I couldn't bike home last week but I did haul my ride home for the weekend. I had hoped to adjust the rear dérailleur and generally clean up the bike but all I did was swap my Panaracer Urban Max "snow" tires for some 700 x 28 summer tires I bought at Performance last week.
While at Performance I was considering buying another bottle of White Lightning wax chain lube but the guy at the counter talked me out of it. He said I should just go back to a regular lube such as Prolink. But after looking at my drive chain over the weekend I saw that there were only a few waxy lumps on one of my smaller cogs. Overall there is not a lot of gunk, my chain runs smooth, and the whole drive chain is considerably less grimey. However there is a bit of rust in places that the wax just doesn't protect. I still have about a months worth of lube left so I'll just see how it goes before I decide to stick with it or go back to traditional lube.
With a tail wind this afternoon and the narrower tires I really zipped home. I had a bit bumpier ride and my GPS was jarred from its housing three times. I learned my lesson from the last time my GPS went flying and now use the unit's lanyard to attach it to my handlebars.
It was pretty cold out so not many bicyclists out but more than there were about a month ago. When I arrived home I was greeted with the news that my three year old son finally pooped in the toilet instead of his toddler diaper. Great success!
Distance Traveled: 24.3 miles
Distance to date: 2384.0 miles
Price of gas: $3.07 (Holy crap!)
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2 comments:
I have been using White Lightning on my mountain bike. I love the way it doesn't get the chain all greasy and black and helps it self-clean, but it doesn't really protect against wetness. In fact, sometimes after riding through a creek crossing, I can feel that some of it has washed off. It also tends to get a bit stiff in cold weather. I imgine if you ride in rain/slush/etc, you're probably rinsing the lube right off the chain.
I use a more normal lube on my road bike (Finish Line, http://www.blueskycycling.com/product2579_2_-Finish-Line-Cross-Country-Wet-Lubricant-2oz.htm), and I don't worry too much if I have to ride in the rain. It seems a better option to me, at least for the road, where you're not kicking up dust and/or mud as much.
How often do you apply the White Lightning? I usually do it once per ride, I could get away with a little less, but it doesn't seem to work well for very long in my experience. I may even switch away from it on my mountain bike.
I haven't applied White Lightning very often because it has either been too cold with the bike parked outside or I forgot to do it when it was in my garage. But with warmer weather I'll be able to lube it more.
This weekend I worked on my bike a bit and enjoyed not having to deal with a grimey drivetrain.
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