Desert chains - to oil or not to oil
 

When riding through sandy areas is it better to oil the chain or totally dry it off. I was talking to some engineers that do oil work in the desert and they said they would run everything totally dry and take the extra wear rather than have sand stuck to everything with oil all the time

There is probably another thread on this, but didn't see it

Wd-40
 

Henry
WD-40 has worked brilliantly on my O-ring chains in 100% sandy conditions. I spray my chain before every ride and get really good wear out of them. No problem with sand sticking to it. I have never used oil and tried a special road bike spray once which gunked the chain up with sand.
Stephan

I use a product by Maxima Racing Lubes called Chain Wax. It "dries" with a light coating. There are several brands that are wax based. I started using it to avoid slinging oil all over my wheels. I've used it in the desert (USA) with no problems. As the post above states, WD-40 works good. It was my first chain lube and recommended by my mech. I had to lube more often than I do now. If your chain has o-ring seals, I would avoid not lubing it at all.

Clarence

I've twice crossed the Sahara with a fair bit of riding other pistes on the same trips. On both occasions I've fitted a brand new DID X-ring and a set of steel sprockets at home and never lubricated until them after the trip was over (back in Europe). The chains easily lasted for the trips and beyond.

I understand desert rally riders don't lube their chains either, but you might check on the UK rally raid Yahoo group.

I also understand that the X-ring chain contains grease inside the rollers, so the only wear is between the chain and sprockets.

I used to use WD40 as a lubricant, but someone told me it was a solvent that would remove the grease. I'd be interested to know if this is true? Anyone have any hard facts on this? (now I carry WD40 and chain lube, but would like to go back to only the WD40).

Cheers.

WD-40 is indeed an excellent degreaser/solvent. I use it regularly to remove the splashes of chain lube from the rear wheel rim and other places. Spray some on a cloth and try it for yourself.
If it removes chain lube from the wheel rim so easily, it will also remove it when sprayed on to the chain.

FWIW: (sort of an anti-WD-40 rant... ;) )

WD-40 IS a solvent based product. It's designed to work as follows:

The can contents are a mix of solvent, or "carrier" and cleaner, plus a light lubricant. When sprayed onto a surface, the carrier/solvent cleans the surface, and penetrates deep into the smallest crack, carrying with it the lube (personally I think it carries some of the grot too). The solvent/carrier evaporates and leaves behind the lube, albeit not much.

Yes it works, but there's lots better out there. What it's brilliant at is a quick clean and lube to get something working/moving now. But it's poor over the long haul. I did a lot of testing many years ago in the Vancouver BC rainy/sleet/grit/sandy winter with it and many other solutions. We found that WD-40 lasted about three days at best on anything, whereas Teflon based lubes lasted a week on average, and just about anything was better than WD-40, even plain oil.

Back to chains - obviously WD-40 does work, but does it eat the o-rings? Without a true test - two identical bikes, one run dry and one lubed, you'll never KNOW which way is better. So, personally I'd go dry since it seems to work fine, and last long enough. And less aggro. :) Yes I'm lazy!

FWIW - As a general cleaner / quick lube to get something working, I may use WD-40, and then just about anything else for long term, after it's cleaned by WD-40. I really like Tri-Flow as a lube, it also cleans pretty well, it excelled in our tests, and I haven't seen better yet. I carry a squeeze bottle of Tri-flow, so no aerosol, and it's done me fine.

hope that helps a little...

I would still recommand you to bring your WD40 with you if you intend to play a lot in the sand. When a good amount of sand goes between the sprokets and the chain and you get no more chain slack, It's fun the have the WD40 with you to remove the sand!!!

Patrick

cooking oil
 

Hi
I run a scottoiler on my Tenere, when iám on the sand i fill it it with light cooking oil, this sticks to the chain but is so light that the sand dose not stick to the oil or the chain, it works for me, last chain 47000 miles sand mud rivers and dirt. Skip

This is good information. Thanks.

I have one of those cable lubricating devices that effectively diverts an aerosol spray through a cable and I use WD40 for that.

I recall reading somewhere that other lubricants can be used with these devices but can't remember what. Can anyone see a problem with using chain lubricant?

The main problem with using chain lube in this way, is that it's so thick, it wont easily go down the cable.
As Grant says, WD-40 is ok for the short term, but something containing Teflon (or perhaps silicon) will work better in the long term. Try a motor accessory store (Halfords for example) and see what they have. There must be a dozen or more different brands - GT85 is one that springs to mind. Somehow, WD40 is the name everyone thinks of, but it is by no means the best.