Our top bike oils, greases, degreasers and when to use them
Choosing the right bike oil for your purpose can be a bit of a minefield, and is a little more complicated than you might think. That's why we've round up our top greases, degreasers, and oils, for you to choose from.
What is the best bike grease?
Bike grease tends to be semi-solid and is quite gloopy, it is good to stop bike parts fusing together and to repel water. Main uses are to smear around the thread of pedals to prevent rust inside bearings and hubs (if you put on with no grease the water gets in and rusts, and you won’t be able to get the pedals off to replace).
- Check out this Muc-Off Biodegradable Grease from Go Outdoors, for £13.00
- Another option is the TF2 Lithium Grease from Amazon, for £2.49
- Finish Line do a Teflon Grease from Rutland Cycling, from £6.28
There is also carbon assembly paste, which can be used for instance to smear on a carbon seat post to go into carbon bike frame, this will prevent them fusing together. Try out this Morgan Blue Carbon Assembly Paste from Chain Reaction Cycles, for £9.95.
What is the best bike degreaser?
WD40 is a cutting oil, which can be used to strip the bike chain of detritus before re-oiling.
What is the best bike oil?
Oil is a lubricant, and the main thing you need to oil on a bike is the chain. You should initially spray degreaser onto the chain to get rid of the dirt and strip the old oil, then put your fresh oil on. You should use wet oil for wet weather (thicker and gloopier so doesn’t get washed off so easily but can clog up the drivetrain), or dry oil which is for dry weather.
Here are our top picks for wet oil:
- We like the Finish Line wet lubricant from Tredz Bikes, from £3.99.
- The Muc-Off Wet Chain Lube is another popular choice from Amazon, from £3.49.
- Or try out the White Lightning Wet Ride oil from Tredz, from £6.99
Here are our top picks for dry oil:
- Try out the Finish Line Dry Lube from Wiggle, from £7.99
- This Muc-Off Dry Lube is biodegradable from Tredz, from £3.99
- Try out the Zefal Dry Chain Lube from Tredz, for £4.99
Top Image from Unsplash/Shyam
Kate Milsom
Freelance sports journalist 
