I have been trying a few different chain oils recently. I thought that I would give Green Oil's White Super Dry Chain Wax a try but it kept going squeaky after a couple of days. So I went back to the standard green oil which is pretty good. Then I read a blog post and one thing lead to another and I am sending of for a sample of Chain-L No 5.

Chain-L No5 sounds like it's the perfect bike chain oil. Drop some on then do nothing more for the next 1000 miles! It's quite sticky when you pour it out but smells like proper engineering. I will report back on how it goes.

Before I started all this I need to clean the chain a bit. I decided to do this off the bike for a change. SRAM powelinks are really neat, I had never seen them before but it makes taking the chain off a doddle. The chain was then dipped into some white spirit in a tub and give a good shake. I made a makeshift filter out of kitchen towel to clean the white spirit so I could use it again and again ( how cheap am I? ) and it was sparkling in no time. Then I left it out in the sun to dry for a while.

Applying the oil was even simpler. A drop on each junction and allow it to seep in. Then wipe off the excess and you are done. The chain felt smooth and the oil left a sort of film on the outside just like they said it would. Time will tell how it goes but if I can really just rub it down now and again for the next 1000 miles that will be great.

Cleaning in the sprockets next and it was over to the bike floss. They are essentially oversized pipe cleaners with a mixture of soft floss and harder bristles. You pull it between the cogs and the dirt just lifts off.

Worked a treat as I think you can see from this really bad photo. I would recommend them to anybody. There was quite a bit of dirt in there and I had started with a screwdriver picking lumps out but the floss was much easier and more effective.