Learned the hard way that silicone spray isn't for chains

I used to spray silicone lubricant on every bike chain that came through my stand... thought I was being clever and quiet. Then a regular came back three weeks later with a chain that sounded like a bag of rocks. He told me silicone just washes off and doesn't actually stay in the rollers. Pulled the chain off and measured it with a Park Tool chain checker - it was stretched past 0.75% already. Anybody else get burned by a slick marketing claim that sounded good but failed in real use?

3 comments

3 Comments

grantw418d ago

Oh man, you're totally right about that roller thing. I've seen the same thing on customer bikes where the outside feels slick but you pop a link open and the inside is just dust. Its like the silicone beads up and never actually penetrates where it needs to go. I think a lot of people fall for the "dry and quiet" pitch but dont realize quiet just means the lube is gone and the chain is basically grinding itself away silently. That Portland buddy of yours has the right idea too, switching based on season is the way to go if you want your drivetrain to actually last.

fiona_hunt715d ago

You said "quiet just means the lube is gone" and that's spot on. But I gotta push back a little on the dry wax lube for summer thing. I tried that route and found wax still leaves a buildup over time that gums up the jockey wheels. Maybe it's the dust and grit where I ride but I ended up swapping back to a light oil in summer. Keeps things moving without that crunchy paste feeling after a hundred miles.

gavin_kim9d ago

Used to think silicone was the secret sauce for keeping things quiet, but that chain story is exactly what changed my mind. Pulled a customer's chain apart after a month and the rollers were bone dry inside while the outside felt greasy. Then I did my own test on a beater bike and yeah, silicone just evaporates or gets washed off by the first bit of rain or sweat. A buddy who runs a shop in Portland finally convinced me to switch to a wet lube in the winter and a dry wax-based one for summer. Now I won't touch silicone near a drivetrain unless it's for cables or something that doesn't see real load. That 0.75% stretch came way too fast for you, but at least you caught it before it ate the cassette and chainrings.