I have had great luck with CRC Electrical Cleaner, someone showed me as a trick 15 years ago to clean out STI's and Rapidfire mechanisms and it works well. Just hose it in there while clicking back and forth. Maybe wear gloves. Gets the gunk out, and then dries up fast. Then I usually spray back, lightly with some sort of very light lube, maybe an hour later while shifting through gears.
Originally Posted by
cyccommute
What is this thing that people have against WD-40? Go read the material safety data sheets on WD-40 and Triflow. They are essentially the same thing. They use the same solvent mixture and use very similar oil for the lubrication in similar concentrations. The only real difference is that Triflow has amyl acetate in it so that it smells like bananas.
My main point is that if you are going to use either, it doesn’t matter which. If you want to remove all the old grease…not a good idea in my opinion…use a spray solvent that doesn’t contain oil, then use a spray oil. Or, if you want to keep it simple, use either spray lube and leave it at that. Doing multiple steps doesn’t make for better lubrication.
Just cause you put up the challenge, I looked at the MSDS of TriFlow and WD40. I am no chemist but the ingredients look somewhat different and %'s look different to me other than petroleum. That said WD-40 is a decent cleaner but tends to leave a film that is excellent at attracting dust in the long term, TriFlow works very similarly but seems to do a better job of lubrication and less dust collection over the long term. All my opinion and I am sure others would say different, but that has been my experience.