Originally Posted by
wolfchild
Chain lubing shouldn't be a complex chemistry experiment. Here are 4 simple easy to follow steps to successful chain lubing / cleaning.
Step 1....Wipe the dirty chain with a rag. You can use a little bit of solvent of your choice or rubbing alcohol.
Step 2....Put a drop of oil in each individual link'
Step 3....Spin the cranks to distribute the oil through the whole chain
Step 4...Wipe off any excess oil with a rag.
With the right choice of chain lubricant, you can skip step one…and pretty much all the other steps as well.
Easy peasy, no need to remove a chain from the bike, no need to mix and boil dangerous chemicals and risk an explosion and fire.
While I agree, oil based lubricants are the reason that people need the elaborate steps for cleaning chains, drivetrains, and bicycles. The pictures I posted above are an example of the over use of oil but the vast majority of bicycles I work on at my co-op are just slightly less filthy. My picture in post 55 is typical of what my drivetrain looks like all the time. I don’t have to wipe or clean or do anything to the chain, drivetrain, nor bike to make it look that way.
People who hot wax have been convinced by others that they need to do elaborate cleaning of the chain for wax to work. There is really no reason for doing so. There really isn’t any reason for doing elaborate multistep cleaning of oiled chains either. They need to be cleaned more often because of the oil but the procedure needs to be no more complicated than a 30 second vigorous agitation of the chain in mineral spirits…which is relatively benign.