Chain cleaning advice

[/quote] Baby wipes and green cannot be used in the same sentence. Having said that I do myself use one to clean carbon frame.[/quote]

Having seen the contents of nappies I’ve known and loved, I can assure you that ‘green’ and’ baby wipe’ CAN be used in the same sentence. 

Knowing what I now know about the silicon sealant dissolving powers of baby wipes, I wouldn’t let them anywhere near my little treasures’ btm.

risoto wrote:

Just found the perfect method and it’s very ‘clean’ and ‘green’. Purchased a tampico brush on Amazon. They are made from a Mexican plant, and that’s the magic part. Dip the brush in hot soapy water, scrub the chain, chain rings and the cassette. Dip the brush in the water regularly. Then you see the magic: the oil comes off the brush. I am not joking. It really works. The whole drivechain looks like new. Then dry chain with a rag and lube it.

I do this about once a week, it takes a couple of minutes and you don’t have dirty degreaser all over the place. During the week I wipe the chain quickly with baby wet napkins. [Billedresultat for tampico brush]

Green, you say?

Quick method = take chain off

Quick method = take chain off, burn it, put new chain on

Long method = take chain off, burn it, Bury it, afix lolly stick crifix, put new chain on

1/  super lazy way (time

1/  super lazy way (time required 30secs)

simply spray on WD40 and wipe with rag and repeat. WD40 is oil and degreaser combination which rates ok in Friction Facts test and great if you are lazy like me. Downside is you have to do this almost every ride. 

2/ Easy way (time required 5mins)

Use a chain cleaner whilst chain is on bike with degreaser (or alcohol or diesel if you dont have degreaser); then soapy water; (optionally repeat) and then allow to dry then lube of choice. If you don’t have a chain cleaner, take off rear wheel and use a chain keeper whilst cleaning.

3/ Thorough way (time required 30mins)

Take chain off using quick link, agigate in degreaser (eg in old water bottle) and repeat 3x, rinse with clean alcohol or spirits then use soapy water (not washing up liquid!) then dry. Then lightly lube rollers (not to excess)

4/ Super-thorough way (time required 1hr)

Take chain off using quick link, bath in degreaser (eg in old water bottle) and repeat 3 or more times, rinse with cellulose thinner (briefly!) then clean alcohol then do ultrasonic bath with either alchohol or water  then dry. Then do immersion wax bath in wax heather which will do deep into links (molton speed wax is a fav but plain parafin wax is fine or some ready made tubs of chain wax from usa). …this will keep the chain dirt resistant for about 500km and save about 5w over regular chain lube.

I always felt I doubted the

I always felt I doubted the endless cleaning of the drivetrain you see recommended on youtube (eg GCN). Then I needed to replace a chain for the first time in probably 25 years – I started riding again a couple of years ago.

New to me was master links and KMC chains. I researched them and they don’t recommend using any kind of degreaser. Just a rag to clean and lube. I have not doubt that some degreaser will be left inside the chain defying the purpose of applying the fresh lube. The pro peloton mechanics do it every day but I bet they change the chains quite often and probaly several times during a grand tour for example. I am not sure that is relevant for non-pros or recreational riders.

Degreasing your chain a couple of times a week is a lot of work, a very messy work also. With my new chain, I put some bio degreaser on a rag to clean the sides of the chain. Then a nail brush to ‘clean’ the rollers without any liquid, just to get the dirt off them. Then I lube with the fantastic oil I just started using: Dynamic. It has won several tests. My drivechain has never felt as smoth. In my experince Muc off is more like a Rip off (as are other highly ‘promoted’ oils).

Even tried WD40 – it’s fantastic and so easy. Just spray it on holding a rag beneath the chain while turn it backwards. Let it sit for couple of minutes and then use the oiled rag to wipe the chain clean.

I am still undecided between Dynamic and WD-40. Next test will to wipe the chain clean with WD-40 and apply the Dynamic lube. I feel the chain runs smoother with Dynamic while WD-40 isn’t bad at all.

Ever ready to reduce the amount of work I do, I religiously follow KMC’s instructions for chain maintenance.  As the world’s biggest chain maker they should know a thing or two and they recommend we never use a bath or solvents.  It will remove lube from inside the rollers, they say, and there is no way to reliably replace it.  I believe them, and only partly because I am lazy.

So, in common with several others here, I wipe and wipe again then add a drop of wax-based lube to each roller and it seems to work. 

If your chain is relatively

If your chain is relatively new (+/- 1000 km) then just wipe the outside with a rag bathed in some cleaner of some type, then add a little new oil. Your rag will never come away clean, but you won’t be washing all the shop grease out from between the rollers. There’s porbably fair debate as to whether there’s any point cleaning it at this stage.

If you’ve left it some time then take the chain & cassette off (It’s not a good idea to use degreasers etc on the bike, as it can get in to your hub body and derailleur pivots etc) and bathe in (an oil) solvent of some type. It really doesn’t matter what type. Personally I use diesel because it leaves an oily film after the solvents have evaporated. Rinse and repeat a couple of times.

Hang up to drip dry (wiping is kind of pointless as it leaves solvent in all the important places, which then degrades your freshly applied oil) put back on bike and apply copious amounts of new oil (the thicker the better really). Then wipe off the excess until your rag does come away (nearly) clean. This is how I treat a race chain, because it looks really good and is silky smooth.

However, on chains that get really dirty a lot, I think this is all kind of pointless, so I just spray with WD40) and ride.  In wet weather I won’t wipe off the excess, in dry weather I will.

What is really really important though, now in the days of fixed pins in the chains, put your chain back on the same way round as you took it off so the pins continue to wear on the same side, or your chain is far more likely to snap.