# What Weight Motor Oil For Chain?



## TomBrooklyn (Mar 15, 2008)

What's the best weight motor oil for a chain? Thin oil like Marvel Mystery oil or sewing machine oil, medium like a car motor oil, or thick like a car read end oil? I don't wan't to buy special bike oil for my chain and pay 80x the normal price for specially packaged oil thats the same as a common similar weight oil except for the "special label." I don't pay for water either because it comes for free from taps.


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## DavidsonDuke (Sep 12, 2006)

Then I'd use a mixture of 40 weight car oil and tap water. :idea:


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## Stogaguy (Feb 11, 2006)

*Home Brew*

This topic has been discussed to death. Do a search for "Home Brew" or "Homebrew" and you will get a bunch of results. Here is one thread to get you started:
http://forums.roadbikereview.com/showthread.php?t=109440&highlight=home+brew


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## andulong (Nov 23, 2006)

In my opinion you need something equivalent to about a 30 wt motor oil. The problem with using plain old oil (or oil and water) is that it is difficult to get it into the inside of the chain where it is needed. Many people will thin it with mineral sprits to get good flow into the chain and when the mineral spirits evaporates you should have a well lubed chain. I still buy bicycle chain specific lube on sale in the 3 pack. Lasts a long time when used as directed.


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## 99trek5200 (Jan 26, 2007)

Do a search for "home brew". You will get more discussion than you can read tonight.

Basically any motor oil (1 part) mixed with (3 or 4 parts) mineral spirits will work.


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## DavidsonDuke (Sep 12, 2006)

In case anyone thought I was serious, I'm pretty sure you can't mix oil and water, so to speak. 

BTW, I would think 30 weight oil would be way, way too thick--doesn't penetrate and is a sticky mess. That's why homebrew is usually 3-4/1 mineral spirits to oil. 

Personally, I happily pay for Prolink Gold. Keeps chain clean and lubed.


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## Mr. Versatile (Nov 24, 2005)

I always use homebrew. I change the oil in my car myself and whatever oil I happen to have lying around goes into the "brew."


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## I am The Edge (Jul 27, 2004)

3-in-1 oil and some gauze pads.


it's _all_ ball bearings these days.


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## C-40 (Feb 4, 2004)

*info...*

There is no right or wrong when it comes to the oil weight. I normally use 5W30 synthetic, which is 5 weight at room temperature and thin it 4/1 with mineral spirits or naptha, which evaporates faster. 

I've also used oil as heavy as 80/90 weight gear lube, and chain saw bar oil, which seemed to be the dirtiest oil I ever tried. Both were thinned with 4 part mineral spirits or naptha.

If you want a lube that lasts longer, the heavier weights would probably be wise. I tend to lube after every ride and every other ride, so longevity is not something I'm after. My belief is that even if the oil may remains on the chain after a couples of rides, it will have enough dirt mixed with it that it needs to be replaced or at least diluted with new lube. I apply my lube heavily, not just a drop on each roller and pin.


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## Gnarly 928 (Nov 19, 2005)

Hi,
I didn't go read the referenced archives, but what I use is an air tool oil. For nailguns, drills, like that. Right now, I have a bottle for Senco tools, bought at the lumber yard or your hardware store or even Home Despot. It's relativly cheap, compared to bicycle-specific oil. It comes in various sizes and in squeeze bottles with a drip tip, like sunscreen or Tri-flow. I use the pint size one in my shop and re-fill a smaller Tri-flow bottle to carry along in my gearbag. The air tool oil is said to have an "anti-gumming" additive to prevent it picking up grit and dirt. Seems to work really well for me.

Don Hanson


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## Stogaguy (Feb 11, 2006)

*+1*

Yeah, what C-40 said, but here is my $.02. Currently, I am using the following:
1. Mix 4:1 with 90w gear oil and mineral spirits. I went with heavy oil because it is what I had lying around.
2. Applicator: small plastic squeeze bottle that originally contained contact lens solution.
3. Mixing and storage: large contact lens solution bottle.
4. Like C-40, I tend to lube frequently and heavily to maximize the cleaning effects.

I changed to homebrew in 2006 after decades of using straight motor oil or Phil Tenacious Oil and a brief period with White Lightening. Homebrew has worked out so well, I cannot imagine using anything else. However, I will try using lighter oil in my next batch and will mix and store in a quart motor oil bottle. This is a trick borrowed from someone else on the board.

IMHO the best features of homebrew are:
1. The ease and speed of routine chain cleaning and lubrication.
2. The cleanest quietest drive train I have ever ridden. This stems directly from point number one above. Homebrew is so hassle free to use, my drive trains get more regular attention.


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## superflychief (Mar 25, 2008)

Why waste your time mixing oils? Dude a bottle of chain lube is like $5 and it lasts several seasons. Is it really worth the hassle of mixing your own?


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## Stogaguy (Feb 11, 2006)

*Yes, it is worth it*

As this discussion clearly indicates, there are a lot of us that consider it worth the time and hassle. I am happier with home brew than with any commercial product that I have tried.


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## MikeBiker (Mar 9, 2003)

DavidsonDuke said:


> In case anyone thought I was serious, I'm pretty sure you can't mix oil and water, so to speak.


They do mix if you add an emulsifier.


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## Pieter (Oct 17, 2005)

Is any homebrew good enough? 

Car engine oils do not have good enough extreme pressure (EP) additives for the heavy load on a chain, because engine bearings are large in relation to loads. And, such additives only work properly when they get hot. They also rely on high bearing speeds to maintain a lubricating film.

The only car oil I would use, is a SAE90 GL-5 EP rear axle oil. And this is thick, it might not reach the chain link pins (maybe if you heat it first?)



A synthetic bike oil on the other hand is very penetrative thanks to its metal-wetting properties (it 'bonds' to the metal and tries to 'creep' along the surface) and is formulated to work at room temperature etc. etc. 

Granted it is expensive but surely the quantities used are small enough?


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## wankski (Jul 24, 2005)

Mr. Versatile said:


> I always use homebrew. I change the oil in my car myself and whatever oil I happen to have lying around goes into the "brew."


same...


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## JCavilia (Sep 12, 2005)

*I call hooey*



Pieter said:


> Is any homebrew good enough?
> 
> Car engine oils do not have good enough extreme pressure (EP) additives for the heavy load on a chain, because engine bearings are large in relation to loads. And, such additives only work properly when they get hot. They also rely on high bearing speeds to maintain a lubricating film.
> The only car oil I would use, is a SAE90 GL-5 EP rear axle oil. And this is thick, it might not reach the chain link pins (maybe if you heat it first?)
> ...


I'm no engineer, but there are some around here and I'll ask them to chime in. I'll bet the loads experienced by car engine oils are vastly higher than anything you can generate in a bike chain. And I think high bearing speeds make it harder to maintain a lubricating film.

Which bike oil is "synthetic"? They're all mostly petroleum distillates. 

In real life, the precise qualities of the lubricant are less important than 1) getting it into the relevant spots; 2) maintaining some film; and 3) keeping it relatively uncontaminated by road dirt. This last is where homebrew works well, and duplicates (IMO) the most important qualities of a lube like prolink. The thinned oil flows in and drips off, carrying much dirt with it. It's clean-and-lube in one step.

And here's where the cheapness of homebrew becomes relevant, superflychief. Because it's so cheap, I don't hesitate to use it as excessively and frequently. I go through the equivalent of a big bottle of prolink in much less than a season (rain commuter) . As for time and hassle, I pour oil in the squeeze bottle to about the 1/4 level (measurement needn't be precise), top up with OMS (which I already have around for painting use), and shake a bit. Takes 1 minute, maybe.


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## bigbill (Feb 15, 2005)

JCavilia said:


> I'm no engineer, but there are some around here and I'll ask them to chime in. I'll bet the loads experienced by car engine oils are vastly higher than anything you can generate in a bike chain. And I think high bearing speeds make it harder to maintain a lubricating film.
> 
> Which bike oil is "synthetic"? They're all mostly petroleum distillates.
> 
> ...


Living in the PNW, I go through my 8 oz mix bottle of homebrew in a month. I use a clear bottle and add a little more oil in the rainy winter. The chain might collect more dirt with more oil, but I know that my drivetrain won't sound like a sewing machine on the homeward commute in the afternoon. When the rains start to end this time of year, I just add more mineral spirits. 

I use Castrol syntec 10W-30 and odorless mineral spirits. My drivetrain stays relatively clean.


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## C-40 (Feb 4, 2004)

*good enough...*

I've used 5W-30 synthetic motor oil more than any other in my home brew. It produces excellent chain life. I tend to think that the lack of EP additives is not as important at dirt contamination. Lube often with homebrew and you;ll get good chain life.

That said, I'm now using some 80/90W synthetic gear lube with a little chainsaw bar oil in my homebrew. The gear lube smells pretty bad and the bar lube seems dirtier than my usual 5W-30. I've also switched to Naptha (Coleman camp stove fuel) as the solvent for faster evaporation.


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## Kerry Irons (Feb 25, 2002)

*You're talking gibberish*



Pieter said:


> Is any homebrew good enough?
> 
> Car engine oils do not have good enough extreme pressure (EP) additives for the heavy load on a chain, because engine bearings are large in relation to loads. And, such additives only work properly when they get hot. They also rely on high bearing speeds to maintain a lubricating film.
> 
> ...


This is, for the purposes of lubricating a bike chain, pure nonsense. Any petroleum oil will "wet" a metal surface. The principle behind ProLink or home brew is that you dilute the oil in a solvent, which then easily penetrates every nook and cranny of the chain. Lots of riders have used all different kinds of oils (gear lube, motor oil, chain saw oil, etc) in home brew with great success (long chain life and good performance). Your statements may be theoretically accurate, but meaningless in real world applications. But thanks for playing


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## cody1 (Jan 28, 2007)

Most automatic transmission oils now have EP additives, due to the fact front wheel drive cars now have the differential gears in them. Also Most synthetic auto transmission oils are very thin to begin with.


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## Mr. Versatile (Nov 24, 2005)

Whew! Thanks for weighing in on this, Kerry. Here I was, worried that I had been ruining my bikes for the past 50 years.


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## Pieter (Oct 17, 2005)

OK - if I have to mention a brand name to illustrate the point, here goes. 

I mostly use Finish Line Cross Country. It is an undiluted synthetic lubricant. If you apply a drop somewhere, leave it as long as you like and you'll see : no evaporation of solvent. This product is probably not unique in these respects, there are others (Motorex etc.)


It is expensive but I use only one drop per link. Each drop applied, translates into 1 drop of actual 'working' lube. Not, as in the case of many lubes, 90% benzine (solvent) plus a trace of lube.

You can smell the synthetic ester - a flowery smell. This is a polar compound which bonds to the metal far better than a petroleum distillate. This bonding is what promotes 'wetting' of the metal. It also has excellent EP properties.
So, the oil can have a relatively high viscosity yet penetrate very fast and thoroughly. 



Economical homebrew oil is certainly attractive because it can be used liberally. However, you will still not get all dirt out of the chain, and may well flush fresh dirt from the surface to the insides.. The only solution is washing. I find cleaning of my chain to be very quick. I soak it in kerosene (which I save and re-use), wash with water and soap, rinse and dry (using an old fan heater). A 10 minute job when the chain has a quick link.

But yes, thank you, I am intrigued and impressed by your suggestions and I would certainly like to try my own homebrew on the lines of yours. My commuter bike has vast potential or picking up road dirt on the local roads, and a few homebrew experiments would be worthwhile and interesting. I will experiment with EP gear oil (surely an undiluted synthetic given time to penetrate is all you need?) , also dissolved grease.


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## winstonc (Nov 18, 2002)

Pieter said:


> I mostly use Finish Line Cross Country. It is an undiluted synthetic lubricant. If you apply a drop somewhere, leave it as long as you like and you'll see : no evaporation of solvent. This product is probably not unique in these respects, there are others (Motorex etc.)
> 
> It is expensive but I use only one drop per link. Each drop applied, translates into 1 drop of actual 'working' lube. Not, as in the case of many lubes, 90% benzine (solvent) plus a trace of lube.
> 
> ...


This is great information. I also use Finish Line Cross Country. If I get a synthetic ester-based motor oil, is it basically the same thing, except for the color? It seems like that would be way cheaper than the Finish Line stuff.


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## Dinosaur (Jan 29, 2004)

*I never lube my chain*

What I do is buy a bike for around 2K at the beginning of the year and ride it all year round without doing anything for maintenance accept going through a couple of tires. Then when the year is over I throw it away and buy another one.

I really don't do this of course, but with the raising cost of parts, I've thought about it.


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