You charge your phone, your watch, your freakin’ glasses, your bike – why not also have to charge your… chain lube?

Canadian gravel racer Andrew L’Esperance and Faction Bike Studio built an electronic ‘chain lube dripper’ that was in action at the recent super muddy 350km Unbound Gravel Race in Kansas, USA. 

 A handlebar button doses your chain mid-race — one second tap, full chain soaked, which worlsd best if pedalling at 75rpm, apparently. The whole system hides inside the seat post and weighs just 100 grams.

Why? 

Because 200km of Kansas dust and mud is absolutely brutal on a drivetrain, and when you’re racing for eight hours, every watt counts, so a smooth running chain is almost priceless.

Mud gets everywhere. Eventually, enough grit packs into the links to prevent the chain from fully seating on the chainring, causing it to skip and jump.

One rider, Chris Mehlman, who did the 560km Unbound XL race, even admitted, after running out of water and miles from an aid station, to peeing on his chain to try to clear the mud.

“I did, I peed on it. The key is you’ve got to aim it directly from above, so it actually washes the grit out.”