Peaty’s LinkLube Wet Weather

Peaty's LinkLube Wet Weather has an Irish coffee smell that's severely tempting, but honestly the craic is better if you let your chain drink it instead. It'll run smoothly in terrible weather while looking the very opposite of the worse for wear.

Peaty's makes a couple of key claims about this: one, that it can withstand the 'wettest, filthiest conditions' and two, that it won't turn into the 'thick, impossible to clean gunk which wet lubes are renowned for'. Sure, these are wearyingly common claims, but you know what? Peaty's isn't lying.

Check out our guide to the best bike lubes for more options.

I gave this lube a seriously hard time – by being the very model of a bad customer – and it did impressively well. I did gravel rides in hideous storms before putting the bike away wet, and it took multiple excursions (always in rain, oh the endless sheets of rain) before enough had washed away that rust would start to show on the chain. And my not-all-that-dry shed is pretty good at encouraging rust.

Even at this point the remaining lube was always impressively clean looking; I've had blacker chains with dry lube and summer dust (and probably overapplication in those cases, to be fair). A further encouraging sign is that, despite the abuse, I never had any stiff links to free off either. What lube remained was clearly still working and not all gummed up.

Nevertheless, that remainder is easy enough to clean off, ready for a fresh application.

The bottle is good in that the lid doesn't come right off – it just lifts up with a twist to become a nozzle. It works very well to dispense just the right amount, and exactly where you want it – I never had any issues with wastage.

Sadly, that absolutely delicious smell of coffee fades pretty considerably once the bottle has been open for a few weeks.

Value

Working out at around 15p per millilitre for this 60ml bottle, or a little over 10p/ml for the 120ml size (£12.99), it's a fairly average price for a 'premium' brand. Muc-Off All Weather Lube is £6 for 50ml, or £12 for 120ml, for instance, while NZero Bike Wet Lube is £11.49 for 100ml. You can pay far less, though: Halfords All Weather Lube is £5 for 100ml. I can't tell you how well that will perform, though, and even that Muc-Off lube isn't perfect – it can get very black and gunky pretty quickly. Given its strong performance and easy maintenance, LinkLube feels well worth the money.

Overall

This goes on easily, stays on in terrible conditions, and keeps chains squeak and seizure free for a long time. And then it's easy to clean off and reapply. It's ideal, really.

Verdict

Easy to apply neatly and impressively resistant to becoming a hideous cross between T-cut and Bovril