Cassette cleaning
 

Is it a complete waste of time or does it improve longevity of the cassette? I generally don't bother unless the whole cassette is caked with dirt but I'm curious.

I clean my cassettes completely once a season. By completely I mean I remove the thing and clean it thoroughly. Clean components just work better. As for longevity, they can last a very long time. I put 3000 hard miles on an Ultegra 10 speed cassette and it is still sharp as new...just slightly scraped on the teeth. My wife has a 7 year old bike with a cheap-o 8 speed HG Shimano cassette and the teeth are still good on it as well.

I still feel that taking care of things will always make them last longer...

It does not need to be hospital clean... but, face it, moving parts rub, and dirt and grime during that moving/rubbing increase the wear...so in effect, a dirty cassette shortens the life span of the chain as well as the cassette.

A clean bike is a happy bike:). Besides, the rider usually feel better too, with a clean bike. Andy.

wheel off, Run a rag between the cogs with some solvent on it?

I wipe my chain after every ride and run in between the cogs with chlorox wipes, only takes a few minutes, can't hurt a thing. Wipe the wheels with a fresh one then the tires and check for embedded crap. Read the wipe idea in an online article not my idea. I wipe the RD jockey wheels too. The smaller cogs have solid spaces which wipe out nicer, the bigger cogs have a spider with lightning holes that does not wipe out as nicely.

It improves longevity. Having a clean drivetrain will keep premature wear from ruining your chainrings, cassette/freewheel, derailleur pulleys and chain. You don't need to scrub it to it's clean enough to eat off, but removing any grime and grit will certainly add to the number of serviceable miles you get from theseveral parts.

After a gritty rainy ride, I usually hose off my bike, and use an old toothbrush to clean of the chain, rings, and cassette before re-lubing. (I have a different one for my teeth :-)

I'll sometimes use a dedicated toothbrush to clean off the chainrings and cassette while I have the chain off for cleaning. Generally dry, but if it's really grimy, I'll use a little mineral spirits on the brush and wipe dry with a paper towel.

When the chain is off I wrap an old rag around a thin ruler and hold it between the cogs while turning the wheel backwards.

when i get a cassette, i break it down to individual cogs and wax them with johnsons floor wax. when the dirt no longer washers off it is time to repeat.

Soap + water + elbow grease. Once a month.

What I have found to work good for cleaning my cassette is cutting long thin strips of old T shirt material and flossing between the cogs.

Man my bike must have felt neglected. I think my car prob feel the same way to.

i use one of the park tool cassette brushes with some diluted simple green. it comes out when ever it is time to clean my chain and re lube it.
but how necessary it is i don't know.but i also use one of the chain cleaners that you hook on and just back pedal. doesn't take long and a clean drive train makes me feel happy more than my bike i think.

Park Tool Co. » GSC-1 : GearClean Brush : Cleaning & Lube

White Lightning Bike Chain Cleaner Kit | Bicycle Headsets

If one of my bikes is dirty enough that I need to pull the wheels, I'll give the cassette a quick cleaning, too. With all the rainy weather in Colorado, I've become pretty efficient at keeping my bikes cleaned/lubed.

https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8798/1...ecec3f8156.jpg

Pull the cogs and soak every 2-3 chain cleanings...

Pulling the rear wheel and flossing the the cassette with a rag is quite easy. Getting rid of any dirt and grit is a good thing.

Yep, five minutes is all it takes to scrub each cog sparkling clean after soaking in a little Dawn dishwashing soap.

pull the cassette off, and run it through the dish washer on the top shelf. WARNING: spouse may object. Cassette will come out pristine.

Clorox? Why? Why not use a dry wipe or if it's wet, wet with something that would help remove the oily residue, like mineral spirits or some sort of citrus degreasing product? I can't see that Chlorox would be any better than plain water which doesn't do much for oil or grease.

This is the way to do it. I just use dry rags as floss and use it to ratchet the cassette around.

But I'm tempted to try this. Why on the top shelf? I'm thinking maybe bottom would be better - maybe reduce the amount of crud dripping on the dishes below. Although I really don't care if my cassettes are all that clean. I only clean them when I have occasion to remove the rear wheel (see above).

By the way, I once washed a computer keyboard in the dishwasher, having read about it on the internet. It took a few days to work again - it needed to dry off. I did it with a very old keyboard I didn't actually need and doubt if I'll do it again. People thought I was nuts. Maybe so.

"Chlorox" IMHO is just a brand name of wipe, they actually say "bleach free". We had a jug of the chlorox ones under the sink, the article I found spoke of using them, I used it up and then tried a jug of Kroger generic type wet "disinfecting wipes"...they work just as good. One does not need to disinfect the chain, but it is just a cheap, readily avail moistened wipe that would not maybe interact with some metals like Simple Green (another readily avail type of wipe) will.

People have had some bad bad experiences with aluminum non bike stuff (small hand held machines that propel projectiles at high velocity) when they got simple green on bare aluminum (most bike stuff is probably anodized).

I honestly had never used a "Chlorox wipe" in my life before I read that article and tried it, and I use them for all kinds of crap now :-).

Bill

Top shelf because of the plastic spacers between cogs. It may not melt, but there is a potential for it to creep, thus changing the spacing of the cogs, and/or resulting in loose cogs.

Now THAT I like!

I'm relatively new to active cycling (2 years) and was mightily impressed when I read all those posts here about meticulously cleaning and lubricating one's chain and cassette, etc. Then I watched a preview of a grand tour stage and the mechanic was using a gas driven high pressure washer on all those parts! Man the gears were sparkling and shiny. I understand and appreciate the explanations of techniques and choices for solvents and lubricants. I follow the reasoning for their decisions but to me it's six of one-half a dozen of the other. It's all metal, lubricant, road dirt and water. I've overhauled numerous car engines. Road dirt in the lubricant can wear down the metals (the degree of which is arguable). Water can rust parts made of iron. You can use just about any solvent or degreaser you want, wash every thing off and do whatever you want to get it as dry as possible, then apply lubricant. Sone lubes have properties which may have unintended negative consequences, so give it some (not a lot really) thought.

Rich