"green" lube

Lube without teflon and petrochemicals?  Looks promising.  Anyone use it?
http://www.green-oil.net/

article on what's in chain lube:
http://www.theecologist.org/green_green_living/behind_the_label/269...

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Permalink Reply by Duppie on September 23, 2010 at 2:34am
If you're worried about your levels of lube consumption, you should install a fully enclosed chain guard. Growing up in the Netherlands all my bikes had one. I'd go literally years without lubing my chain.
Permalink Reply by Chucko on September 23, 2010 at 3:48am
I've used Ernesto bike lube- it's made from soybean oil. You can even send him back the bottle and have it refilled, which is very cool. Even fairly local, since I think he's based in Wisconsin.

http://www.ernestolube.com/
Permalink Reply by Green Machine Cycles on September 23, 2010 at 3:58am
I've used the Pedro's Go! lube and Phil Bio-lube for a few years. Most biodegradable lubes seem to gum up after a while, but that's just a casual observation. I haven't noticed this effect in any of the "toxic" lubes, though. While these lubes say they're biodegradable, they also carry the expected warnings about skin, eye, and respiratory irritation. Probably a Cover Your Ass kind of thing.

You could always get yourself a belt-drive bike.
Permalink Reply by Dr. Doom on September 23, 2010 at 4:22am
If you're going to use something like that you may as well just use coconut oil. It will work fine, you just have to be scrupulous about cleaning your drive train, because it will get gummy.

Personally I use T-9. Petrochemicals are useful.
Permalink Reply by J on September 23, 2010 at 4:33am
I've got to concur with Doom. I really want to like the various "bio" lubes, and have tested and tried a half dozen or more... with varying levels of success. That said, there are a lot of normal lubes that are pretty useless too. Most are simply too water soluble to be either cost effective or... just plain effective.

If the issue is consumption, Duppie's chain case idea is valid, as is a shift to a belt drive system.

If the issue is simply an avoidance of petrochemical-based and toxic substances, that's tougher. The one use I've found for products like Go! are for those using a layered chain lube setup. After completely cleaning and drying your chain, you give it a very thin wax coat with something like Boeshield T9. This gets kind of hard and is durable but can be a little noisy. It should last several weeks or more. For the top coat, you use a wet lube -- and a plant-based lube is OK for this application. It's meant to get dirty and wash off, but protect the T9 layer underneath.

Personally, I've switched to Chain L (http://www.chain-l.com/) -- which works a little like the old fashioned "hot wax" method. It basically seals your chain in a durable lubricated casing that lasts, in my experience, 4-10X as long as other methods.

At this point the choice of one of these lubes is a symbolic gesture, but I would happily be proven wrong. But I prefer the method of choosing a chemical that works well, but is designed for durability, thus reducing consumption (and maintenance).
Permalink Reply by Green Machine Cycles on September 23, 2010 at 4:33am
That's silly advice. The biodegradable bicycle-specific lubes work substantially better than a viscous, unrefined food oil. In a pinch, yeah, like if you're stranded in rural Vietnam and the only lube is coconut oil, but otherwise give the bio-lubes a chance!

Dr. Doom said:
If you're going to use something like that you may as well just use coconut oil. It will work fine, you just have to be scrupulous about cleaning your drive train, because it will get gummy.

Personally I use T-9. Petrochemicals are useful.
Permalink Reply by Dr. Doom on September 23, 2010 at 5:00am
I suggested coconut oil because I've actually had tolerable results using it and because you can get good, organic coconut oil for $20 a liter, as opposed to $86 a liter for the "Green Oil." I'm sure a bicycle specific lubricant gets better results, but I'm skeptical that the results are more than four times as good. Plus you can't cook or style your hair with bike lubricant.
Permalink Reply by Michael Perz on September 23, 2010 at 5:01am
Until we reach an age when food riots are a distant memory and everyone around the world is finally enjoying a post-scarcity existence I'll happily continue using the nastiest, most Gaia-unfriendly chemicals to service my various modes of transportation. Sorry, but I just find the use of food products in this manner to be especially foul regardless of whether it fills a car fuel tank or lubricates a bicycle chain.
Permalink Reply by Green Machine Cycles on September 23, 2010 at 5:49am
Ha ha ha!

Dr. Doom said:
I suggested coconut oil because I've actually had tolerable results using it and because you can get good, organic coconut oil for $20 a liter, as opposed to $86 a liter for the "Green Oil." I'm sure a bicycle specific lubricant gets better results, but I'm skeptical that the results are more than four times as good. Plus you can't cook or style your hair with bike lubricant.
Permalink Reply by Tank-Ridin' Ryan on September 23, 2010 at 6:13am
And it must make your drivetrain smell fantastic!

Dr. Doom said:
I suggested coconut oil because I've actually had tolerable results using it and because you can get good, organic coconut oil for $20 a liter, as opposed to $86 a liter for the "Green Oil." I'm sure a bicycle specific lubricant gets better results, but I'm skeptical that the results are more than four times as good. Plus you can't cook or style your hair with bike lubricant.
Permalink Reply by Green Machine Cycles on September 23, 2010 at 6:20am
Wow, that's a can of worms, considering the inextricable and intimate relationship between food production, petroleum, and world military power. Go feed the overpopulated world with that crude oil and soldier on, brother!

Michael Perz said:
Until we reach an age when food riots are a distant memory and everyone around the world is finally enjoying a post-scarcity existence I'll happily continue using the nastiest, most Gaia-unfriendly chemicals to service my various modes of transportation. Sorry, but I just find the use of food products in this manner to be especially foul regardless of whether it fills a car fuel tank or lubricates a bicycle chain.
Permalink Reply by Michael Perz on September 23, 2010 at 6:50am

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