Just to centralize reports on an experiment that are spread over other transmission threads:
I fitted a new KMC X8 chain 2000km ago and decided to dedicate it an experiment to determine how good the factory chain lube is and, beyond that, whether in a close-fitting but not sealed chain case the factory lube is good beyond the 700 miles Sheldon Brown claimed, presumably on information received from a factory rep, that it is good for.
The setup is a Utopia Kranich with a Rohloff hub gearbox. There is thus a "single speed" 16T sprocket of Rohloff manufacture, driven by a KMC X8 chain from a Surly stainless steel 38T chainring. The chain runs in a well-fitted long Rohloff-specific Hebie Chainglider.
Elsewhere on this board are several threads in which I describe my chaincase experiments; they conclude that I can recommend without reservation only Hebie's Chainglider.
You may argue that I don't need the X8, which is built to survive the flexing of derailleur chains, that I could make do with the cheaper single-speed Z8, but in fact I can buy the X8 cheaper than the Z8, so I take the superior chain. I doubt it makes much difference to the experiment or to the overall cost for a private buyer; at a manufacturing scale it could make an accounting difference.
The previous KMC X8 lasted 4605km before being replaced due to wear. It was used with a steel Amar crankset, which showed just about zero wear but was replaced by the Surly stainless item because the Surly went better with my new, smart cranks. Cheaper chains, sprockets and ali chainrings lasted around a third as far (on different, more overtly sporting bikes), so I conclude, by comparison with the tales here of awesome distances on a single chain, that I'm heavy on transmission.
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I've reported earlier at a few hundred miles that the factory lube seemed good, and there was no visible or measurable wear on the chain.
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There was very occasional skipping at gear changes from the fitting of the new crankset forward but I had quite serious medical problems that prevented me bending over the bike, so it wasn't until a few months ago that I tightened a chain that was set too slack by moving the rear axle back in the sliders (this particular bike doesn't have an eccentric bottom bracket, like a Thorn, it has long rear-facing slots, like a track bike, in which the Rohloff-designed axle hangers slide). This might have caused a spot of extraordinary wear but, again, nothing visible.
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JULY 2013 at 2000km
The chain has now travelled precisely 2000km (near enough 1200m). I opened it up when I cleaned the bike, and closed it again. There is no visible wear on the chain, the factory lube seems good with no metallic filings in it, and no odd shiny bits on the chain. The sprocket, which has done a total of about 6500km doesn't seem worn either. The chainring seems unmarked, but then you would expect that as stainless steel is just running in at a couple of thousand klicks. I didn't see that it was worth measuring as there clearly is no chain wear that a crude instrument like the normal chain-"stretch" gauge can measure. No action, chaincase closed up again. I'll check it again at 500km intervals.
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While the interest here seems to be in the chain lube and chain, just a gentle reminder: The experiment isn't really about the chain lube, or the chain, both of which are the cheapest components under discussion. (KMC X8 chain about 14 euro landed, Oil of Rohloff chain lube about 5 euro a bottle, and it lasts years as you use only a couple of drops inside a chaincase, and rarely at that.)
The experiment is about a maintenance-free bike, and about cleanliness. A chain without added oil is less likely to spread filth everywhere, I thought, and so it has proved. What is visible of my chainring inside the Chainglider no longer spreads oil to my trouser bottoms, and when I wiped it for the first time in months just now to see if there is anything worth reporting, it hardly made the kitchen roll I used grey.
On my bike the gear change click box (supposed to be serviced at 500km intervals -- my views on this, and an experiment to discover how long the service interval can intelligently be, are elsewhere on this board) and the chain are the last items requiring regular service, except for the gearbox oil change, and who will begrudge Herr Rohloff less than an hour a year to keep his marvelous box running.
In that sense, with the chain already outlasting my earlier, only slightly cheaper chains (at delivered price) without any service being required, the experiment is already a success for someone who is used to getting under 2000km out of a chain. If the factory lube in combination with the Hebie Chainglider will carry the chain to the same distance of 4605km as the previous KMC X8 chain
without causing undue wear to the expensive sprocket and chainring, the experiment will point to a major advance for hub gear bikes.
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FINAL REPORT, 26 April 2015The test was aborted at 3562km on 26 April 2015 when the Bafang QSWXK front motor on my bike gave up the ghost and was replaced by a Bafang BBS01 mid-motor (on which the 38T Surly chainring couldn't be made to fit), the new motor in a new test receiving its own brand new KMCX8 chain.
Just a reminder. The purpose of the test was to run a KMC X8 chain 4506km on the factory lube, inside a Hebie Chainglider, with a Surly stainless steel chainring and the normal Rohloff sprocket at the rear. The 4506km was set as a target by the previous chain, also KMC X8, running in a Utopia Country chaincase (similar to the Chainglider), but with Oil of Rohloff added every 500 or 1000km, reaching 4506km before visible "stretch" was found (less than 0.5mm). The ulterior, overall motive of the test was not to save a few Euro on chains but as a step towards a near-zero maintenance bike.
A gilmpse inside the famous Jute Laboratories.
That's the 0.75mm side of the gauge, so the chain wear, eyeballed, could be around 0.5mm
The KMC X8 chain ran on the factory lube inside the Hebie Chainglider together with a Surly 38T stainless steel chainring and a 16T Rohloff OEM sprocket, without any other lube being added at any time, or any cleaning being performed, for 3562km before the test was aborted, as described above. During this time the wear on the chain, measured as "stretch", was less than 0.75mm, eyeballed on the rough gauge as around 0.5mm. There is no doubt in my mind that the KMC X8 would have made 4506km by the time it required replacement at 0.75mm "stretch".
However, I'm happy to replace chains, the cheapest component in my transmission, at the first sign of measureable wear, which is around 0.5mm, so in that sense the factory lube fell short of the same chain under roughly the same circumstances serviced with Oil of Rohloff, 3562km to 4506km.
No excessive wear of the Surly stainless steel chainring or the Rohloff sprocket was observed. In fact, there is no wear observable. (This is very unlike my previous installations of Shimano Nexus transmissions, in which in around a 1000m/1600km I would use up a chain, a sprocket and a crankset because the chainring was in unit with the crank.)
The late, great Sheldon Brown once said that the factory lube was good for 700 miles. In my two experiments the factory lube plus Oil of Rohloff chain went 944km further than the factory-lube only chain. That, if scaled up to the full 0.75mm wear, is pretty close to Sheldon's 700 miles!
Now, I know, some of you think that 3500km and 4500km on a chain isn't much chop, the mileage of a wrecker. But I'm over the moon with these mileages. Considering that previously I rarely got over a thousand miles (1600km) out of a chain, two and three times that distance per chain is exceptional.
I'm very happy to declare these two experiments, 8068km altogether, a success.
They have confirmed my belief that the only enclosed chaincase that I can in good conscience recommend is the Hebie Chainglider, that KMC makes high commendable chains, and that Oil of Rohloff is the light chain oil of choice. I suspect that another thing they indicate is that a precision chainline is worth setting up with repayment for the effort in extra chain mileage.
With thanks to all who helped with advice, and to everyone for their patience in waiting for these results.
This is Andre Jute signing off with only slightly oily hands.
