kill.cactus

Anyone know of any around the house cleaners that will work on chains and cassetts and whatever else usually gets dirty on a bike without damaging the bike? I mean I could just get some solvent stuff from nashbar but the whole shipping thing and all that inconvenience... Does anyone use common brand name stuff to clean their bikes?

Thanks

DieselDan

Simple Green, WD-40, Orange Clean, Dawn, diesel #2, and I could go on. Just about any mild degreaser will work. Whatever works best for you is up to you.

kill.cactus

Oh wow. That was an unexpectedly long list ^.^

But with grime and crap should I be sloshing on dawn/water concoction onto the lower part of the bike and washing off well? Or will that hurt the bike?

P

bkaapcke

Simple green, windex and brake kleen are all I need to do the whole bike. Oh yeah, I use Reem 'N' Kleen pipe cleaners too. bk

moxfyre

I use Simple Green. Good for cleaning chains and other moving parts, good for getting dirt off frames. Non-toxic, cheap, effective, smells good. Works at least as well as the expensive high-zoot Pedro's Citrus Bike Degreaser.

CastIron

Though not good for finished parts, the jet spray carb cleaner from auto parts stores will do nicely on the ole drivetrain. I use it in winter when the wet lube finally gets too nasty. Keep it well away from carbon and nice paint.

rlotz

I've actually read that simple green isn't as non-toxic as they lead you to believe. While certainly not as bad as others, I know I've found alternatives.

For degreasing I've had great luck with biodiesel, its cheap, non-toxic, and readily available (for me).

MudPie

+1. Simple Green is very available and effective. And it's water soluble, so it can be disposed of in a sanitary sewer system. Also, I've used some citrus (orange) based cleaners with equal success and they smell much better than Simple Green.

peripatetic

DUDE! STOP TELLING EVERYONE SIMPLE GREEN IS NON-TOXIC. You have stock in the company or something?

Spray a few squirts on a bike in an enclosed room and ask yourself if those coughing convulsions you're suffering indicate benign non-toxicity. Simple Green's active ingredient is lye, which is highly toxic. It should be used with gloves in a well-ventilated environment, just like brake cleaner, diesel, kerosene, mineral spirits, etc. EPA warns that indoor air quality is worse than outdoor in all major urban areas in the United States. This is due to the proliferation of air-borne cleaning chemicals used in unventilated environments. If you use any of these chemicals indoors, keep the windows open and a fan on, and leave the room frequently to breathe fresh air. Best is to use it outdoors.

Additionally, Simple Green promotes itself as 'biodegradeable', but the heavy amounts of grease that you might mix it with are not good to flush down any drain (Anyone remember the Exxon Valdez and all those pics of water life covered in oil?) Follow Simple Green's fine-print instructions and 'dispose of greaseates properly', i.e. not down the drain.

moxfyre

Hah, no! I just think it's better than a lot of the alternatives people have used (including myself, used to use paint thinner). All right, from what you and others have posted, sounds like I've been seriously overselling it.... and should be more careful with it myself. I'll stop now.

MudPie

I think a sanitary sewer will handle simple green mixed with bicycle gunk. The majority of the gunk on bicyles is more dirt with a little oil to bind it together. A sanitary sewer is designed to handle these loads. The solids (dirt) will be settled out, and the small amount of oil is probably digested in the process. The Simple Green probably starts breaking down the oil. I'll venture to say a pair of greasy auto mechanic overalls contains more grease/oil than what is on our bikes. Yet, we could wash these overalls and dispose of the oily/greasy drain water into the sanitary sewer system.

Now, I wouldn't dump it into a storm drain that feeds directly into the ocean - that's not good.

MudPie

I think we can agree it is less toxic than some of the alternatives, especially when compared with most petroleum products or chlorinated solvents. I too am a reformed paint thinner user (20 years ago).

peripatetic

Fair enough. But

(1) I don't know about nice, clean, newer suburban places, but here in NYC, I don't really see it as a good thing to put much else other than my own fluids and water down the drain. Not b/c of the environment so much as the thought of all the stress I'm putting on all these old pipes. It may be different in others' neck of the woods. Also, as I understand it, sewage treatment isn't all the uneducated public is educated to think it is. Basically, it's a bunch of chlorine, maybe some bacterial-eating algae and a few other things, enough to render it not-deadly to the world or any potential water source it may eventually be released into. But that doesn't make it good.

(2) I'm still not buying the "Simple Green breaks down the oil" argument. Give me a good chemical explanation for this, then I'll start believing it. The way I see it, the Simple Green breaks up the oil enough to make it water-soluble, but this doesn't mean it breaks it down in a chemical sense as much as a physical one. I don't see the chain as being a horrible source for oil, but I was thinking more of such activities as hub overhauls: the amount of greaseate waste that generates is quite gross, and when mixed with Simple Green, tempting to just dump down any hole. It seems to me the idea of saving the bad gunk and keeping it separated, then eventually disposing of it properly at a gas station or toxic cleanup site is just a bit better.

I had all this explained to me by a chemist on this board who I asked about it. He told me he uses mineral spirits and keeps his wastes separated, burns off any excess. Yes, now you're talking bad for the air, but that still seems a bit more benign.

Mox, sorry, didn't mean to be so snippy; but hey, aren't you a science grad?

Ultimately, I find all this stuff a tad depressing. On a most abstract and philosophical (i.e. non-useful) level, oil's just nasty, IMHO.

Rant over.

Bobby Lex

The few drops of oil cyclists put on their chains are hardly comparable to the Exxon Valdez spill for heavens sake!

"Heavy amounts of grease"? We're talking about bicycles here, not bulldozers.

Calm down. The sky is not falling.

Bob