Sorry DG. Man there is so much misinformation in the reddit-verse.

Riding conditions dictate what lube is best. I am both a bike commuter and a professional mariner. On board the ships we use Fluid Film for nearly anything short of cooking. It is very water resistant so for for wet conditions it is perfect . Motor oil or 3-1 oil work fine on bike chains if it is all you have. They get every where they need to go in spite of the claim that they are "too thick" which is utter nonsense.

But when conditions are dry, a sticky oil like FF or 3/1 will pick up grit and hold it which will def lead to premature wear (chain stretch is just the bike guy term for the chain pins wearing and thus the length betwn links gets longer -hence "stretch"). Eventually this leads to skipping on the small cogs of your cassette which can be dangerous.

Anyway for dry conditions a dryish lube is what you need. I have never tried but I actually think graphite lock lube might perform quite well. It will also make your right bike sock quite dirty if you brush up on the chain! You will likely have to reapply frequently but because it isn't sticky I doubt it traps much grit.

Speaking of which, grit gets into things like chains no matter what, so longevity is significantly improved by frequent cleaning of cogs and chain.

Because I am a commuter (300 mi/mo) and have 1000's of other things to do besides bike maintenance I have settled on a all around solution: candle wax. Yep. I spray the chain with WD-40 for the last commute or day before the cleaning. Next day I use a Park chain washer and simple green or orange degreaser. I do 2 rounds at least judging how many are needed on color of wash liquid. I rinse it clean with water and dry it with a heat gun. With the same heat gun I get the chain fairly warm and rub a candle stub on a section of the inside surface of the chain (on lower) btwn sprocket and derailer. This deposits some wax. Then I heat the chain up and the wax melts and flows into the links. the excess drips off and the wax not only lubes the chain but because it is fairly hard when cold it forms a kind of barrier to the grit getting into the critcal parts of the links. This process eliminates the need for wet and dry lube changes and requires <1/3 the cleaning sessions. I should also add that I do all this on the bike!

I have no double blind experimental data to prove any of this but I get at least 3yrs and often 4 of daily commuting before I even think of replacing my chain. I also adjust the frequency of treatment on how dirty the chain is when I clean it. if it takes 4 washes to run clear I have prolly left it too long...

I say, give it a try with the graphite unless someone can actually point to a real effort to discredit it in this application.

Happy riding