# Degrease new campy chain?



## rideorglide (Dec 3, 2005)

Shivver me timbers, the thought of puttin some orrible foreign substance on me new campy 10 speed chain is givin' me the chills?

Whats the factory lube and is it OK to use for riding for a while? Or do I just go ahead and clean it off and put some other schtuff on it?


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## odeum (May 9, 2005)

*here is what i found*

consider the lube on any new chain suitable for manufacturing purposes only.

do not use degreaser as this will only penetrate the internals with contaminates unsuitable
for the purpose of providing chain lubrication for riding.

just install, then use a wet lube such as finish line century applied heavy at room temp and wipe off the excess. never use any dry type chain lube as you will experience rapid wear, short lifespan and noisy operation of the chain, cogs and rings under hard riding.





rideorglide said:


> Shivver me timbers, the thought of puttin some orrible foreign substance on me new campy 10 speed chain is givin' me the chills?
> 
> Whats the factory lube and is it OK to use for riding for a while? Or do I just go ahead and clean it off and put some other schtuff on it?


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## rideorglide (Dec 3, 2005)

Thanks for the info, Odeum.
Much appreciated.




odeum said:


> consider the lube on any new chain suitable for manufacturing purposes only.
> 
> do not use degreaser as this will only penetrate the internals with contaminates unsuitable
> for the purpose of providing chain lubrication for riding.
> ...


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## lookrider (Dec 3, 2006)

from Sheldon Brown

Factory Lube
New chains come pre-lubricated with a grease-type lubricant which has been installed at the factory. This is an excellent lubricant, and has been made to permeate all of the internal interstices in the chain.
This factory lube is superior to any lube that you can apply after the fact.

Some people make the bad mistake of deliberately removing this superior lubricant. Don't do this!

The factory lubricant all by itself is usually good for several hundred miles of service if the bike is not ridden in wet or dusty conditions. It is best not to apply any sort of lube to a new chain until it is clearly needed, because any wet lube you can apply will dilute the factory lube.

http://books.google.com/books?id=VP...cx_E&sig=R69-nc9-au-peGF3kUllJrQKeoM#PPA24,M1

Zinn also recommends leaving the factory lube on "as long as you can" because it is deep in the chain.


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## bupton (May 15, 2006)

Does anyone use any of the wax/teflon based lubes on their chains?


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## C-40 (Feb 4, 2004)

*info..*

There is no need to remove the factory grease, except from the outside of the chain, where it will be a dirt magnet. Wiping with a rag and some mineral spirits can't hurt a thing. The link where the HD-L pin is installed needs to be lubed.

While Sheldon is probably right that the factory grease is a decent lube, whether you ride the bike before relubing or not will not change the chain life. I tend to apply my normal 4/1 mix of mineral spirits and oil to the chain before I ride it, to insure that all links are lubed.

The bigger issue is deciding when a chain is worn out and how to maintain it over it's entire life, which can be 5-6,000 miles. A Campy chain elongates so slowly, compared to most (perhaps any) other brand, that measuring elongation will not tell you when to change the chain. Campy's suggestion to use calipers and measure over a 5.220 inch maximum length will have you changing chains when they are half worn. I keep track of the distance between rollers and consider the chain shot when the rollers are .235-.240 inch apart. Rotating to a new chain should be done when the rollers are .220-225 inch apart, or around 2500 miles to avoid chain skip.

You'll get more cog life by alternating the use of three chains, rather than using only one until it's shot before installing a new one. If you use only one chain for 5-6,000 miles you may find one or more cogs will skip with a new chain. Alternating chains more frequenty may extend cassette life to 15,000 miles and save a lot of money.


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## lookrider (Dec 3, 2006)

C-40 said:


> If you use only one chain for 5-6,000 miles you may find one or more cogs will skip with a new chain.


Very true. My chorus cassettes 17 and 19 cogs skipped after I replaced a chain I had used for about 5,000 miles. A lot of my riding is done on sandy, dusty, South Florida beach roads and my chain maintenance left something to be desired. These conditions grind down a drivetrain real quick if the chain is not kept clean and well lubed..


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## C-40 (Feb 4, 2004)

*another point...*



lookrider said:


> Very true. My chorus cassettes 17 and 19 cogs skipped after I replaced a chain I had used for about 5,000 miles. A lot of my riding is done on sandy, dusty, South Florida beach roads and my chain maintenance left something to be desired. These conditions grind down a drivetrain real quick if the chain is not kept clean and well lubed..


I took the very best care of my chain and cogs, but after 6,000 miles with one chain, I still got chain skip on one cog (19T). The chain only had 1/4 of the allowable 1/16" per foot elongation. This won't happen if several chains are used in a rotation. I put the third new chain on my bike at 5,000 miles and had no chain skip. After 7500 miles, I'll start another rotation of the same three chains and hopefully get a full 15,000 miles from the cassette.

The casssette with the one worn cog works fine with any chain that has at least a few hundred break-in miles. I'm not trashing it, but using it with other used, but not worn out, chains.


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## bdaghisallo1 (Sep 25, 2007)

If this factory lube is so magnificent, why do none of the chain manufacturers or major lube makers sell the stuff aftermarket? Surely if it is so good, they would be doing mankind a huge favor by selling it? Why is the recent trend in bike chain lubricants toward thinner and highly penetrating lubes, to the detriment of the older and thicker lubes? Do many people wax their chains any more?

The stuff that comes on the chain is a metal protectant to safeguard the metal for the potentially great length of time that the chain may sit on a shelf. Get rid of it before you use it - ideally before you even put it on the bike - and lube it with a real chain lube.

Or you could leave it on the chain and have fun getting that metal protectant gunk off the rest of your drivetrain in a few weeks.


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## rideorglide (Dec 3, 2005)

If I remove the original coating of 'cosmolene' (or whatever the factory coating is on the chain) off with mineral spirits, do I then need to clean off the mineral spirits with anything, eg. simple green or soap and water, before applying ProLink Gold (which is what I have on hand)? ... Or will those mineral spirits just evaporate off rendering any further intervention unnecessary? This is a new chain, so there's no other crud.

[As you might guess, my build is going slowly — I think I am dragging it out since it's a fun winter project.]


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## C-40 (Feb 4, 2004)

*info..*

Mineral spirits is the same solvent used to dilute the lube in that overpriced bottle of ProLink, so no you don't need to do anything to the chain after wiping off the exterior. The factory lube will ooze out over the first few hundred miles of use on the new chain.


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## amicus (Mar 2, 2007)

C-40 said:


> There is no need to remove the factory grease, except from the outside of the chain, where it will be a dirt magnet. Wiping with a rag and some mineral spirits can't hurt a thing. The link where the HD-L pin is installed needs to be lubed.


Does Campy have anything to say about this question?


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## rideorglide (Dec 3, 2005)

C-40 said:


> Mineral spirits is the same solvent used to dilute the lube in that overpriced bottle of ProLink, so no you don't need to do anything to the chain after wiping off the exterior. The factory lube will ooze out over the first few hundred miles of use on the new chain.


I had a feeling that could be the case, and definitely wanted to avoid any unnecessary involvement of water. (As for the ProLink, with a family of four cyclists to keep lubed, and at the rapid rate I seem to go thru ProLink on the other bikes, I'm thinking of migrating to home brew.)


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## jmoryl (Sep 5, 2004)

amicus said:


> Does Campy have anything to say about this question?


I'm sure Campy would say that using anything other than the overpriced Campy lube applied by a certified Campy mechanic will be dangerous, lead to early component failure and void your warranty.


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