Since our trip out to Sea Otter I have been hooked on Squirt Lube. For the western dry conditions I live in it is amazing. Handles the dust amazingly well, deals with water from snow melt on the trails well, and man is a quite chain wonderful. I have also absolutely noticed the difference between my chain dry and my chain with a fresh coating of Squirt Lube in shifting performance.
But it has always seemed to me that a chain lube or bicycle lube ought to be multi-functional. In the past I have been a proud supporter of Pro Link due to it's consistent lubrication, great use in deseizing various parts of a bicycle, as well as a good use when trying to get the most mileage out of one's shifting.
My teammate, Macky, has already shown his views on Squirt here: http://uncoiled.blogspot.com/2008/12/squirt-lube-lube-of-legends.html and in so doing presented a second good use for the product.
Just this week I found a 3rd use beyond the typical chain and quick release applications. In your derailleur housing. This is a common trick for many chain lubes when your housing tends to get a little sticky and often makes the shifting performance feel better, but still not as good as say brand new cables and housing. Well after my wet and slightly, but not particularly, muddy ride this past weekend I lost my rear shifting. The derailleur was not seized, it was quite happy to move freely, but the cable was getting stuck in the last section of housing before the derailleur. I proceeded to take the cable out and carefully inject Squirt into the housing, hoping it would at least lubricate the system somewhat. This took a lot of care due to Squirt's thickness, but after some finesse (one drop at a time and then softly blowing air into the housing ends) I was able to get this done. Then I headed out for my ride.
I have often used tricks like this to save the life of my cables and housing and most of the time I would say it feels good but not great afterwards, doesn't have that same feel you really are looking for. Well the wax based formula of Squirt gives it that feel. In fact prior to resetting my cables I felt the resistance difference between the final piece of housing and the first piece of housing and man was the final piece (where I placed Squirt) smoother.
Since then I have put in roughly 15 hours on the bike and my shifting has felt great the whole time. Smooth and seamless.
This weekend is a huge training weekend with 7 hours of saddle time 4+ of which will be on a grand expedition from the Rock Creek Trail head of the Colorado Trail all the way to Breckenridge, so check back for the forthcoming reports.
But it has always seemed to me that a chain lube or bicycle lube ought to be multi-functional. In the past I have been a proud supporter of Pro Link due to it's consistent lubrication, great use in deseizing various parts of a bicycle, as well as a good use when trying to get the most mileage out of one's shifting.
My teammate, Macky, has already shown his views on Squirt here: http://uncoiled.blogspot.com/2008/12/squirt-lube-lube-of-legends.html and in so doing presented a second good use for the product.
Just this week I found a 3rd use beyond the typical chain and quick release applications. In your derailleur housing. This is a common trick for many chain lubes when your housing tends to get a little sticky and often makes the shifting performance feel better, but still not as good as say brand new cables and housing. Well after my wet and slightly, but not particularly, muddy ride this past weekend I lost my rear shifting. The derailleur was not seized, it was quite happy to move freely, but the cable was getting stuck in the last section of housing before the derailleur. I proceeded to take the cable out and carefully inject Squirt into the housing, hoping it would at least lubricate the system somewhat. This took a lot of care due to Squirt's thickness, but after some finesse (one drop at a time and then softly blowing air into the housing ends) I was able to get this done. Then I headed out for my ride.
I have often used tricks like this to save the life of my cables and housing and most of the time I would say it feels good but not great afterwards, doesn't have that same feel you really are looking for. Well the wax based formula of Squirt gives it that feel. In fact prior to resetting my cables I felt the resistance difference between the final piece of housing and the first piece of housing and man was the final piece (where I placed Squirt) smoother.
Since then I have put in roughly 15 hours on the bike and my shifting has felt great the whole time. Smooth and seamless.
This weekend is a huge training weekend with 7 hours of saddle time 4+ of which will be on a grand expedition from the Rock Creek Trail head of the Colorado Trail all the way to Breckenridge, so check back for the forthcoming reports.
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