What to do between degreasing and applying chain lube?
 

What should I do after degreasing the chain and the cogwheels by Muc-Off bio degreaser, before applying Squirt chain lube?
I "dry cleaned" as much as possible using rugs. Is it OK to apply the chain lube right after? Should I wait? Or is there any other way to remove the degreaser before applying the lube?

If your degreaser is water based, you want that to dry completely before applying lube, because the two are immiscible, not compatible. If rusting is an issue, you wiping the chain with a rag or paper towel should remove most of the water, and compressed air or blow dryer or heat gun will speed drying. Applying lube while still water there, if not able to remove, is better than rust, if that is a problem.

My chain cleaner is mostly mineral oil, and is compatible with my lube, but I still like to wipe the chain and let it dry overnight for most of it in the rollers to evaporate, so not diluting the lube.

I rinse the chain in hot water then put it somewhere warm to dry.

Ride the bike....

I would not "Ride the bike..." as said "after degreasing the chain and the cogwheels by Muc-Off bio degreaser, before applying Squirt chain lube".

Squirt needs to be applied to a clean, completely dry chain.

So, the definitive answer to what to do while waiting is either "watch TV" or "sleep."

A couple tokes to free your mind for entry into the Zen world of bike maintenance.

In the oven at low heat. :innocent:

Because Squirt is water based, you probably don’t need to do much more than rinse the Muc-Off with water. Even that may not be necessary since Squirt is an emulsion of wax in water that uses some kind of surfactant to keep the wax in suspension and Muc-Off obviously uses a surfactant as well. The only problem with applying the Squirt to a wet chain (wet on the inside) is that it could dilute the lubricant and cause some flow of the lube away from where you want it. I would probably chase any water rinse with acetone or denatured alcohol after rinsing to ensure that the lubricant isn’t diluted.

Once you have started using Squirt, you shouldn’t need to degrease at all. All wax lubricants will slough off with use and only need refreshing. No extra cleaning needed.

I find the top of a radiator does well, or on top of the stove if I'm cooking something. Back in the day I would lube motorcycle chains with hot wax in the oven, but then they started putting o-rings in chains.

I clean my bike outside, in the sunshine if possible. Run chain through a clean and dry cloth several times, then let dry in the sunshine for a few hours and lube. I've never had problems with rust on a chain.

In winter, I might dry with a clean rag and then use compressed air to blow water out of the links, then let it dry overnight before lubing.

Oh, that's interesting! What about dirt and sand? The roads in our area are awful. They put some "thing" on the dirt roads to have less mud and puddles. That thing is basically crushed building material that they get from demolished buildings. It's 50% white powder (smaller grains than sand) and 50% small stones. Horrible. I don't have evidence for this, but I'm pretty sure that it grinds the chain more than "natural" dirt roads' dirt.

After degreaser I clean the chain with pure alcohol.

Where the heck is this practiced? Only demolition material I can think of that'd create a white powdery substance is the gypsum in drywall, which can be corrosive when wet.

I've been using the SILCA system for a few months now. Once chains are cleaned of lube they get rinsed in hot water then I hang 'em in the airstream out of a dehumidifier I have running 24/7 in my basement this time of year. After 12 hours of that they get hot waxed.

Water rinse should be enough. Wax fills the void in the chain and keeps that stuff on the surface. Oil flows within the chain and drags that stuff down into the chain which requires more through cleaning.

As to the road treatment, there are many that are used. Here in Colorado, the roads are often treated to keep down dust. Silverton (a tourist town in the southwest corner) puts down a salt mixture. The salt absorbs water which keeps the roads wet. My wife’s car had puddles under the wheels when we got back from a trip there. The puddles persisted for a very long time because the salt was sucking up lots of water…which is weird here because our air doesn’t have that much water.

Your road treatment may be “crusher fines”. Common crusher fines are limestone based. It’s fairly soft material that is softer than the steel in the chain. Sand, or silicone dioxide, is harder than steel and is what does most of the damage to chain during wear. The earth has tons of sand and it has more of it as you get further away from mountains because it is tough stuff. Not much you can do to avoid it so don’t worry too much about it.

As per above, I suspect that it is limestone rather than housing demolition material. Housing debris has lots of stuff in it that might be bad for the environment…like lead from paint or asbestos.

Gypsum shouldn’t become acidic in water. It is a sparingly soluble salt and the calcium/sulfate bond is very strong. In the presence of high sulfur content, there can be biological production of acid but that is a problem that has been mostly identified and solved.

Have a beer

I think you mean mineral spirits. Mineral oil has essentially zero vapor pressure, and will not evaporate in any realistic time frame.

I have found that Squirt keeps everything clean. I can run my hand over a chain and it won't leave a mark. Wax doesn't attract the grit. The main downside to Squirt is that you have to apply it more often. And this reminds me that I need to do it before I ride again. And always allow it to dry before riding, so apply it after a ride, not before.

See post #17.

I should have clarified my instructions to say, "watch TV and drink beer." You clearly misunderstood the instructions where it said, "use alcohol as needed."

One of the first things we learned in freshman chem lab was to wash all our glassware and give it a squirt with acetone before leaving the lab for the day. Acetone is miscible with water, and the remaining acetone evaporates rapidly.

Now if I only had a squirt bottle of acetone...

Acetone can damage the paint while alcohol won't.

And order a pizza.

I tried my own advice. I did not get back to finishing the 🚲 until the next day. 🙃