Initially, chains were simply just oiled. There are numerous excellent chain oils out there. Oil's primary advantage is that it is generally inexpensive, long wearing, and easy to apply and maintain.
However, oil has a greater tendency to fling dirt off the chain and onto everything else (rims, garage floor, even riding gear). For this reason the industry started to introduce bike chain oil alternatives that fling less to keep the bike's exterior parts cleaner. However, these modern tech dry or wax based lubricants while excellent for road bikes tend not to be favored for those who ride off-road. Most motocross riders prefer to have an oiled chain over wax or dry lubrication.
Frequent oiling with inexpensive basic chain oil is better than infrequent use with an expensive product. Failure to keep your chain properly lubricated will lead to premature wear and tear, and even potential failure in extreme cases. On my first motorcycle, a chain driven Vulcan 500, all I used was the cheapest spray on chain oil bought from the local automotive big box store. It did the job just fine, but it was a little on the messy side compared to using wax or a Scot toiler.
A smart farcie for your ride is to install an aftermarket reservoir based automatic chain-oiler such as the Scot toiler. These consist of a reservoir which contains special clean formula chain oil, and a drip mechanism to the rear sprocket that is normally powered off the vacuum from the fuel injection or carburetor. The device allows you to set the drip rate from a scale of 1-10 depending on your riding conditions. For those in clean dry areas and who can safely run the unit at its lowest drip setting, it is not unheard of to get more than a few thousand kilometers' before needing to refill the reservoir.
Refilling
Next up is dry lubricant. Normally, it is a spray containing Teflon or white graphite, which is extremely slippery, yet dry to the touch once applied. Dry lubricant's strength is that doesn't fling off so your rims and garage floor stay clean. It also doesn't attract dirt as the lubricant is dry and not sticky to the touch like traditional chain oil or in some cases wax. I have zero experience with using dry lubricant as I have heard from riding buddies that used it that it doesn't stand up that well in wet rainy conditions. As I live on Canada's West Coast, and we get very rainy fall and winter weather, I have opted to avoid using this style of chain lubricant so far.
Chain Wax is the next upgraded chemical technology level for chain maintenance. Chain wax is applied to a warm chain and takes about 15 minutes to set up. After that time, it is dry and both resists flinging mess, and in theory will better protect the chain from the elements as the wax provides additional protection to your precious links. However, chain wax isn't perfect either. It should not be applied to a previously oiled chain until it has been thoroughly cleaned. Cleaning a waxed chain can also be a little more challenging than an oiled one, as the waxed surface clings much better than oil and hence is more difficult to remove than a surface that is simply oiled. I have used both spray oil, and spray chain wax, and despite the extra cleaning effort my personal preference is chain wax.
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