Sad story follows: With apologies to Margaret Mitchell... As God as my witness, I'll never use chain lube again! I've been using Maxima aerosol spray wax on my bikes (GS excluded). It's fabulous! Zero flingoff, and the chain doesn't get black and tarred. When I reapply the product it goes on thin and acts as a solvent, washing much of the dirt off. The chain remains clean looking, as does the back wheel, frame, centerstand, etc.
Anyway, my bike has just over 20,000 km on the clock, and was running what I think was the original endless chain until last week. The chain was outwardly in good shape. The sprockets showed NO visible wear. So, I decided that each time I rode I would clean two or three links of warm chain by hand, towards moving away from oil-based aerosol lubes. There are 96 links! Finally, the end was in sight. I chose to clean the last half dozen gunky links in one go. Four links from finishing, I FOUND A FROZEN LINK! It couldn't be freed. New DID masterlinked o-ring chain now installed. Lesson learned.
Chain wax is my mantra. If I had to replace chain and sprockets twice as often (no reason to fear same), I'd think it worth the tradeoff!
Anyway, my bike has just over 20,000 km on the clock, and was running what I think was the original endless chain until last week. The chain was outwardly in good shape. The sprockets showed NO visible wear. So, I decided that each time I rode I would clean two or three links of warm chain by hand, towards moving away from oil-based aerosol lubes. There are 96 links! Finally, the end was in sight. I chose to clean the last half dozen gunky links in one go. Four links from finishing, I FOUND A FROZEN LINK! It couldn't be freed. New DID masterlinked o-ring chain now installed. Lesson learned.
Chain wax is my mantra. If I had to replace chain and sprockets twice as often (no reason to fear same), I'd think it worth the tradeoff!
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