On Sat, 5 May 2018 11:18:51 -0400, Frank Krygowski
wrote:

On 5/4/2018 8:07 PM, John B. wrote:

The main problem is that everyone is running their [bike] chains under very
adverse conditions and then bragging about what would be considered in
industrial use as very limited use. Somewhere I read about some bloke
that was re-lubricating his chain every 1,000 miles. In a plant using
a conveyer system that would be re-lubeing every 5 days and I, at
least, have never seen a plant shut down for re-lubeing every 5 days.

Every chain maker publishes manuals that provide exact instructions
about alignment of sprockets, chain tension, cleanliness, lubrication,
and even minimum sprocket size, all of which bicycles ignore.

Given the, what can only be termed as abuse, that bicycle chains
undergo I'd reckon that they do pretty well :-)

John's exactly right. Industrial roller chain manuals would never
condone the duty to which we subject derailleur chains.

And for proper industrial applications - enclosed, perfectly aligned,
kept clean - they specify various wet lubrication methods. Those include
even the possibility of continuous pumped streams of oil, or oil baths.

Obviously those industrial recommendations don't work for service so far
outside the normal industrial use. What does work is a lubrication
method that's also outside the normal industrial practice. Dry lube (wax
based) has been found by numerous tests to give the longest life and the
lowest friction.

On one hand, we have the testimonies of those here who have used it for
decades, plus the links to test results proving this. On the other hand,
we have a guy claiming "all the experts" say different. Go figure.

Perhaps you don't have them in the academic world but in the business
world there are a lot of people who are quite adapt at standing tall,
chin up, shoulders back and speaking in a loud assertive voice using
terms like, "Everyone knows", "All the experts say", or "It has been
shown that". This usually gets them through the meeting. After all it
is obvious that they know what they are talking about.

Of course, these folks occasionally are so verbally proficient that
they get handed a project to run and usually by the end of the first
month management has to run in some grubby old guy wearing engineer's
boots, levis and a blue work shirt to salvage the project :-)
--
Cheers,

John B.