Best bike chain lube: Increase efficiency and lower your servicing costs

It's a maintenance point that can be regularly overlooked but lubricating your chain using the best bike chain lube will save you effort and money, it's as simple as that. A clean and correctly lubricated chain will prevent unnecessary drivetrain wear, but also run more efficiently helping you go faster for the same effort. You can also check out our guide on the best bike chain wax if you are interested in taking this to the next level. 

When a chain is dirty, contamination is present in each chain link in the form of metal particles, dirt or sand etc. These contaminants are suspended within a chain lubricant, specifically the carrier the lubricant is held in, and essentially form a grinding paste which will just wear your chain out from the inside. Even the best road bike groupsets will be ruined in just a few thousand miles if chain wear is terminal.

To avoid this, ensuring you know how to clean your chain is an important step in the process, as it's essential to get it as clean as possible before applying any lubricant. The difference here could be a handful of watts over your friend's bike with the filthy black drivetrain (we all know someone with a bike like this), but more importantly, it will also save you money by extending the life of your components. 

There are a vast array of chain lubricants on the market these days. Independent testers like the experts at Zero Friction Cycling have a wealth of information and data on the subject. All of the drip lubes listed in our guide have been independently tested by Zero Friction and can be backed up with a set of results. Any one of these chain lubricants will really help care for your drivetrain. 

Quick list

In detail: Best bike chain lubes available today

Best value drip-on wax lube

Smoove is a white-coloured wax emulsion drip lubricant from the South African company Smoove. It is 100% biodegradable and solvent free. It is cheap to buy and the 125ml bottle will last a long time making it really good value, with one bottle lasting for over 10,000km of testing. 

Its wax-based formula is mixed with water. Smoove performed well in Zero Friction testing but it is a lubricant that needs a little more work for it to adequately penetrate a chain once applied (similar to GraphenLube from AbsoluteBlack), we have a section on this at the bottom of the page for you to read. 

The one thing I wasn't overly keen on was the applicator design, I found it a bit faffy and would prefer just a regular nozzle to apply the lubricant. After thoroughly prepping the KMC chain on a gravel bike I'm testing I applied Smoove and left it to set overnight. Once on, it runs really quietly which I have loved and the chain is spotless with minimal waxy buildup on pulley wheels etc. It does set with a degree of tackiness, so you may need to be hotter on maintenance if you are using it for a lot of gravel or off-road riding.

Best drip-on wax lubricant

The idea behind Super Secret Drip lube from Silca is that you're getting pretty close to immersive wax benefits and performance but in a drip lubricant from a bottle. 

Using Tungsten Disulfide which, without getting too nerdy, is a very smooth and slippery component that's perfect for a chain lubricant. So slippery in fact the lube almost wants to slide off your chain links when applying. 

Super Secret drip is excellent at penetrating the links of a clean chain meaning it's working optimally from the get-go for you. Performance wise it keeps a drivetrain very clean and has very low recorded wear rates. It is also compatible with Silca Hot Melt and Mspeedwax hot melt waxes. 

I applied Super Secret drip on a freshly prepared new YBN chain for my track bike, the nozzle could be a little finer to aid application and you do get a little bit of mess from drips due to the thin consistency and slipperiness so take your time when applying. 

Best bike chain lube for short races

CeramicSpeed updated its UFO drip lubricant this year and released an updated third version. Ditching the black and white bottle for a burgundy one - though we are most interested in what's inside! 

Despite releasing All-Conditions, Wet and Indoor lubricants this year, the All Conditions lube is closest to the previous UFO drip in performance but is now white instead of grey. The CeramicSpeed bottle has a 'pea' inside to help mix the lubricant, the only lube to have this. Application is also easy with a very fine nozzle. 

It is the Danish company's fastest lubricant. In testing, ZF found it to be very fast with the lowest recorded drip lubricant wear rate of all. CeramicSpeed claims a proper application will be around 180 miles. So this could be a good option to use if you're racing or don't want to reapply / clean chains every week or less. 

In the wet, CermaicSpeed recommends its wet UFO lubricant over this one, so take a look at this if this sounds like a better option for your riding. 

Best eco-friendly chain lube

Flower power wax by Effetto Mariposa is a top-performing yet eco-friendly drip chain lubricant formulated in part using oil from Sunflower seeds. The wax emulsion is water-based, and uses a high sunflower wax content alongside other naturally occurring waxes, making it vegan too. 

With a claimed application duration of roughly 600km, the lubricant set a new record during ZF testing as the lowest cost-to-run lubricant. In a comparison of wear rates from all the ZF testing blocks and conditions, Flower Power emerged as the cheapest lubricant to run with an Ultegra 11s groupset. The goal with any chain lubricant is to have to replace drivetrain components as little as possible.

For all-around riding, Flower Power is an excellent option that's green and affordable. The only potential drawback is that your drivetrain won't look as clean during use compared to some products in this guide. 

Best all-weather chain lube

Tru Tension all-weather is a waterproof wax-based bike chain lube which uses Tungsten Disulphide in its makeup.

The Tru Tension All Weather is easy to apply with the fine nozzle and has a slightly grey colour out of the bottle. ZF testing found it to have very good wear rates across lubricant testing and a very good ability to clear contamination. Making this an excellent option if you ride off-road or in fouler condition. 

For the low cost per bottle, especially in the UK. This should be one of the drip chain lubricants you should consider for all-around riding protection. It comes in the smallest bottle in the guide, but the affordable price and high performance mean it should still last a decent amount of time. 

Best long-lasting bike chain lube

AbsoluteBlack's Graphenlube is the most expensive lubricant in the guide and has been used by Tadej Pogačar to win at least one of his two Tour de France titles. It's a wax-based lubricant containing high-quality Graphene. It does have a black colour when dry so you don't get that super shiny chain look with this one. It's best applied to a very clean or new chain and a submersive application is required first.

Graphenlube is incredibly long-lasting per application, up to 1800km. Low friction and has been found to perform very well in the wet. If you can live with the initial outlay, it will do very well for you. ZF was also involved in this lubricant prototype testing. 

After initially stripping a new chain to go on my winter bike, I followed AbsoluteBlack's application instructions and used the provided resealable bag that comes with the chain lube, this does make the application really easy and mess-free. Pouring the best part of the bottle out into a bag feels odd but after agitating the chain in the lubricant and letting it soak for a while, most of the contents are then poured back into the bottle, it then becomes obvious this chain lubricant will last you a very long time.

One of the fastest wet lubes around

Revolubes specialises in making lubricants for the bike, motorsports and fishing sectors. It is a wet chain lubricant (meaning this isn't a wax lube that dries, rather than a lube for rainy days) and it has performed fantastically during ZF testing. 

Revolubes is one of the best wet lubricants ZF has tested, especially for drier road conditions. It's long-lasting per application and is relatively cheap, stays clean and feels really smooth to ride. 

I prepped and applied Revolubes to a KMC chain. The lubricant is also the only product to come in a glass bottle and with its own pipette applicator which is handy. Revolubes also makes a chain grease you can mix with the wet lubricant for wet and challenging conditions. 

Like many of the lubricants here, Revolubes recommends you apply the lubricant to a thoroughly cleaned chain. They now have a useful prep and application guide you can follow. 

Best drip wax for all disciplines

Rex Black Diamond lube is the drip lubricant sibling of the Rex Black Diamond hot wax. It's a dark-coloured wax lubricant that the Finnish company says is suited to road, gravel and mtb riding. 

ZF has tested the slightly less premium Rex Domestique drip lubricant. Black Diamond is said to contain more premium friction modifiers so should perform more strongly. 100% of Black Diamond's content is also a lubricant, not water which will evaporate, or a poor carrier which can trap contamination.

The small Black Diamond bottle uses a fine applicator, it is a little thicker and stickier out of the bottle than its competitors. Rex recommends working the lubricant into a chain with your fingers to aid penetration and to get it into the rollers. 

Alternative high-performance wet lube

Silca Synergetic is along with Revolubes another wet lubricant. It is an oil-based lubricant that contains Tungsten disulfide (the same as the Tru Tension lube). You can see the Tungsten disulfide collected at the bottom of the bottle before shaking it up to mix. The lubricant will change from a clear colour to a dark grey/black when mixed up. 

Silca Synergetic was first developed as a lubricant for F1 applications and there is some interesting info on this on the Silca Website. It has tested as just about the top wet lubricant during ZF testing. It keeps the drivetrain pretty clean in use and has good application longevity. 

How to choose the best bike chain lube for you

Finding the right chain lube can feel a bit like trying to find the best road bike saddle for you; the lube that will perform the best for you will depend largely on where you ride, how much you ride, and how often you clean and or re-lube.

Honestly, things may just boil down to how interested you are in drivetrain cleaning and the world of chain lubes. Some riders just aren't hugely bothered about having a mucky chain that may wear out a little faster and that's absolutely fine.

If you do want to up your game and try to use the best possible product to increase efficiency and lengthen drivetrain life, then start with cleaning. You will need to start with a properly cleaned chain.  Investigate what degreasing products you want to use to get your chain sparkling, and head to Zero Friction Cycling which has more information than we could possibly include here on the subject and this will enable you to find the best lubricant for your riding and budget. 

All of the lubricants in this guide are excellent. Their differences are highlighted depending on what conditions you are riding in. But any lubricant from our guide will perform very well compared to poorer lubricants on the market.