Guitar Ted Lube-Off: aMTBer Smoothe Lube 1.5 Results

Perfectly dry, dusty conditions closed out the testing on the aMTBer lube.

Results For aMTBer Smoothe Lube 1.5:

Okay, with the last long ride I put in on this bike the Smoothe Lube 1.5 has been run now for approximately 6.9 hrs. So, a little over the limitation I set, but this will have absolutely no effect upon my verdict here, as you will find out soon. Keep in mind this lube was used earlier, but I found it did not work for wet conditions, so I stripped the chain back down and started all over again.

Secondly, I forgot about all of that and rode this bike on my commute one day where there was some spots of mud on the route. So, in the end, it got about what I did for the test of dry lubes last round and that suits me fine as far as even comparisons go. With that, I will now give my thoughts on this lube.

The Smoothe Lube is supposed to work kind of like a wax treatment, as I understand it, and in that it is very close to the results people give for wax treated chains. There is no dirt sticking to the chain, and absolutely no gunk whatsoever. Shift performance was fine with this lube. The first time I used Smoothe Lube I noticed that the chain switching cogs during shifting was much noisier than with the previous lube I had on. This was not the case during the reapplication period. Not sure why that might have been, but it was a pleasant result. Other than the fiddly way the instructions give for application, there wasn't much to dislike here when I got going on the Smoothe Lube the second time. That is until........

Smoothe Lube 1.5 stays pretty clean. Here seen in the middle of my last gravel ride.

squeak....squeak...squeak...!

The chain after about 4 hours was not lubricated anymore. Well....not if the squeaking was telling me what I thought it was telling me. Obviously, if I were to go by aMTBer directive, I probably should have reapplied before that final ride. But here's the rub with that..... With the other top performing lubes I have used I don't have to do that. 

While Smoothe Lube works fine, it requires that you use more of it more often. Also, let's not forget, it just does not hold up in wet conditions at all. At least not here in the Mid-West.

With the fussy application rules, the short lived performance, and dreadful resistance to wet conditions, I cannot recommend this lube to gravel riders. There are just too many better choices for dry weather performance where you may see a brief shower, a water crossing, or an occasional wet road. The Muc-Off Ceramic C-3 and DuMonde Tech products for dry conditions far outperform the aMTBer Smoothe Lube in my testing. I'd even go with something like the Squirt Lube over this Smoothe Lube if what you are after is more a wax based product.

I know there are big fans of this lube out there and even my friend, Grannygear, swears by this stuff out in SoCal. So, I may be completely off my rocker here in terms of what many people think, but I gave this two shots and I have come away not very impressed. So it is what it is. Take this review for what it is worth to you. (Which may not be much, admittedly- especially if you like this stuff)

Note: aMTBer sent this lube for test and review at no charge. I was not paid, nor bribed for this review and I always strive to give my honest thoughts and views throughout.