sers

after a week's worth of riding in mixed conditions with finish line xc wet lube and without fenders, i found my chain to be crunchy and gunky as hell. in the past, it's taken a lot longer to get to this point. so i ended up trying out the following, somewhat overboard, cleaning method late last night when i had an hour to kill:

Prep:
- wipe down chain with paper towel, while spinning the cranks
- remove chain
- run through pedro's clean machine once or twice with a little biocleaner
- rinse chain under hot water
- wipe down chain with paper towel
goal - remove as much surface grease as possible, and loosen internal grime

Degrease:
- place chain in old mineral spirits bottle with a liberal amount of mineral spirits
- shake for a minute
- let sit for 15-30 mins
- shake again.
goal: dissolve all grease and grime, as it holds sand and sediment

Rinse:
- place chain in 2L soda bottle with 1L of hot water
- shake vigorously
- let sit 5 mins
- shake vigorously
- remove, rinse under hot water and let dry.
goal: remove traces of dissolved grease and flood remaining sand and dirt out of chain.

i prefer high quality mineral spirits to other degreasers, since it doesn't leave a residue (like citrus oil) and it's dirt cheap. admittedly, this is probably a little more involved than is probably necessary. i wouldn't have done it if i wasn't planning to finish off a bottle of dry lube i had laying around and bored. however, it is a great method of getting back to square one with a chain. it didn't really take that long, and it made for a really nice ride today.

I've made it a point this winter to clean my drivetrain often. I paid a lot of money for my drivetrain and I like to feel it at it's best.

word to the wise: scentless mineral spirits aren't as strong a degreaser as the scented variety. be sure not to use this indoors. also - do not get it anywhere near your frame or tires, as mineral spirits make up the bulk of most paint thinners. finally, do not use just any type of plastic container for the chain bath, as it will dissolve them.

Rev.Chuck

For when you don't have time for your method.
Remove chain
Putin water bottle half full of mineral spirits
Shake hell out of bottle
Remove chain and dry.

* * * * *

kerosene?

sers

kerosene is more flammable than mineral spirits and leaves a residue. turpentine, gasoline, laquer thinner, MEK and acetone leave (sometimes flammable) residues as well. however, all of these residues can be completely removed with methanol (methyl alcohol aka wood alcohol). low quality mineral spirits leave a greasy residue, high quality pure varieties do not.

jasonsan

I use kerosene to clean my chain, but I use a pneumatic paint shaker to agitate my junk.Shaking the hell outta stuff by hand makes my balls ache. Then I blow it off w/ compressed air and hang to dry.Sorry, I tried to keep the TMI to a minimum.

jasonsan

Kerosene leaves a residue.............aka protective coating. One might also characterize lube as "residue", no? Are you saying that this residue is a bad thing? I'm curious, kinda.

sers

dry lubricants bond best to bare metal. however, the residue kerosene leaves probably won't make a lick of difference in how you perceive your lubricant to be performing. kerosene residue probably lessens wear to a reasonable degree.

Landgolier

Replace the water in your rinse cycle with 95% isopropyl. Once you're done with the detergent in step 1, why reintroduce water?

bobdanger

good info guys.

plantdude

great suggestions on solvents to clean chains. I have always used citrus degreaser because of its "biodegradability." How do you dispose of these other chemicals (mineral spirits, kerosene)? Do you just let them evaporate and then toss out all the remaing gunk and grime when the liquid is gone?

max-a-mill

i never degrease... just keep adding lube and wiping till the black stuff tops coming out of the chain.

takes maybe 5 applications and 2 minutes. after it is clean lube the snot out of it, let it sit overnight and wipe it down. then probably wipe it down again after the next ride or two.

soo smooov!

degreasing chains is an unnecessary pain in th @ss in my humble opinion.

HereNT

About once a month I do the same, but with water and simple green for the shaking cycle. I do a final clean after the last rinse with a rag. Another step if I have time is to check each link for stiffness while it's off the bike. That seems to make as much of a difference in how the drivechain feels as cleaning... And it's not fun to do when the chain is all greasy and on the bike.

OK, it's never fun, but it's a lot less of a pain.

mrRed

just put on a new chain yesterday, and even despite cleaning it every few weeks, my bike is now happy once again. Near completely silent and feels great.

$0.00/Gal

Step 1 - ride to LBS

step 2 - buy bike chain

step 3 - ride home

step 4 - remove old bike chain

step 5 - install new bike chain

tried and true method, folks.

grizybaer

if you're worried about the environment, leave the spirits in a bottle for a week, all the junk will settle to the bottom. pour off the clean top and store for use in your next cleaning. As for the junk thats left over, do what you please, get some charcoal and start grilling

endform

I am a fan of the throttle/carb cleaner. It works damn fast and well, just don't breath it.

sers

because it comes out of my kitchen faucet. isopropyl would dry faster, and methanol would be ideal, although i don't know where i would get methanol.

carb cleaner tends to be toluene aerosol. wear a mask.

bigbikerbrian

man, this thread reads like chemistry homework. simple green is the best. double true.

dan6

You can get methal alcohol (the same as methanol?) at most discount stores -marketed as gas line antifreeze such as Heet. Usually less than a buck a container-comprable to isopropyl in price.

sers

a ha! so that's what it is. it makes sense since the **** freezes at around -75C and has a flash point about 50C greater than gasoline.

knjc68

I like aerosol brake-cleaner, available at any automotive parts store. Use the little red spray-tube to spray the lower part of the exposed chain (on the bike) while rotating the pedals backwards.
It's a very good solvent, much cheaper than carb cleaner, dries very quickly, leaves no residue, & the pressure of the spray forces the junk out from under the rollers.
Not as environmentally friendly as the orange or green stuff, but quick & very effective.

highpants

absolutely brilliant. i still struggle to keep my stuff clean sometimes, but for all the trouble, the above method is pretty tempting. i guess i'd have to weigh the environmental factors.

zelah

fill chain cleaner thing with degreaser, run it through the chain for a minute or two or three, then dry the chain off, put lube on it, run the pedals around while the bike's still on the stand

extreme enough for me

popluhv

1. Drop chain in bucket of kerosene
2. Open a beer
3. Log on to Bikeforums
4. Waste time
5. Go to bed
6. Wake up
7. Eat
8. Put chain bake on

highpants

oh man, a chain bake sounds pretty good right about now.