Bykology Blog » Chain-Lube Creeping Toward $10,000 A Barrel

Chain-Lube Creeping Toward $10,000 A Barrel

May 19, 2008 on 3:45 pm | In Abstractions |

I just looked up at the TV and there was another story on CNN Headline News about how oil has reached another record high price per barrel.. Eeek!

Which got me thinking…(double eek) I wonder how much a barrel of chain lube would cost? Aren’t you glad you’re not haunted by these painful errant cycling thoughts all day? Well, the bottle of Finish Line in my backpack has a price tag that says $6.99, or roughly 7 bucks for a 120ml bottle of Finish Line lube. According to one of the ka-gillion website calculators out there, there’s 42 gallons or roughly 159 liters in a barrel.

My crain is brampin’ right now. Okay. Focus. Focus. How much would a barrel of Finish Line cost? (picture a hamster running on a squeaky drum-treadmill between my ears)

At the rate of $7 for 120ml Finish Line, you’d pay $58.33 for a liter of Finish Line. If Finish Line were available by the barrel, 159 liters, you would pay $9274.47 for a barrel-full of slippery happy bike goodness. Holy crapoli!

Oh you want gallons? You are so not Euro. Send back that Quick Step team kit right now! For the metric system snubbing general public, Finish Line chain-lube costs $224/gallon.

FL lube
($224 per Gallon)

Sorry…didn’t mean to make you paranoid about the drops you left on the garage floor. Cuz, foodreference.com says there are 46080 drops in a gallon.

Didn’t think I’d take it this far did you?

At the rate of $224/gallon, every drop of finish line you accidentally drip on the garage floor costs you .00486 dollars. Pretty much, every two missed drips, is a penny (bloop) down the drain.

So, how much does it cost to lube your bike’s chain? This is maddening I know. But, I can’t stop. I must see this to the end.

There are 116 links in an uncut 2006 Dura Ace 7800 Chain (according to Shimano’s website), A drop of Finish Line costs .00486 dollars. So, it costs 56 cents worth of Finish Line to lube an entire chain.

But, most chains are cut down a few links you say. I say, I’ll leave it up to you to count the friggin’ links in your chain without losing your place and your mind. I may be going overboard, but I’m not goin’ to the bottom. Roughly, on the typical fully geared road or mountain bike, you could say it costs 50 cents to lube your chain with Finish Line.

So the next time your forgetful cycling buddy asks, “do you have any chainlube?” What will you say?

I say…what goes around comes around. I’ll gladly share my Finish Line, but you’ll have to wait for me to get it out of my safe deposit box.

This is a republish from the Joe Biker Blog on AOL. For more click here: http://journals.aol.com/joejoebiker/joebiker/