Can I Use Jhonson Baby Oil for Bicycle Front Suspension Lubrication

Are at that place substitutes for bicycle chain lubes?

Technically, y'all can apply any lubricant for your bicycle chain, however, some lubes work significantly amend than others.

As well, go along in mind that most lubricants are designed to exist used in a airtight system, non for use in a bicycle drivetrain that's exposed to all the ecology elements and dirt & debris.

This article analyzes many common lubes you have in your abode and lets you know if they are suitable for application on your bike chain. First, nosotros starting time with what makes an platonic wheel-specific lubricant.

What is an ideal bicycle lubricant?

A bicycle lube provides a lubricant picture show that separates metal-to-metal contact between the cogs and the concatenation. The principal method for reducing drivetrain friction is by creating a single layer of lubricant molecules which impedes the direct contact of surfaces.

An ideal bicycle lubricant will be thick enough to prevent whatever metallic-to-metal contact but still thin plenty to penetrate the inner components of the concatenation. If the concatenation lube is besides thick (high viscosity), the operation decreases as the drag forcefulness is increased, which not only makes y'all slower simply also increases the charge per unit that your concatenation will stretch or clothing.

Ingredients in a cycle-specific concatenation lubricant:

All lubricants are equanimous of two components:

A base of operations oil (mineral, synthetic, or biological)
Plus additives

Lubes are 80-98% base oil and two-20% additives

Ideal additives for bicycle chains:

Anti-wearable - These additives, such as Lubrizol LZ4370LG, significantly reduces wear in your drivetrain system. These office by creating a protective layer that reduces the amount of contact and thus reduces wear.
Friction Modifiers - These are additives that modify how the frictional behavior of the system works by forming a chemical layer on the summit layer that has a very depression shear strength. Molybdenum dialkyldithiocarbamate is a very common instance used for cycle-specific concatenation lubes.
Oxidation Stability (anti-oxidants) - Oxidation is increased from exposure to h2o and heat. These are especially important for biological or eco-friendly lubricants (veggie oil base lube).

Grease is the same as lube except that grease has thickeners added to it, which is why information technology's described as "a sponge that holds the lubricant."

Concatenation lube alternatives

Vegetable Oils

Olive oil. For you salad or your chain??? — Olive oil. For yous salad or your chain???

Vegetable oils, such as canola, sesame seed, corn, peanut, cottonseed, linseed, rapeseed, and olive oil, all reduce the amount of friction to very similar levels to those of bike-specific lubricants.
- Brush oil is a very poor performance bike-lubricant because information technology is so thick, information technology's non able to penetrate the rollers.

While almost vegetable oils will reduce the corporeality of force needed to pedal a bicycle to similar levels of those of bike specific lubricants (in laboratory settings), the primary reason y'all wouldn't want to apply them is because they will selection up LOTS of DIRT and GRIME.

Also, go along in heed that veggie oils have low oxidative stability compared to synthetic or petroleum-based oils, which means the oils volition degrade and lose their lubricating and protection properties adequately speedily.

Exposure to water makes veggie oils oxidize or breakup fifty-fifty faster and turn into a sludge (not good for base oils in moisture wheel-lubes).
Vegetable oils offer poor protection against corrosion

Can I utilise veggie oils every bit a concatenation lube?

No. These oils volition attract clay and the oil itself will degrade and oxidize quickly. These types of oils should be avoided unless used in an emergency.

Chainsaw (bar) Oil

Chainsaw oil is designed to be pasty. This oil needs to stick to a chain that is spinning at between x,000 to 14,000 RPM. Compare this to a bicycle concatenation that is spinning at 60 - 100 RPM. You can see quite easily how much stickier chainsaw oil needs to be than what is optimal for your bike chain.

Primary functions of chainsaw (bar) oil:

Stick to the blade
Reduce operating temperatures as the blades get very hot
Protect confronting rust

99% of chainsaw oil is either absorbed into the sawdust, sticks to the logs, gets trapped in the loggers' dress, or ends up on the ground.

Bar (chainsaw) oil is designed to be super sticky since nigh all of it flings off the blade. This super sticky component ways information technology won't come off your cycle chain merely means that any clay or debris will instantly stick to it as well.

Can I use chainsaw oil on my cycle concatenation?

Yeah. Yous can employ chainsaw (bar) oil as a moisture cycle chain lube and would be best used for riding in inclement weather where you demand a sticky oil that will not become washed off from rain or wet conditions. Unless you're consistently riding in rainy atmospheric condition, this lube is as well gluey for virtually riding conditions.

motor oils

Motor oils have a much greater percentage of additives compared to cycle-specific lubes. Also, the additives of motor oil are much dissimilar than those for chain oils, as motor oil has extreme force per unit area (EP) additives, deactivators, and tackiness agents, none of which make your wheel chain perform any better.

Engine oils are more susceptible to oxidation than any other lubricant (go on in mind these oils are designed for a airtight system)

Can I use motor oil as a chain lube?

You tin use motor oil. Withal, information technology'south not recommended as this oil is also thick and won't penetrate the inner components.

If you want to make a 'thin' version of this information technology would be amend, but motor oil is not an platonic chain lubricant every bit the additives don't protect against wear nor does it provide optimal reduction of friction. Likewise, it oxidizes when practical in open-air applications as it's designed to be used in a airtight system.

Gear oil

Gear oil is a thick lubricant fabricated specifically for transmissions, transfer cases, and automobile differentials. Nearly gear oils accept extreme pressure (EP) additives, which are useless for bicycle lubes, equally cyclists rarely even generate ane-equus caballus-power. The high viscosity attracts dirt and debris making this less than an ideal lube.

Loftier viscosity = very thick. Gear oil is too thick to penetrate the rollers and internal workings of your chain.
Extreme Pressure (EP) additives are a vital component of gear oil. The additive contour of these gear oils does aught for cycling.
Viscosity Add-on - These oils are designed to be used in machines that run at high temperatures. Equally the temperature changes, it alters the viscosity of the lubricant, and so additives are of import when used in machinery. Also, the lubricant is responsible for removing oestrus from the system. None of these functions are needed for bike lubes and these modify the frictional strength and wear properties of lube, neither of which is adept for optimal bicycle chain performance.

Tin can I utilize gear oil on my wheel chain?

Use at your ain risk of sub-optimal performance and a very dirty chain as trail and road droppings will cling to this sticky oil designed specifically for specialized high-temperature gearboxes.

Machine Oil

Calorie-free machine oil, such every bit sewing machine oil, is nearly 100% pure-base of operations oil or white mineral oil.

Can I use automobile oil on my concatenation?

Since auto oils are nearly 100% white mineral oil, these lack functioning, and anti-vesture additives. If yous don't care most operation this will work, but I'd reserve this oil for the sewing machine.

wd-40

WD40 should NOT be used on your chain since WD40 is Not a lubricant. WD40 is a solvent. This means yous tin use information technology to clean your chain, however, later on awarding, you will demand to apply an actual lubricant.

iii-IN-1 Multi-Purpose Oil

3-IN-1 oil uses a naphthenic base oil, which is known for its loftier freezing betoken, lilliputian oxidation, ideal viscosity for chain employ, and groovy viscosity variation with temperature fluctuations.

Naphthenic based oils are relatively aggressive for seals, which is why they are non used in closed systems. However, they are great for bike chains, which is why several bike-specific lube manufacturers use them as a base oil.

Tin I utilize three-IN-ONE oil on my chain?

Aye. 3-IN-ONE oil was originally designed for bicycle chains and outperforms many wheel-specific lubricants available in the market place place.

Final Thought

Yous can use any oils or lubricants that are not very thick and penetrates every link of your chain. All the same, a superior cycle lubricant will provide you with over 30 watts of ability compared to many of the lubes mentioned. So how much faster is 30 watts of ability….most ane mph (1.6kph).

All the culling lubricants mentioned on this list are wet lubes. Depending on the trail or road that your riding, the lubes ability to propel dirt is probably the well-nigh important characteristic. Atmospheric condition permitting, a quality dry out lubricant is best for the prevention of grime accumulation.

Globe'south FASTEST BIKE LUBE

Jesse is the Manager of Pedal Chile and lives in Valdivia, Chile. Jesse has a Primary of Science in Health & Human Performance and a Available of Science in Kinesiology. Hobbies: Mountain biking, bicycle commuting, snowboarding, reading, weight-lifting, taster of arts and crafts beers, & researching.

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Source: https://pedalchile.com/blog/bicycle-chain-lubes