Chain question...

Fender76

How does one keep a chain nice and clean and 'silver'.... ie. how do I keep it from going black and filthy yet keep it clean and lubed..?
Im using White Lightening All Condition Light Lube..
What do you recommend. ..?

seamus

Black and oily chains are caused by using heavy lubes ("wet" lube) which gather dirt and dust. The upside is that they're more resistant to rain.

Light lubes (often known as "dry" lubes) are much cleaner and don't tend to gather dirt as much, but being light they tend to disappear quickly, especially in wet conditions.

So if you use a wet lube, you will have to use harsher degreaser to clean the chain, which shortens the life of the chain. If you use a dry lube, you only need to wipe the chain down, but in wet conditions you will need to oil the chain daily.

There's a lazy option which works well enough, but it's not ideal for your race bike.

Fender76

Thanks Seamus, I think I'll stick with the light lube and just clean it regularly....

Leroy42

A slightly OT question but is there any difference in the different chains one can buy. Obviously you can't use campag with Shimano, but is a Dura-Ace chain seen as better quality than an Ultegra or simply lighter? How about all the other (non Shimano/Sram/Shimano) chains.

There can be quite a difference in the pricing and am leaning towards Sram at the moment due to the chain-link rather than pin but would I be better off with another brand?

ashleey

Separating an SRAM chain powerlink, for me, needed pliers and safety glasses after the link flew off round the kitchen at speed. I am using and prefer Wipperman chains. You can separate the special link by hand. In general the more expensive the chain, the lighter and with hollow pins, the less it lasts! SRAM power links I think are not reusable whereas the Wipperman ones are?