Originally Posted by
Daytrip
there's nothing like thoroughly cleaning the chain in a can of solvent
So how clean is "thoroughly clean"?
I put about 500 miles on my new bike without touching the chain, following Sheldon's advice to run on the factory grease for as long as possible. 3 weeks ago, I wiped the chain with a solvent-soaked rag and lubed. Today (200 miles later), I was wiping it down again and decided there was a lot of grit on the inside of the plates, that I wasn't getting to. I ended up going over the chain with solvent and a toothbrush. I was surprised to find that even after several passes, the solvent I was wiping off was still quite dirty. I hope I didn't flush a ton of fine grit into the inside of the chain.
So since what I did is probably the equivalent of a chain scrubber - those of you that use a scrubber, how clean is the chain when you're done?
Originally Posted by
operator
there's no reason to "soak" anything. Chains need a quick rinse from solvent, a rinse and a relube.
If operator should happen to return to this thread, could you please clarify what _you_ mean by "a quick rinse".
Originally Posted by dmf
You *can* clean them well enough, but very few people actually do.
And dmf, what do _you_ mean by "well enough"?