Bicycling

3341 readers

44 users here now

A community for those who enjoy bicycling for any reason— utility, recreation, sport, or whatever!

Post your questions, experiences, knowledge, pictures, news, links, and (civil) rants.

Rules (to be added on an as-needed basis)

Comments and posts should be respectful and productive.
No ads or commercial spam, including linking to your own monetized content.
Linked content should be as unburdened by ads and trackers as possible.

Welcome!

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

wolfeh@lemmy.world

Is WD-40 a miracle product? (lemmy.world)

submitted 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) by JubilantJaguar@lemmy.world to c/bicycling@lemmy.world

25 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Looking for some maintenance advice.

I'm about to embark on some touring. I don't have space to take more than one canned product. Is WD-40 what I need?

As I understand it from some research, WD-40 is by some magic both a degreaser and a lubricant. This is mysterious to me. In my mental model of chemistry, you degrease with detergent, not more grease. So now I'm imagining that WD-40 is a sort of "light grease" which dissolves "heavy grease". Is that right?

So if I can only take one product, is WD-40 it? PS: If not, then what? Also, is there a generic name for it, or cheaper similar products to look for which do the same thing?

PPS: The consensus seems to be that WD-40 is not a miracle product, by which really I meant "a single portable product that can somehow de-gunk and lubricate" and is less risky than what I was doing before: using chain oil for the lubrication and dish soap for the cleaning.

PPPS: This question was asked in the best possible faith. I have been a cyclist for decades and always been curious about this product. And yet still I get downvoted. What is about social media that makes people so toxic and mean-spirited? It's almost as mysterious as WD-40.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] JubilantJaguar@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago (2 children)

This looks good. Alas as expected I can't find it on sale here in Europe (even on Amazon!), just a load of other random-looking products with weird names. Generic names are so much better. If Coke and Pepsi are cola, what's this (or WD-40)?

I guess I'll look for something similar which magically has both"lubricant" and "cleaner" in the name.

[–] BeigeAgenda@lemmy.ca 3 points 3 months ago

Then try and look for generic chain lubricant, or else there's a WD-40 version of chain lubricant.

[–] Elting@piefed.social 2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

There is likely something in the one step they don't sell in europe. I know carb cleaner doesnt work as well over there for that reason. I can attest the one step works great, it unstuck all my gear shifters. Of course you still gotta go back over it with a lubricant.

Edit: Its this stuff I think is the main ingredient in american carb cleaners and degreasers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1%2C1%2C2%2C2-Tetrachloroethane