Blub Graph Premium Race Quality Bike Lube 120ml

Blub Graph Premium Race Quality Bike Lube is a reasonably well-priced and long-lasting chain lubricant – and Blub makes bold claims about its efficiency. In the real world I found it durable, and during summer rides at least, it ran smoothly, quietly and left the drivetrain clean and free of grease and crud.

Our best bike chain lubes buyer's guide looks at our favourites from just £2.99 to over £100.

This particular lube is a wax-based graphite lube that Blub claims is extremely long lasting and very efficient. And my testing suggests it lives up to some of Blub's hype too – I found it long lasting, quiet and very clean.

So, then, just what is the difference between a conventional lube and a wax-based one? Well, standard bike lubricants are usually oil-based products, while Blub's lube is based around wax and graphite. This does mean that in order to get a good application, you have to make sure your chain and drivetrain are spotlessly clean. The advantage of this is that you don't get a black messy chain and cassette, with the added benefit of a more efficient drivetrain.

Blub's website has graphs comparing its lubricant to other waxes, and according to its own unratified testing, its lube lasts longer (well, to misquote Mandy Rice-Davies, "They would say that, wouldn't they?") and stays more efficient for longer than other brands' waxes. Though being somewhat coy, Blub has left those other brands anonymous, so it's hard to know just how much emphasis to put on those claims.

This graph from Blub shows the frictional coefficient on the Y-axis and time on the Z-axis up to one hour.

According to its testing, Blub's lube remains more efficient than other waxes for longer – which is exactly what you want from a race lube. However, it has to be said this is in-house rather than external third-party testing, so you may want to treat it with a pinch or two of salt.

In practice, and having first cleaned my chain and drivetrain using an ultrasonic cleaner, I found the lube worked very well. This is a time-consuming process as, once the chain was thoroughly clean, I then applied the Blub lube and left it to dry over night. Yes, this is more of a faff than using a conventional lube, but once the chain has been properly cleaned you don't need to do this again, as there is no longer any oil to clean off.

I found I needed to reapply the lube very infrequently, and in summer while I was racking up a decent mileage, applying the lube once a week was more than adequate, leaving me with a very quiet chain and drivetrain.

However, in wetter weather, I didn't find the lube quite as impressive – in the rain it came off in the same manner as a dry lube, with a squeaking the result.

Value

The £16.99 cost of the Blub lube makes it more expensive than a lot of conventional lubes.

That said, it's much cheaper than the likes of the £36.95 Ceramic Speed UFO Ceramic Speed UFO drip that Matt tested, though he wasn't entirely convinced it lived up to Ceramic Speed's claims, and like the Blub you need to start with a spotless drivetrain.

And it's a mere fraction of the cost of the AbsoluteBlack GraphenLube that's yours for a staggering £114.99 – though at least Dave was very impressed when he tested it, as you'd hope at that sort of price...

This all helps to make the Blub lube a well-priced entry to the world of drip-wax lubes.

Conclusion

I've found this lube great to use over the summer – it was clean and ran smoothly, and if you haven't tried a wax-based lubricant yet, this is certainly worth a go, when you take its cost into account.

Verdict

Clean and quiet wax-based lube with claimed efficiency gains – but it's very much one for summer