Bicycle chain grease

In detail

The black mark a chainring leaves on a trouser leg is not simply lubricant. A working chain carries an abrasive paste — oil or wax lubricant, road grit, and fine metal particles worn from the pins and rollers — and it is that mixture which transfers. The oily fraction is straightforward: it belongs to the solvent branch, and the trade's own drivetrain method uses a degreaser followed by soapy water precisely because the combination is effective at cleaning the chain and removing grit. The same two-stage logic works on fabric. What complicates it is the particulate. Fine metal and carbon particles embed in the weave and are not dissolved by anything, so they need lifting mechanically before the fabric is wetted — a wet cloth rubbed over the mark spreads a grey halo well beyond the original outline. Two practical points. Wax-based chain lubricants transfer far less than wet oils and set to a flake rather than a smear, which changes the mark's behaviour completely. And a mark that has been through a hot wash and a dryer has had its oily fraction oxidised and its particulate set, which is a substantially harder problem than the same mark treated the same evening.

What works

• Two-stage degreasing is effective against Bicycle chain grease Supported

• Bicycle degreaser is effective against Bicycle chain grease Supported

Why

• Bicycle chain grease is explained by Why oil resists water
• Bicycle chain grease is explained by Adhesion and cohesion

Hacks and claims involving this

• Washing-up liquid on a bicycle Does not work