so my chain was dirty, didnt feel like taking it off again, and i remembered that dish soap is advertised as "grease cutting".

so i put some foam on a wet paper towel, and ran the chain through.
long story short, it took the grease off like a bauce. the chain was shiny clean after a few passes.

i rinsed it and re-greased it. bad? good?

I don't think I would do it. I clean my chain with Kerosene. It removes the grease and is suppose to protect it too. Then, I oil it with Pro Gold. Always worked for me.

Dude, its a chain...if it gets f'd up, buy a new one.

Anything from Pamolive to Simple Green...as long as it cuts the grease, you're good to go as long as you lube it afterwards.

fixed

What the heck is a bauce?? Sounds Catalonish to me.

You did good.

Dish soap is fine for cleaning a chain ... you might want to watch the paper towel though because bits of it can break off and stick to parts of the chain. Most of the time when I clean my chains, I use an old sock.

Well, I don't know about that. The last chain I bought cost me $50.00. I try to get as much life as possible out my chains.

"bauce" = boss = "like a boss"

Great Idea. Did you use dawn?

I don't clean chains. I just lube, wipe, and ride.

I just cleaned my chain last night. It is the quickest job to do on my bike.

Take off the KMC Missing Link

Plunk chain into old water bottle

Add a little recycled mineral spirits

Shake vigorously for about two minutes

Hang to dry, then lube.

The whole job takes me about 10minutes or less.

Good grief.

That's what she said.

I ride, lube, and wipe.
Am I doing it wrong?

Chains are basically disposeable, aren't they? I clean about once a year by letting it sit overnight in orange degreaser (available cheap and by the gallon at Home Depot). The rest of the season I just do the ride, lube, wipe thing. I check my chain stretch every time I lube and replace when it gets too large.

Just sayin'. Takes two minutes. Dish soap is fine for me.

Dig park tool cleaner out
Brush off cobwebs
Find correct degreaser bottle.
Note its empty.
Curse using it to clean the BBQ
Ride to LBS
Hand over 1/3 cost of a new chain for degreaser.
Ride home, stopping for an ice cream cause its pretty hot out.
Fill park tool chain cleaner.
Note spongy thing is kinda falling apart and wonder if the LBS can get one in.
Clean chain anyway.
Dump excess degreaser stuff in drain.
Wipe down chain tool cleaner. Note stuff is still dripping out.
Store in bucket.
wipe chain, lube chain, ride(if you can be bothered after all that).

You left out "Break plastic chain tool cleaner after 3rd use, even though you've tried to handle it like a piece of fine china."

Those things are craptacular. I've had a Park and a Pedro's. They're both junk waiting to happen.

remove chain
place in mason jar with mineral spirits
shake
hang to let dry
lube
install and ride




I've tried the park tool thing too, pain in the arse.

Don't tell my wife. She thinks I'm cycling.

I assumed mineral spirits was better since it evaporates naturally unlike dish soap, which needs to be washed off.

I had the owner of a bike saddle company, who is also a former Formula One mechanic, tell me that kerosene is best for cleaning bike chains. He said that is coats the chain in a way that acts as a lubricant. It is also cheap. My wife hates it because it has a strong gasoline smell. Not sure if coating the chain is important because I always use chain oil after cleaning. I am considering a chain cleaning kit. I heard that Finish Line makes a better kit than Park does, according to the reviews from people that have used both.

it's what i've always used. i asked a guy at my lbs if i was doing it wrong, he said no and recommended dawn.

True, it is a ***** to clean the rag after you've gotten mineral spirits on it. A kit would probably be cleaner there.