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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. 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 do their job as well as refined petroleum products.
OECD label 301 characterises organic lubricants
In order to be allowed to stick the "biodegradable" seal of approval on the bottle, the lubricants have to undergo extensive tests. The OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation 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 in the test 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.
Does organic lubricate just as well as classic chain oil?
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 the 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 can significantly extend the life expectancy of a chain. Our detailed organic lubricant test, which you can download below as a PDF for €0.99, clarifies which is the best.
You can find these organic lubricants in the BIKE test:
Downloads:
Stefan Frey
Editor
