It might come as a surprise to those who don’t own an e-bike, but you can’t lube an eMTB chain in the normal way by backspinning the cranks with the bike on the ground. That’s because the chainring assembly is fixed to the motor, rather than the right crankarm. Pushing the pedals forward drives the chain, but backpedaling spins the crankarms and leaves the chainring (and chain) in place.
Which makes it tough to lube your eMTB chain if you don’t have a work stand. And even if you do have a stand, e-bikes are HEAVY, and lifting them is a chore.
Enter the Squirt eZ Luber. The tool attaches to an eMTB crankarm and the chainring assembly, pinning the two together so that rotating the crankarms backward cycles the chain just like on a normal bike. This allows riders to add a quick shot of lube at the trailhead, say, without having to lift the rear wheel off the ground.
When adding lube to a chain, “the natural motion is to tip the lubricant bottle towards the rear of the bike and let the nozzle touch the rollers of the chain as one spins the cranks backwards,” Danie Van Wyk, of Squirt Cycling Products, said in a press release for the eZ Luber. “But this doesn’t work on an e-bike. Even with two people, driving the chain forward produces an unnatural position while lubricating the chain and makes it difficult to distribute the lubrication uniformly along the entire chain.”
Not only does the fixed chainring assembly on e-bikes make lubing difficult, it can also prevent riders from cycling the chain backward to eject sticks or debris from the derailleur by backpedaling while riding. However, riders should not attempt to ride with the Squirt eZ Luber attached to the crankset.
The Squirt eZ Luber is offered in multiple colors and is priced at $29.60 in the US. Squirt hasn’t announced availability details as of press time.
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