I had to put Pro-Link on frequently and I had to wipe down the chain every time I put it on. My chain was sure shiny, and it looked really great - as long as I cleaned the junk out and used more Pro-Link. Pro-Link was about $12 a bottle back then, and the on-line forums back then were all a buzz about it. One guy was a chemist and did an analysis of it and concluded it was mineral spirits and synthetic motor oil like Mobil One. From that came something home-made and dubbed "Forum Lube." I made up a gallon (3 parts odorless mineral spirits and 1 part Mobil One) and I still have some left. I refilled lube bottles for friends, and gave it away however I could. Geez I had a gallon of the stuff. 
click ti enlarge image
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Just cleaner chains from...
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Squirt
Somewhere in the late 90's I stumbled onto
Pro-Link Gold, I think my brother-in-law sent me some for Christmas.
It worked pretty well, a big switch from the White Lightning, Pro-Link kept my chain clean and bright.
The way I always used the stuff was to basically "flood" the chain and use the lube to flush out the grit. Wipe it all down and "Voila" - a shiny chain with a little bit of oild for lube.
And life was good.
"Yeah sure" I said "I've used White Lightning ...."
"This isn't White Lightning, and yes, that stuff made a real mess didn't it? Squirt is different." he saiys.
"How so?"
"First off, you were probably putting on way way too much of the other wax-based lube."
And he showed me how to put one drop on each chain roller. See right >>>
"Next, and most importantly, Squirt is formulated differently. Any excess (along with road grit) just flakes off the chain. It doesn't accumulate
on the cassette and jockey wheels like White Lightning." "Here, take a bottle and try it."
I'm always skeptical of $10 a bottle chain lube, and that was last September. It's now mid-May, and I've been using Squirt on all of our bikes and some others as well.
To the left is Dan Tholen's everyday winter commuter that I photographed sometime in mid-February. This was the first
application, and it probably never got anymore because Dan's not big on maintenance. Let's be honest, there
is no chain lube that'll help Dan..
But I want you to look at two different drive systems.
To the right are some photos of a SRAM Force 10 speed drivetrain. I've been riding this bike for a bit over a month and I have
about 1,200 miles on it. I've been putting Squirt on it every third or fourth ride - that means it's been lubed at
least 12 times. I've done nothing else to this chain or cassette. If you look closely you can see the
"flaking" of the old lube. You can see a spec on the chainstay. I'll say it again, I've done absolutely nothing else to this chain.
Next, let's look at the drivetrain on the left. Brand new Campy Pista crankset and a used SRAM PC-1 chain.
This chain had just a couple hundred miles on it, but had been lubed with my mineral spirits "Forum Lube" and was
pretty dirty.
I scrubbed this chain up with Simple Green, a toothbrush and a cotton rag. It was clean and shiny when I mounted it on this bike..
I lubed it (two applications in succession) with Squirt and
it's now been ridden about 75 miles. Amazing, look, the Squirt is pulling all of the grit and old lube up out from
the chain. You can see the accumulation on the chainring.
This one I'll have to clean, but only to get all of that grit off that brand new chainring.
Carl's bikes have all been lubed with Squirt, as well as my yellow rain bike shown in the photos on the right.
I'm sold on this stuff, just put one drop on each roller, spin the cranks to get it distributed
and let it dry. Give it a try.
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