Gege-Bubu

I run out of simple green degreaser and cleaned bike chain and cassette with what I had: mineral spirit. I seems the mineral spirit cleaned it faster. I dipped the chain in it and it came out clean. I did not have a problem to do it because the chain needs to be replaced anyway, I am just waiting for the shipment

Should I wash my drivetrain with clean water after it? (I did not wash it this time)

Is there a reason why I have to stay away from mineral spirit on regular basis and go with simple green only?

MegaTom

Mineral spirits is good. Anytime I use water on my drivetrain for cleaning, I always finish with a rinse in spirits to flush the remaining moisture from inside the chain links & whatnot.

pallen

works great, the problem is what to do with it when you're done.

MegaTom

I reuse it for months.

Bob Ross

So what do you do with it when you're done months later?

RT

I have a jar sitting in my garage that is begging the same question. I will have to take it to the local hazardous waste recycling center.

MegaTom

Heh. I work for a paint company, so I just dispose of it there. If that wasn't an option, most municipalities do have recycling for household hazardous waste.... mine has pickups every 3-4 months if one can't be bothered to go to the county landfill.

RT

When I get home I will e-mail you my jar. Please send the jar back when it is empty

MegaTom

Will do !

Drag

This.

bikerjp

I don't know your riding conditions, but I'd offer that it may not be all that important to use any de-greaser per se. What I've been doing is using a bit of wd40 (which I think is fairly similar to mineral spirits) on a rag to wipe down the chain every few rides. Takes only a minute or two. I think this helps keep crud out of the inner part of the chain. Then every couple weeks I run some RR Gold over it to flush out the insides and re-lube.

If a chain is in bad shape, de-greasing and re-lubing might be necessary, but so far I've been able to keep my chain and overall drivetrain fairly clean and problem free. If there is a flaw in this approach I'm sure it will become apparent but I've got over 2,500 miles on my current chain and it's still working fine.

curiouskid55

If your intent is to leach all the lubricant out of the oil impregnated bearing in your chain and reduce its lifespan dramitacally it work great. To maximize the effect soak overnight.

MNBikeCommuter

Yeah, I only get 6-9k miles out of my chains doing this. How many do you get out of yours?

pallen

nothing a good soak in clean lube cant fix. Lately I've been too lazy to clean chains. I just dribble fresh lube on them generously and wipe.

thump55

As a guy who works with steel and mineral spirits a lot, I can tell you that yes, it will clean your chain very well.

It is not a lubricant, however. If you use it to clean the chain, put some type of lubricant on afterwards (I would soak it in something as Pallen said, preferrably petroleum based, not a "dry" lubricant like a teflon or Rock-n-Roll Absolute Dry).

Personally, I do not use it (or WD-40) on my chains. Steel parts that have been washed in mineral spirits and left out to dry often get a "haze" of whitish film, and the steel appears "dry".

ahsposo 

I've been using a mix of approximately 60% mineral spirits and 40% 30 weight motor oil in one of those Park chain cleaner gadgets. Cleans and lubes with little mess or waste.

JohnDThompson 

Pour it into a plastic jug with a tight-fitting cap. The grit will settle to the bottom and you can decant the clean spirits off the top and use them again.

jwible

I like xylene. Dry with an air hose from a compressor. Lube up and good to go. Just dump the crap in the nearest watershed.

DaveSSS 

There is no "oil impregnated bearing" in your chain. The pin rubs against a bushing, formed into the inner side plates - steel on steel. WD-40 works fine for chain cleaning, since it's a mixture of oil and solvent. I've used my own home-brew lube that has about the same 20% oil in it for many years and it produces excellent chain life. I use either gear lube or synthetic motor oil in my home brew. Don't use WD-4 as a chain lube, even though it has about the same percentage of oil. The oil will not prevent chain wear nearly as well as the oils that I use. I know this for a fact because I used nothing but WD-40 for about 1500 miles, before it became obvious that my Campy chain was showing too much elongation for the mileage. I've acurately measure as little as .15% elongation after 6,000 miles.

rangerdavid

mineral spirits are fine. I put my chain in a plastic jar with some and shake it around, rinse and repeat until it's clean. Spirits will, however, take the decals off your wheels if you're not careful.

curiouskid55

the roller is a solid oil impregnated bearing

StanSeven

Many of the commercial lubes are nothing more than mineral spirits with oil. The directions say add it to the chain, wipe, and re-apply. So you are cleaning and lubing

TJClay

It makes a great weed killer when your done cleaning your chain.