About a week ago I introduced my bike chains to Green Oil. It was well timed for testing out a new chain lube given the amount of rain Sydney was experiencing. Also, with the Highland Fling 100 mile race coming up, I had a good opportunity to try the Environmentally friendly chain lube under pressure.
Green Oil was developed as a remedy to its UK founder’s guilt riding through streams with a petrochemical chain lube. This is exactly how I felt, and was glad to hear there was an alternative before reaching for the olive oil or something else from the kitchen. Green Oil is a good example of the increasing number of ‘green’ bike maintenance products.
Green Oil contains no PTFE’s and is biodegradable. It contains only plant based ingredients, so there are minimal levels of pollution associated with its production. The Teflon in regular lubes is also a carcinogen – so you are looking after yourself too.
So we know it’s green, but does it work?
This is easy to answer. Yes.
I am quite demanding when it comes to chain lube. I had settled on one variety for all my bikes over the past three years, as it was easy to buy within the UK, Europe, US and Australia, and lasted a long time. Additionally, it could be used on not only chains, but cables and other drivetrain parts. Aiming for versatility, I always use a wet lube.
Green Oil is also a wet lube, which is a big plus. The formula (which won a 2010 Rising Star Bike Biz Award in Britain) contains advanced long chain molecules to reduce friction. These also repel water, which is why the lube is so long lasting.
The details are important, but it is the result I was most happy with. I had applied Green Oil to a new chain throughout the week, riding in wet and sandy conditions, and it cleaned up nicely with a quick wipe of a well used rag. But my bikes don’t just receive a wipe with a grimey rag before a Marathon. So Green Oil was applied as per the inventor’s suggestion (and my own pedantic preferences) by putting one drop on the top of each roller and cycling through – wiping off the excess. The chain was freshly degreased and air blasted clean, so there would be no cross contamination.
Racing the Highland Fling was a good test for my equipment and in particular my chain lube. It was a warm day that had deep creek crossings, dusty trails, deep sand, wet fields, a rain storm and even some mud. The unique nature of the Highland Fling has racers passing through a timing pause at two points – for the 100 mile race these came at 27 kilometres (18 miles) and 133 kilometres (90 miles). As I am not the most tactical racer, I chose to stop when passing through the same location at the 80 kilometre (55 mile) mark – so any time stoppage counts against your time. But chain lube in a race is invaluable – you really notice the difference when you re-lube the chain. This took all of 15 seconds, while my magnificent pit crew Meaghan Binder gathered my bidons and sorted some food. Better yet, the re-lube kept my bike running smoothly, quietly and free of chain suck for the next 85 kilometres.
So I’m in. This will no doubt be my next chain lube of choice. It’s PTFE free, biodegradeable, long-lasting and clean to use. If they can come up with similar recyclable packing in the ‘syringe’ format for easy carrying in the jersey pocket, I think Green Oil should be very popular choice amongst the marathon and stage race crowd.