools etc. where without lubrication the pressure between the surfaces in close proximity would generate enough heat for rapid surface damage … .
If lubrication is applied often enough, and if the chain is properly cleaned and maintained, rotational friction and chain wear are reduced. On a bicycle chain, the lubrication is directed at reducing the friction of the rotation of the rollers on the bushings, and the bushing on the pins. When the lubrication fails, the rotation fails, and the direction of friction become intermittently linear which produces audible squeaks as the chain metal of the bushing and the pin wears.
“Factory lubrication” of bike chains by the chain manufacturers seems to have become a common practice when bushed roller chains were common.
Parts 3 and 4 this series, on lubrication, lubricants, and testing, will discuss the researched and tested fact that oil based lubricants work by creating a film across metal surfaces, and how lubricants behave when contaminated with water and dirt.
Material & Manufacturing
Chain link plates for modern bike chains are punched out of steel sheet metal made with carbon steel. Steel is an alloy of iron, carbon, and other elements. Carbon steel is more susceptible to oxidation (rust), corrosion and wear than other steels. Chromium makes steel harder and more resistant to oxidation and wear. Alloys harder or more resistant to corrosion than carbon steel would cost more and would require retooling by the chain manufacturers. On some chains link plates and other chain parts are plated with metal less susceptible to corrosion, or case hardened.
Adam Kerin of Zero Friction Cycling provides 3mentioned and discussed in Part # 4 in this series an overview of materials at pp. 9-11 of his chain longevity testing brief:
The most common hardness ratings are Rockwell D and Vickers.
… the Vickers hardness test is generally regarded as the most suitable. Mild steel/stainless steel will typically have a Vickers hardness rating of around 150 to 200. Quality hardened steel will be 200 to 400, or even 500, and the highest level tool steels / high speed steels can be up to 700.
However – the harder you make steel, the less ductile and more brittle it becomes. Steel can be made with very high “toughness” – combination of hardness and ductility – but this is very expensive requiring alloying with multiple other metals plus quite exacting heating/cooling cycles. For bicycle chains … different manufacturers use a different level or grade of steel. Campagnolo for instance claim their chains are made of “special steel”. What grade of steel is used is unlikely to be advertised or even disclosed by manufacturers. But in summary for bicycle chains, you can expect the steel will be hardened for wear longevity but there is limit as to how hard they can make this steel without the chain becoming too brittle and snapping on the first poor shift – especially the more economical grade of steel that is used.
There is no industry standard for the necessary hardness and tensile strength of the steel. Chain manufacturers order sheet steel by thickness – they trust the steel mills to supply steel that meets the chain maker’s specified standards. Chain manufacturers will market some chains as having been hardened more and better, or coated. Some chains are better than others. Bike manufacturers and bike shops disclose the name of the chain manufacturer; a high value chain may be a marketing point. Even cheap chains work for hundreds of hours.
Modern chains are as light as feasible. Some materials and manufacturing methods make some chains last longer than others in a perceptible way. Some of the issues will be discussed in Part 6 in this series, on durability
Bicycle manufacturers acquire chains (supplied with new bikes) from specialty manufacturers including Renold, Campagnolo, Rohloff, Wipperman, Shimano, YBN, KMC, SRAM and others. Some chains are still manufactured by German, French, English and Italian firms. A few chains are made in Japan. Bike chain manufacturing in 2022 (and 2023 and 2024) is largely an Asian industry. The manufacturers all make chains out of the same raw stocks, but have different suppliers, machinery and workforces. Some chain manufacturers subcontract to each other. A few chains are made in Europe and the US. (The packages of chain sold by the US brand SRAM indicates those chains are manufactured, or at least assembled and packaged, in Portugal).
The Japanese firm Shimano is a dominant force in manufacturing bicycle components, including cranks, derailleurs, and chains. It outsources a portion of production of its branded chains to manufacturers in Asia, e.g. KMC of Taiwan or YBN, a Taiwanese firm that makes chains in a plant in Vietnam. SRAM brand chains are manufactured in Portugal. Many European manufacturers have subcontracted to Asian firms or built Asian plants.As of the early years of the 2020s, most chains are manufactured in Asia.
Many chains are made in Taiwan, the People’s Republic of China and other Asian countries with steel, and other industrial supplies and with manufacturing capabilities. The steel in chains machined in Asia will normally have been sourced from Asian foundries – it will have been smelted and forged from iron ore and carbon, rather than from recycled steel. Pins are steel too. The pins are fabricated from steel stock according to the methods used by manufacturers. The steel mills decide how to forge, roll and process the steel. The chain manufacturer can choose the thickness and some of the performance characteristics of the steel. The options depend on what the steel manufacturers are selling, and price. The shortage or unavailability of chains for purchase in 2020. 2021 and 2022 was attributed to delays in production and transportation of materials.
Bushingless Chains
The bushingless chain was developed by Sachs under the Sedis brand and introduced in 1981. It was adopted by SRAM, which was a mountain bike component manufacturer at that time. The innovation was widely adopted by other designers and manufacturers:
More recently, the “bushingless roller chain” design has superseded the bushed chain. This design incorporates the bearing surface of the bushing into the inner side plate, with each plate creating half of the bushing. This reduces the number of parts needed to assemble the chain and reduces cost. The chain is also more flexible sideways, which is needed for modern derailleur gearing, because the chainline is not always straight in all gear selections.
The holes in outer link plates are smaller than the holes in inner link plates. The holes in inner link plates are punched to create the protruding shoulders which serve as partial or “half” bushings. The lateral flexibility of chains (necessary for shifting to different gear wheels or cogs) was engineered by swaging (shaping the pins into barrels rather than perfect cylinders).
The side plates of the inner links are formed into half bushings or shoulders. The roller rides on the half bushings. The pins go through holes in the outer side plates and the half bushings and hold the links together. The outer plates overlap and turn against the inner plates. The plates turn on the pins where the pins go through the plates. My photo of an outer and inner link (left over after I had shortened my new bushingless SRAM chain for installation) shows these features. The hollow pins used in this chain connect the outer links – an outer link on the left. The pin on the left is still partially displaced by the chain breaker tool (there is no roller on that pin – the roller stayed in inner link which was used to close the chain with a master link). The inner link on the right has been pried open to release its roller and show the bevels. The (small) magnification of my smart phone camera shows what the surface, which appears to be perfectly smooth and shiny, are actually rougher. The roughness does not affect the travel of the chain over the cogs. Lubrication is supposed to affect the articulation of the plates, rollers and pins at the ends of the links.
Modern bushingless chain is more vulnerable to wear than other designs:
The inner side plates of a bushingless chain are three-dimensional. Instead of having a simple hole at each end with a bushing pressed through it, each inner side plate hole has a protruding shoulder that amounts to half of a bushing. Since the side plates have an inside and an outside determined by the existence of the shoulders, they can also have bevels on the inside edges without further complicating the manufacturing process. These bevels permit the chain to run more smoothly when it is not perfectly lined up with the sprocket than a conventional chain with flat inner plates. They probably also improve shifting performance.
Since the “bushing” of a bushingless chain is made up of two halves that don’t connect directly with each other, this type of chain is more flexible sideways than a conventional chain. This is because the two halves of the “bushing” have a bit of “wiggle room” with respect to each other.
The bushingless chain is more vulnerable to some kinds of failure. Sheldon Brown and John Allen said:
The lightweight chain of a bicycle with derailleur gears can snap (or rather, come apart at the side-plates, since it is normal for the “riveting” to fail first) because the pins inside are not cylindrical, they are barrel-shaped. Contact between the pin and the bushing is not the regular line, but a point which allows the chain’s pins to work its way through the bushing, and finally the roller, ultimately causing the chain to snap. This form of construction is necessary because the gear-changing action of this form of transmission requires the chain to both bend sideways and to twist, but this can occur with the flexibility of such a narrow chain and relatively large free lengths on a bicycle.
Chain failure is much less of a problem on hub-geared systems (e.g. Bendix 2-speed, Sturmey-Archer AW) since the parallel pins have a much bigger wearing surface in contact with the bush. The hub-gear system also allows complete enclosure, a great aid to lubrication and protection from grit.
Bushingless chains have tiny internal voids around the middles of pins where the half rollers on each side end. Lubricants applied to the outside of a bushingless chain flow differently than lubricants applied to bushed chains. The lateral flexibility of bushingless chains, and the effects of lateral movement on fluid on the chain appear in a video on YouTube posted in the Silca Velo channel 4See Part 4 for information on Silca Velo in April 2024 called Stop Wasting Your CHAIN LUBE! Know the BEST Way to Apply It. The wiggling action is shown in a segment about 8 minutes long, starting about 7 minutes after the beginning.
Chain Sizes
Pitch is the length of any link, outer or inner; pitch (length) is the distance between pins, measured from the centers of pins. It can be expressed as an ANSI number, or a fraction of an inch, or in millimeters. See:
The standard pitch for modern bicycle chains is ANSI 40 (designating 4/8 inch) = 1/2 inch = 12.7 mm. On the assumption that all links are counted (as opposed to counting pairs of inner and outer links) , a chain will normally be more than 100 links long. A road chain may have 108 links or more. A gravel or mountain bike chain will be longer. A chain for a compact road crankset with a 46 tooth large ring and a cassette with a 36 tooth large cog will be about 112 or 114 links long. Chain length depends on the length of the chain stays and the diameters of the largest chain rings and cogs.
The chain must be long enough to go around the largest front ring, around the derailleur pulleys, and around the largest cog on the cassette. The derailleur must be left in a position to shift the chain effectively. On measuring a chain, see:
The BTI method of sizing a chain is to break a chain (remove links with a chain breaker tool) to fit the largest rings. A chain breaker tool pushes pins (the rivets that hold the chain together) out. Another key measurement considers how the chain is tensioned when the chain is on the smallest gear wheels on cassette of drive wheel. This makes sure the chain does not fold and rub on itself.
The rear derailleur, which is found on almost all geared bicycles, imposes a total system limit, which affects the length of the chain. Adam Kerin of Zero Friction Cycling discusses the system limit in his video, on the ZFC YouTube channel March, 2023, “When 1X goes wrong“. The system limit can be calculated as the sum of the number of teeth on the front ring (or the largest front ring) and the largest cog on the drive wheel (usually the rear wheel) cassette. The system limit varies. Rear derailleurs for road (and gravel) bikes have a limit of about 84 teeth. If the front ring is 50 teeth, the largest rear cog must be under 34 teeth. “Compact” front rings on many road and gravel bikes are from 48 teeth, down to 36 teeth. The system limit for some rear derailleurs for mountain bikes is about 90 teeth – they will run a 45 tooth cog with a front ring of 45 teeth or less.
A 108 link chain is 1371.6 mm long; elongation by .5% is a fraction more than 6.8 mm. A drop-in chain checker gauge measuring about 170 to 199 mm. is used to indicate if the elongation in a span exceeds .5%. In a span of 1/8 of the length of chain, the gauge has to detect the difference in that span to a tolerance of .5 mm.
Pitch is standardized. The width of chain links varies. It is generally proportional to the number of cogs on the cassette on the drive wheel. The spaces between cogs in modern systems are so narrow that shifting is only feasible carefully adjusted rear derailleurs. Bike component makers have claimed the benefit of indexed shifters which are the components on almost all new bikes, and bikes made in the last 40 years. (Some riders still prefer friction shifters).
Cleaning the paste of lube and dirt out from between cogs requires narrow tools. Older tools for cleaning a cassette may not fit. It isn’t necessary to resort to butchers twine to floss debris out of the spaces. The changing number of cogs has made wider tools obsolete.
Bike manufacturers buy chains and install the chains on new bikes. Even where the bike manufacturer uses a Shimano or other brand name drive train component set (crank arms, chain rings, derailleurs, rear cassette), the chain may be by another manufacturer. Bike manufacturers have begun to change their “current” models almost annually.
Most chains have standard dimensions. Some chains have specific features and limitations, requiring that the gears have specific dimensions and features. Component manufacturers and bike shops may suggest a chain should be made by the same brand as the rest of the drive train. This seems to be a myth.
Directions
Some chains are supposed to be installed to run in one direction. The “flat” side of a SRAM flat top chain is on the outside of the chain as it passes over the the teeth of the cogwheels of the cassette and of the chainwheel.
If a chain’s links are etched or stamped on one side, that side should be installed so that the arrow or text is visible and/or the arrow points forward as the link goes forward on the top side of the loop on the side of the bike from which the chain is accessible – the side:
with the cassette and the chain rings and
the chain passes over the chainstay moving from the driving wheel to the chainwheel.
Many chains are not etched or stamped. Some mechanics maintain that there are other ways that can determine which side of the chain should face the persons installing a chain.
Chain Gauges
The bike chain and bike tool industries developed tools to measure wear, called chain gauges (or chain checkers). Articles by the Australian cycling tech writer Dave Rome on checking for wear, based on discussions with Adam Kerin of Zero Friction Cycling (“ZFC”), and on other sources):
Dave Rome at CyclingTips, August 2019 How to check for chain wear: The easy way, the best way, and why (no longer on line – Outside has dropped it as of late 2023 and early 2024) The ZFC measurement methods were explained in this article). (Dave Rome left CyclingTips in 2022. He contributes to the EscapeCollective media as of 2023 and early 2024).
There are videos on chain gauges and other chain tools, and online instructions on using them. There are several inexpensive drop-in checkers by previously unknown vendors for sale online; several claim to be laser cut. Adam Kerin of ZFC has published articles and videos on checking chains. There are videos and podcasts of his interviews. Adam Kerin’s advice on chain gauges, and some of his related advice on maintaining chains, can be summarized:
get a simple drop-in gauge;
make sure it is an accurate one;
know how to use your chain checker and use it regularly;
lubricate the chain regularly and clean it frequently. The cleaning will depend on conditions and which lubricant has been used;
consider checking chains on long rides and the possibility of replacement along the route;
For his ZFC chain wear (elongation) tests, discussed in Part 4, Adam Kerin used the (expensive) KMC digital caliper chain checker. Adam Kerin says a drop-in metal gauge is a sufficient tool for the rider/home mechanic, but”
recommended the Shimano TL-CN42 because it is cut to the exact tolerance, and reliably free of manufacturing errors. The tool was not on Shimano’s US sites in early 2022 (or in 2023). Some dealers advertised at that time. It was out of stock at ZFC as of February, March and April 2022 but in stock at ZFC in late 2023 and early 2024. It was selling for nearly $90 (Canadian) on Amazon at times 2023-24.
said that many drop-in gauges are cast and finished poorly, and do not measure the short span to the tolerance required.
In his YouTube Video of February 2, 2024 on his ZFC channel, he discussed the drop in gauges which were known to accurate enough, without any reports of varying measurements between individual products of the same model.
He published his findings in a chain wear checker table. He said a few of the drop in gauges were accurate:
Shimano TL-CN42
Park Tools CC-4
Pedro’s
Abbey Bike Tools LL Chain Wear Tool 5Abbey Tools in advertising this tool in 2024 says “Most chain wear tools currently on the market are laser cut metal. This is a pretty cool process that’s great for making sheet metal parts, problem is the accuracy of this process isn’t great at +/-.010″ (.254mm). If you add the error of the tool itself to the roller variable it’s possible to double the error of the tool”.
Adam Kerin did not recommend the KMC digital caliper chain checker, on the basis that it is not a drop-in gauge, and is not inexpensive.
Dave Rome, the CyclingTips tech editor and correspondent in Australia described the subject of measuring chain wear as “murky” on the Ask the Mechanic segment in the NerdAlert podcast episode recorded February 21, 2022 6no longer on line – owner of the Outside family of content unpublished it as of late 2023. He noted the Park Tool CC-2 gauge is capable of some precision but is vulnerable to bending of the pins affecting the accuracy of measurement. He thought the Park Tool CC-3.2 drop-in gauge was reliable for most chains except some SRAM 12 speed chains. But Adam Kerin had reservations about it.
I had a ParkTool CC-3.2. It sold for about $12 US from US online bicycle supply stores (and for $18 or $35 from vendors in the Amazon market jungle) in 2022. I had no context or background on how often to use this or any chain checker. In 2022, I was wondering if it was accurate. I had a new chain available. My kludge to confirm my gauge was good enough: I tried it on a new chain (making sure the chain was taut). The tip did not drop in, and the tip did not pass the midline of the pin inside the roller the tip was touching.
The CC-3.2 measures total elongation – it does not “isolate” the rollers. It has hooks at one end, on each side, to fit against a roller. One side is machined to detect .75% wear. One side is machined to detect .50% wear in chains for 11 and 12 speed cassettes.
Side
Chain
Distance Hook to Tip
.75%
7-8-9-10 speed
≪172 mm
.50%
11-12 speed
≅171 mm
The manufacturer’s instructions recommend dropping a hook end into an inside link. The user should ensure the chain is taut and the hook is held against the roller. Park Tool says the device can be used at the top or the bottom of the loop (between chain ring and rear cog) – the derailleur spring should be pushing the chain taut at the bottom. This gauge spans nearly 14 pins; the tip can touch or fall short of the 14th roller. A chain is elongated when the tip falls does not rest on the roller at the other end (it is falling short) and drops into the inside of the link. The Park Tool CC-3.2 chain gauge measures a span just over 170 mm. to indicate if the elongation in a span exceeds .50%. In a span of 1/8 of the length of the chain the gauge has to detect the difference to a tolerance of .5 mm.
I started to use a Park Tool CC-4 and the Abbey Tools device in 2024.
Wear
How/Why
Open bearings are vulnerable to contamination. Roller chains have to be cleaned and re-lubricated. Even well maintained roller bearings will wear. A metal roller chain wears. This makes chain get longer. The plates and pins do not stretch, compress or deform.
The cause of elongation is believed by some riders to be “stretching” of the chain. Josh Poertner of Silca Velo 7noted in Part 4 of this series discusses wear as the cause of elongation, using a digital microscope device, to produce the video Microscopic Magic: Save Your Chain from Wearing Out! (July 30, 2024) to look at a badly worn chain (a SRAM PC 1051)
Some count 1 link as a set of 1 inner half-link and 1 outer half-link; others count all links.
Microscopic wear on individual links adds up. One of the consequences of wear is elongation. An elongated chain fails to fit the gears (cog wheels) – the chain wheel and the toothed wheel on the cassette on the rear wheel, cause wear on the gears.
With modern 11 and 12 speed bushingless chains, elongation of .5% (half of one percent) of the length of the chain leads to replacement. A chain may show almost no elongation wear for several hundred Km., and then wear rapidly. Chain wear is not linear.
Consumables
Bike, component and chain manufacturers expect consumers to accept chains which have limited durability. Purchasers of new bikes may have to replace or upgrade the chain frequently. The bike, component and chain manufacturing industries expect bike chains have have a short service life, which is defined as a short mean time before failure. Failure can mean breaking but it usually means elongation by wear.
They sell bikes with chains they expect to fail within a few thousand Km. of use.Whether bike and component manufacturers follow a strategy of planned obsolescence might be debated. The inspection and replacement methods used for industrial machines and motor vehicles – e.g. days or hours of operation or distance – do not work for most bikes and chains.
Few modern chains are good for more than a few thousand Km before becoming measurably worn – durability varies with chain material, riding conditions, lubrication and cleaning practices. Bike manufacturers trust the chain manufacturers. Consumers trust the manufacturers and the market.
Master Links
Importance & Origins
Master links, devices that replace a single outer link, were noted in the BTI (Sheldon Brown) glossary. Master links for chains for single speed drive train chains were once rare. A few custom metal fabricators made and sold universal master links for derailleur shifting chains by any manufacturer on the market by the 1990’s – e.g. the Craig Super Link. Before master links, removing a chain involved pushing a pin out with a chain breaker tool, Installing a chain involve peening8some chainbreaker tools have peening anvils, and are capable a pin with a tool.
The master link makes removing a chain for cleaning, maintenance and replacement easier. Chain manufacturers developed proprietary master links for some of their chains. One of Shimano’s systems secured the master link with a special pin. Some manufacturers had three part links – 2 link plates and a spring plate to slide over the pins and clip the links. Connex/Wipperman still sells this kind of link. A few other universal links came on the market. The manufacturers were small or fabricated the devices in limited quantities. Some non-proprietary or univeral links are on market or in use. Some master links can be used by any chain of a given size, by any manufacturer. Master links can be used on chains are built to the standards of the pitch and width for compatibility with the number of cogs on the cassette on the drive wheel (i.e. links are machine to work on “11 speed” chains exclusively). Some manufacturers market links as compatible with other manufacturers’ chains of the same size – e.g. YBN. Others insist on branded links for their branded chains.
Many master links involve two parts. Each part is one link plate with one solid pin riveted to the plate. The pins are machined with a groove or slot at the free end that fits into a machined slot and hole in the opposite plate. Connex Wipperman uses curved slots for some models, and straight slots for others. Many manufacturers have one straight slot model in each size. For instance see the YBN product. Two part systems depend on getting both pins into the opposite slots and locking the link. Two part master links are made by Shimano, SRAM, YBN, KMC and others. The manufacturers’ names for their master links may cause some confusion.
Most two part master links are sold as “single use”. YBN’s 2 part master links, labelled Safe Sections and QRS (Quick Release-Safety) are sold by YBN and by vendors who (re)sell them as safe for five uses.
Riders commonly reuse master links. Some users only remove a master link to replace a chain.
A master link may fail. The finely machined slots are vulnerable to microscopic, nearly invisible wear, fatigue and stress. The risk of the failure is real.Often failure is caused by improper installation. It is sometimes caused by wear of the finely machined slots in the pins and plates – which can be caused by removing and locking the link too often or damaging the locking slots.
Needle nosed pliers are too wide to close or open a master link on modern narrow chains. There are special pliers that can open and/or lock a link. Locking the master link without a locking tool depends getting the pins into the slots, holding the bike steady and stepping on a pedal.
A master link can be removed with master link pliers, like the Park Tool MLP-1.2, which is sold in bike shops and online for about $17 to $25 US. The Park Tool pliers can be used to lock or remove a master link, and can fit a chain as narrow as a 12 speed chain. There are other master link pliers on the market. Most are bulky or heavy enough that they will not fit in a seat pack. Light compact travel tools are available. Some of the compact tools store replacement links. The parts of a master link can be easily lost.
Master links are durable but vulnerable to wear and stress in places – the slots that hold and lock the pins. Immersive waxing requires removing the chain at intervals of a few hundred Km.
A user trying to remove a link from a chain on a bike will need to address the tension in the chain caused by the rear derailleur spring. When the link is released and pins are clear of the slots, the chain can snap, flinging the parts into space. Putting the chain on the smallest rear cog and the smallest chain ring (in 2x or 3x systems) reduces the tension. The user has to keep a grip on the chain which may be dirty and greasy. Some chain breaker tools have a wire accessory – the thickness of spoke – bent just less than 90 degrees at each end. This can be detached from the tool body and slipped over rollers of links beyond the master link. Some users make such an item with a piece of scrap spoke (a coat hanger may fit into outer plate links but not inner plate links in 10 speed or narrower chains). Some will shift to the smallest chain wheel and the smallest cogwheel on the cassette and manual take the chain off the chainwheel to remove the tension.
This is part 1 of a series of 8 posts organized as a single article. individually published as posts on this blog. The series is organized into sections, numbered for reference in the table of contents for each post. In March 2024 I began to reorganize and revise the long article. The article is organized into sections, numbered for reference here and in the table of contents for each post.
The project took several months. Since then, I have edited and revised further.
Scope
I am not an engineer or mechanic. I have done basic home maintenance on my bikes. Until 2021, I had not read any information resources about chain wear online, or in any cycling magazines or books. My knowledge of bike tech was out of date, and my knowledge of maintenance was low.
This post explains:
when and how I became interested in bicycle drive chains,
the limitations of internet search as a tool for understanding a subject,
the safety bicycle,
basics of the roller chain drive train.
Finding Chain Wear
In April 2021, I thought I had less than 2,000 Km on the KMC X11 (11 speed) chain on my Cannondale Topstone gravel bike since August 2019 1 It was over 4,000 Km. I made changes to the drive train in 2021 during the Covid-19 lockdown:
Swapped the factory FSA crankset on the bike when I bought it in 2019, including the chain wheels (172.5 mm crank arms on the FSA crankset on a “medium” sized Topstone) for an FSA crankset with 165 mm crank arms, and
Had the Shimano rear cassette replaced with a SRAM cassette with some bigger cogwheels (“low gears”).
I had been washing the chain every two or three weeks in a clamshell tool – a Park Tools CM-5.3 Cyclone chain cleaner – with a few ounces of Mountain Equipment Cooperative’s Bio-Cycle liquid cleaner. Immediately after the wash, I applied clean, (unused) drip lubes. I lubricated with brand name bicycle chain drip lube products: ProGold Pro-Link (a “wet” drip lube) and Muc-Off’s retail “dry” drip lube product.
KMC X1 chains ( KMC X1 TT and KMC X1 SL) were tested by Adam Kerin at Zero Friction Cycling (“ZFC”) in “chain longevity” tests. I will mention ZFC again in Part 4 and elsewhere. The ZFC test results and methods are public and available on the Internet without the expense of a subscription with a publisher. ZFC tested chains using the same fluid drip lubricant – White Lightning Epic Ride -as an experimental “control”. In the longevity tests, ZFC found the KMC x1 model tested wore out after a little less than 3,000 km. (Which was good in that test. In ZFC’s comparative lubricant tests White Lightning Epic Ride, a mediocre fluid drip lubricant, was inferior to immersive paraffin and paraffin emulsions.)
In April 2021, I had problems: the chain did not respond to shifts, or skipped, or rubbed the front derailleur cage. I had assumed when I bought the bike that a KMC X11 chain was a durable product, although I did not consult ZFC. Indeed it was a relatively durable chain. At that time, I did not understand that bike and component manufacturers, and bike mechanics, regard chains as consumable. I had not known the industry standard for 11 speed chain elongation wear and chain replacement. I had a chain checker but I did not use it much or know if it was reliable. In April 2021 my Park Tool CC-3.2 chain checker was reading that the chain was worn and should be replaced.
I located a SRAM PC 1130 chain and a supply of SRAM Powerlinks (SRAM proprietary master links). SRAM’s Canadian web site describes the PC 1130 chain as “an affordable, lightweight and precise option for all 11-speed groupsets” and the PC 1170 with these comments: “features more heavily chamfered outer plates for improved shifting and quieter running. The chrome hardened pin construction provides longer chain life.” SRAM and the store did not say anything about the steel used to make the chain, and did not claim that the model of chain was plated or treated with SRAM’s hard chromium steel.
I tried various lubrication products in 2021. I found by early 2022 that the SRAM PC 1130 chain was wearing fast too. SRAM made (and still makes) some high quality durable chains with the hard chromium treatment or plating. The SRAM PC1130 was a relatively inexpensive retail product, and not particularly durable.
Selling and Maintaining Bikes
Bikes have become expensive and more complicated.
The modern manufacturer is a brand manager and a distributor, and may play a role in designing the bike and control the manufacturing of frames and some components. Bikes built by “manufacturers” are sold through bike shops. Manufacturers use name brand components and in fact subcontract the manufacturing of many of the components.
One of the modern manufacturer’s main risks is not getting paid, which the modern manager manages by demanding adequate security for orders. Another risk is not selling bikes. The modern manager manages that risk by marketing the brand and the model to the public (while actually wholesaling the bikes to bike shops). Bike shops depend on manufacturers to publicize a bike model, and are subject to controls on pricing – subject to the competition laws (called anti-trust in the USA), in the countries where the bikes are offered for sale. Some brands have built or rented brand stores, or acquired and started to operate local bike stores. Bike stores depend on selling bikes for much of their income.
Bike shops and mechanics are not necessarily supported by bike and component manufacturers. The brand managers do not set service schedules and do not enforce them, unless they provide warranty programs. Bike shops charge customers for mechanics’ services and for repair parts. Bike shops, by the early 21st century, were setting rates and suggesting that customers bring bikes in for regular tune-ups. Customers familiar with the practices of automotive service industries are suspicious of advice about maintenance of bikes that seem to have been working fine for years. The amount of service provided in a regular tune-up beyond some cleaning or “detailing” – may be minimal. Also:
It has become difficult for mechanics to get parts from bike and component firms, and
Mechanics may not be familiar with the right practices to repair some bikes and components.
It is not possible to ignore return on investment, shareholder value, corporate governance, planned obsolescence, marketing, consumerism and other aspects of asset management and financial management practices by the managers of bicycle manufacturing firms. However, it not useful for me to use moral words like “avarice”. Things that are not manufactured cannot be bought or used. Bikes, parts, components, accessories and other products are consumer products, built to standards of functionality, durability, cost and other economic factors. Bikes require attention of mechanics and maintenance that most bike owners do not have the knowledge or experience to provide.
I have wondered about:
What is “quality” in a bicycle chain?
What is a good lubricant?
How much knowledge does a user need about cleaning and maintenance?
What amount of time and effort should go into
bike maintenance,
drive train maintenance,
chain lubrication, cleaning and maintenance?
1. The History of the Bicycle
Safety Bicycle
Early 19th century wooden-framed draisines and “velocipedes” which lacked drive trains, were precursors of the safety bicycle. A rider sat on a wheeled frame, propelled by the rider’s pushing against the ground. When such vehicles was introduced to cities on the eastern coast of the USA, they were banned in New York City in 18192The ban is discussed by Evan Friss in his 2019 book On Bicycles. Examples of these device:
the Laufmaschine designed by Karl von Drais, patented in Germany in 1818.
the pedestrian curricle patented in England by Denis Johnson.)
Metal bicycles, propelled by pedals attached by some mechanism to the hub of the driving wheel, also called velocipedes, were manufactured in France in the 1850s and ’60s. Most of the middle 19th century “Boneshaker” velocipedes were made of wrought iron. These did not, generally, have chain drives. Several American businesses were making metal velocipedes by the end of the 1860’s3Evan Friss addressed this in his book, noted above. Thomas Pickering had an American patent for a velocipede in 1869. The high mount bicycles (e.g. the pennyfarthing) of the 1880s were powered with pedals connected to crankshaft arms converting linear force on the pedals to rotate a driving wheel, which converted rotational force to linear forward force on the bicycle.
There are some drawings and images of such early bicycles online. There are bicycle museums with samples. The Marin Museum of Bicycling in Fairfax California, a museum of mountain bicycles, has some in its collection. The museum catalogue, exhibit notes and catalogue are not online but bike mechanic Andy Quant posted a video of his tour on his BikeFarmer You Tube channel in January 2024.
The use of a drive chain to connect pedals revolving in one location to the driving wheel was introduced by Harry John Lawson in England in the 1870s. Most other features of the safety bicycle were present in John Kemp Starley’s Rover, which was introduced in England in 1886, and regarded as the first safety bicycle. The features of the Rover, and other innovations (pneumatic tires, roller chains) were copied by European and American manufacturers. The safety bicycle was developed in the United States and in Europe by inventors, mechanics and industrial manufacturers in late 19th century. It is the “original” bicycle. It was developed in spite of the fact that most roads were suited to horses and horse-drawn carriages, and few roads were paved. The safety bicycle was a product of industry of the late 19th century, made of steel tubes, steel components and rubber. It has become common. Most bicycles manufactured since 1890 are variations of the safety bicycle, industrial products, manufactured from manufactured components. The complexity can be understated. The safety bicycle involves several elements assembled into a single vehicle:
two wheels, in line, each with hubs allowing the wheels to rotate in the direction the bike is moving, usually a power wheel in the back and a steering wheel in the front;
a frame to hold the wheels, support the rider, and allow the rider to push the pedals down, to rotate a driving wheel. Safety bicycles mainly had steel frames in the 19th century and the first part of the 20th century. By 1890 hollow steel tubes were available. Other materials become available;
a drive train – pedals pushed vertically by the rider attached to a revolving revolving driving gear(s)s – a chain wheel(s) powering a drive device, usually a chain comprised of link plates and bushing acting as bearings) powering a driven gear(s) attached to the drive wheel;
an assembly attaching the steering wheel to the frame;
a steering device (handlebar) with devices to control brakes outside the wheel and, for many bikes, to shift the drive chain between gears.
the use of many bearings (to allow the wheels, the pedals and the crank arms to revolve and to allow the steering wheel to be turned);
pneumatic tires;
brakes, either inside the wheel hubs (coaster brakes), or on the outside of the wheel (rim brakes and disc brakes).
The frame, wheels and most components other than tires, were made of steel forged using the methods known at the time. Steel is an industrial product made of iron and other mineral ores and carbon. Wikipedia pages for an overview:
In the second half of the 19th century steel was used to build railroads, bridges, pipes, reinforced concrete, roads, and buildings. Steel alloys could be made hard or corrosion resistant for specific uses – e.g. tools, cookware.
The safety bicycle was possible only after the development of ways of producing materials – i.e. after industries developed efficient methods for steelmaking and the machining of steel into the necessary materials to to build bicycles:
tubes,
bearings,
sheets,
pins and
shaped forms of thin steel (e.g. wire spokes, the rims of wire wheels, bolts, screws and threaded fittings)
The “invention”, development and manufacturing of the first safety bicycles is discussed in several Wikipedia articles:
The American bicycle boom of the 1890s ended for several reasons:
the inexpensive, durable single speed utility bicycle lacked other marketable selling qualities;
the lower demand for bicycles and lower prices of industrially mass produced bicycles affected bike shops;
lack of roads and infrastructure;
the planning of transportation infrastructure around the automobile, and the lack of resources for bike paths, bike lanes and bike trails;
the limitations on cycling as means of commuting to work, traveling to shop and transporting purchased goods.
Cycling fell out of fashion among inhabitants of the large American cities.
Features
Drive and Frames
The process for making seamless steel tubes was first patented in Germany in the 1880s. The thin walled steel tube was an important component in building the frames the safety bicycle in the 1890s and the first several decades of 20th century. Later, frames have been made with
wood and bamboo,
other metals – aluminum and titanium,
plastics and carbon fiber (a form of fiberglass, a plastic composite).
Wheels
Bicycle wheels, since the safety bicycle, have mainly been wire wheels, although to solid wheels have been used on some track and time trial racing bikes. Wire wheels were invented in 1808 by George Cayley. The rims have been steel but other materials are used. The spokes have been steel, but other materials have been used. The majority of hubs have been steel, but other materials have been used.
The drive wheel of most bicycles has a mechanism known as a freewheel that allows the rider to propel the bike by pressing the pedals down and rotating the pedals forward and to coast by not pedaling. (With derailleurs and external gears the rider can also pedal backward; with coaster brakes pedaling backwards engages the brakes.) The pedals are attached to crank arms attached to a spindle held by an assembly of bearings in the bottom bracket, at the bottom of the frame at the middle of the bike.
Bearings
The original safety bicycle had hundreds of individual bearings in several assemblies:
in the the hubs, bearings allowing the wheels to rotate;
in the bottom bracket, bearings for the rotation of the crankarms;
in the headset, bearing for the rotation of the handlebars and the steering.
A 21st century bicycle’s bearing sets are discussed in an article in BikeRadar dated in 2018.
Drive Trains
The drive train involves:
The rider who provides work, pushing on pedals;
Pedals revolve at the ends of crankshafts (crank arms) that rotate around a spindle in a bearing (the bottom bracket) in a structure in the frame of the bicycle (the bottom bracket shell);
A driving gear called a chainwheel on a bicycle;
A roller chain which fits between the cogs (i.e. the teeth) of the driving gear wheel and the cogs of the driven gear wheel(s);
Driven gear(s) on the drive wheel.
The drive train is a feature of single-speed bikes, utility bikes, most “road”, “mountain”, “hybrid”, “gravel”. “all-road” and other kinds of bikes. Chain drives became and remain the main kind of drive train used by manufacturers. There has been a Wikipedia article on bicycle drivetrain systems since 2010.
A toothed wheel is called a sprocket (technically, a gear or gear wheel that meshes with a chain and not directly with another gear). The sprockets stacked on a cassette on the drive wheel of a bicycle are often called cogs (technically the cogs are the teeth).
Variety
Examples
The safety bicycle has been incrementally redesigned. An article in Bicycle Times in 20174online in 2024 without illustrations in Bicycling, an online publication or “magazine service” operated or owned by Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. or its affiliates was illustrated with images of 25 “influential” bicycle designs, including 19th century proto-bicycles, a couple of high mounts, Lawson’s design with a chain drive, the Rover (an English design believed to be the most successful early safety bicycle), a few other historical styles including the 1897 Spalding 5which then made bikes, as well as balls and other sporting gear Military (used by the US Army 25th Bicycle Infantry Corps; the article states incorrectly it was a 1986 design) and several 20th century styles. The article includes some single speed utility bikes but does not include:
designs since about 1993, except a 2005 fat tire bike;
cargo bikes;
rickshaws;
recumbent bicycles and tricycles;
tricycles;
tandems; and
e-bikes.
Single Speed Bicycles
Utility bicycles and other single speed bicycles were popular in Europe and North America until the 1970s. Such bicycles were inexpensive durable vehicles for transportation over short distances. These bicycles typically had bushed roller chain drive trains.
Racing
Bicycle racing on tracks, in velodromes and on roads became a popular entertainment in the United States and Europe. It became the source of innovations in bicycle design, components, the organization of racing events and the organization of sports. Some track racing bikes had a single gear, and did not have freewheels or brakes. Road racing led to the developments such as the derailleur mechanism for shifting gears, which influenced design and manufacturing of drive chains. There is a misconception (I have seen in a video on Global Cycling Networks YouTube channel in 2024) that derailleurs were invented by Campagnolo about 1940. Derailleurs used in since the early 20th century when road racing on racing bicycles in Europe became popular.
The parallelogram rear derailleur was developed in the 1930s and adopted by road racing teams. Gentullio Campagnolo (who had invented the quick-release skewer in 1930), the Cambia Corsa rear derailleur in 1933. There was competition by other manufacturers:
Derailleurs did not become common road racing equipment until 1938 when Simplex introduced a cable-shifted derailleur.
Campagnolo introduced the Gran Sport parallelogram rear derailleur in 1949.
There are hundreds of regional annual road racing events contested by teams of professional cyclists, including the 3 western European Grand Tours (Tour de France, Giro d’Italia, Vuelta a España). Other events for specialized racing bicycles:
Cyclo-cross races on variants of road racing bikes with special tires on unpaved courses.
Completing a long course in a fixed time, riding at night, and using unpaved roads (e.g. in Randonneuring).
Off-road
Mountain Bicycles for off-road use were developed in the 1970s in the USA and were immediately put to use in racing events. The mountain bike brought many innovations in how bicycles were designed and built. New entrepreneurs began to manufacture new bikes and components and accessories. The derailleur was adopted as the preferred gear changing system for mountain bikes
Industry
Motor Vehicles
The motor vehicle industries were more successful in attracting financial resources, technical resources, consumer interest and political support than bicycle manufacturers, dealers, and shops. Motor vehicle manufacturing produced complex expensive machines and supported research on materials, tools and products.
Infrastructure (paved roads and bridges)
Motor vehicle use affected infrastructure in ways that improved public resources and affected the safety of cyclists. There were many paved roads in some parts of the world in the late 19th century. Many roads were paved or graded and surfaced with gravel to support the use of motor vehicles in the transportation of passengers and freight. Many roads are not safe for cyclists.
Globalized Bicycle Industry
Information on the development of bicycle manufacturing is not a popular Internet topic. At one time, after World War II, Americans imported many bicycles from Europe. There are fragments of information about the competition between French and Italian manufacturers in selling bikes to American distributors that discuss currency and trade issues before parts of Europe adopted common currency and before European and American manufacturers outsourced manufacturing to Asian factories. Italian bicycles, manufactured in Italy were attractive to American wholesale distributors because of the comparative currencies, and the impression of some Americans that Italian products were high value luxury products making Italian bicycles look like bargains.
David Edgerton counted bicycles as an old technology that was adapted in Asia in his 2007 book The Shock of the Old: Technology in Global History Since 1900. There is not a great deal of information about bicycle production in Asia on the Web. Bike manufacturing in Asia up to the 1970s was mainly devoted making bicycles for riders in Asia. The manufacturing capacity of Asian countries increased as American and European bike brands, then Asian component brands globalized (i.e. off-shored) their production. Several countries in Asia became manufacturing locations. Part of the Asian production was commissioned by bike manufacturers elsewhere in the world. Asian manufacturers became proficient in producing new bicycles and components for the world market. The ownership of bicycles increased in Asia as Asian production increased in the 1970s.
Shifts in consumer tastes in Europe and North America spread to other parts of the world. Consumers in Asia began to purchase bicycles similar to bicycles popular in other parts of the world. As they have become more affluent, Asian consumers have purchased more motor vehicles.
Bike Manufacturing and Sales
Factories
In the late 19th century bikes were made in shops. The bike shop was, in that era, in a transition blacksmith shops where metal metal was worked for horse-powered transport. The problems solved by the artisans and mechanics who built safety bicycles in 19th century bike shops may have been recorded by journalists and published in newspapers and magazines, but the information is not easily located on the internet. For several decades in the 20th century, bike shops were machine shops with the machinery and mechanics to weld, cut and drill metal. Some shops evolved into manufacturers of bike tools or supplies – e.g. Park Tool of St. Paul Minnesota.
Journalists have visited some of the American, European and Japanese makers of customer bicycles and reviewed the way bikes were being manufactured at points in the 20th century. Jan Heine, the publisher of Bicycle Quarterly magazine, has studied, written and published on
steel framed bicycles made in France in the 1940s and 1950s,
steel framed bicycles made by Japanese artisans for
racing events held in Japan, and
to ride into accessible mountain passes (“pass hunting”).
Bike Brand Shops
The industrial production of bicycles requires access to manufactured materials, energy, labor and knowledge. Investors want a return on investment. Bike brands developed networks for distributing and selling bikes as the industry evolved.The modern bike brand generates profit by reducing the costs of “raw” materials and labor, and by selling new bikes. A few bike brands manufacture and sell inexpensive, often poor quality, “department store bikes” to general retail stores. Such stores generally do not provide repair services, or employ mechanics.
Many bike brands sell bikes to affiliated bike shops on credit at “wholesale” price, and make sure dealers pay for bikes delivered on time, and try to hold shops to selling bikes at the brand’s list prices. Affiliated bike shops have become sales outlets for bike brands – bike stores. Some brands tried to reduce cost and risks by opening brand stores. Locally, in Victoria BC, Trek bought an existing store and made it a Trek store, and Giant opened a downtown brand store.
Mechanics
The Wikipedia page about bike mechanics notes that this trade is sometimes recognized as a profession, or a skilled trade. In some areas of the world, a bike mechanic must be licensed and trained. In the USA and Canada, there is no licencing. Some bike mechanics have taken a formal course offered by a tool manufacturer (Park Tools, for example, offers some courses in person and many online resources such as YouTube videos. Most bike mechanics learn by serving a sort of apprenticeship. Many mechanics work for bike shops. A successful mechanic may expect to work for a successful competitive team’s sponsors and investors.
Wikipedia pages about mechanics mainly discuss mainly the trade or profession of repairing and maintaining automobiles, trucks, “heavy” construction and farming machines, marine engines, and industrial machines. Mechanics built and maintained the industrial machines of the industrial revolution. Many machines must be operated by trained and skilled machinists.
Bike shops are expected to find ways to sell repair and upgrade services on a sustainable basis – which means selling bundles of annual or periodic “tune-ups”. Consumers familiar with the predatory practices of automobile service shops are unable to tell when mechanics are recommending necessary service or sowing fear, uncertainty and doubt about the conditions of bicycles.
2. Knowledge about Bicycles
Opinions, Science and Facts
Memory, common sense, consensus, evidence
Most people are aware of a particular cultural consensus reality which is based in part on observation and other sensory experience as recalled in memory and partly on the words of other people as recited in oral and written evidence, and in stories about the causes of things and events.
Many people are aware that some kinds of facts are based on evidence of things that few or no human beings have experienced or perceived without tools. The British Royal Society’s motto, adopted in the 17th century, Nullius in Verba, The society’s motto, Nullius in verba, is Latin for “Take nobody’s word for it”.6 It comes from the Roman historian Horace’s Epistles where he compares himself to a gladiator who, having retired, is free from control. reflecting the view of 17th century pioneers in science that common sense, common knowledge, religious belief and other ways of evaluating evidence were inferior to the most reliable physical evidence.
There has been an ongoing discussion in philosophy about what science can prove or disprove. According to Karl Popper (1934) a theory in the empirical sciences can never be proven, but it can be falsified, meaning that it can (and should) be scrutinized with decisive experiments. Popper was opposed to the classical account of knowledge, which he replaced with critical rationalism. According to Thomas Kuhn (1962) scientific fields undergo periodic “paradigm shifts” rather than solely progressing in a linear and continuous way, and that these paradigm shifts open up new approaches to understanding what scientists would never have considered valid before; and that the notion of scientific truth, at any given moment, cannot be established solely by objective criteria but is defined by a consensus of a scientific community.
There has been tension between the ideas of science and knowledge and political and social ideas about freedom and democracy in the 20th and 21st centuries. This has played out in real conflicts about decisions about science – the 21st century attacks by populists on “elitists” over vaccinations and other measures to control the transmission of the Covid-19 viruses are an example. In 2024 the effects of the internet were discussed in a public-facing article by Brian Leiter, “Free Speech on the Internet: The Crisis of Epistemic Authority” in the journal Daedelus.
Some expressions became popular with American workers and journalists, and many consumers:
Professional and competitive riders, working people who use bikes, commuters, people who ride for physical exercise, recreational riders, mechanics, business people, engineers, chemists and physicists have different ideas about what is good or useful.
The concept of a “wise crowd” is a statistical fact, but it does not mean that the opinions of a majority of people with opinions can be condensed to a crowd view of the facts about a technical idea. Is there a scientific consensus about bicycle chains? People who sell, fix, buy or ride bicycles do not assess facts the same way. Can a consensus be found using internet searching? Published material on the internet on the subject disagrees about a lot.
Experts
In commenting on material on the Internet, Tom Nichols, in his book, The Death of Expertise8witty and quotable, but limited. And not a book about cycling.. Tom Nichols refers to SF writer Ted Sturgeon’s 1956 Law, “ninety percent of everything is crap” to make a point about search services:
The sheer size and volume of the Internet, and the inability to separate meaningful knowledge from random noise, means that good information will always be swamped by lousy data and weird detours. Worse, there’s no way of keeping up with it all …
….
… finding [good] information means plowing through a blizzard of useless or misleading information posted by everyone from …
Tom Nichols, The Death of Expertise, Oxford University Press, New York, 2017, at pp. 107-108
Nichols complained that the internet undermines the epistemic authority of persons who have expertise, but does not discuss analyze why the internet has facilitated the publication of falsehoods and unfounded beliefs.
Nichols was complaining about the “death” of deference expertise. He was addressing deference to his field of expertise – international relations – a specialized and unruly area, and to populist resistance to the opinions of experts and other “elites”.
Published Information
The bicycle was marketed and maintained in cultures with established methods of publishing information in print on paper. Information about materials, designs, mass production and marketing was not necessarily written down, or published. The knowledge, skills and resources to write or create content and to publish and distribute newspapers, magazines, books, web pages and videos were governed by technical and economic factors. Some papers and books about the history and uses of bicycles have been written by historians, social scientist and engineers. These can be found in the archives of academic journals and in academic libraries, with effort
Some books about bicycle repair and maintenance were published and available from book stores and libraries. Some were written by mechanics or journalists who had established themselves in cycling magazines. Many books went out of print; few were added to library collections and many were removed from library collections. Few were digitized and published online.
Only a fraction of the knowledge of designers, makers, mechanics, professional riders, cycling fans and non-professional riders was published. Much that was published was published by journalists in periodicals. Much was transient information, of little use even within days. Journalism recorded some knowledge about building and maintaining bicycles.
Jan Heine, the proprietor of René Herse Cycles (formerly Compass Cycles) and Bicycle Quarterly is a has studied and written about French bikes made 1935-1970. He regarded French bikes including Rene Herse bikes as good examples of all-road bicycles. He has published several books on 20th century bike building in France and Japan, most recently, The All-Road Bicycle Revolution (2021) which discusses, according to its blurb:
“how all-road bikes work and what is important when choosing one. A must-read for cyclists interested in the technology of their bikes, and for every cyclist contemplating his or her next bike purchase.”
That book discussed elements of 20th century bike building techniques, and ideas about bikes. It notes that mid-20th century French randonneuse bikes demonstrate that the most recent technology is not necessary to make an efficient bicycle. Jan Heine also writes about modern bikes and gear. His company produces and sells modern tires and repair parts.
Some journalists and writers have produced books about cycling that may circulate in public library collections. For instance, in 2019 Evan Friss’s On Bicycles, A 200 Year History of Cycling in New York City was published by the Columbia University Press.
Some printed books and e-books about maintenance are available. In some instances, the book accompanies or summarizes advice delivered in other media. Examples:
Lennard Zinn, an experienced mechanic and journalist wrote successful books that are reasonably current, summarizing advice delivered in magazine columns:
Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance (VeloPress, 4th edition), was published in 2013. The 5th edition was published October 2023 (distributed by Simon and Schuster). The 6th edition is expected to be published in June 2024;
The 6th edition, (2018) of Zinn and the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance is the most recent edition of that book;
Park Tools, the manufacturer of bike tools, publishes The Big Blue Book of Bicycle Repair. The 4th edition was published in 2019. It is available (2024) as a print book from on line bookstores and bicycle supply stores, and as an ebook for the Amazon Kindle device;
The producers of the Global Cycling Network web products published GCN’s Essential Road Bike Maintenance in 2024 (sold by direct Web sales from GCN sites).
The Internet
Origins and Limitations
The internet (including the Web) came into being near the end of the 20th century, a century after mass production of safety bicycles and components began. The information about bicycle drive trains published on the internet reflects the knowledge and interests of cyclists and mechanics from 1980 to the early 2020s.
In the early days of the Internet, text had to be typed in to be published online. How much information was ever digitized? What publications were scanned or subjected to OCR with good character recognition? Were copyright issues negotiated? Much scientific and engineering material on internet and the web on materials like steel and lubricants has been copyrighted or is protected by some form of Intellectual Property laws; on the internet it may be gated or pay-walled.
The internet does not “know” about things that no one has tried to publish on the internet. The Internet shares some of the limitations of the publishing industry. Tom Nichols, in his 2017 book, The Death of Expertise, applied Sturgeon’s Law9SF writer Ted Sturgeon, 1956 “90% of everything is crap” to journalism in 2017:
… many people do not seeks information as much as confirmation, and when they receive information they do not like, they will gravitate to sources they prefer … Today, hundreds of media outlets cater to even the narrowest agendas and biases.
This mindset and the market that services it, creates … a combination of groundless confidence and deep cynicism …
Americans increasingly don’t trust anyone anymore. They view all institutions, including the media, with disdain.
Nichols, The Death of Expertise, cited below, pp. 157-158
In terms of communication theory:
….
The early, idealistic view of the Internet proved an illusion. The system went out of balance almost immediately, its spatial reach subverting its temporal depth. Far from alleviating our present-mindedness, the net magnified it.
Innis would not have been surprised. Information in digital form is weightless, its immateriality perfectly suited to instantaneous long-distance communication. It makes newsprint seem like concrete. The infrastructure built for its transmission, from massive data centers to fiber-optic cables to cell towers and Wi-Fi routers, is designed to deliver vast quantities of information as “dynamically” as possible, to use a term favored by network engineers and programmers. The object is always to increase the throughput of data.
The net was a communication system of unprecedented scope: a world wide web that could transmit huge amounts of information across the planet. But unlike traditional broadcast networks, it was also a storage medium of unprecedented depth. It promised to contain, and provide easy access to, the entirety of cultural history …
….
The medium’s technical characteristics have been shaped by commercial interests. The evolution of the Google search engine, for the last quarter century humankind’s most valued epistemic tool, tells the tale. For several years after it was founded in 1998, Google, inspired by the rigor of what its two grad-student founders called “the academic realm,” pursued a simple goal: to find the highest-quality sources of information on any given topic.
….
… In 2010, Google rolled out a revamped search system … that placed enormous new emphasis on the recency, or “freshness,” of the results it delivered. …
The company had come to realize that information, when served up as a commodity for instant consumption, loses value quickly. It gets stale; it rots. The past is far less engaging, and hence monetizable, than the present. To use Google today is to enter not an archive but a bazaar.
The social media companies that began to emerge around the same time as Google were aggressively space-biased from the start. Bringing Innis’s worst fears to pass, they sought to capitalize on “network effects” to build empires of information and establish monopolies of communication.
Nicholas Carr, “The Tyranny of Now”, The New Atlantis (magazine), Winter 2025 issue.
Search Engines
A web search engine sifts content looking for text strings. Searches depend on searchable lines of text, an item title, or the organization of the resource (the identity of an author or publisher, channels, tags, indices etc.). Searches generate lists of links. Some search engine hits are still (in 2024) predominantly text or text with static images. Many pages and videos:
are direct advertisements for products, or endorsements;
are low value “reviews”.
Search engines can, with luck or careful queries, find articles that illustrate or explain the history of a technical idea, or adoption of technology by designers, manufacturers, investors, journalists and people who can afford to buy bicycles (and high speed internet), but cannot construct the history.
Search engines may show hits for videos, including YouTube videos but usually not podcasts. For podcasts, a user needs to search for podcast in an podcast index. After getting a good hit, a user needs luck and time to find the moments when a subject will be explained. Searches often miss recorded audio and video material (podcasts, YouTube) .
Reviews can be useful in finding products, but have limited value in evaluating products. It is not possible to find out how the author or publisher has influenced, or has preconceptions. Many reviews reflect personal experience in conditions that are not clearly explained, or quick reactions. The comparisons are between the products which the author or publisher mentions i.e. are limited to as to what is available or known to the writer. The testing, if any, is not scientific and does not assess the actual conditions of use. Many reviews or overviews are catalogues of methods, sometimes narrow, sometimes overly broad. Many make improbable claims about products.
When an internet source or a published book or magazine mentions a person, a company, a product or an idea, internet search can lead to material that can be read and followed up on. This can be an effective way of researching.
Wikipedia
There are criticisms about whether and when Wikipedia provides accurate information on all topics. Wikipedia, notwithstanding many valid criticisms, has an editorial and review process. Wikipedia Articles on bicycles may miss or overlook some details, or lack context, but are basically sound. Wikipedia is reasonably fulsome on several relevant topics.
The Wikipedia page for bicycle chain notes that chain cleaning and lubrication are complicated and controversial:
How best to lubricate a bicycle chain is a commonly debated question among cyclists. Liquid lubricants penetrate to the inside of the links and are not easily displaced, but quickly attract dirt. “Dry” lubricants, often containing wax or Teflon, are transported by an evaporating solvent, and stay cleaner in use. The cardinal rule for long chain life is never to lubricate a dirty chain, as this washes abrasive particles into the rollers. Chains should be cleaned before lubrication. The chain should be wiped dry after the lubricant has had enough time to penetrate the links. An alternative approach is to change the (relatively cheap) chain very frequently; then proper care is less important. Some utility bicycles have fully enclosing chain guards, which virtually eliminate chain wear and maintenance. On recumbent bicycles the chain is often run through tubes to prevent it from picking up dirt, and to keep the cyclist’s leg free from oil and dirt.
There are many resources reflecting many opinions. Comments in forums often reflect experience, but the amount of experience with the products is not clear. Some comments reflect frustration that the bike industry keeps selling more expensive new bikes and components while bikes are harder to maintain without tools, supplies and knowledge.
Large Platforms
Cory Doctorow writes some SF, and some non-fiction about the internet, information technology and business. He has written about the business practices of the large tech companies including The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation (2023) and Chokepoint Capitalism (2022). He identifies Google search as a leading example of a business strategy, which he names in an unflattering way:
… let’s examine how enshittification works. It’s a three-stage process: first, platforms are good to their users. Then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers. Finally, they abuse those business customers to claw back all the value for themselves. Then, there is a fourth stage: they die
Google Search was once the best Web search service. Once upon a time users believed the Google company when it said it was against evil. The modern Google search tool is full of advertising. Google Search returns now promote “sponsored” content (and recent content). Cory Doctorow on Google search:
Google’s search results are terrible. The top of the page is dominated by spam, scams, and ads. A surprising number of those ads are scams. Sometimes, these are high-stakes scams played out by well-resourced adversaries who stand to make a fortune by tricking Google …
But often these scams are perpetrated by petty grifters who are making a couple bucks at this. These aren’t hyper-resourced, sophisticated attackers. They’re the SEO [search engine optimization] equivalent of script kiddies, and they’re running circles around Google …
Google search is empirically worsening. The SEO industry spends every hour that god sends trying to figure out how to sleaze their way to the top of the search results, and even if Google defeats 99% of these attempts, the 1% that squeak through end up dominating the results page for any consequential query …
….
… Google’s algorithmic failures, which send the worst sites to the top of the heap, have made it impossible for high-quality review sites to compete …
You’ve doubtless encountered these bad review sites. Search for “Best ______ 2024” and the results are a series of near-identical lists, strewn with Amazon affiliate links. Google has endlessly tinkered with its guidelines and algorithmic weights for review sites, and none of it has made a difference. For example, when Google instituted a policy that reviewers should “discuss the benefits and drawbacks of something, based on your own original research,” sites that had previously regurgitated the same lists of the same top ten Amazon bestsellers “peppered their pages with references to a ‘rigorous testing process,’ their ‘lab team,’ subject matter experts ‘they collaborated with,’ and complicated methodologies that seem impressive at a cursory look.”
But … grandiose claims … result in zero in-depth reviews and no published data. Moreover, these claims to rigorous testing materialized within a few days of Google changing its search ranking and said that high rankings would be reserved for sites that did testing.
Bruce Schneier and Judith Donath made a similiar point discussing search using “AI” tools built with Large-Language Model (“LLM”) technology:
… [publishing’s] core task is to connect writers to an audience. Publishers work as gatekeepers, filtering candidates and then amplifying the chosen ones. Hoping to be selected, writers shape their work in various ways. This article might be written very differently in an academic publication, for example, and publishing it here entailed pitching an editor, revising multiple drafts for style and focus, and so on.
The internet initially promised to change this process. Anyone could publish anything! But so much was published that finding anything useful grew challenging. It quickly became apparent that the deluge of media made many of the functions that traditional publishers supplied even more necessary.
Technology companies developed automated models to take on this massive task of filtering content, ushering in the era of the algorithmic publisher. The most familiar, and powerful, of these publishers is Google. Its search algorithm is now the web’s omnipotent filter and its most influential amplifier, able to bring millions of eyes to pages it ranks highly, and dooming to obscurity those it ranks low.
In response, a multibillion-dollar industry—search-engine optimization, or SEO—has emerged to cater to Google’s shifting preferences, strategizing new ways for websites to rank higher on search-results pages and thus attain more traffic and lucrative ad impressions.
Unlike human publishers, Google cannot read. It uses proxies, such as incoming links or relevant keywords, to assess the meaning and quality of the billions of pages it indexes. Ideally, Google’s interests align with those of human creators and audiences: People want to find high-quality, relevant material, and the tech giant wants its search engine to be the go-to destination for finding such material. Yet SEO is also used by bad actors who manipulate the system to place undeserving material—often spammy or deceptive—high in search-result rankings. Early search engines relied on keywords; soon, scammers figured out how to invisibly stuff deceptive ones into content, causing their undesirable sites to surface in seemingly unrelated searches. Then Google developed PageRank, which assesses websites based on the number and quality of other sites that link to it. In response, scammers built link farms and spammed comment sections, falsely presenting their trashy pages as authoritative.
Google’s ever-evolving solutions to filter out these deceptions have sometimes warped the style and substance of even legitimate writing. When it was rumored that time spent on a page was a factor in the algorithm’s assessment, writers responded by padding their material, forcing readers to click multiple times to reach the information they wanted. This may be one reason every online recipe seems to feature pages of meandering reminiscences before arriving at the ingredient list.
The arrival of generative-AI tools has introduced a voracious new consumer of writing. Large language models, or LLMs, are trained on massive troves of material—nearly the entire internet in some cases. They digest these data into an immeasurably complex network of probabilities, which enables them to synthesize seemingly new and intelligently created material; to write code, summarize documents, and answer direct questions in ways that can appear human.
These LLMs have begun to disrupt the traditional relationship between writer and reader. Type how to fix broken headlight into a search engine, and it returns a list of links to websites and videos that explain the process. Ask an LLM the same thing and it will just tell you how to do it. Some consumers may see this as an improvement: Why wade through the process of following multiple links to find the answer you seek, when an LLM will neatly summarize the various relevant answers to your query? Tech companies have proposed that these conversational, personalized answers are the future of information-seeking. But this supposed convenience will ultimately come at a huge cost for all of us web users.
Another factor has been a change in Google’s vision of the scope of its mission in response to the use of AI generated content. An SEO consultant complained in 2024:
You’re facing a future where AI can generate infinite amounts of human-like content. What do you do?
Google’s response was twofold:
Promote the vague concept of E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness). In practice, this translates to favoring well-known brands and established websites.
Abandon the mission of indexing everything. Instead, become selective. Very selective.
… Google is no longer trying to index the entire web. … it’s become extremely selective, refusing to index most content. This isn’t about content creators failing to meet some arbitrary standard of quality. … it’s a fundamental change in how Google approaches its role as a search engine.
… Google now seems to operate on a “default to not index” basis. It only includes content in its index when it perceives a genuine need. This decision appears to be based on various factors:
Extreme content uniqueness: It’s not enough to write about something that isn’t extensively covered. Google seems to require content to be genuinely novel or fill a significant gap in its index.
Perceived authority: Sites that Google considers highly authoritative in their niche may have more content indexed, but even then, it’s not guaranteed.
Brand recognition: Well-known brands often see most of their content indexed, while small or unknown bloggers face much stricter selectivity.
Temporary indexing and de-indexing: In practice, Google often indexes new content quite quickly, likely to avoid missing out on breaking news or important updates. Soon after, Google may de-index the content, and it remains de-indexed thereafter. So getting initially indexed isn’t necessarily a sign that Google considers your content valuable.
If this is indeed what Google is up to, then you have to wonder what its leaders have been smoking. Among other things, they’re proposing to build machines that can sensibly assess qualities such as expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness in an online world where just about anything goes. Could someone please take them aside and remind them that a tech company tried something like this way back in 1995 and came unstuck. It was called Yahoo! Remember it?
Other Google “services” e.g. YouTube, and most other commercial search platforms share the problems.
Web Sites
Introduction
Web sites discuss aspects of cycling, bicycle maintenance etc. Many have articles or pages on maintaining drive chains. For instance: BikeRadar, June 26, 2022 , Bicycle chains explained.
Sheldon Brown/BTI
Sheldon Brown, a bike mechanic in Boston, and a modern polymath, started writing on the Web by the early 1990s. He had contacts among local riders and shops, and participated in Usenet news groups and other online forums on cycling. Sheldon Brown and his original contributors wrote extensively and collected internet material. The Bicycle Technical Information pages (“BTI”) were a leading online source of information about bicycle repair and bicycles. The pages captured parts of the histories of bicycles and components, manufacturing, repair, touring and riding.
The BTI ages on cycling were hosted by his employer, Harris Cyclery, until it closed in 2021. The BTI pages have been updated since his death in 2008, and continued to be published after Harris Cyclery closed in June 2021 by a community of friends and fans; some topics have been updated or added.
Sheldon Brown admired and promoted Sutherlands Handbook for Bicycle Mechanics by Howard Sutherland, (the 6th and 7th editions are available as of 2022-2024 from Sutherland’s Bicycle Shop Aids in California), and published articles by several authors on technical bicycle repair and maintenance matters.
The BTI pages that mention chains, lubrication and maintenance include:
Some of the contributors to the BTI pages were engineers and mechanics. Some read speculative (science) fiction, and used folk sayings that had been used in SF (e.g. TANSTAFL, kludge) to describe the experience the realities of riding and fixing bicycles and the results of the financial, organizational and decision making processes of bicycle manufacturers, politicians and traffic engineers.
The BTI pages reflect a perspective on innovations in the bicycle building and selling industries in the 1990s. Some comments on maintaining and lubricating chains on the BTI pages do not hold up (for instance, that riders should not try to remove factory grease from a chain). The BTI pages do not address many maintenance issues arising from innovations, since then, although some pages have been updated. Some scientific research and publications are summarized in Bike Chains, Part 3 in this series, under the headings and subheadings Lubricants: Scientists, Lubricants: Paraffin, and Lubricating a Chain: Academic Research.
Sheldon Brown participated in Usenet Newsgroups including rec.bicycles.tech. He linked to the Frequently Asked Question (“FAQ”) paged.
The BTI site has maintained a link to the Bicycles FAQ page(s) at FAQ.org. (FAQ.org has not migrated to HTTPS, which may affect your attempt to follow the link in the preceding sentence.)
The BTI site has maintained a link to Bicycles, the index page of an archive of Usenet cycling newsgroup posts privately collected,indexed and maintained by Norman Yarvin on his yarchive.net pages.
Jobst Brandt
Jobst Brandt was prolific writer about cycling in Usenet groups. That kind of writing is not being read because it was written in a medium that was largely ephemeral. His Wikipedia entry does not mention:
Jobst Brandt Ride Bike! by Max Leonard et al. published by Isola Press in 2015, a biography and history of the origins of mountain bike riding in Marin County in northern California;
CyclingTips wasan online cycling magazine with strong technical coverage. It covered chain maintenance, cleaning, lubrication, chain wear and interviews with modern pioneers of testing lubricants and chains in text articles and audio media. Most CyclingTips text material was removed from the Internet – when the new publisher (the hedge fund that controlled the “Outside” family of magazines and online content) made changes in 2022 .
CyclingTips published some “endless FAQ” articles (detailed articles, periodically revised) on some components and issues of maintaining modern bicycle, but these are not online after the new publisher deleted content:
Title, or Component or issue
Date
Endless, Revised
Seeking the holy grail: A fast chain lube that saves you money
March 2018
Disc Brakes
May 2018
August 2019
Tubeless Tires
2019
October 2021
Finding the best bicycle chain: What over 3,000 hours of testing revealed
December 2019
Waxing Chains
August 2020
March 2021
CyclingTips NerdAlert podcast discussed technical and repair issues. The panelists often mentioned the cycling industry’s history of selling products that have drawbacks and flaws. Most of this content, also, was unpublished under the new management; or move behind the “Outside” app paywall. Discussions of chain maintenance:
The podcast in Nerd Alert series in August 2021 on chain lube testing, Updated; March 16, 2022, “Finding the best chain lube for your needs”.
Escape Collective began to produce content in March 2023. Many CyclingTipswriters and podcast panelists joined Escape Collective.
Discussions of chain wear on the internet often address readers and viewers interested in other issues:
speed in races
on different kinds of bicycles
under different conditions, and
durability and value of bicycles and components.
3. Chains
Introduction
The basics of drive chain are alternating inner and outer links, pins holding the links, and the ability to bend at the ends of links. Rollers and bushings over the pins have been used since the first decades after safety bicycles appeared. Gearing and gear shifting are important factors. There have been other gear and shifting systems, including gear systems installed inside the hub of the drive wheel. The chain drive with external gears and derailleur shifting has dominated.
The discussion of roller chain will be continued in Part 2 of this series. Part 7 will discuss the durability of the modern steel bushingless chain required for effective shifting of gears with derailleur mechanisms. In the early 21st century, the focus has been on elongation wear.
Chain Line and the Bike Frame
The most efficient line from the chain wheel to the gear on the drive wheel for single speed bicycles was parallel to the bicycle.
The chain almost always has to run over and under a chain stay – usually on the right side of a conventional two wheeled safety bicycle. The chain stays are welded or attached to the bottom of seat tube near the bottom bracket shell, and to the seat stay. The chain stay is one side of a closed triangle. It was necessary to use a chain “breaker” tool to displace a pin to remove the chain before the development of master links. By the early 20th century the bike industry used bushed steel roller chain on most bicycles.
Competitive riders and bicycle designers favored systems that allowed the rider to shift gears to use power effectively and respond to changes in conditions and the goals of rider – e.g. going faster with the same effort. Road racing brought the development of derailleurs to shift the chain onto other gears – and a flexible chain that could operate at a slight deviation from a straight chainline. Chains are designed to flex to displace far enough to change gears when pushed by the pulleys (jockey wheels) of a derailleur. Innovators altered the design of chains to get lighter, more efficient chains. At the end of the 1970s, a road bike might have 5 or even 6 cogs on a rear cassette. Mountain bikes adopted derailleurs, flexing roller chain, and other technology from road racing. Mountain biking became competitive and mountain bikes became popular. For a time, drive train components were specialized: road or mountain/hybrid. Some innovations made in road chains or mountain bike chains became common or dominant in chain manufacturing. time.
Chains do not move laterally on single speed bikes, or on gear systems inside the hub.
The laterally flexible bushingless chain became the dominant design by the end of the 20th century. By 2021, many, perhaps most new bikes, other than e-bikes, sold in Canada and the USA had rear wheel gear cassettes with 11 or 12 gears, and laterally flexible bushingless chains.
The laterally flexible bushingless chain with derailleur shifting is capable of “dropping” the chain while the chain is being shifted between gear wheels and while the chain is being powered. The chain can be jammed by the crank arms or other moving parts against the frame. A chain stressed when the power ceases to be applied in the primary direction can fail:
chain link plates may fracture,
rivets may fracture, and
rivets may pull out of the plates.
Material and Wear
Steel has the tensile strength for the purpose of transmitting human effort to drive a bicycle, and could be produced with smooth surfaces when the safety bicycle became common. Manufacturers have used various steels; 0ther metals have been considered. Few are strong without becoming brittle. Manufacturers use other metals to make alloys to coat or plate over roller chain components.
The parts that connect the links are made with tight tolerances, for transmission of force. There are microscopic gaps between pins and rollers and/or bushings, which allow the links to pivot to rotate on the chain rings and the cogs of the driving wheel transmission apparatus.
Bicycle roller chains become longer by a small amount as the chain is used. Microscopic wear on individual links adds up. The elongation of chain by wear being wear is well known to bicycle mechanics and to engineers:
Cyclists often speak of chain “stretch”, as if the side plates of an old chain were pulled out of shape by the repeated stresses of pedaling. This is not actually how chains elongate. The major cause of chain “stretch” is wearing away of the metal where the link pin rotates inside of the bushing (or the “bushing” part of the inside plate) as the chain goes onto and off of the sprockets. If you take apart an old, worn-out chain, you can easily see the little notches worn into the sides of the link pins by the inside edges of the bushings, or the formed side plates of a bushingless chain.
Bicycle Technical Information, Chain and Sprocket Wear, see section “How Chains Elongate”
The experience of many industries with steel bearings demonstrates that steel wears, even when lubricated. Riders assume, correctly, that steel is a very durable material. But chains, even when lubricated well and maintained, wear. An elongated worn chain does not fit the gears – the chain wheels and cassette cogwheels – and abrades those components of the drive train.
Some chains with hard steel plating and good maintenance and lubrication resist longitudinal wear and elongation.
Specifications, Standards and Gauges
Elongation of 11 and 12 speed bushingless chains by .5 – one half of one percent – of the length of a chain is the replacement point. It is implicit in the design of chain gauges (chain checker tools), and has been known to the employees of bike shops and to some some users for decades. 11 speed chains and rear cassettes were introduced by Campagnolo in 2008, and by Shimano in 2013. 11 speed cassettes and chains became a common feature of new bikes. By 2024, some drive trains for 13 gears on the rear cassette are being made and marketed
The length of a chain varies, depending on the length of the chain stays, the sizes of the largest chain ring and the largest rear gear, and the rear derailleur shape and size. A chain may have 55 to 59 links (counting a pair of 1 Outer link plus 1 Inner as 1 link) which can also be counted as 110 to 118 links. A chain may be 1397 mm. to 1473 mm. long
Chain gauges checking for elongation started to be distributed and sold in the 1980s. They were noted:
There … also special tools made to measure chain wear; these are a bit more convenient, though by no means necessary, and most — except for the Shimano TL-CN40 and TL-CN41 — are inaccurate
Gauges are more important than BTI said. The problem of the accuracy of most gauges is still present in 2024. A chain gauge checks for elongation in a span of 12-14 links. The gauge has to precisely cut (machined) and precisely used to detect elongation of .5 mm. It is useful to put the gauge on different places on the chain to look for wear.
Sheldon Brown & John S. Allen, about 1990, Bicycle Technical Information pages, Measuring Chain Wear section in Chain and Sprocket Wear
The existence and marketing of chain gauges suggests the modern cycling component, tool, and maintenance industries regard chains as consumable,and expect riders to replace chains.
Many mechanics support replacing chains that shift badly, and posit the concept of lateral wear as the cause of poor shifting. In 2024 a new tool was marketed to measure elongation wear more precisely, and also to quantify the lateral flexibility of bushingless drive trains. There are opinions, there is no data and there are no standards on when laterally worn chains should be replaced.
Master Links
Master links, devices that replace a single outer link, became common in the 1980s and 1990s. Master links make it easier to remove a chain for cleaning, maintenance and replacement. They were noted in the BTI glossary (see Sheldon Brown and BTI under Cycling Knowledge, below). Even with master links, removing a chain is an operation which many cyclists do not have the time, tools or knowledge to attempt.
Friction & Lubrication
Lubricants are materials that are applied to the surfaces of other materials to reduce friction when force applied to the materials and the surfaces move against each other. A lubricant reduces kinetic friction by changing static friction to lubricated friction, allowing metal surfaces to slide or turn without getting hot and making noise.
For much of the 20th century, most bike chains were lubricated with oils manufactured by refining petroleum and processing the refined product into useful material. Motor oil was and is a product to lubricate parts of an internal combustion engine. At the end of the 19th century, industry settled on the internal combustion engine as the device that could be used to power passenger cars, motorcycles, transport trucks, farm machinery and industrial machines. Motor oil was commonly available in the places bikes were used, and it was a popular lubricant for decades.
Safety bicycles were once almost inconsequential for the use of energy, or as a means of transportation.
Academics and industry researched and developed many specialized lubricants. Bike chain lube has become a specialty market. Bike shops sell what they can get from suppliers; bike owners/users have limited help in finding and choosing the best lubricants. Manufacturers and distributors will make all kinds of claims for their products. The best chain lubricants are not easily found and applied. Many are not effective at avoiding chain wear.
There is more on chains in Bike Chains, Part 2 and on lubrication in Bike Chains, Part 3 .
Active outdoors through another year of the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020-21.
I moved to Victoria West in November 2020. I had a few months transition before I vacated the house in James Bay. I was busy moving in the early months of 2021.
I learned the most efficient routes to places to meet Mike or make local trips in Vic West and Esquimalt. I retired effective April. I rode through the heat dome in the summer by riding early in the day. I was able to ride into the fall and winter by finding dry days or mornings between days of drizzle and rain, until a week of cold temperature with several days when snow fell, at the end of the year.
My ride were on my Cannondale Topstone. I logged 4,373.8 Km.
I became interested in chain life and lubrication.. I considered how to maintain cycling as my main exercise and recreational activity.
The net result is that above a certain pressure (what I like to call the “breakpoint pressure”) higher inflation pressures make a rider slower for a given power input to the pedals. Adjacent is a simplified schematic representation of this effect. Very little data is commonly available that shows this effect. Mainly out of curiosity about whether or not this effect was measurable, and to what the magnitude of the effect was, this author undertook an experiment “on the road” armed with a PowerTap power meter and a method for determining the Crr (coefficient of rolling resistance – actually, in this case the “resistance to forward motion” proportional to velocity) illustrated here.
