Bicycle Mechanics - chain cleaning (easy off?)

Hey i am trying to clean my chain, and right now its been soaking a sink of dawn, where i scrubbed it with a tooth brush, then i put it in a container of dawn and shaked it for a few minutes, then placed it back in a newly refilled sink of dawn.

i just found under the sink this oven degreaser called easy off. do you think that would be too harsh for my chain?

Probably not but it's harsh on your hands and any skin that comes in contact. Buy some citrus cleaner for a few dollars. It works, its fast, and its clean.

haha i just read this thread, i think i am going to avoid oven degreasers...

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=94828&highlight=easy+off

Battery Acid?:roflmao2::lol::roflmao2::twitchy::D

(another vote AGAINST oven-cleaner)

Dish soap does not work very well. Dish detergent works better. But really a degreaser or a even a petroleum product (Wd-40, for instance) works wonders. And a little scrubbing is always in order if it has been a while.

jim

Or back when men were men, we just used gasoline or Stoddard solvent.

Dunk it in mineral spirits/paint thinner to degrease. If you want to go the non petroleum method, buy some Simple Green or Castrol Purple Degreaser.

Use EasyOff only if you BBQed with your chain.

Using Easy Off oven cleaner on your chain is really overkill. That is some toxic / caustic stuff. I use Simple Green in a Park Tools chain cleaner on the bike. 5 mintes to clean and rise the chain. Let it dry and then re-lube. 10-15 minutes is total time.

Easy Off. Now I've heard everything. bk

your mom is gonna be pissed when she sees what you've done to her kitchen!

Easy Off. Now I've heard everything. bk

It comes up several times per year.

I'm holding out for the bead-blasting, belt-sanding inquiry, but ... so far ... nuttin' ;)

I never understood... why is oven and BBQ cleaner so toxic and awful if we are putting it on surfaces where we place FOOD we EAT?

I never understood... why is oven and BBQ cleaner so toxic and awful if we are putting it on surfaces where we place FOOD we EAT?

Because ... if you research it thoroughly enough ... it's probably STILL safer than the food that most of us eat :D

Why?

Why oh why?

Why bother? It isn't a motorcycle chain. By the time you wear a chain out, your cassette and rings will be gone anyway. Time wasted.

You'd be better off making an appropriate selection of lubricant for your environment. Keep it from rusting in wet environments (like Tokyo Japan, Hawaii, Thailand, etc.) or waxes/very light lubes in dry environments (like New Mexico, Utah, Colorado...). I've lived and worked as a bike mech in all of those places. I'm also an avid motorcyclist.

Honestly, you'd be better putting that time into your pivots, keeping up with your suspension, and keeping your brakes well adjusted. Chains are pretty rock bottom when it comes to maintenance.

So what type of lube do you use in Japan? I want to know. I have about 500 miles on my new chain I want to clean it. Is it too early?

I never understood... why is oven and BBQ cleaner so toxic and awful if we are putting it on surfaces where we place FOOD we EAT?

By the time you've used Easy-Off in your oven and followed directions, any residual sodium hydroxide (the nasty stuff in it that turns your skin/eyes into soap and burns the daylights out of you) will have turned into sodium carbonate - which, for all intents and purposes, is harmless.

i only decided to clean because i rode my single speed +1000 miles the first 2-3 months when i got it 6 months ago, then problably another 500 since then. yeah a friend suggested simple green

Is it dirty? Gummed up? Dry?

I like to use a light oil in moist environments. You can use wax too, which I generally prefer overall. Taking a rag and wiping off the large debris, or even just giving it a good spray with the rest of the bike, then drying it off, and slapping some new lube on it is more than adequate.

Soaking a bicycle chain overnight though... that's just way over the top. I mean, if you think that you're curing anything by doing that with a *bicycle* chain, you're not. If you have the kinds of problems due to rust that are affecting the chain's performance, just buy a new chain; soaking isn't going to undo that damage.