TESTED: Ride Mechanic lubricants and cleaners

Choosing the right chain lube can be as personal as tyre choice, tyre pressure, or sock height. I have often struggled to find a chain lube that lasts long enough, runs quietly, and isn’t so foul that it leaves your drivetrain in a complete mess. I’ve used wet formulas, waxes, used motor oil, and even a green lube that was so bio-friendly I heard you could ingest it. Each one of those chain lubes has had its merits, and down falls.

Ride Mechanic is an Australian made and owned range of products, including two popular lubes and a degreaser.

BIKE MILK

Bike Milk is a dry, low viscosity chain lube. It is ideal for using every day, without lots of gunk building up around your jockey wheels and chain ring. The applicator evaporates, after flushing out dirt and grime, leaving a thin layer of lubrication inside the chain. The coating prevents corrosion and helps repel dirt too.

You are best to degrease your chain before an initial application, and then flood the lube on and pedal it through before wiping off the extra gunk that comes out from inside the chain rollers. Once the lube has set, you can even put another layer on if you have a longer ride planned.

Now this is all best done a few hours before you ride, for the ideal application. I’m all for getting my bike prepped the night before a ride, to make sure I don’t have a slow leak, or worn tyres, or just something that’s going to stop me heading off as planned – so making sure my drivetrain is set to go is an easy step.

The Milk is a dry lube, and best suited to dry rides less than about 4 hours. For this sort of use, I found it was perfect. It picked up very little dirt, and ran noise free except after heavy water crossings, or rides that did get a bit long.

RRP: $18-20 for 175mL

BIKE CREAM

In the past, I’ve often ended up on a wet lube just to keep my chain together. In a 145km marathon I once used a pack of Fox Float Fluid on my chain to keep it running smoothly. FYI don’t try opening them with your teeth.

Bike Cream is the wet formula from Ride Mechanic, aimed at endurance riding and wet or cold climates. I used it on my road bike and it was pretty good, if a bit mucky when venturing onto dirt roads. I tried it at a very dusty XCO race and it was no good, attracting lots of dust and clumping up around the teeth of my jockey wheels and chain ring – and then not lasting long enough. But those were the conditions for Milk. It is a longer lasting lube, and if you’re out doing long rides in wet areas – I’d certainly recommend it.

RRP: $20-22 for 115mL

BIKE MIX

So if it’s not bone dry, or soaking wet – then what? Well both the Milk and Cream mix easily, and create Bike Mix. This was developed with a lot of help from bearded singlespeed hero Brett Bellchambers, who loved the Bike Milk, but found it wasn’t quite a 24hr lube. While you can mix it anyway you like, 80% Milk and 20% Cream is recommended for the best results for day to day use. It runs dry, last well even on long rides, and stays inside your chain even with repeated creek crossings. I put this to the test on a rainy day on the Atherton Tablelands and haven’t looked back. It runs really cleanly, quietly, and is easy to apply and clean off when you need to. I’m yet to play around with the ratios, but love the idea of custom tuning your chain lube.

RRP: ~$60 for 900mL

BIKE JUICE

I’m a big fan of spray on, wash off bike cleaners. And Bike Juice is one of those. Sort of. As it comes, it’s ideal for the drivetrain and really filthy areas. But you’re best to get another spray pack and mix it up 1:20 with water, as a general bike cleaner for use with a rag if you just need to wipe your bike down. It’s safe to use on most metals, plastics and carbon fibre. But maybe check on a small area first.

With a couple of minutes to sit on a mucky chain and cassette, and a bit of a scrub with a stiff brush, a light hose had the drivetrain shining again. I think a truly horrible situation where heavy clay based mud was all over your bike might require more force, and water pressure. But as this is biodegradable hosing it off on your lawn is pretty low stress. There’s no dead grass to be held accountable for.

VERDICT

As a product range, I’ve been really pleased with the Ride Mechanic products. Few of us ride in fixed conditions, and I can easily see how having the Milk and Cream on my workbench, and a bottle of Mix, will keep my bikes dialled for wherever I’m riding. And the Juice will clean it up afterwards.

Hits: A thorough product range

Misses: None really

From: ridemechanic.com.au or your local bike shop.