Ryder Innovation Luberetta

The Ryder Innovation Luberetta aims to reduce waste by making sure you only lubricate the rollers of your chain. It does work, although it's slower than using a standard squirty bottle and it's not exactly a game changers. It's inexpensive, handy and great for conserving spendy lube, though and would make a good gift.

Most of us, myself included, liberally apply lube and end up wasting a fair bit on parts of the chain that don't actually need it. This results in either having to wipe off the excess or it 'gunking' up during use. The Luberetta aims to overcome this by only applying lube where it's needed –on the rollers.

> Buy now: Ryder Innovation Luberetta from Freewheel for £4.99

The idea is that surface tension keeps the lube in the bottle until it comes in to contact with a roller, at which point a single drop is let out. It works too, though you do have to go slightly slower that with a standard squirty bottle to avoid missing links.

I didn't end up with an excess of lube on my chain, or the floor for that matter, and the whole process is certainly quicker than alternative waste-reducing methods such as using a pipette, a lá Revolube. Videos of how to use the applicator can be found here, but it is pretty self explanatory.

The little bottle holds 15ml, though when you buy it it's just air. Ryder Innovation is apparently working on its own yellow wax lube, but this a bottle only so I filled it with a few different brands, such as Muc-Off C3 Ceramic and Zefal Pro Dry. It worked well with both despite a big difference in viscosities, though inevitably the thicker lube needs a bit more squeezing to get it out.

The head of bottle is angled which feels natural to use, and the guides will happily fit 9-12 speed chains with no issues. The silicone fins are supposed to remove dirt, which I found of limited use: if your chain is that grubby it needs a proper degrease, and there's not enough inwards pressure to clean the inner links anyway.

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Ryder says the spare silicone dispensers that you get with the Luberetta will be good for 100+ applications and as I've got 30 out of the first one this seems like a realistic claim.

Cleverly, the plastic cap has a little pin to prevent the hole getting blocked, so I found the Luberetta just as effective after six weeks of use as when new. It could be a useful little thing for bike packing too.

Value

We haven't tested many things like this. The Finish Line No Drip Chain Lube Kit is similar and goes for £13.99, but that comes with a 4oz (118ml) bottle of lube. It's available on its own and empty if you search around, but it's typically £7-8, though.

Overall

The Luberetta effectively applies lube and minimises wastage, but is it completely necessary? No, not really. For the cheap stuff it's a bit too much of a faff for me, but for £4.99 this appeals to me as a stocking filler far more than another bike-shaped pizza cutter – plus it's great for dispensing fancy/expensive lube you want to be frugal with.

Verdict

Reduces waste and stops your chain's sides from gumming up, but it's only slightly better than the usual methods