I clean and lube the bikes about once a week or when the drive train gets noisy
The wife will only ride on mups and the one's around here are gravel for the most part
I spray the drive train done with Gunk Foamy engine degreaser everywhere let sit a while
then use a bristle brush then hose off and relube with Tri-Flo. or chain lube


This size can lasts forever
http://www.lifeandhome.com/gunk-foam...FUxgMgodm1gALQ

I took mine off and took it to work with me and cleaned it in the safety clean machine. Made it spotless. AFAIK safety clean is just mineral spirits. whatever it is it should be pretty safe. its safe to clean aircraft parts with so it shouldn't hurt our bikes either. and the coolest part is. No runoff getting into the environment thus allowing me to use a much harsher cleaner. But for in between a chaining brush and your choice of cleaner should be just fine.

As long as the seat and handle bars are not filthy, I am good to go. I half way clean the drive train when I replace a chain other than that the bike is on its own.

However a good cleaning is a great time to inspect the bike for any problems. I don't want to find any problems so no cleaning for me.

when you soak a chain in mineral spirits do you let it air dry or do you have to rinse off the spirits?

I let mine air dry - hanging in the sun preferrably. The mineral spirits evaporate and the chain drys fairly quickly. Then I spray it lightly with WD-40 till I need it as I rotate two chains. I neglected to spray one with WD-40 once and it started to rust hanging in the garage after a mineral spirit soaking.

Bierwagen gets a monthly bubble bath using Palmolive. Or, any week that it's been getting ridden in the rain.

Following that the frame will get wiped down with Pledge (not sure if our's is Lemon though).

Using a Park Chain cleaner and some Kero the chain gets cleaned and allowed to dry. The cassette gets a good flossing with the current rag in roatation, after which the rag gets pitched. Once dry it gets a drop or two of either a wet or dry lube (depending on season and expected weather). The lube is also allowed to dry and before the next ride it gets wiped clean with a rag. The last step seems to minimize, but not eliminate the chain splatters.

I degrease mine every 20 - 30 kmiles when the cassette wears out. It gets cleaned by removing the grimy old cassette and replacing it with a shiny new one.

I stand the bike in the bath tub so that I can pedal it backwards while pouring the soap and water on it.
First I dribble Sunlight Liquid Dish Soap liberally on all the moving parts. Then I brush everything while cranking the pedals backwards. After the soap is well worked in, I hose the drivetrain off with the showerhead. If I'm not satisfied, I repeat the process. Dry it with a rag then oil liberally, let it sit, then wipe excess oil off.

The water pressure of the showerhead is not high enough to penetrate the seals, and the Lemon Sented dish soap makes the bike smell nice.

Nope, I use it too. That and wd40 is best for our finish.

There really arent any "gaskets" on bicycles. :)

There are rubber seals on may hubs and bottom brackets. The high pressure can force water into places it shouldnt be and start parts rusting.

I agree with Dave M that water based degreasers are mostly useless, but I havent taken his advice for chain replacement. My most ridden bike is an early 90's Diamondback that has a chain I put on it when the original broke. (No more chain wax for me!) Its been ridden a few thousand miles over the years but the chain is still good and it shifts pretty good. Now that I have some better quality bikes I should get the park tool.

I bough one of those chain cleaning tools years ago and use it once in a while. It works good for degrunging. A nylon brush and solvent cleans the cassette and other gears.

Many of you may gasp at my chain lube of choice- Chainsaw bar oil. It works well, doesnt fly off, and doesnt attract dirt as badly as some chain lubes do.

-SP

Gaskets...Seals... 'Em rubber things wot keeps the water outta yer hubs and bottom brackets. Don't hit 'em with high-pressure spray. :lol:

How cute, you guys are sharing a bike now. :D

Jeep - don't miss the OC ride that JimmyNH is "organizing" - http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...1#post15992214

9/21 starting at a yet-to-be-determined location. It sounds like an awful lot of coffee though. :lol:

I spray this on the drivetrain after every ride and re-lube

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=337502

I was turned on to this stuff this summer. I certainly don't use it every ride, but it does degrease much better than Simple Green.

After every ride?! :twitchy:

Getting back to the original poster's problem:

As other posts above have said, it's likely just a derailleur adjustment. You should learn how to do it, so you can make minor adjustments as needed in just a few minutes.

See the section titled Checking the Rear Indexing Adjustment on this Park Tool Rear Derailleur page.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My drivetrain cleaning methods.

I never spray degreaser on the bike. I don't want it getting into the freehub or the bearings.

Wipe all the dirt off the chain and derailleurs. I dampen the rag or paper towel with rubbing alcohol. Scrape off any crud on the two pulleys.

Wipe off the chainrings. For the rear cogs, a folded paper towel with rubbing alcohol worked down into the gaps between cogs.

Relube the chain, and wipe off completely. The lube needs to be inside the chain. (I used to take off the chain with it's quick link, soak in mineral spirits, rinse and dry, then relube. It didn't seem to be any better than just wiping and relubing.)

Lube the pivot points on the derailleurs.

Once a year or so, remove the two pulleys, disassemble them, clean and regrease. Replace if the bushings are very worn.

.

Rear cassette? Not nearly often enough! :lol:

The pulleys on the rear derailleur? Usually when the start squeaking or if I'm cleaning the entire bike anyway. I've read conflicting opinions on whether to put any lube inside the little metal cups on the pulleys and have been just cleaning them out (a Q-tip works well) and re-assembling them dry.

I degrease the chain and cassette with Finish Line Speed Degreaser and lube with Chain-L lube. Great stuff.

Thanks for the heads up on that ride, maybe I will bring Photojoe. :thumb:

I usually give the derailer pulleys the once over with a handi- wipe saturated with Simple Green when I am cleaning and lubing the chain. The cogs get "flossed" using a long piece of sisal twine which has been saturated in Simple Green, then I spray them with LPS 3, a wax based industrial strength rust inhibitor. It seems to keep everything smooth and clean.

Marc

I was actually thinking about checking the derailleur adjustment as I was making this thread. Thanks for the link to the Park Tool tutorial.

Regular simple green can cause hydrogen embrittlement on aluminum parts of not completely removed.

However, they make a formulation for the Aviation industry that doesn't do that.
http://www.amazon.com/Simple-Green-1...d_sim_indust_1

That's what I use on my steed. Works a treat and won't "rust" my drivetrain ;)

I keep these in my garage for other reasons, and they are really good for drying off a wet bike as well as general cleaning, removing excess chain oil, etc.

I have a bunch of red cloth shop towels, including a couple dozen new (still in the package) in my garage, and never seem to use them anymore, specifically because I don't want them to grease up my clean clothes washer.

I have quit "degreasing" my entire chain, keeping the inner workings of the chain away from that stuff. Instead I only "degrease" the sides and top/bottom by putting some degreaser or WD40 on a shop rag and then running the chain through it, like you do to remove the lube that doesn't get into the inner workings of the chain. I then make sure I get this solvent off and lube the chain. Chain stays shinny clean and well lubed that way.

And I do this about every 200 miles or every two weeks, whichever comes first. And I love Prolink.

you would need a holy god amount of dust gunk to prevent your deraileur from functioning. most likely your chain wouldn't stay on the cog. I suspect your rear der. cable stretched out and need to be tightened/setup.

I also use straight simple green as a degreaser every 100 miles or so. Im using some finishline dry teflon lube right now.