I see degreaser at the bike shop. It looks like it would make cleaning my cassette and derailleur a much easier job with a small brush. While it's probably safe for the chain. Wouldn't it wash out the grease for the derailleur wheel and the hub bearings.

I've a feeling the bike shop uses it all the time. Could they be doing more harm then good.

No.

Not if you don't drown the bearings in it.

Look, I wash my bike with soap and water (OK, detergent). That'll rust everything that's not stainless, aluminum, or painted, right? And yet, between rinsing and letting the bike dry, there's only a few areas of surface rust after 10+ years.

The dose makes the poison.

I think I'll try it out. But try to avoid over wetting it. Thanks.

In the long run; they could be......but then you would go back to them for the necessary repairs; right?

Use WD40, it is a de-greaser and i bet less expensive......


You must be careful how you apply any product as it will contaminate your bearings if used in excess.


Lower quality wheels etc will not have the best seals, and pressure washing with a hose will cause water ingress.

I don't use degreaser; I don't want emulsifiers near my bikes. Anything that lets oily substances mix with water is bad, I reckon. That includes WD40.

If I acquire a used part that's caked in grease, I clean it with solvent and a rag. Otherwise, it just doesn't come up, because I wipe excess lube from my chain, and I don't have excess lube anywhere else either.

My bikes get dirt on them, which comes off with a damp rag.

Modern derailluers don't have to be degreased - no solvents have to be sprayed on it. They don't need to be lubed unless it is overhauled. Just remove the cage inner plate and clean the pulleys. Bushing type pulleys can get a drop of chain lube.

Cassettes and chains should be removed for cleaning.

Wipe the front chainrings with a rag.

That's all.


-Tim-

Thanks for the advice. I think I'll try just using a scraper and stif brush and see how that goes.

I'd rather not use the degreaser, But might try it sparingly sometime too.

Bike shops know how to use it without ruining your bearings. Or at least they should!

AS long as you don't force it into the bearings you will be ok.

I'm convinced that a significant portion of the shifting problems we read about on these forums are caused by aggressive cleaning and spraying the derailleur with solvents. It drives the grease out of the pivot points and is overkill.

Aggressive degreasing is only needed when the derailleur is overhauled. They also don't need to be lubricated apart from overhaul.

Just clean and lube the pulleys and leave the rest of the derailleur alone.


-Tim-

As a pro mechanic I pretty much never spray degreaser at anything on an assembled bike. If I really need to clean a cassette while it's on the freehub body I typically spray degreaser onto my brush, clean the cassette, and floss off everything with a rag. If you're washing your bike it's pretty harmless to use a low pressure hose to wet down the bike and use mild soapy water and a brush to clean things, including the cassette, and rinse off with low pressure water. On my personal bikes I do very little drivetrain cleaning apart from when I more comprehensively overhaul a bike. Wiping down the chain often helps a lot.

it's the brake cleaner in the aerosol can you gotta watch!

You can brush on some mineral spirits with an old paintbrush. Let it soak for a minute. Then hose/wash the bike. Very effective.

Spray/drip solvent onto a rag. Then apply rag to bike. Andy

Thanks for the replies.

It looks like we have a few good options to clean the drive train without compromising bearing grease. Hopefully it won't need that through a cleaning very often.

So I'm at the shop trying to figure out why a relatively recent Ultegra drivetrain is shifting so poorly. The rear derailleur in particular is stiff/sticky.

So I take it apart - as in every part disassembled and put back together. The diagnosis is that every microgram of grease/lubricant that once inhabited this little gem is completely gone. Blown out, washed out: whatever. Someone probably saw the need to marinate in a bath of degreaser followed by some compressed air.

I know of no other shop or individual that would have the patience or experience to take apart a Shimano rear derailleur. Most shops would say that the drivetrain is 'worn out' and hand the client a $1,000 tab for a new drivetrain.

Degreasers: do NOT use around any parts that require grease lubrication, such as hubs, headsets, bottom brackets or derailleurs. And when you do actually need a degreaser, that water-based degreasers are fundamentally useless, which includes anything 'green', 'bio', 'organic', etc.