Non-aerosel chain lube?

 
Every shop I've checked sells chain lube only in aerosol
cans.  What non-aerosol product is just as good, or nearly
as good, for keeping the chain and sprockets lubricated?
What about just plain old 30 weight motor oil, sprayed on
with a hand-pumped spray can?

Ideas and insight appreciated.

--
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CWLee
Former slayer of dragons; practice now limited to sacred
cows.  Believing we should hire for quality, not quotas, and
promote for performance, not preferences.

 

According to the conventional wisdom of yesteryear, the essential
function of chain oil was to prevent rust.

My owners manuals specify using 40 weight motor oil every few hundred
miles, increasing the frequency of application if the chain tends to
rust.

Many anal types don't like all the droplets of oil that get flung off
the rear sprocket, so most aerosol chain lubes contain a "tackiness
agent" to keep the oil
stuck to the chain and sprockets.

Unfortunately, this tackiness agent will actually *glue* the special
oil rings used
in premium o-ring chains to the side plates and the o-rings will split
and get spit out of the chain.

The chain wears out rapidly afterwards.

These special o-rings are not the little rubber donut type used on the
cheapest o-ring chains, they are wide and flat and look like a rubber
washer.

The owners manual recommends using motor oil only on these chains.

I tired some aerosol goop called "chain wax" and it was really bad for
gluing the o-rings to the side plates.

Chain wax also attracted road grit and that stuff accumulated under
the front sprocket cover in big globs that had to be excavated during
annual
front sprocket inspections.

For a long time I was suspicious of some riders' claims that WD40 was
a good substitute for aerosol chain lube.

But it turns out that the oily part of WD40 is about as thick as
diesel fuel, and it penetrates the rollers well and stays on the chain
for hundreds of miles.

I don't spray WD40 directly at the o-rings, I spray it where the
rollers touch the inside of the side plates.

I've been using 90 weight gear oil lately. It gets up to 100 degrees
here every day during the summer, and an application of gear oil lasts
about 300 miles.

The gear oil doesn't turn to goop during the winter either. The only
disadvantage to using gear oil is the strong smell.