We fry our organic steak in oil from environmentally friendly production. We bite into a pesticide-free Granny Smith with relish and slip into clothes that have been produced in an environmentally friendly way. Only our bicycle chains are literally drowned in lubricants based on crude oil and enriched with synthetic substances. Rain washes the questionable mixture off the chain and washes it into the ground. But there have long been safer solutions. Sunflowers and other plants not only delight your loved one at home. Pressed and provided with the right additives, vegetable oils lubricate the bicycle chain reliably and sustainably. The laboratory test shows whether they fulfil their job as well as refined petroleum products.
In order to be allowed to put the "biodegradable" seal of approval on the bottle, the lubricants have to undergo extensive tests. The OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) 301 series tests prove that the products biodegrade quickly and completely. More than 60 per cent of the test substance must be degraded within 28 days. The CEC test is also a recognised procedure. It indicates what percentage of the sample is still present after 21 days. All manufacturers fulfil at least one of these two standards. Biotech goes one step further with its Chain Lube. It is the only chain oil to have been awarded the "Blue Angel" environmental seal and thus classified as non-hazardous to water.
But what should be even more interesting: How do the bio-lubricants compare with the classic oils? The most important criterion here is lubricity. It should minimise the wear of parts rubbing against each other. Not an easy task. The rubbing parts of a chain are round and the contact surfaces are correspondingly small. If too much pressure is applied, the lubricating film breaks off and the metal parts literally rub against each other. No lubricant can protect a chain from wear. However, chain oils with a good value in the Brugger test (see box) can significantly extend the life expectancy of a chain. Three products stand out here. Dynamic, Muc-Off Wet Lube and Rohloff achieve very good values. However, they do not quite come close to the Dynamic chain lubricant from our 02/2010 test.
The creeping ability shows whether the lubricant can penetrate even the smallest cavities in the chain. The low-viscosity products have the advantage here. Dynamic and the two Pedro's products in particular climb up the filigree test pipettes like the weatherman up the sun ladder. The viscous Rohloff and wax-based products, such as Squirt and Muc-Off Dry Lube, lose out here.
However, they really come into their own on dusty roads. The wax products in particular effectively prevent dirt from sticking to the chain. They dry off after application and do not leave a sticky lubricating film on the chain links. But even the samples from Holmenkol and Rohloff, both of which are quite viscous lubricants, only have a small amount of quartz sand sticking to them. The result for corrosion protection is less clear. No generalised statement can be made here based on the consistency or composition. The chains lubricated with Atlantic, Squirt and Muc-Off Wet Lube in particular were able to withstand the salty spray mist of our sprinkling test without developing major rust spots. The chains that were immersed in low-viscosity lubricants such as Dynamic, Muc-Off Dry Lube and Pedro's left the spray test nicely tanned, but only marginally suitable for use on the bike. Here you have to reach for the oil bottle more often to relubricate the chain in good time. This time we have deliberately refrained from evaluating the handling. All products come in small dropper bottles and can be applied to the chain rollers in fine doses. This prevents too much oil getting onto the chain from the outset. This not only protects the environment, but also your wallet.
You can download the full-length article from issue 4/2014 as a PDF.
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Stefan Frey
Editor
