Test 2016: Lubricants for road bike chains - 30 chain oils, waxes and lubricants for road bike chains

Oils, waxes, dry lubricants - there are far more lubricants than links on a bicycle chain. Manufacturers offer the right lubricant for almost every conceivable weather condition. This makes it difficult to keep track of everything. You can either continue to rely on the classic chain oil, which may have proven itself over the years, or you can orientate yourself on the results of our test. We invited 19 manufacturers to take part in our large comparison test and asked them to send in a maximum of two different products for testing.

The test field contains a wide variety of solutions for perfect bike chain lubrication. Classic chain oils at a low price can be found in the test, as well as the expensive chain lubricant from Dry Fluid. Dry particles and lubricating polymers are designed to maximise lubricity and extend the service life of the chain.
Our extensive laboratory test provides information about the actual qualities of the lubricants.

In this article you will find the test results from the magazine summarised again in clear graphics. This makes it easier for you to compare the different products and filter out the best lubricant for your application. The entire article with all the test results of these products can be found below as a PDF download:

- Atlantic Oelzeuch, Atlantic Kettenfett
- Ballistol Bike-X-Lube, Ballistol BikeCer
- Brunox Top-Kett
- Dryfluids
- Dynamic chain lubricant, Dynamic dry lubricant
- Dr Wack F100 chain oil, Dr Wack F100 dry lubricant
- Finish Line Ceramic Wax, Finish LIne Teflon Lubricant
- Hanseline MTB Oil Kettenoil, Hanseline PTFE Spray
- Holmenkol Natural Bike Lube
- Innobike 107 Xtreme Chain Fluid
- Juice Lubes Chain Juice Ceramic, Juice Lubes Chain Juice Wax
- Motorex Dry Power, Motorex Wet Power
- MUC OFF C3 Ceramic Lube, MUC OFF Dry Lube
- Pedro's Ice Wax 2.0, Pedro's Syn Lube
- R.S.P. Red Oil
- Rohloff Oil of Rohloff
- Shimano PTFE Lube
- WD40 Kettenöl Wet, WD40 Kettensprax Allwetter
- White Lightning Clean Ride

Lubricity

The lubricity (according to Brugger) was determined using the Triboproof T100 test device. A cylindrical test specimen is pressed with a constant load of 400 newtons onto a rotating cylinder that is wetted with the lubricant - offset by 90 degrees so that the contact surface initially only produces one point. The following phenomenon occurs: The rotating cylinder digs into the test specimen and leaves a wear surface in the shape of an ellipse. As soon as the surface pressure falls below a certain value, above which the lubricant can form a lubricating film, the system calms down and the wear decreases abruptly despite contacting surface peaks. By measuring the elliptical surface, the so-called Brugger value in N/mm² is determined, with which the lubricant can be loaded. This lubricant testing method is recognised in the industry and is laid down in DIN 51347.

No product category shows clear advantages in terms of lubricity. Rather, it appears that certain manufacturers produce particularly resilient lubricants. Dynamic, Motorex and F100 as well as the Dry Fluid chain lubricant deliver particularly good values here.

Creeping ability

For the test, two glass plates are thoroughly degreased and placed on top of each other so that the lower plate protrudes by one centimetre. The lubricant is applied twice at the plate projection and creeps between the two glass plates due to capillary forces. After 15 minutes, the wetted surface is marked on the upper plate and transferred to graph paper. The graph paper is cut off at the mark and weighed. The calculated wetted area in cm² is used as a measure of the creep capacity.

With a few exceptions, low-viscosity products such as waxes and dry lubricants as well as most sprays have the edge here. However, many of these products buy their creeping ability through the addition of solvents. This means that some of the contents of the bottle evaporate immediately after application.

Dirt adhesion

Evenly polished metal sheets were wetted with the candidates, left to dry vertically for 30 minutes and then sprinkled with quartz sand. Before and after sanding, the sheets were weighed using a precision balance; the difference is a measure of the dirt adhesion.

If you attach particular importance to a clean chain, you should take a look at the waxes and dry lubricants. With a few exceptions, products that leave a dry film on the chain after the solvent has evaporated have a clear advantage here.

The test categories in comparison

A comparison of the various test categories shows that there is no such thing as the perfect lubricant. Each product has to make more or less significant compromises in at least one criterion. However, the two products from Dynamic and Motorex and the PTFE spray from Hanseline come very close to the optimum.

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