Green Oil Agent Apple Extreme Immersion 300ml

StraelGuy wrote:

Cheers dude, that looks extremely promising. Will order and report back.

Cheers, would be interested in what you reckon on it.

StraelGuy wrote:

There's a lot of greenwash about. I actually have 5L of that exact stuff and it isn't a citrus degreaser, it's an alkaline cleaner - doesn't even smell of citrus ...

Choose another one then, wasn't trying to advocate any one in particular. Most degreasers are moderately to highly akaline,  the citrus element is a solvent.

Edit : here you go, while i'm waiting for tests to run

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Citraclean-Citrus-Degreaser-Concentrate-Litres/...

StraelGuy wrote:

When I first, first got into cycling at uni around 1990, the next 'big thing' was citrus degreasers made by distilling the oils out of waste orange peel. They were absolutely superb, thery stripped oil and grease off a chain the same way petrol does but they seem to have fallen by the wayside somewhat. I looked recently and, while you can still get the ridiculously overpriced cycling branded stuff, they don't seem to be available commercially ie at sensible prices anywhere. I'd ditch the white spirit in a flash if you could get a litre of that stuff for three or four quid!

There's loads of it about, try Amazon or the more industrial suppliers e.g.

https://www.citrus-cleaning-supplies.co.uk/products/Chemicals/Housekeepi...

StraelGuy wrote:

No Simon, I'm not one of those people. I would cheerfully feed anyone I caught throwing fast food wrappers out of a car window through a wood chipper. My point was that while the world is still getting through billions of litres of petrol and diesel a day, cyclists using a few hundred litres per year between them is not something I am going to lose sleep over. I recycle EVERYTHING I can and the used white sprit goes to the dump where it is recycled.

But  surely if there is a cleaner/greener solution out there, that works just as well as the one that is damaging the environment, why not use it (or at least try it)?

StraelGuy wrote:

I use white spirit, like petrol but less stinky. Similar point though. Whilst we're all still driving diesels and petrol and I'm getting through 20 litres of diesel a week in the car, I'm not going to worry about using a couple of litres of white spirit per year.

Is there no perceived benefit of reducing your own direct exposure to the chemicals? Or the fact that it will contaminate the soil and end up in our rivers?

Perhaps your logic is not so dissimilar to the people who throw their half-empty Relentless cans and McD litter out on the roadside near my work. Since they're only adding one item to the dozens that are already there, what difference does it make?

Simon E wrote:

StraelGuy wrote:

I use white spirit, like petrol but less stinky. Similar point though. Whilst we're all still driving diesels and petrol and I'm getting through 20 litres of diesel a week in the car, I'm not going to worry about using a couple of litres of white spirit per year.

Is there no perceived benefit of reducing your own direct exposure to the chemicals? Or the fact that it will contaminate the soil and end up in our rivers?

Perhaps your logic is not so dissimilar to the people who throw their half-empty Relentless cans and McD litter out on the roadside near my work. Since they're only adding one item to the dozens that are already there, what difference does it make?

I think that's a false analogy.  Because the pile of litter is composed entirely of the accumulation of such individual items, it's just the sum total of the actions of such individual litterers.  Whereas the previous poster is comparing two different forms of contamination, one of which occurs on a much larger scale than the other.

  It's a question of where it's worth concentrating effort to get the biggest effect.   With a finite amount of effort and money available, you'd get vastly better results putting that work, ingenuity, and expense into reducing the deisel use than in putting it into worrying about the bike oil.

FluffyKittenofTindalos wrote:

I think that's a false analogy.  Because the pile of litter is composed entirely of the accumulation of such individual items, it's just the sum total of the actions of such individual litterers.  Whereas the previous poster is comparing two different forms of contamination, one of which occurs on a much larger scale than the other.

 

  It's a question of where it's worth concentrating effort to get the biggest effect.   With a finite amount of effort and money available, you'd get vastly better results putting that work, ingenuity, and expense into reducing the deisel use than in putting it into worrying about the bike oil.

Interesting, thanks.

One point: there's very little effort involved in choosing to buy an environmentally benign/gentle product for cleaning. In contrast, reducing vehicle mileage, fuel consumption & emissions is a much harder thing to achieve. IMHO they may be little gains but they are still gains.

I'd also not want to underestimate the impact of many people making these positive choices. Look at the plastic bag tax or recent outcry over marine plastic to recognise that significant change can be brought about by many people making such choices.

And isn't having more eco-friendly products (or fewer harmful products) in bike shops, their workshops and our homes a good thing? If I was a mechanic at my LBS I'd definitely want to use benign cleaners & lubes instead of petroleum-based ones all day, regardless of whether I drove a petrol/diesel vehicle to work and back.