TIL my neighbor's chain lube trick saved me forty bucks

I was talking to my neighbor Bill last Saturday while he was fixing his old Schwinn. He told me he's been using automatic transmission fluid for his chain lube for like 15 years now. I thought he was crazy at first but he showed me his bike and the drivetrain looked cleaner than mine with the expensive stuff. So I tried it out on my commuter bike this week and honestly it works fine and cost me nothing since I had a bottle in the garage. Has anyone else tried weird lubes like ATF or sewing machine oil on their chains?

2 comments

2 Comments

stellablack6d ago

That "works fine" is pretty much my standard for bike maintenance. I once lubed a chain with canola oil because I ran out of the real stuff and didn't want to walk to the store. It worked okay for about a week until the whole drivetrain started smelling like bad french fries every time I pedaled.

cora_jenkins5d ago

Oh man, that canola oil story is hilarious... I've totally done stuff like that too. One time I used vegetable oil spray on my chain because I was too lazy to go to the bike shop, and yeah, it worked for a few days but then everything got all sticky and gross. I think the ATF thing actually makes some sense since it's meant to lubricate stuff under pressure. My grandpa used to swear by 3-in-1 oil on everything from chains to squeaky doors, and he had this old Huffy that ran forever.