Classic Hifi Care

We had a big snow beginning Sunday night and continuing the next couple days with cold temps, so it was time to press the winter commuter bike into service.

The summer bikes use paraffin for chain lube. Clean the chain, drop it in melted paraffin wax, remove after a while. It doesn't attract dirt or leave hands and clothes oily, plus studies showed that it was generally more effective as a lubricant (less wear than oils). But I quickly found that it also doesn't provide any rust protection, so the winter bike's chain gets oil.

And wow, it started off oily and after four days of riding in snow and icy, salty slush all the oil is gone, at least from the exterior, the chainwheel, and the rear gear cluster. I had forgotten what an effective degreaser all that crud is.

It also makes me appreciate the progress in automotive manufacture. When I was a kid, Michigan cars usually had rust punctures by three years. My little red truck made it almost 15 years and about 170,000 miles before the first real rust-through. Seeing what happened to the bike chain makes me wonder how it lasted that long.

Chris Campbell

I think today's road brine is way worse than anything they used 50 years ago. At least here, anyway.

Being from coal country, our roads were cindered. Almost everyone had a coal furnace and the borough would pick up the ashes and stockpile them for treating the roads. Probably mixed some salt in them. We always had a bin of them in the trunk during winter.

Now they'd fly out of the truck and sometimes crack a glass headlight or even a windshield. Made a horrible racket when it hit the rockers. Then you had chipped paint and all that stuff turned to concrete inside fenders and under all the trim where it ate the metal. Remember trim was attached with clips drilled through the body, not snapped on... and paint was nowhere as durable as today.

If you subjected a 50s or 60s car to the stuff they use today, I bet it wouldn't last 2 years.

Those metal trim clips used to drive me nuts. They always chipped the paint, letting rust start at the hole. Michigan cars usually had a line of rust blooms at each trim clip. It was a terribly inadequate design.

Up here in northern lower Michigan they try to use more sand and less salt. Salt has terrible environmental effects on people, plants, and animals. It gets into the ground water and our rivers and lakes. Still, when it's 10:30 p.m. and cars have packed recent snow into a glaze, the sight of the salt truck's yellow and green flashers is always heartening.

Chris Campbell

I have always had good luck using Synco Super Lube grease on my bicycle, then motorcycle chains. it stays in place quite well and will coat the chain. it lasts quie well also. It should be available on Amazon.

I tried a variety of heavier lubes on the chain, including motorcycle chain lube. In cold temps and with icy, salty slush, they tended to congeal on the sprockets and derailleur and it was a mess cleaning things up. That's when I finally settled on the Zoom-spout oil.

Speaking of which, it was a special order at my Ace Hardware this time. You'd think that household lubricant would be a standard item in a hardware store. They did have 3-in-1, but I seem to recall that it's a vegetable-based lube and not as good (protective or weather-resistant) as petroleum-based oils.

Chris Campbell

Super Lube is a PTFE synthetic lubricant, about as viscous as petroleum jelly. I would rub it into the chain with my fingers and run the bike a bit, then wipe off the excess. That kept it lubed, the chain quiet and rust free and i would just periodically reapply as routine maintenance. It comes in a squeeze tube.