Chain oil

[peachymac]

I don't know whether it is 'technically' a good or bad thing to do, but the only thing I put on my chain is ACF50. I do it about every 600 miles. Spray it into a rag a wipe over all four sides of the chain. It provides light lubing for the outer surfaces, but most importantly keeps the chain rust free, which to me means less particle pollutants getting into the links.

[Frostilicus]

Wurth dry chain lube for me, applied to the inner runs and then hand wiped with an old t-shirt to take off the excess.
A liberal coating of ACF50 to the rest of the bike every couple of weeks - by the missus, she likes doing it, so I'm not going to stop her

[Rusty Nuts]

Just don't let her do the brakes or you won't stop yourself either!

[Frostilicus]

 
, it'd make the pads last even longer though

[ChrisS]

I think we're all agreed.
A bit of a clean and a bit of a lube.
And let's not get carried away by manufacturers' bullshit?

PS
Anyone ever do the thing with the 5/8 x 3/8 chain in a tin of grease on the cooker back in the day when SWAMBO (or Your mam) wasn't looking?

[Rusty Nuts]

Yes. Linklyfe.

[ChrisS]

God no!
It burns my eyes!

[ChrisS]

I don't think Froome, Thomas nor Yates would thank you for putting that on their chains.
Neither would the Z1 / Z900 type on the tin, their chain being endless..."How the Hell are we going to get that in the pan?!"

[porter]

That's a blast from the past! My dad used to use Filtrate on his Ariel Arrow chain every month or so, much to the annoyance of my mother as he used tthe kitchen cooker! 
  He also used to put the engine in the oven to spilt the crankcase, no doubt using the same roasting tin we had our Sunday roast in!  I'm not even allowed in the house with my bike boots on

[Fat Rat]

kerosene is the pukka cleaning stuff as recommended by the chain manufacturers, you can order it off Amazon. Paraffin and WD40 would work equally well.

Aren't Parafin and Kerosene the same thing?

[Loz]

If your old engine oil is full of crap and contaminated I'd be more concerned about the condition of the engine than the chain..

[Ianmc]

Engine oil is designed to hold “crap”,it absorbs all the byproducts of combustion including acids.On industrial gas and diesel engines,the oil is sampled and when the contaminants are up to a predetermined level the oil is changed.As much as anything this is done as a cost saving measure,when you have a couple of hundred Litres of oil in an oil change the costs to change including Labour,filters and waste disposal add up over the years.If you can extend the oil change period by 50% the savings can be considerable.

[Loz]

The biggest cause of oil contamination is from
1- abrasives - Common abrasives, in the form of dust and dirt, can enter the lubrication system through leaks in the air intake system, seals, ventilation system or from a contaminated supply of new oil. As they circulate within the oil, they cause wear to metal components, which can produce additional wear particles that may cause even greater damage.
2 - Water is the second most common contaminant damaging to engine oil. Bad seals, system vents, condensation or a contaminated new oil supply are typically responsible for water ingression.
3 & 4 - contamination by coolant or fuel, which will dilute viscosity.

If you are detecting any of these, lubricating your chain will be the least of your worries..

Furthermore, personally been using old engine oil to lubricate my chain ever since I started riding (1970's), and other than the off road bikes all my road bikes (mostly high powered sports bikes) have managed more than 20k miles on their chains with no issues.

[Asmith61]

Rusty nuts have you been in my workshop and stolen my tin of linklife mine is also in that sort of condition I still have it somewhere I used to use it all the time to do my moto x chains my mum would go mad when she came home and I had the tin on the AGA 

[Joe Rocket]

Oh, yes! We used to throw the spuds in for roasting too...... 

    

[ChrisS]

"my mum would go mad when she came home and I had the tin on the AGA"

An AGA in Essex....Hmm....