Holy crap Aventon! What is this silver stuff you're putting on your chains?!? I've tried 2 different strong degreasers

MarkNix

New Member
Region
USA
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My Aventure.2 chain was terrible and wore out in like 350 miles (and to prove I'm not bad at chain maintenance, a SRAM chain on my Tero X lasted 1500 miles).

That said, that looks like corrosion, not a coating.
 
My Aventure.2 chain was terrible and wore out in like 350 miles (and to prove I'm not bad at chain maintenance, a SRAM chain on my Tero X lasted 1500 miles).

That said, that looks like corrosion, not a coating.
Definitely not corrosion, I can remove it with my fingernail. The Chain is about a week old. I'm just dregreasing it and the cassette to get a wax lube applied.
 
My Aventure.2 chain was terrible and wore out in like 350 miles (and to prove I'm not bad at chain maintenance, a SRAM chain on my Tero X lasted 1500 miles).

That said, that looks like corrosion, not a coating.
 
What chain did you replace it with? I'm thinking I'll just get a new one and quit messing with this one.
 
I got this chain. You might need 2x because there are more than 116 links in an aventure.2 chain. But any KMC chain of the right "speed" (width) should be better quality than Aventon's.
 
Definitely not corrosion, I can remove it with my fingernail. The Chain is about a week old. I'm just dregreasing it and the cassette to get a wax lube applied.
KMC e series for any ebike.
My e10 (on Gazelle Bosch 10t) with 11,500 miles and the fifth KMC e10.
Each is good for 2,500 to 3,000 miles with lube every 100.
Complete confidence.
 
If that's a KMC chain, you're removing the protective layer.

"eBike chain are coated with KMC’s latest breakthrough in rust protection. EcoProteQ treatment doubles the rust resistance compared to the RB treatment. Benefits of the smoother coating are less noise, great performance, maximum rust resistance and great look."
 
My KMC chain has the same coating,..


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"eBike chain are coated with KMC’s latest breakthrough in rust protection. EcoProteQ treatment doubles the rust resistance compared to the RB treatment. Benefits of the smoother coating are less noise, great performance, maximum rust resistance and great look."


My e-bike has 2400 km on it but the chain has less than 50 km. (I don't pedal.)
The bike has only been in light rain twice and washed once.

I thought it was some sort of galvanized chain but maybe it's just primer? 😂
I think primer might work better? 😂

I cleaned and hot waxed my chain when it was new, and again about 400 km ago.
 
My KMC chain has the same coating,..


My e-bike has 2400 km on it but the chain has less than 50 km. (I don't pedal.)
The bike has only been in light rain twice and washed once.

I thought it was some sort of galvanized chain but maybe it's just primer? 😂
I think primer might work better? 😂

I cleaned and hot waxed my chain when it was new, and again about 400 km ago.
My Aventon chain looks like yours but with no rust. I get 150 to 300 miles per charge, so I guess I pedal harder than most. At 1,000 miles I checked the pitch. It's still slightly under 1/2 inch.

On two chains whose rails looked like plain steel, I'd found that Finish Line Dry Lube, applied to each end of each pin drop by drop with a 25 gauge needs, would prevent rust besides keeping operation smooth and quiet. When the Aventon was new, I marked one link with acrylic paint as my starting point. Then, dropping in zip ties to mark one section at a time, I went around applying drops. I repeated it at 1,000 miles although the chain still looked and performed like new.
 
My Aventon chain looks like yours but with no rust.

I think @MarkNix has a different problem than our chains?
His coating peeled and flaked off, my coating appears to be worn off where it was rubbing?
His chain looks defective to me.

,.. I'd found that Finish Line Dry Lube, applied to each end of each pin,..

I removed my chain when the bike was new and gave it a hot wax treatment.
I removed all the oil with brake cleaner and acetone then "cooked" my chain on the stove. 😂
I have a dedicated pot for chain maintenance now. 😂

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I just re-melt the wax and lube the chain once in a while.
The chain is easier to clean the second time when it's only dirt and old wax on the chain.

It looks like a real PITA to lube a chain, but it's not that bad.

I like the wax because I don't get oily crap all over my pants or hands when I mess with the chain.
 
Here we go again with the anal chain lubing that takes hours of your life to return maybe 0.34 extra miles of riding.... Maybe.
I get 3000mi out of a standard <$20 chain on a 750w and 1000w mid drives just reading the bottle of any lube and doing as instructed.. applying every few hundred miles.
 
I removed my chain when the bike was new and gave it a hot wax treatment.
I removed all the oil with brake cleaner and acetone then "cooked" my chain on the stove. 😂
I have a dedicated pot for chain maintenance now. 😂

I just re-melt the wax and lube the chain once in a while.
The chain is easier to clean the second time when it's only dirt and old wax on the chain.

It looks like a real PITA to lube a chain, but it's not that bad.

I like the wax because I don't get oily crap all over my pants or hands when I mess with the chain.
I don't remove the chain to use Finish Line. The first time, when I'd ridden 14 months with oil, I used a paper towel to wipe off what oil and grit I could. Application took about 1 second on each side of each roller. The fluid looks clear on metal, but it caused black stuff to run out of the joints, which I wiped off. It happened every time I applied it. For better rust protection, I learned to let the film dry before wiping. I also learned that when I poured it from the opaque bottle into the translucent applicator, I needed to make sure it was an opaque white; otherwise, it needed more shaking to mix the teflon with the vehicle.

The chain could smudge cuffs but always looked clean. How could it not pick up grit? After 2500 miles I broke the chain so I could coil it and put it on some wire mesh in a coffee can. The can let me cover the chain with a small amount of gasoline, and the mesh let solids settle away from the chain. I covered it and let it soak for hours, shaking occasionally. After I hung the chain to dry, there was still lube in the joints. I carefully poured off the gasoline and found no grit but a brown film which, when dry, was soft like cocoa powder. Besides not picking up grit, it seems that using Finish Line had gotten rid of any grit from 14 months of riding with oil.

I applied Finish Line to 2 other bikes when new. Finish Line switched from Teflon to a borate. The chain can smudge hands and cuffs with gray instead of black.

Before I tried Finish Line, 14 months with oil had caused a heavy buildup of gritty grime around the rear sprocket. Liberal use of Finish LIne can cause instead a grit-free buildup of waxy stuff that's easy to remove with a screwdriver.
 

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If I can ask a question,
Here in NV, and I am sure in any of the western desert states,
the microscopic dust is very mineralized, and gets into and on everything.

Even inside the house, you can put a clean tablet down and wait several hours and have a very ultra fine coat of dust on the screen, that you can write your name on it.

You can imagine what would be outside when riding around.
I have tried several different types of chain lube, and always found a thick coating of the micro dust on the bike chains/gearing.

What would a good effective chain lube for this desert riding,
that is easy to apply and does NOT attract this dust, and has a reasonable cost?

I have over 2200 miles on the Wart Hog chain with no wear,
just using a liquid type chain lubes.

Your thoughts and suggestions........from the desert riders
ymmv.
 
If that's a KMC chain, you're removing the protective layer.

"eBike chain are coated with KMC’s latest breakthrough in rust protection. EcoProteQ treatment doubles the rust resistance compared to the RB treatment. Benefits of the smoother coating are less noise, great performance, maximum rust resistance and great look."
Nope thats not what that is. I have KMC chains with and without that coating. Chains with that coating on look more like a dull, bare steel. Not shiny like a nickel-plated one.

EDIT: I found a pic of one: This pic was taken in 2020 and the chain is STILL on the bike, about 1300 miles later. That street-sized chainring is long gone in favor of a 28T.
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The stuff you folks are looking at is just paint. KMC makes low-cost chains with different paint colors on it. For idiots who like such things for no good reason in my not so humble opinion. I expect that Aventon just got a decent deal on a container full of them and thats why you have them.

Here we go again with the anal chain lubing that takes hours of your life to return maybe 0.34 extra miles of riding.... Maybe.
I get 3000mi out of a standard <$20 chain on a 750w and 1000w mid drives just reading the bottle of any lube and doing as instructed.. applying every few hundred miles.
^^^ this x 1000. I use Rock and Roll, which is a combination solvent and lubricant. Drip it over a length of the chain, keep a cloth towel under the chain to catch the excess drips, then wipe the chain. Do the top exposed chain and then the bottom (above the chainring and below it). Move to a new segment and repeat. Doing it both top and bottom for one rotation of the chain means I wipe every section of the chain twice. Takes me 10 minutes.

No waxing. No ultrasonics. I don't send it to the Vatican so it can be blessed by the Pope. None of that nonsense is functionally necessary... because I get about 4000 miles on a mid-drive reinforced chain. Actually my record is 4100 miles and the ONLY reason I changed the chain is because I changed the drivetrain (chainring and cluster) so it would be stupid not to change the chain, too (and it was measuring out as fine). Chain longevity is as much about riding technique as it is cleaning it. And to clean it so it is mechanically sound, you do not need to go all Felix Unger on the thing.

If you want to mix it in with a plate of spaghetti you are eating, then it makes some sense to do all that extra stuff. But if you just want it to last while riding your bike, you can skip the anal-lube treatment.

</rant>
 
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I have over 6000kms/3800mi on the stock chain on my 2021 Stance E.
I use Squirt wax lube. Easy peasy...
Shifting properly does it for the most part.
My son killed his chain/cassette in less than 2000kms from shifting under heavy load.
 
If I can ask a question,
Here in NV, and I am sure in any of the western desert states,
the microscopic dust is very mineralized, and gets into and on everything.

Your thoughts and suggestions........from the desert riders
ymmv.
I don't ride in a desert, but the soil here contains plenty of silt, defined as 4 to 63 microns, and clay, defined as being under 4 microns. Gritty dust accumulates on windowsills behind screens. It accumulates on my car in the carport. My vacuum cleaner picks up a lot of mineral dust.

For some reason, it doesn't seem to stick to Finish Line. I think it costs about 8¢ to do a chain with an applicator like this:

When I squirt some into a translucent applicator, I can see by the color whether it has been shaken enough. The solvent will pass through the sides of the applicator by osmosis, so when I finish, I squirt the rest back into the bottle.
 
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