agent pombero

New Shimano groupset, and I want to keep it clean to prolong its life.




~$18-25 Park Tools

Or:



~$25

plan on running the chain through one of these after every wet ride (we won't see sun here until July).

reptilezs

lube your chain and keep it wiped down. i do not use chain scrubbers, they make a mess all over the bike too

Cychologist

I have an old Park chain scrubber but seldom use it. I don't think I want to remove all the lube inside the chain, just the grime on the outside. I clean the outside of my chain with a degreaser on a rag, then apply a good, penetrating lube like Prolink.

3alarmer 

If you want to clean your chain, take it off the bike and drop it
in an old plastic soda or juice bottle with whatever cleaner/solvent
you want to use and shake it up until it seems clean, then shake it
some more, let it settle a little and pull it out with an old spoke.

Less mess, works better, costs nothing.....but you need to pay attention
to relubing and wiping down the outside afterward.

FBinNY 

Oops, I thought you were talking about OCD housewives who start one cleaning project before finishing another.

But as for being OCD about your chain, there can be too much of a good thing. The right chain lube will protect your chain in wet conditions, so you can reserve cleaning for when it's needed however you choose to do it. Over cleaning of chains, especially if not done properly does more harm than good by stripping out the lubricant, and/or leaving an emulsion of dirt, oil, water and detergent in it's place.

I've been doing this for a long while, and IMO the rule for washing chains is the same as for cats ---- only when absolutely necessary, and then very carefully.

fishymamba

I got one a couple years ago, I think I used it once or twice. It pretty much too all the grime off the chain and spread it out on the bike and ground.

Best way is to just take the chain off the bike(get a powerlink for easy removal), soak it in a cleaner for 5 mins, scrub thoroughly and let it dry completely.
Then use what ever lubricant you want to use.

I like using "dry" or very thick lubricants on the road bike and "wet" lubricants on the MTB.

And that reminds me, I need to try Chain-L after my current lube runs out. ^^^^

nhluhr

Just wanted to take a minute to extoll the virtues of this statement. I live in Seattle which for half the year means wet conditions. Been using Chain-L for a little over a year now on 3 different bikes. It's not always the cleanest but I'll be damned if I still can't measure any chain wear after a year of training and racing in all conditions.

Looigi

Yeah. A dirty chain may be unsightly, but it's the dirt in the pivots and under the rollers that causes wear, not the dirt on the outside. Superficial external cleaning often just forces dirt into the chain. It takes a lot of cleaning to get the dirt out of the pivots, and then you're left with whatever wash solution you used in the pivots which will need to be displaced by subsequent lube applications.

Anyway, those cleaning device are all more trouble and more messy than they're worth.

HillRider

Several years ago I got a Park chain cleaner as part of a used bike deal. After trying it a couple of times I concluded it got the chain reasonably clean but made a mess of everything else. Never used one again.

davidad

I used this method for years and had good results. Now I remove the chain and put it in an ultrasonic cleaner. The chain life has doubled. I use chainsaw bar oil thinned with unscented mineral spirits. It seems to do a good job in the wet.
I gave up on the machines because they were so messy.

DiabloScott

I love my Park cleaner. I mount an old hub with a cassette on it instead of my whole rear wheel so that really keeps the mess down.

I don't care that much about chain life, I just like a shiny chain.

well biked 

+1. Unless you're using a terribly expensive chain, I think a lot of folks get way carried away with using elaborate cleaning systems, along with solvents, cleansers, etc to keep an inexpensive, disposable part of the drivetrain serviced in order to get "extended chain life."

I just like a reasonably clean chain that's well lubed. That can be achieved with chain lube and a rag. The chain life part of the equation can fall where it may, there's better things to spend your time (and money) on, IMO. Replace the chain when it's worn out.

But, as Sheldon said, it's a bit like discussing religion.....to each their own.

SJX426 

Bought and tried one a couple of times. What a mess! Should throw it away instead of it taking up space for other thinks! Good concept, poor execution.

fietsbob

Quick link on chain and a pan with solvent , in it , might be better.

particularly if a screen double bottom featured, so grit settles below where the chain Is.


LBS has the Park One , it gets used occasionally .. quarts of the Park fluid used in it.


Use an IGH most , I wipe off stuff on the outside of chain, after Lubing it.

leob1

I have a Vetta chain cleaner. I'l use it maybe once, twice a year. It does an ok job of cleaning the chain. And a very good job of dirtying the rest of the bike and floor. Then the machine itself is filed with dirty gritty greasy solvent. once you dump out the old solvent, the machine is still a mess, and needs to be cleaned. t's more trouble than its worth.

stevoo

Quickie chain link makes cleaning a chain quite simple. A Gatorade bottle with mineral spirits works well.

I have replaced a number of badly worn and rusted idler pulleys on friends bikes who have contantly used these cleaner boxes with water based solvents. They are quite effective at removing the lube in the pulleys and replacing it with water. Guess they never thought about that and never dried and re-lubed them every time. Ceramic bushed jockey wheels are not affected by the wash cycle.

Of course this has just been my observation and many folks use them with good results. Just sharing a data point for consideration.

likebike23

I used a chain scrubber a few times and it was just too much hassle. I now just leave the lubricant that a new chain comes with on there until I have to lube it, I then use a dry lube. I find the dry lubes don't attract as much grime. If my chain gets all wet and muddy, I just hose the bike down when I'm done, dry the bike/chain with a rag, and reapply dry lube. A piece of cardboard from a box works great to get crud out from between cogs on a cassette. You can slide it in between, all the way down to the spacers.

zacster

I have the Park version and I don't find it messy to use at all. That said, I still don't use it much, although I did a few weeks ago and the bike was silent after the full treatment.

FBinNY 

Absolutely, they're not messy at all, if you don;t use them... (sorry, I couldn't resist)

DiabloScott

Without the wheel, the mess is pretty easy to clean up. And I use the citrus stuff so I don't worry about letting it drip onto the grass.




Shiny

JerrySTL

Keeping a chain clean will not prolong its life. Keeping a chain well lubed will. In fact I've noticed that people who go to great lengths to keep their chains clean often wear them out the most as they remove lubricant and don't replace it well enough.

I do have the Park chain cleaner. If a chain is extremely dirty, I'll fill it up with ProLink Gold to both clean and lube the chain at the same time. I get the 16 oz bottles of ProLink and it costs me about $2 to clean and lube a chain that way.

Otherwise I just use ProLink Gold by the directions which is to wipe off the chain; apply ProLink; spin the chain around some; then wipe off the excess.

Except!!! Just this week I went old-school and started using paraffin wax again. I put a block of Gulfwax Paraffin Wax (available in canning supplies as grocery stores) into a crock pot and turned it on high. While it was melting the wax, I used the Park cleaner with some diluted Simple Green in it to clean the chain. I removed the chain from the bike then rinsed it thoroughly with water. Next I dipped the chain into the melted wax and stirred it around some. You could see the water boiling off. It helps to put a wire through a link so you can get the chain back out easily. I tied up the chain by the wire and let the excess wax drip off.

After the chain cooled down I re-installed the chain using a KMC Master Link. With the chain encased in wax, it sure is stiff. Spin the crank arms backwards for a while and the excess wax starts flaking off. After a couple of miles of riding, the bikes started shifting really well and the chain is quiet.

From what I read in the March 2013 issue of Velo Magazine, a paraffin waxed chain used the least watts; lasted the longest; and resisted wet and dirty conditions the best. Seems that you can go up to 500 miles between lubes with paraffin wax as opposed to no more than ProLink Gold that I was using.

https://velonews.competitor.com/2013/...hat-now_274534

99Klein 

I have the Park. It works ok. I had one (would have to look at the brand) from many years ago the worked very well. It finally broke and parts are no longer available.

Al1943

I have the Park Cyclone shown in Post #1 . I like it and use it, loaded with mineral spirits, about once a month. In between I clean by cranking the chain through a paper shop towel and lube with home-brew, 75% mineral spirits/25% Mobil One synthetic motor oil. I always have these ingredients in my garage for several multiple purposes. The small amounts that go on my bikes are next to free.

The only time I remove a chain from a bike it when I replace it.

Yes the chain cleaner is a mess but I've got it down to a minor problem and I store the machine in a plastic bag with grease guns, etc. I think it is well worth the $$.

gsa103

I've definitely been disappointed with ProLink Gold. I find that I need to apply more every 200-300 mi. I've got some other Teflon stuff that definitely seems much better.

As for cleaning, I just use a shop towel as a quick wipe then apply more lube and wipe again.

vanttila

Wipe & lube works well, but I've found the parktool cleaner to be helpful with neglected bikes that friends bring in. If you're just looking to keep your new bike/chain in good shape (as you mentioned), such a tool is probably not necessary. The way I use it is if the chain is really nasty, fill it with some cheap oil (like sunflower or even torch fuel) or whatever you may have sitting in that bottle of oil in the garage with the crud settled on bottom. Run that, wipe off excess, and lube the chain.
However, that procedure is hardly necessary if you keep your chain in good shape. Wipe and lube, swap with another every ~500 miles at which point you can clean it real well. Swapping out chains prolongs both chain and cassette life significantly.