# White Lightning



## Strings-n-Spokes (Oct 29, 2008)

Almost every bike that I get has hub issues, usually the brake doesn't work, barely works, or turns into a fixie when you pedal backwards.  My latest bike and old boys Roadmaster with curved fender braces slipped randomly when pedaling.  I do not yet know how to rebuild a coaster hub, so what I have been doing is Putting White Lightning into the oil port. It does the job!!!  Seventy year old hubs start working like they are brand new.  The brakes on these things start working as well as a new bike, like one of my Kustom Kruisers or my Felt cruiser.  It even fixed the skipping/slipping in the Roadmaster yesterday.  White Lightning is a neat product, a Wax suspended in a solvent, when applied the solvent evaporates leaving the wax to lubricate.  Since dirt does not stick to the stuff it works great on chains, and keeps your pants clean, but the stuff works on everything from knives to door hinges and in some applications it is almost a permanent lubricant.  

A word of caution, if you put this in an old hub be ready for some bad stuff to come out the sides as the old dirt and crap is replaced and cleaned out, so if you have brand new white walls on an old bike (like I did yesterday) you might want to protect them from the nasty that drips out of the side of the axle.


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## PCHiggin (Oct 29, 2008)

That stuff is loosening the caked on crud,but it really isn't cleaning anything and wax isnt a good lubricant.Your money, but I'd take it apart, clean and regrease everything and reassemble it. Those hubs are not complicated, you can do it. Pat


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## JLarkin (Oct 29, 2008)

No kidding, those hubs are easy.  Disassemble, soak everything overnight in some good degreaser like Purple Power, come back next day with an old toothbrush, scrub everything down, rinse and let it spend the next night in oxylic acid.  After this, rinse, dry, grease the bearings and reassemble.  Amazingly simple and great results.


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## Strings-n-Spokes (Oct 30, 2008)

I know that the hubs wont be hard to take apart and clean guys,  I have been getting two - four bikes a week, and I hardly have time to get them out of the boxes and assemble them, let alone pull the hubs apart and clean them up.  This was just an experiment that I tried with pretty good results.  I thought that I might share my experiences.  I had a Gary Fisher mountain bike with about 3000 miles on it when it was stolen the chain seemed brand new because of the white lightning.  You can use this stuff on whatever or wherever you choose, but you should use it, or at least try it.  I wouldn't waste my time posting this if I didn't think that it might help something somewhere on a bike that you love.

Shane


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## old hotrod (Oct 30, 2008)

Shane, I think the point of the responses is that while it may have worked in this instance, this time, spraying any thin lube into a hub with brake or drive issues is not a "fix". There are proper ways to fix stuff and easy ways, this is an easy way, could cause more damage and even could get someone hurt.
After buying several bikes over the last year, here is what I found. All had hub issues. Spun discs and broken clips. I presume that is probably the reason the bikes got parked years ago to begin with-because they were broken. 
I put a lot of miles on my bikes and would never ride an old bike without going through all of the bearings and brakes. 
And me, Larkin, Higgin are just trying to help you and others so you might take that into consideration-or we wouldn't be wasting out time either.


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## Strings-n-Spokes (Oct 31, 2008)

Hot Rod
You are absolutely right.  I did not mean to sound indignant.  Certainly I do not want anybody getting hurt.  I also do not want anyone to damage their bikes.  The five bikes that I have tried this on all were ridable and working fairly well ,with the exception of the roadmaster.  This was just a little experiment to see if it got the brakes to work a little better.  After reading your reply I am doing to shelve the roadmaster until I see what is going on in the hub to have caused the slipping in the first place.  

Unless I have established a deep distrust within you guys, I would still suggest that you try White Lightning anyway, if you haven't it is very versatile as a lube and corrosion protector and I still have no doubt that you would find numerous SAFE and ACCEPTABLE uses for it.  I was just sharing an experience that I had and I appreciate the responses.  I am learning, probably not as quickly as I should,I guess.  Thanks for straightening out my handlerbars!!

Shane


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## old hotrod (Oct 31, 2008)

No sweat Shane...Many people on here and elsewhere are more than willing to share their tips after years-decades of practice. Each person has to decide on whom to believe, to listen to. That is just life in the pit. Now if I find out you are a retailer or distributor for the stuff, then you become just another sales-slut and lose all credibility...


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## Strings-n-Spokes (Oct 31, 2008)

I guess it would be an honest conclusion Hot Rod,  but I am laughing pretty hard.  I'm not a salesperson for the stuff but I would bet I am on of its biggest advocates. I put it on eveything!!  Suprised that I don't put it on my toast in the morning.  I actually have talked for a few years of having to tattoo a greasy chainring stamp on my calf since my mountain bike no longer leaves one there.


Happy Halloween!!!!!!


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## MartyW (Oct 31, 2008)

Hey Shane,
              I love White Lightning, I too started using it on my Single Speed Mountain Bike and then said hey if it works here...... 

Marty W


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## SirMike1983 (Nov 1, 2008)

I would strongly advise against using White Lightening in a coaster brake hub. White Lightening is a highly flammable wax lubricant-- the bottles I have say keep it away from heat or flame. Coaster brakes heat up quite a bit when a brake is applied long enough (which is why they advise using automotive grade grease-- it resists cooking).  If you have enough White Lightening in the hub and you heat it up enough you could possibly cause the lubricant to catch fire and burn up in the hub. 

White Lightening also dries into a semi-solid coating on everything, so it might also gunk up the hub if it sits long enough. It can mix with the crud already in the hub and make a nasty paste that prevents the hub from working well.

What you want in old hubs is a combination of automotive grease and medium weight oil. On modern or non-oil port hubs you want to use pure, decent quality grease. Automotive grease like lithium grease resists higher temperatures better than the old household brown stuff. I use the green lithium grease that you can get at a decent hardware or automotive store.

If what you want to do is thin the crap in the hub out without opening it up, I would use 20 weight motor oil and let it work in a bit.

The best advice in the long run is to open the hub and clean it out.

But do avoid White Lightening because of the flammability and the fact that it is not a long term solution for cleaning and lubing the hub. I have a bottle of it here and it rarely, if ever, gets used because it is really more suitable for derailleur chains (which I don't have many of at all).


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## Strings-n-Spokes (Nov 2, 2008)

Flaming hubs are probably pretty bad!!!  The stuff is not too flamable once the solvent evaporates,  But your other points are valid and well taken.  The only exception is that I don't understand why you don't think it is useful for single speed chains, but you may have convinced me to stop putting it in the hubs.

Shane


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## SirMike1983 (Nov 2, 2008)

You could use it on a single speed chain if you're inclined to do that. I've just found the return not worth the trouble of putting it on. I've found White Lightening doesn't really smooth up the drive train that much where the chain is just running over the same to gears the entire time. Where I've noticed it helps is on chains that jump over different cogs-- it helps most in the smooth transition from cog to cog. I tried it a couple of times on a chain for a Sturmey Archer hub and cog and found it didn't really smooth things out that much, but it did attract dust and dirt and was not as "self cleaning" as the bottle claimed.


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## MartyW (Nov 2, 2008)

pedal alley said:


> of course i only ride 40-60 miles per day.





I can just picture this in the winter for your 40 - 60 miles in a day


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## Brentville (Nov 3, 2008)

*Flaming hubs*

I just have to say that while the solvent in White Lightning is flammable and probably the wax too, in order to burst into flame you would need oxygen.

I don't know how you would have oxygen in a sealed rear hub.


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## Strings-n-Spokes (Nov 4, 2008)

Here is another point.  If I were ever going fast enough on any of these bikes that my brake heated up and caught anything in the hub on fire even if it were filled with gasoline, at that point I would be peeing my pants thus solving the flaming hub issue.  In that respect I guess it is pretty safe.

Shane


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