Thinning lubricant

[ThunderGuts]

This is a more general question rather than bike specific, although I guess it would apply to plain chains (the purpose I want it for is actually a bicycle chain).

Gear oil seems to work pretty well as a chain lubricant on my C90 but on a bicycle chain I get the impression it struggles to reach all the nooks and crannies effectively because of the viscosity. I like the idea of how aerosol chain lubes work for motorcycles with the propellant making it less viscous and allowing the oil to penetrate then the volatile components evaporate. What would be a suitable thinning agent to mix with gear oil for this purpose? White spirit maybe? To reiterate, this is for plain chains so no need to worry about rubber, seals etc.. - it's just metal it'll be in contact with.

I suppose the alternative would be a hot (maybe 70 deg or something) chain as presumably the oil would thin down a lot, but getting the chain hot in-situ would probably be a faff.

Cheers.
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TG.

[MCN]

Engine oil as is. No mix
But gear oil will creep into any gaps in minutes.
Engine oil is less messy as there's always 'fling' to consider.

Thinning oil would probably damage it too or compromise lubrication properties.

Halfords sell wee bottles of bicycle chain lubes. Not too spensive. And are available from eBay places too I imagine.
I use the PTFE lube. Less mess and stays in place longer.

Same regime as motorbike chain.
Clean, dry and lube.
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Disclaimer: The comments above may be predicted text and not necessarily the opinion of MCN.

[ThunderGuts]

Might give engine oil a go. I've used chainsaw oil in the past as that's pretty inexpensive and works. This is going on my commuting bike which does about 100 miles a week irrespective of weather, so I'm lubing the chain at least once a week, more frequently when the weather is bad. I have a hang-up with bike-specific lubes as they seem overpriced for what they are.

I was wondering about if the oil would be broken down or not if it was thinned.
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TG.

[MCN]

Chainsaw oil works but it has additives to make it sticky. Fine if it is continuously fed onto a chain. The excess falls off and takes any shit with it.
On motor bikes and probably push bikes it gums up in crevases. (Behind the front sprocket of motorbikes, around the derailer and bottom bracket on push bikes. All the stuff that is thrown off is among that gloop.

Dirt Bikers like chainsaw oil as dirt bike chain oil is sticky AF.

£200+ will get you an electronic Scottoiler.
Then the chain is continuously oiled.

Scottoiler rely on replenishment to keep chains clean.
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Disclaimer: The comments above may be predicted text and not necessarily the opinion of MCN.

[stinkwheel]

Hmm. If you have deralieur gears, chainsaw oil is probably going to make a claggy mess of it in pretty short order where something thinner will at least start to flush out any road crap.

Remember it's also in contact with plastic because that's what your tension wheels are made of, and there are usually plastic spacers in the cassette.

I haven't tried it on a bicycle chain but ATF seems to be a stalwart of the "Pick a lubricant for use somewhere other than where it was designed to be.". It would probably do a decent job of thinning thicker oils too, but wouldn't evaporate.

The heat idea has merit. Why not heat the oil instead of the chain?

If you have a hub gear/single speed chain, you can still get the boil in the can linklife type stuff which lasts for ages once applied.

Thinner oil in a loobman chain oiler? Super basic oiler designed for motorbikes. You basically squeeze a bottle/push a button (dependant on version) just before you set off. It trickles 2-3ml of oil down a delivery hose every time you do this.
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[ThunderGuts]

The bicycle in question is a singlespeed so no tension wheels or chain contortions; I agree, if it had a derailleur I'd not consider anything gloopy because as you say, the tight corners around the jockey wheels would causes muchos flinging right where you don't want it.

If the chain was cold I'd imagine it'd pretty much instantly cool the oil on contact unless there was loads of it (and I generally favour just a few drops on each link joint), whenas if the chain itself was hot then it'd probably keep the oil warm and fluid. I have in the past immersed the chain in engine oil but it's faffy to remove the chain regularly for this purpose and I'm all for simplicity.

I've got loads of random engine oils knocking about in quantities too small to be useful so I might employ some of those and see how I get on.
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TG.

[stinkwheel]

My mate who does tens of thousands of miles a year on a pushbike swears by the boil in the tin stuff. Putoline chain wax seems to be the current incarnation.

You effectively heat up the tin of wax on a stove top with the chain in it then pull the chain out while it's liquid and set it aside to set. Penetrates everywhere then seals up the gaps. Any muck tends to fall out of the chain and sink to the bottom of the can which can be reused many times. It lands up with the chain kind of dry so much tends not to stick to it.

He's running it on a bike with a Rohloff hub that cost more than my motorbike.
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[Ste]

Use a decent bicycle wet chain lube rather than whatever miscellaneous oils you've got kicking around.

Clean the chain before adding more lube.

After applying the lube make sure you wipe all of the excess off.

[ThunderGuts]

[ThunderGuts]

[A100man]

[MCN]

An auld wife's trick was to boil the chain in an old pot with a candle, hoi the chain out the pot, the heat held in the chain allowed the excess candle to drain off. And hey Prescot, a lubed and waterproof chain.
The issue is getting a pot big enough to get the bike in.
Or alternatively, you have to split the chain.
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Disclaimer: The comments above may be predicted text and not necessarily the opinion of MCN.

[Ste]

How many miles are you getting from a chain?

[ThunderGuts]

[WD Forte]

[Freddyfruitba...]

[Grubscrew]

Diesel works as a thinner!
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FJR1300/CBR1000F

[Grubscrew]

[jaffa90]

How about 3-in-1 oil with a
https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_ssn=bargain_bicycle_bits&store_name=rugeleybicyclerepairs&_oac=1&_trksid=p2047675.m3561.l2562

[MCN]

[xX-Alex-Xx]

[Grubscrew]

[trevor saxe-coburg-gotha]

I used to clean my chain with diesel - until it made the spokes on my w650 pit and start to go rusty

it was an interesting moment because, of course, i had the spokes on the front wheel as a "control group" - what was going on with the back spokes that wasn't happening to the front? Answer: EP90 gear oil and clean w/ diesel once a fortnight or so. Well, it couldn't be the gear oil, I reckoned. But now then - the diesel. Hmmm yeah diseasel....they'll have put detergent in it or summert. That's what it seemed like anyway.
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"Life is a sexually transmitted disease and the mortality rate is one hundred percent."

Mobylette Type 50 ---> Raleigh Grifter ---> Neval Minsk 125

[Zen Dog]

I've already spent too many hours of my life reading, watching, and ultimately thinking, about bloody chain lube.

Everything that doesn't have a scottoiler, motorbikes and bicycles, now gets EP90 Gear Oil. Or if that's not available anything vaguely lube-like, 3-in-1, engine oil, whatever stuff my mate is using in a spray can. I've stopped caring. My 750's chain must have done 30k by now, intermittently lubed with whatever and it's still ok. I've never cleaned it.
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Current - '94 VFR750FR, '00 VFR800FI Previous - '10 Street Triple R, '92 MZ ETZ301, '05 TTR250, NSR125R, KMX125, "Honda" Win (chinese copy of an old Honda design with a C90 engine)
My bike trip around S.E. Asia 2010/2011