I first came across Green Oil at their stand in Lambeth Country Show about five years ago. The sight of medieval knights in armour, jousting on horseback just a lance-throw from the chicken shops (now artisanal pizza joints) of Brixton will live long in the memory; but I also took home a 100ml bottle Green Oil that's lasted nearly as long.
Green Oil is a biodegradable, environmentally friendly wet chain lube. Unlike most bicycle lubricants on the market, Green Oil is free from petrochemicals, palm oil and PTFEs like Teflon, that can have a harmful effect on the environment and people's health when they wash off your drivetrain.
Simon Nash is the man behind the brand, and runs Green Oil from its Brixton HQ with evangelical zeal. I bumped into him again at a cycling trade show last year. Aside from being a cyclist and an entrepreneur, Simon has a genuine passion for environmental issues - just check out some of his videos. In this one he wades into a sewer overflow to expose "greenwashing" by some well-known brands of cycling products who make misleading claims about the eco-credentials of their products.
I took home another bottle of Green Oil, now in updated packaging, and have been using it on my bike ever since. I haven't conducted any side-by-side lab tests on it, but it seems to perform just as well as any other lube I've tried. Apply a drop to the inside of each link on a clean chain, wipe off the excess on a rag - and you're done.
It's been formulated for use in all riding conditions, so you can use it whatever the season. Simon's updated the recipe to include something called N-Toc; apparently this is an organic performance enhancer that more than doubles the lifespan of Green Oil in use.
(Just in case you're thinking of enhancing your own performance by drinking some, a note on the label warns against it: "Though naturally sourced, Green Oil is a bike lubricant, not a smoothie.")
Green Oil claim the lube lasts 125 miles between applications. Being lazy, I often ride three to four times that amount between giving my chain a scrub; but it does work, and there's nothing better than the rhythmic purr of a freshly lubed drivetrain.
Green Oil also do a dry chain wax, a Green bike cleaner and Eco grease among a growing range of bicycle maintenance products. They are also currently approaching the end of a Kickstarter campaign for a Green Oil EcoSpray Lube using plants instead of petrochemicals.
The campaign ends on Monday and is still a bit short of its target, so do check it out. Even if you're not a bike mechanic working long hours in an enclosed environment, you could probably do without breathing in the PTFE fumes from bike lubricants.
As for Green Oil, the lube's performance combined with the brand ethos has me sold. As the campaign says, "Isn't cycling supposed to be eco-friendly?" As well as the product itself being biodegradable, the packaging is recycled, and it's all made in the UK so that your conscience can run as smoothly as your drivetrain.
Green Oil: it's clean and it works. Why use anything else?
Green Oil Wet Chain Lube, £6.99 for 100ml at www.green-oil.net
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