PeaceGrabber

Dear to all roadies:
I did a decent search in the net and to see if there is someone mention the use of chain scrubber. No one did. In fact, no one provide a fast, cheap, and a quick way to clean off a road bike.

One member in the road forum suggests people to spray Tri-flow lub as a way to clean off the chain and relube the chain again with Tri-flow.

First, if you read my previous forums, I am Mr.Cheap but depend how you look at it. I always try to find alternative ways to do the job at a much lower cost. Such as, I do not waste 2 dollars to buy a "toy" road pump in a dollar shop. However, if the pump orginally cost 100 dollars and it is on sale by 40 percent off, I would take it without a second thought. Am I being cheap or not? It all depends how you look at it. We all know the fact that earning a few dollars more is not easy in these days.

Ok, enough troll and rubbish. Let's get down to business.

There are still things you must need before you start clean off the chain: (Use your bare hands to rub off the silt does not work effectively, I tried it before when I was young.)

1. A bucket with water
2. An old toothbrush
3. Sunlight dishwasher liquid
4. Very important: A Chain Scrubber.
5. Tri-flow

Optional stuff:
1. A non-flamable and non-corrosive degreaser.
2. Lemon juice

First, you pour water into a bucket with Sunlight dishwasher liquid. You can add some of your favourite degreaser with a few drop of real lemon juice. A chain scrubber cost usually about US 15 dollars in most bike shop. What it does is the thing has four roll brushes and you can pour liquid inside. You open the the Scrubber first and let the chain sit in the middle of the scrubber and then you lock it and rotate the the chain by turning the crank. Afterwards, you rinse it with water by using the scrubber again. Thus, this can ensure you to clean the chain quickly without a mess. Then you use the old toothbrush to clean off the silt on the rest of the gears, included rear derailleur spocket gears.

I have also tried just to use the old toothbrush and it is not efficient as the Scrubber.

Let the bicycle dry for a day and relube the chain with Tri-flow.

PS. You do not need to wast extra money to buy chain degreaser or gear degreaser in a bike shop. Those degreaser are too expensive compare auto degreaser stuff. I stay off to use any of the auto degreaser stuff because they smell bad. I have found that Sunlight dilute with water plus a few drop of lemon juice work best. At last, buy your Tri-flow in a locksmith stores. I do not know why bike shops like to over charge on accessories.

PSS. The above method is base on "The Haynes Bicycle Book".

demoncyclist

Or, you can use a chain with a PowerLink. Pop the link to remove the chain from the bike. Drop chain into 2 liter soda bottle with 1 liter of environmentally friendly grease removing solution (Simple Green is one example). Put cap on bottle, shake for about 30 seconds, then let soak while you have a beer, read bikeforums, etc. Fish chain out of bottle with broken spoke, rinse, wipe and hang up to dry. When moisture is gone, reattach to bike and drip TriFlow, Finish Line or Pedros onto each link. I just saved your $15 dollars, kept a plastic bottle and a piece of stainless steel out of the landfill, and got the chance to clean my frame more thoroughly without the chain being in the way.

PeaceGrabber

Popping the chain out is a waste of time. Install the chain back is a pain in the ass.

Iron Chef

Why? The powerlink should make it easy.

mnutini

The top two are provided by Park Tool so they're going to feature their products.


https://www.parktool.com/repair_help/CM5.shtml
https://www.cyclingnews.com/tech/fix/?id=BCB4

https://www.google.com/search?q=chain...ng&btnG=Search

enduro

Chain scrubbers work way better and faster than the "bucket of simple green" method. You can do it either way. I prefer the former.

Rowan

Chain scrubbers do a great cosmetic job. Bright and clean on the outside, still gritty on the inside where it counts. I double up on demoncyclist's method -- clean by shaking bottle like a cocktail mixer, leave stand; remove chain, drain off kerosene and gunk (recycle kero by straining and allowing to settle in another bottle); start again with clean kero. Let dry in sun or overnight to ensure all kero evaporates from within rollers and links.

Worked for me on a recent, very wet, very muddy, three-day MTB race that I serviced for.

KrisPistofferson

Agreed. Plus, the only time putting the chain back on is a pain is the first time, after you know how to do it, it's easy. It's possible to get chains clean with or without removing them, but it's a heck of a lot easier and less time consuming to remove it. Get the Powerlink, you'll wonder how you got along without it. If this is just a troll thread, I'll tell you where you can put your chain...

norton

Seems like ship-in-a-bottle to the manipulation-challenged....Otherwise, excellent idea....

2manybikes

Put a touch (Just a little) of wd-40 on a clean soft rag. NO, NOT THE CHAIN, BIKE ,ETC.
Spin the pedals backwards and wipe the chain for a while. Turn the rag to a clean spot and wipe the wd-40 residue OFF completely. Then lube with good chain lube. So far I get 7,500 miles out of a chain and cog set. I don't have any chain or shifting problems yet. I wipe the derailleur pulleys and the cogs once in a while too. Just rip a 2" wide strip out of a rag and slide between the cogs and go back and forth. The chain rings can be cleaned while on the bike too, the same way. No need to take the chain off.
This is on multiple road bikes, not just one. RSX is the highest mileage group so far.
Road bikes only, not off road bikes.

The biggest investment is a bottle of wd-40 every couple of years.
DON'T use wd-40 on anything else on you bike, or as a chain lube. It washes needed grease off of things that need it.

The rags were clothes or towels in the 1960's I guess the cost is not much.

Whadaya mean cheap !? Take the chain off ? Forget it. Too messy. Too much work. No benefit.

Slipping into flame suit now !

OK....Ready.... aim..... flame!

norton

No no....No flame suit needed....Rip it up to use as chain cleaner....This sounds perfect to the manipulation-challenged....

2manybikes

My friend the firefighter said I should use flame ******ent rags !! Perfect !!

Travis Bickle

Chain scrubbers are messy and don't do that great of a job, I had a Park.

Using a rag and toothbrush only cleans the utside of the chain.

The only way to properly clean the chain is;

1. Remove it with a powerlink.
2. Place in a small tupperware container and cover with degreaser.
3. Soak for 5 min.
4. Shake for 2 - 3 min.
5. Let it sit for 5 min.
6. Pour off degreaser being carefull not to get the sediment. I reuse my degreaser.
7. Pour in hotwater and shake then dump the water and repeat until all degreaser is rinsed out.
8. Place on an old pan and bake in toaster oven at 200 F for 30 min.
9. Let cool, lube, wipe down and reinstall.
10. Chain is better than new.

Only do this if you care about your bike otherwise just lube it and and continue getting lube all ove the bike.

neil0502

Somebody did an almost scientific study about cleaning, lubing, and chain life on rec.bicycles.tech about two years ago.

One thing that could be inferred from the results (not certain, but plausible) is that an off-the-bike thorough cleaning gave the best cleaning, but shortened chain life unless a similar off-the-bike (immersion) lubrication method was used.

In other words, immersion cleaning got everything out of everywhere, but lubing the chain back on the bike didn't get lube everywhere--especially in the most critical wear areas.

Bottom line seemed to be:
- if you clean it off the bike, lube it off the bike
- if you clean it on the bike, lube it on the bike

2manybikes

You don't want to get ALL the lube out of the inside of the rolllers and side plates of the chain. Just the outside.

howling.fantods

https://www.cyclingnews.com/tech.php?...chain_scrubber

I thought this review was pretty informative. The upshot is that the chain scrubbers work pretty well, but leave behind a fair amount of grit.

LowCel 

Are they making a powerlink for ten speed chains yet?

edmaverik

Here is something for 10-speed chains:

2005 Wippermann ConneX 10-spd Stainless Link
https://www.competitivecyclist.com/za...RY.ID=23&MODE=

LowCel 

Thanks, has anyone tried the link on a campy 10 speed chain? If so did it work alright?

Rowan

Practical experience shows otherwise. Also it is illogical. The grit is what causes wear. If the grit is not removed from within the rollers and rivets and sideplates, adding lubricant won't do a single thing to improve the situation. Clean metal rubbing against itself will last longer even without lube (although not significantly longer).

I use one drop of oil per roller, over the roll. It seeps in between to the place where it's supposed to go. The minimal but effective use of oil also reduces the amount that gets to the outside of the sideplates where it settles and becomes a primary grit attracter. Pouring on oil or soaking it in lube only exacerbates this.

By the way, unless two chains treated differently are run side by side with each other in identical conditions, there is no way such an almost "scientific" test could be useful.

CdCf

Here's a theory of mine.
It's just that, but still.

Chains are cheap compared to the other stuff the chain interacts with during normal use.
So, if you don't like the hassle of removing and putting the chain back, just get it cleaned so that it doesn't wear down the other bike parts, and ignore the wear internally.
You end up spending a tiny bit more money in the long run, but it's hardly a big deal.

alanbikehouston

SRAM/Sachs chains are easy to remove and remount. Shimano's service advisor said that Shimano's folks discovered, to their surprise, that chain life is doubled by turning the chain "inside out" each time you clean the chain. Just like a "reversible belt".

If a chain is replaced before it is worn out (when it measures slightly closer to "like new" than to "worn out" on a chain checker) a cassette can last three or four chains. Using the "reversible" chain method, a cassette could last a very long time.

But, theory aside, I've gotten good result a "lazy" method. Put a drop of White Lightening on each roller. Spin the crank backwards a couple of minutes. Let the WL soak in thirty minutes. Then spin the crank a few minutes with a clean flannel rag wrapped around the chain. Let the chain set-up eight or nine hours.

That "lazy guy" method leaves my chains reasonably clean, using it when a bike has had five or six long rides, or one long rainy/muddy ride. That method has NOT worked for me using lubes that are not "wax" based. Some of the "highly rated" lubes allow the chain to get very gunky using the "lazy" method.

neil0502

Yeah . . . I don't know. I see both sides of this one. Here's a copy of the original post. Again, far from scientific, but interesting. It was from Tom Gibb, posted 1/6/04 on rec.bicycles.tech. Forgive the abuse of bandwidth....
...
To interject some real data into the chain lubrication debate I devised the
following method for comparing two methods.


1. Take one PC-48 chain, size it for the bike and then "break" it into two equal sections
2. Join the two sections with second "Power Link."
3. Mark a section by cutting a shallow "+" sign in a rivet with a Dremel and a cut off wheel so the individual chain sections would always be cleaned by the same method.
4. Clean one section (called "washed") by thrashing it in paint thinner, changing the thinner until there is a clean wash. It took 5-6 to do this. I always used fresh (instead of thinner that was being reused by allowing it to settle prior to being filtered through a coffee filter) thinner for the last 2-3 washes.
5. Clean the other section (called "unwashed") by throughly wiping it off with a rag and then brushing it with a tooth brush.
6. Otherwise treat both sections exactly the same oiling both with Quaker State chain saw bar oil.
7. Measure the chain sections as follows:
a. hang the chain section with a five pound weight on it (a set of automobile cable chains).
b. measure with an 18 inch ruler that is ruled to 1/32 in the first inch. Using that long a ruler allowed us to measure between the 1 inch mark and the 13 inch mark so we could use that first inch and
extrapolate to 1/64.
c. have my wife confirm the measurements (we argued about them several times).
8. Put the chain back together, oil it, wipe it down to remove excess oil, replace it on the bike and ride it until the chain needs cleaning again.
9. Repeat until 24 links in one section measures 12 1/16.

Results:

Date Miles Elongation Elongation Notes
of washed of unwashed
chain chain
07/11/03 0
07/14/03 137.1 0 0 Dusty and noisy
07/23/03 328.6 1/64 1/64 Dusty and slightly noisy
08/01/03 607.24 1/64 1/64
08/11/03 819.71 1/64 1/64
09/02/03 1076.67 1/64 1/32 rain
09/19/03 1430.39 1/64 1/32 noisy
10/23/03 1801.17 3/64 1/32
11/07/03 2257.55 3/64 1/32
01/05/04 2739.52 1/16 1/32 Very dirty and noisy

Conclusions:
It isn't worth it to soak a chain out in solvent. I've stopped doing so, but I will be very careful to measure often. The presence of my wife Susan (an unbiased observer) in this was essential, I
(she) caught myself (me) seeing more wear in the "unwashed" chain than in the "washed" one early in the trial.

Comments:
It was not easy to measure the chain to the 1/64 level, we spent some time getting the light right so we could see the marks and either took the glasses off (Susan) or used 4X readers (me) and we still had to work at it. I used a needed fresh cassette at the begining. The bike was my "beater" bike, a Cannondale M700. I use it for commuting and errands. Part of the riding was on gravel trails.
The method could easily be used to compare other cleaning methods and other lubricants. I was prepared to take SRAM to task for advocating cleaning chains by wiping them down with some kind of degreaser on the rag (trying to sell extra chains are you?) HA! or NOT!

53-11_alltheway

Chain scrubber?

Removing a chain with a powerlink is so easy though. It takes me 10 seconds to remove chain and 20 seconds to put on chain.

Removing chain from bike makes cleaning very easy.

enduro

I stand by my earlier comment on the merits of my chain scrubber, it takes the massive amounts of grit and sludge off of my MTB chain (after washing with a hose) and has it looking and performing like new very quickly. Wiggling the chain with my fingers, I can't detect any significant grit after a good scrubbing. For years I used the "soak in a bucket, scrub with a toothbrush, etc etc" method and it really is more work than necessary, plus you go through a lot more degreaser. My scrubber is made by Pedro's BTW, I'm sure not all work the same.