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Workshop Tips by Andy Verrall: Lubrication · 13/08/09

Having covered cleaning the bike and keeping everything in a nice, clean, free running condition the next thing is to make sure the bike stays lubricated to prevent excess wear damage and horrible squeaks.

You now have a nice oil/dirt/grit free drive chain so firstly apply a light coating of oil to the chain. Do this by turning the pedals backwards with the oil just dripping lightly onto the inner links of the chain, then the same on the outer line. Make sure you have covered the whole chain then run through the gears across the block. This way you get some of the oil onto each sprocket (whilst checking your gears at the same time!!).

We use a very good oil from Finish Line – the wet lube. I find this the best in all weathers and do not bother with any dry lubes as they do not seem to give the same feel to the chain. Do not over oil as you end up with a big mess, and you should not need to wipe off any excess doing it this way. Carry the oil out to a race with you, or when training in the rain, and just apply a little more to the inner side of the chain.

Use a silicon spray to spray firstly the jockey wheels and the spring inside the rear mech, then the front mech over the spring and adjuster screws. Move to the brake calipers and apply just a little spray on the adjusters and across the top of the calipers to keep them smooth. Additionally spray the barrel adjusters on the down tube to keep your gear cables smooth, and also under the bottom bracket shell cable guide. When the wheels are out of the frame spray the QR skewers on the lever side as often a creak on the bike is down to dry skewers.

Do not use WD40. This is only good if the bike is very wet and you do not have not the time/place to dry. If you must, just apply a little to remove the moisture, but don’t use it as a lube!

The next tip is cables and the replacement of cables and chain.

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