BIKERUMOR!

Best Bike Chain Lube 2025

"Bikerumor.com is the world's largest cycling tech blog. Our passion is the products, technology and people that make them. We cover the shiny new things, with in-depth interviews and detailed stories about how the bicycles and components work, plus reviews to see if they live up to the hype."

Squirt Long-Lasting Chain Lube is a blend of paraffin and hydrocarbon waxes, water, and emulsifiers, and it applies milky white and then dries after application. The dried, or cured, lubricant forms a shield against contaminants that would otherwise cling to the surfaces of the chain rollers and accelerate the wear that eventually kills every chain. With Squirt and many other wax-based lubricants, this wear is significantly delayed, allowing chains used in dry, less dusty environments to last a long time.

With Squirt, it’s important that the chain, even if brand new, is completely cleaned beforehand, ideally by submersion in a degreaser. This deep cleaning will open up all the nooks and crannies of the chain so that the wax can penetrate and coat all surfaces and then cure to provide a waterproof barrier against contamination and the premature chain wear it brings on. If Squirt is applied to a less-than-perfectly clean chain, it will still work well but will collect more grime and need to be reapplied more frequently to keep the chain humming nicely. 

Squirt is an efficient lubricant, meaning that it spreads out easily across a fully cleaned chain and keeps it running smoothly and quietly for a better-than-average interval. The result is that a 4-ounce bottle can easily last 10,000 km of road riding in mostly dry conditions. Better yet, a new and perfectly clean chain lubricated with Squirt may also reach 10,000 km before it reaches the .5mm of wear between rollers, which indicates that the chain should be replaced. 

Some riders note that using wax-based chain lubes like Squirt results in more chain noise than oil-based lubricants. While we agree with this premise broadly speaking, Squirt is one of the best options available for noise reduction among the cohort of wax-based drip lubricants. We also would rather have a chain lube that helps our chain last longer, saves our chainrings and cassette, and is clean to the touch than a lube that makes our chain silent for a while. 

Read full article here!