Smoove/squirt just use a lot more. Apply to both sides of rollers. The night prior to a ride. Clean chain is a given.
Took these in the end, and forgot to post them! Pics with the amount of squirt I put on, and then the chain a few hours later. No wiping or cleaning off of anything in between, as you can see it just disappears! You may even have to do two applications this heavy initially.
)
8 Likes
I just went through my first full bottle of this stuff. I would have never bought it, wax based lubes suck, especially in wet conditions. Or so I was told and thought. Got the bottle at a race as a prize I think? Free lube, so I tried it. Itās the only lube that stays on the entire ride, and even up to multiple rides on a wet condition mountain bike ride, keeps the chain quiet, and itās CLEAN.
My experience with any synthetic oil based lube is a trade off - either itās a clean running and non effective lube, or it runs quiet but very dirty. I think Squirt nailed it. Follow the instructions for a quiet and clean drivetrain. I can go on long MTB rides with no worries. I used to bring mini bottles of lube with me on long ones. Ridiculous.
3 Likes
Hi All
OP here. Just thought Iād give some further thoughts on Squirt after trying for a second time.
The second attempt has been much more successful but there are still issues that I donāt like.
I still cleaned the chain whilst on the bike. I know Iād get better results removing the chain but Iām technically and mechanically challenged and this is additional hassle that I donāt need!). I was rigorous and went through many iterations of the chain cleaner tool even using it for the rinsing process as well. I only had a slight occasional squeak for the first ride but chain didnāt feel as dry as my previous attempt.
After reapplying Squirt for a second time I never heard the squeak again. I have been applying Squirt after every ride in more generous quantities and always leave to dry overnight.
Hereās my summary of pros and cons:
Pros
-
Had some rides where chain felt really quiet and smooth .
-
Coped surprisingly well in some damp / wet conditions
-
Chain looks reasonably clean after being wiped down
-
Environmentally friendly
Cons
-
Doesnāt last that long, hence relubing after every ride. Thatās not so much an issue but towards the end of long rides (60-70 miles) the chain is starting to get noisy. If I was on a week long tour I donāt think I could use Squirt.
-
Jockey wheels get gunked up with wax and need removing with flat head screwdriver
-
Whilst I appreciate the chain doesnāt need to be degreased whilst using Squirt I still need to clean the bike every few rides especially in the UK where the weather is rarely dry for sustained periods. I found it more hassle cleaning the chain and jockey wheels after using Squirt then doing a normal degrease!
-
Getting through the Squirt more quickly and itās more expensive anyway!
-
Inside the chain (not the rollers) gets waxy deposits which re difficult to clean
Iām nearing the end of the bottle and will probably look at other solutions.
If you are in the UK please feel free to make a recommendation.
I ride road with long weekend rides of 60 + miles at the moment. Looking for something clean, quiet and long lasting that copes well with damp roads and ideally environmentally friendly!
So I didnāt realize, or pay attention, or I canāt remember. Squirt is a great lube for dry, dusty conditions; it is not a great lube in wet conditions. I donāt ride in the wet except for cyclocross season sometimes but even though I donāt really like racing in mud anyway. I just stay with squirt on all my bikes even the CX bikes. They are only raced in wet conditions a few times a year so it isnāt worth running an oily lube on them only to have to degrease the chain again to be able to use squirt when it dries out.
You might try WD-40 wet lube. I have some of that and it works really well, I think Iāve only used it once.
Moral of my comment is If youāre riding in the UK I would think you want a wet lube all the time. I wouldnāt even mess with any type of dry or wax lube if youāre consistently getting wet, riding through puddles, etc. Dry lubes inherently donāt like wet conditions; theyāre designed to not have dust stick to them and get washed of quickly with water. Wet lubes are thicker and stick to the chain better, and shed water better.
Thatās my 2 cents.
Iām in the notoriously wet NW of England where we get more days of rain in a year, but not the heaviest rainfall. Anyway Iām a fan of the wax/PTFE on a 10/1 ratio and change chains once a week on average. I usually ride between 150 and 180 miles a week, mostly on one bike.
I tried molten speed wax for a while and the home made mix is just as good in my opinion.
1 Like
Thanks, going to give proper waxing a go now. I wasnāt sure how many miles youād get out of hot wax, but I could live with 150. With squirt, it only does 60-80 miles for me, and thatās not quite enough on the road.
I have a collection of wet lube bottles, but they all are incredibly messy and sticky. Iād so much rather just use wax.
I hated Squirt. Worst lube Iāve ever tried. Messy, short-lived, and more messy. Iād rather run my drivetrain dry.
5 Likes
Noisy, if like rattling, isnāt necessarily a bad thing - you may have seen/read a while back where someone testing lubes found that noisy = faster. If itās squeaking thatās a different thing though.
1 Like
Question for the group:
Is Squirt after it has been applied totally clear or slight grey / black?
I used Squirt on my old road bike and now on my new gravel bike. I agree with the quirks mentioned here in the thread, but the benefits still outweigh the bad for me. When applied correctly (night before - repeated applications at first), I have zero noise / performance issues.
My question originates from this experience: For my new gravel bike I went chain waxing level crazy before the first application. Several baths of the chain in mineral spirits (one overnight) and meth alc. Even cleaned the sparkling new drive train. After a couple of rides (some in dirt / wet) and two deep cleans of the bike I still get grey / black stains on a paper towel when I dry off the chain after the bike wash. Not anywhere near as much as a conventional oil lube, but noticeable.
I cleaned and relubed the chain yesterday. Itās looks super sparkling. When I touch the chain I stayed clean. When I run it between my fingers they stayed cleanish with slight black marks.
Guess my question is, is the black stuff I observed just picked up dirt? Did I not do the perfect first clean that I thought I did? Is the dried lube not 100% clean / clear.
Has anyone experience with hot waxing. How would a paper towel look like if you slide it around on a waxed chain that has letās say 300miles on it?
It will get black, even indoors. I think a lot of the dirt that accumulates is actually metal that comes of the chain.
Iāve been running Squirt on my MTB and gravel bike for about a month now.
Iām a convert. In my first trial of Squirt (on my MTB) a couple of things went wrong - first, I had a hub issue that was causing a creaking that I attributed to my chain and the new lube I had just put on (squirt), and 2nd, I didnāt give squirt enough time to fully penetrate to the pins of the chain.
In my next go around, I tried Squirt on my gravel bike. And after about 3 rides/lubes, things were working great.
Then I used it on my MTB, and same result, things are going great.
I did a 75 mile gravel ride at the weekend, and the chain was noise free and clean (reasonably - vs other lubes) at the end.
I rode 3.5 hrs in very dusty MTB conditions The weekend before, and same result.
The benefits:
- clean
- noise free
- lasts long enough for 4-6 hour rides (will probably last longer, I just haven ridden longer yet)
I reapply every 2-3 rides, which is probably more than recommended, but it only takes a few minutes, so why not.
If youāre going to give Squirt a go, a few recommendations:
- thoroughly clean the chain before hand like others have said
- clean (with soapy water), let dry, and relube for the first 3-4 rides you do. This allows Squirt to penetrate to the pins in the chain where itās needed.
5 Likes
I just learned 2 things I want to share:
-
When applying Squirt make a cross-chain, like big front, big on the cassette. That way the chain gets a little bent and the lube can access better on the front it gets als bent back. Learned that from Josh Silca podcast.
-
Once the lube is applied and before it dries, you need to wipe all excess off! Thats the key to not have the build up of wax all over the drive train.
Well thats it, use both and you can lube after every ride. So things can dry over night.
4 Likes
For Smoove, I found that putting a lubed chain in a small zip lock bag worked really well. I put the clean chain in the bag, put a drop on each link, and then sealed up the bag. I also articulated the chain around a bit and let it sit over night. You donāt lose any lube due to it dripping off and itās not mucking up the rear derailleur during application.
Iāve also wondered if letting the bag sit in hot water would help the lube penetrate better but I didnāt try that.
The last 2 times Iāve applied squirt to my MTB, I heated the chain with a heated air blower. Seems to make the squirt less viscous and help somewhat with penetrating the links.
I have been using Squirt for 5 years on all my bikes (Enduro, XC and RB). We get lots of mud and rain in my country and they work well. A few times where it got creaky, i doubt any other lube could have done better (soft mud nearly touching the cassette). The winner was when on a bike trip to Indonesia and we encountered dry sticky mud. I realised much later that the chain was surrounded by thick clay and was literally working through a tunnel yet working flawlessly. Basically it repelled the mudā¦
I managed to get a box of Absolute Black Graphene hot wax. Gonna try this route for awhile and see how it goes.
1 Like
Stick with the Muc-Off (I prefer the ceramic dry for my climate) - itās a far better lubricant.
The ācarrierā in Squirt is water - itās an emulsion of parrafin waxes and water.
Unfortunately not true - the testing here shows that the Muc-Off was actually one of the lubes which led to the chain wearing out fastest whereas the Squirt/Smoove led to some of the longer chain lifespans.
3 Likes
To be fair @bufulo was talking about the ceramic lube and Zero friction havenāt tested that.
I also prefer the Muc Off dry ceramic lube over Squirt as I feel the squirt lube wore out my cassette quicker than the Muc Off lube.