Lubricating your roller chain is part of any regular bike maintenance, as doing so helps ensure your bike runs smoothly while minimizing wear on the chain over time. Typically, lubricating your chain while it’s still on the bike can be accomplished just by applying it right out of the bottle. It’s simple and it’s straightforward. Is it the most efficient way to get the job done, though? If you asked us yesterday, we would have answered yes, but now that we’ve seen the Flecta Lubri Disc, we guess there is indeed a better way.
A chain lube applicator, the disc allows you to lubricate your bike’s chain in a more efficient manner, allowing you to get the job done without wasting oil or dirtying your hands. Seriously, if you’ve been using a wet lubricant for your bike chain all this time, this is easily the one tool you’ve been missing.
The Flecta Lubri Disc consists of an applicator wheel sandwiched between two plastic discs, with the wheel slightly recessed in order to avoid accidental contact with random surfaces. Instead of applying chain lube directly from the bottle, you drop it onto the wheel, which is large enough to absorb 10 applications’ worth of the substance. Once it’s lubed up, you simply pinch the outside discs between your fingers, press the wheel against the bike chain, and roll it along the entire chain’s length, making sure to go over both top and bottom sides to get everything properly oiled.
It uses an applicator wheel that, the outfit describes, as being made from a semi-soft material that can absorb any type of low-to-medium viscosity oil in its fluid-conducting body. This allows it to absorb and store a good amount of chain lube effectively (no drips), so you can just bring the disc along and leave the bottle at home when you go out riding. When pressed against the chain, the pressure applied on the wheel causes some of the oil to come out and transfer onto the chain surface. Run it through the length of the chain and you effectively lube the whole thing with very little oil wasted.
According to the outfit, using the Lubri Disc can save you up to 90 percent of chain oil that would otherwise drip down to the ground or splash around during application. It measures 2.5 x 0.75 inches (diameter x thickness) and weighs just 1.4 ounces, making it easy to stash inside your everyday riding toolkit. Finger molds on the disc enable a secure grip, while built-in magnets allow it to simply stick onto any ferrous metal surface.
Do note, it works only with wet chain lubes, so it’s not something you’ll want to use if you prefer wax and solvent-based lubricants. Also, the fact that it’s just an absorbent wheel makes it guaranteed to work with, pretty much, any kind of bike chain, so anyone can use it, regardless of what kind of bicycles they own.
A Kickstarter campaign is currently running for the Flecta Lubri Disc. You can reserve a unit for pledges starting at €19.