Chain-L No. 5 Review

Nothing quite piques the senses like “the world's most legendary fragrance,” but if you're expecting to dab this behind your ears, you're sorely mistaken.  In terms of price, this little bottle of amber colored wrenching sauce is pretty much on terms with its aromatic European namesake, so when I plunked down eleven bucks and change for it, I figured that it better live up to its name.

I've used a lot of different lubes in my day (that's what she said…) and I've always had a couple of complaints: they're messy, they don't wear into the chain and need constant re-application, and they just plain don't work.  In the realm of “just plain don't work” I've penciled in anything that contains the words dry, wax, clean, light, long lasting or spray on.  Essentially, I've found one decent lube out there (Finish Line Ceramic Road Lube) but it was filed under the “messy” header and the “constant reapplication” headers.  Actually, it received a “messy as hell” header as opposed to the regular one, but I digress.

The other problem with all these previous lubes is that my chain was always noisy.  Not only is this against the Velominati rules, it's downright annoying as hell.  So when a certain shop owner informed me that Chain-L  would be the answer to all my problems, I actually decided to give it a try.  I hunted for a LBS that carried the pricey little bugger, and finally dropped more than eleven bucks for a bottle of chain lube.

So what makes it different?  Well, according to Chain-L's website,  “a blend of extreme pressure (EP) lubricants in a high film-strength mineral oil base, formulated to provide the maximum possible lubrication to the tiny bearings that make up a chain” is what you pay all those ducats for.  After receiving instructions on application, including warming the bottle in warm water, applying to each roller and waiting about 15 minutes for it to soak in, then simply wiping down, I went to work on my dry, angry sounding [easyazon_link identifier=”B0007M4JL2″ locale=”US” tag=”taicoaandthed-20″]Dura Ace chain[/easyazon_link].

Deliverance

After about 15 minutes, I spun the cranks, and to my amazement, I STILL saw spider webs of lube stretching their sticky strands from derailleur to chain.  Even though I was thinking about chalking this up to “messy,” I was bizarrely enthralled by the simple beauty of it.  Frankly, there's no way in hell that this lube will ever leave that chain, especially if it won't even fly off from the inertia of the spinning drivetrain.  A quick wipe with a clean shop towel was the only finishing work needed.  A test ride would reveal all; was this going to be money well spent, or another bottle to clutter up my workbench.

After a mile of…silence…I was ready to believe.  After a long ride through the wet, muddy dirt roads around my home, I was a believer.  After continued silence, even after half a dozen washings, I became an evangelizer.  This stuff is the real deal.

Time will tell how often I have to reapply it, but I'm pleased to say that after about 200 miles, I'm still running silent.  Frankly, that's about 50 miles more than any other lube I've ever used.  Any lube that gives me a better ride for longer is a damn good investment in my book (that's what she said.)  My suggestion?  Get your hands on this, and never look back.