shovelhd

When the chain starts leaving gunk on the derailleur jockey wheels, it's time to completely clean the drivetrain. I have a parts washer with mineral spirits. The chain and cassette are removed and cleaned while the crank and derailleurs are cleaned on the bike. How often depends on conditions. It could be every 3-4 weeks or it could be twice in one week.

Ygduf

if you live in dry climate, ceramic chain lube is awesome. always clean, just needs a little more frequent application but since there is no cleaning part, not even wipe-down, it takes 5 seconds.

topflightpro

I will sometimes use something like Simple Green to clean my chain. I either spray it on the chain and hose it off or I spray it on a rag and wipe the chain. I also sometimes just use WD-40 to clean the chain. Both have worked fine for me.

But I only take the chain off if I am replacing it.

Creatre

Um my crank and derailleurs are basically constantly covered in that gunk.

I'm pretty sure if I had a mechanic that prepped and cleaned my bike I'd gain like 5-10w. I am horrible at upkeep. Maybe I'll work on that. Why spend all those hours of training if you leave the mechanics in crap condition.

MDcatV

that's serious.

I use one of those chain cleaner thingy's every few weeks, it takes off the gunk, then I use a brush and rags to clean the jockey wheels and chainrings. I only take off a chain to replace it.

aaronmcd

Too bad USAC rankings don't count for anything.

Cat 4: 93rd percentile in crits, 98th in road, 1/20 upgrade points...

Maybe I just need to clean my drivetrain every now and then.

revchuck 

I degrease mine with a chain scrubber when it gets noticeably funky or after riding in the rain, whichever comes first. Otherwise, I lube it weekly, wipe it down well and wipe off the jockey wheels. The cassette gets cleaned on the bike when the chain gets scrubbed.

mattm

I think I brought some gunk from Seattle or something, it won't seem to go away even after I got a new chain and cleaned (or tried to) my drivetrain.

Just need a new bike to start fresh!!

mattm

I believe they were invented purely for cx callups.. which is about as dumb as cx itself.

However they are pretty good for bragging rights, if you are highly ranked!

grolby

Yep, I'm the same way. It's especially bad right now, though, as I don't have a driveway or parking lot to bring the bike out to. I have to take it out to the sidewalk, and that means carrying it and all my cleaning supplies down from the fifth floor. I don't know WTF I'm going to do when 'cross season rolls around, but I'm going to have to come up with something.

grolby

Which is funny, cause everyone around here uses crossresults.com rankings for call-ups in the non-UCI races.

gsteinb

Turns out I out a small crack in the sidewall of my 808 on a pothole last Tuesday.

carpediemracing 

I do a quick drivetrain clean. Since the hose is sometimes hard to retrieve I use the "way I did it when I lived in an apartment" way, which is to use water bottles for rinsing water.

Sprinter della Casa: How To - Cleaning The Bike Quick

The key tool:
Sprinter della Casa: How To - Clean Your Chain

I use Simple Green.

I use one of those supermarket reusable bags, carry 6-8 bottles to the bike, and go at it. I have a spray thing of Simple Green, the Grunge Brush for the center part of the chain and the sides, and a regular Park/Pedros brush (meaning I have two that I use interchangeably) for the cassette/pulleys/cages and detail work on the chain.

I leave everything on the bike.

If I ride outside and it rains then I usually wash the bike before I go inside, it's already wet/dirty etc. Otherwise it's every month or so since I ride outside so rarely. It's every 2-3 months in the winter, whenever it's warmer than 30-35 deg outside.

shovelhd

Exeter claims at least two Zipps.

shovelhd

Chains are $18 each. Chainrings are $150 a set. DA cassettes are $200 each. Clean drivetrains save money.

gsteinb

Frustrating. Being a coffee shop ride guy has perks.

globecanvas

You do know that for the online USAC ranking report, lower percentile is better, right?

aaronmcd

Lower percent is better. So I take the 7% number to get 93rd percentile, etc.

TMonk

wow i actually got a decent bonus this year. kewl.

Ygduf

I get really meager "bonuses" each year, like 1% of my pay. But, in the busiest week of the year last week I did score 20 hours of OT and 4 full days of double-time which ends up being like 4-5% of my yearly pay on top of my usual check.

shovelhd

Yah. You know what's frustrating? Being in great form going into an important week and ending up on the ground with no idea what the hell happened and going home torn up with a messed up groin and finger that may need surgery, then getting back on the bike a few days later and struggling mightily on efforts that were cake a week ago.

TMonk

wow. i miss overtime pay.

big john

That sucks, shovel. Hope you can get back to normal quickly.

tetonrider

take comfort in the fact that you haven't lost fitness in the past week. in fact, there are some ways to take it as rest (albeit forced, but you benefit) -- or there are other non-bike ways to keep blood flowing.

seriously--at least you are not in the hospital.

was talking with a friend today who had surgery on his abdomen about a month ago. super strong guy, national champ rider, among other accomplishments. a few weeks ago it took him 25' to walk a mile, and now he's running in about 6' per mile. he was fixated on the fact that he was doing 5' repeats a few days before his surgery. i told him he could change his mind and actually enjoy this time -- he's improving every single time he gets out there. he'll soon be back to normal and have to work all year to be 1" faster per mile.

jsutkeepspining

the annoying thing about crashing is the instantaneous 5-10 lbs you gain from the water retention. Plus the pain and stuff.