Chain saw oil is pretty terrible for your chain... major grit and dirt magnet. Also makes working on the bike extremely dirty work.
At our coop, we use Finish line wax lube, usually dry. Here's the wet version: http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3965288&ci...
A little goes a long way. Gervase Gallant
Des Moines Bike Collective: Commuter Corner http://dsmcommutercorner.wordpress.com/
--- On Mon, 11/22/10, Mark Rehder mark@re-cycles.ca wrote:
From: Mark Rehder mark@re-cycles.ca Subject: Re: [TheThinkTank] Lubes, choice of and sources. To: "The Think Tank" thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org Date: Monday, November 22, 2010, 8:14 PM We get various stuff donated to us (I've come to despise WD40), but in terms of what to buy we took a tip from a local shop and use winter-weight chainsaw oil. The reasoning is 1) it is fairly thin, 2) it breaks down a bit better into the environment, and 3) one can use it in old internal-gear hubs (apparently perfect for Sturmey-Archers). :)
We buy gallon jugs and pour into plastic oil dispensers.
We used to get our bearing grease donated to us by a wholesaler, but that stopped for some reason (never quite found out why) and so now we just buy a pail of high-temp grease from Canadian Tire and put it into smaller containers.
From a Green standpoint, I once asked my dad (a metallurgist) about using a non-petroleum-based formula. He said one could use grease made from whatever veggie source, but that it would break down very quickly due to the heat from friction. So while it would work be prepared to overhaul your hubs every couple of weeks (or more). :P
So it seem that as long as one is dealing with metal-on-metal the petroleum-based stuff seems to be a necessary evil. That said, perhaps some bright minds may find an organic solution to this some day.
Mark Rehder - Coordinator re-Cycles Community Bike Shop http://re-cycles.ca
On 18-Nov-10, at 12:08 PM, Brian wrote:
Hello everybody...
Would you please share your thoughts concerning your
choice in lubes you use. Specifically:
- Chain lube. We use Prolink - expensive but
good performance. Would like a more "green" solution.
- General oil-like lube, we use Triflow. It's
cheap.
For both, we buy bulk and refill the smaller bottles.
Could you please share your experiences and
strategies? Perhaps some sort of automotive lube instead of triflow? Anybody currently supported directly by a lube company?
Brian SLO Bike Kitchen Co-founder www.slobikekitchen.org San Luis Obispo, CA
Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org To unsubscribe, send a blank email to TheThinkTank-leave@bikecollectives.org To manage your subscription, plase visit: http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.o...