Carusoswi

Why so huffy, Rocco?
No one is suggesting that you share any personal responsibility for the stuff you place in a recycling container once custody passes to a certified reclamation company. The only reason for my lengthy post was to point out that, in terms of what is best for the environment as it relates to chain cleaning/replacement, the answer is more complicated than it might seem at first glance.

If you read my previous post carefully enough, you will see that I did not take sides on what approach (cleaning/replacement) is most green - because, frankly, I am not expert enough on the subject to offer an informed opinion. OTOH, I have seen with my own eyes that some of the materials that I have charged my own customers good money to reclaim/recycle wound up in a landfill in spite of my efforts (and expenditures) and the good intentions of my customers, and, believe it or not, no one in the chain of custody broke any laws. The “state of the art” of recycling/reclamation is just that convoluted.

Actually, I do serve on an industry panel that works on a national level to improve the way my industry handles the vast amounts of spent material generated by our business endeavors. It sounds as though you are presently doing as much as any resident can do to handle your trash responsibly, and no one is challenging you – I am sorry if you took my comments personally. That was not my intention.

Caruso

Bikedued

I find myself doing the same thing. I also hit my freewheels, etc with LPS-3 sometimes. It's a dry waxy grease that sprays on like WD-40. I've found it picks up less dirt. The dirt it does pick can be rinsed off
without removing alot of the LPS.,,,,BD

DMF 

Versus what? Throwing them away? I swear, the blatant ignorance of some of you continues to astound me!

Look, things get recycled (vs. getting picked up by "recycling trucks") because there is a financial incentive to do so. Recycling aluminum costs ~50% less energy than smelting from ore. The aluminum producers take all the old AL that they can get.

Get a clue before posting, eh?

SimonEd

Quite right, I cant remember the % but its actually higher much cheaper to recycle Alu than to make it from scratch. Again IIRC of all the Alu you see today an incredibly high % of that is recycled. i.e. it was something else before.

OK for clarity I got this info from Alcoa's site

Recycled aluminum is identical to smelted aluminum, except for one thing: it takes only 1/20 of the energy to make it.

Carusoswi

Whatever you say, DMF.

Dougie

Take my wheels off, get a fresh rag and then wipe the chain a good number of times. Then re-oil, simple as really

Artmo 

50 yr ago I used to use petrol/gasoline to clean my chain. That was messy, dangerous and environmentally unfriendly. Nowadays I use a chain cleaning thingy with Simple Green. That is not at all messy, it's certainly not dangerous and it's environmentally friendly - well more so than throwing gas down the drain or on the ground.
Run the chain several times through the cleaning device. Detach the device. Rinse the chain with a stream of water. Dry with a cloth and apply lubricant. Takes about 15 min.

dave80909

Ya that was like sooooo page 1 of this thread !!!

This has nothing to do with cleaning chains anymore...this is about
SAVING THE EARTH from EVIL non-recycling bike wrenches... I suppose
you just throw that oily rag out too !!

LOL...this thread cracks me up.

Carusoswi

You're right, dave, and it's probably my fault. I responded to a comment appealing to us to please not use gasoline - it's so dirty, dangerous, and all, and it wound up that the entire thread got off track.

My apologies to those who were just looking for some simple advice on how to clean their chain.

Caruso

San Rensho 

This is someone's sig line (sorry I can't give credit where credit is due) on the question of whats the best way to clean a chain.

"I just dip the dirty chain once in a garbage can and then install a new one."

CRUM

Well this thread has gone full circle. From cleaning a chain to panty bunching arguments over recycling. 4 pages and 86 replies. Damn I love this forum.

erader

cracks me up too! i'm trying to save the drivetrain and these friggin' hippies wanna save the earth .

ed rader

humble_biker

A clean chain is the road to enlightenment. After you choose your method for cleaning, (mine is a big paint brush and lots of degreaser, with plenty of time to dry) I recommend you try the Tech Monde lube. It's smoooooth.

Mann

Are you kidding me?. Are you guys that really concerned about the chemical mess and sludge generated by cleaning your chain?
The amount of toxic waste generated by cleaning your chain is minuscule at best. Step 1. never pour anything down the drain unless its water. Step 2. a citrus cleaner is satisfactory, and let the residual cleaner evaporate. Step 3. When you have enough sludge built up, which would probably take a number of years if not decades of heavy riding to create 5 gallons, Then start up your car and don't let it warm up to long because this will waste fuel, also increasing green house gas effects. Take the 5 gallons of waste to the nearest waste station. Providing its not to far away, because we woudn't want to offset the good you are doing for the environment by driving to far thus burning to much fossil fuel which also happens to be in short supply. Oh yea and have you ever happened to wonder about what all that fecal matter that each individual creates does to the environment?.

humble_biker

Anybody that thinks they are doing the environment a favor by riding a bike is just fooling...

zoridog

Not to mention about 2000 viewings!

It would be a shame if the industry produced a chain that never needed lubing or cleaning. We would have to talk about tube rotation or cable lubing ....

Cyclepath

I wipe the chain down with a little paint thinner when crud accumulates, then treat with White Lightning, a dry lube. I leave the rag aside so the solvent can evaporate.

Doesn't the use of water-rinsed cleaners invite rust?

I understand that shaft drives weigh more, but would that matter for the average cyclist, especially considering the maintenance advantages?

"Soldiers are dumb, stupid beasts who are pawns in foreign policy." --Henry Kissinger

froze

HAHAHAHAHAHQAHAHA...Who would have thunk that here on this bike forum we actually finally have someone with some common sense!!!!! There is a flicker of hope after all!

Carusoswi

Speaking only for myself, no . . . and yes! Re-read my posts in this thread and you will see that I only jumped in because it pricks my skin for someone to admonish us to “please” refrain from the use of gasoline (or other petroleum based products) to clean our chains because “Simple Green” or it’s equivalent “environmentally friendly” concoction is safer and less damaging to use.

More reasoned analysis will quickly dispatch that notion in short order.

My posts seemed to have led to refutation of the highest hyperbolic order, where the tone of the response (rather than its accuracy) seems to have been relied upon to offer authority.

I don’t trash any chain cleaning method, and, having concluded that my own chains will need replacement at roughly 1500 miles regardless of how or whether I clean them, I have basically relegated chain cleaning to that list of procedures I follow for my own convenience as opposed to my list of maintenance procedures that are necessary to keep my bike in optimum running order.

That we will contribute to the negative environmental footprint seems inevitable. Obviously, if we use chemicals (friendly or no, green or “black”) we make a negative contribution. If we simply forgo lubrication (and, hence, cleaning), replacement of chains and cogs will leave its own negative environmental impact.

Those who assert that reclamation/recycling inherently reduces production costs by 50% or more and that manufacturer’s will take all the reclaimed metal they can get do so from a position (typical on this forum) of reflexive, unreflective ignorance. There are too many disconnects in the chain from the reclamation point to the recycled point to the marketing point to make recycling on a truly wide scale practical in this day and age.

The efforts towards that end are widespread and commendable, but the problems inherent in the system are huge. My efforts to point that out were, typically, met with scorn. After all, what could I possibly know about this subject that some casual observer of anecdotal data cannot boisterously refute?

Am I really that “concerned about the chemical mess and sludge generated by cleaning [my] chain?”

Well, yes and no. I am concerned enough to do whatever I can to reduce the mess and sludge that I create. At the same time, I am informed enough to know that, no matter what approach I take to “cleaning” my chain, even if I choose not to clean it, will, in its own way, contribute to that same “mess and sludge.”

In terms of how you choose to clean your chain, in my view, there are only all right answers that are, at the same time, all wrong. So, clean your chain however you choose.

In terms of the environment, the choices available to us at present are all less than good – a situation that should concern all responsible beings.

That I (and others posting on this thread) should be ridiculed for taking a deeper view into this problem (beyond the quick-fix use of Simple Green) is unfortunate.

I can state without qualification that I am not kidding you.

Regards,

Caruso

oilman_15106

A couple? In the last year there must be a dozen on this subject.

teiaperigosa

I just used vegetable oil in a plastic container to clean my chain...shook...dumped....shook...dumped about 3 times... and for a final step, I'm letting it simmer (maybe I should have preheated the oil...lol) and will shake again....

it is amazing how well this stuff works, and I will dispose however I please

then, I'll soak and/or shake in dish detergent to get excess oil off...hang to dry...put back on...and lube lightly with Phil Tenacious Oil

waterrockets 

Yep, that will make sure the grit gets all the way into the rollers

oilman_15106

Coleman fuel is $2.30 a gallon unleaded gasoline. Not recommended. Dangerous, flammable, etc. Used to be called white gasoline.

oilman_15106

After reading the environmental arguments, I had to chime in a second time. I have been in the oil recycling business for almost 30 years. 1. It is not worth recycing the gunk from your chain cleanings. It is not petroleum which is what is being recovered. Would you have your oil recycling co. throw out the sludge or should you just do it yourself. 2. There is no such thing as toxic waste. This is a figment of the press used to scare folks and sell papers and tv ads. If anyone on this board can show me a regulation, federal or state for toxic waste, bring it on. There are classes of hazardous and non-hazardous waste of which used oil classified as non-haz except in crazy states like California where they call it hazardous waste and the only impact is that the public gets charged more when they get their oil changed. So all you toxic avengers, why would you mix your "toxic" chain sludge and then take it to a non-hazardous oil recycler?

teiaperigosa

again...vegetable oil...shake...tada