Originally Posted by skydive69
I have searched for past threads, but can't seem to find what I am looking for. I am meticulous in cleaning my bike after every ride. The one task that is a pain in the butt is cleaning the cogs. I have the usual cog plastic, curved cleaning devices, etc. Heretofore, I had been spraying chain cleaner on the cogs, and hosing them down, but I just read (I believe in Zinn's maintenance book), that the solvent can easily find its way to wheel bearing grease which of course it destroys.
Does anyone have some great method (without cog removal) for making the cogs and spaces in between look as shiny clean as my chain?
Just wipe down the cogs if they're really muddy. Get a chain with a quick-link and clean that more thoroughly.
Seriously!
The main problem with dirt on the cogs is that it gets into the chain. Dirt in the chain wears out the rollers. Worn chain rollers lead to chain stretch, which causes stress on the cog teeth, which causes worn out cogs. The dirt itself won't directly damage the cogs, it's a worn chain that will damage the cogs because that's where you have the metal-on-metal contact. There's no reason to go all that crazy cleaning your cogs every day. If you want to go crazy cleaning something, make it the chain.