Steam clean drive train?
 

Has anyone tried one of those small wand steam cleaners to clean their drive train?

Would you expect any problems from using steam to clean the chain, chainwheels, and cassette?

I don't want to clean bike grime from the bath tub each day here in my Wisconsin home, and our garage isn't insulated even though it is attached. After riding through salt and slush, I'm wondering if a quick steam cleaning would be a simple solution to get the gunk and salt off before lubricating the drive train components.

You could try it, but:

a) I'd studiously avoid anything that's grease-filled (bottom bracket, hubs, headset), and

b) I'd make sure to get ALL the water out of anything that you steamed -- probably using either compressed air or WD-40. A reasonable amount of a reasonable lubricant, properly applied, after that....

Clean and rusty, IMO, is worse than dirty and rust-free ;)

When I worked at a LBS here, they used a small pressure washer, and
sprayed some foam degreaser, on the wheels/chain/cassette. Spray
them and than let them air dry, before a tune-up. I didn't agree with it. but
I needed a job at the time. Too easy the get water, in the whell/crank if
your not careful.
I use a small pressure waher, the type you buy, from Home Depot, to
clean, chain and cassette, in warmer weather,and to do a general cleaning
of bikes I buy, before I regrease all the bearings.
I use a weak mixture of Simple Green and water, and at as low pressure as
the machine will go. I use a 10% SG to 90% water, and try not to spray, directly
into the hubs/crank area.
This has worked for me, I also know of one person who, uses the local self service
car wash, to clean his chain and cassettes, than rides his second, bike, home with
the clean stuff.
Well that's mu 2 cents worth, time to go out and ride in the nice snow...........

I use my Python fish tank hose. It attached to the faucet so I have warm or cold water as needed. Its just long enough to go out the front door to an area where I can work on the bike. The water flows is at low pressure so you don't risk doing damage like you will with a pressure washer.

Happy riding,
André

Heck, I just take a gallon milk jug and fill it with some hot water and rinse off the bike with that. I let it dry for a little while and then bring it inside. Why pay to rinse off your bike? A high preassure washer will get inside your bearings and you definetly don't want that. Invest in a good chain cleaner, buy some Simple Green, or other degreaser, and clean your drivetrain that way. It's hassle free and cheap and you'll feel better about taking care of your bike.

I think that steam cleaning would be OK for the chain, chainrings, derailers and cassettes. As was stated above you got to make sure that they are dry and lubed after because when you use that method you will remove a lot of the internal lubricants. Stay away from hubs and BB unless you are planning to tear the whole thing down and rebuild.

When dirty, and only when dirty - like lots of riding in wet weather - I have given my drive train and bike a quick hose down, then bring it inside where I continue wiping it down and do a general detailed clean-up. I remove the cassette and wash it with Simple Green. I clean the chain with a spray solvent like WD-40 or similar. Then put it all back together and re-lube with a 50/50 mixture of Duralube (available in automotive store) and mineral spirits. I hit the derailleur mechanism joints and brake joints with a quick squirt of spray lube/protectant like WD-40 or similar. Wipe off any excess. About anything works. My bike rides and looks brand new after this.

For general wiping and cleaning, I use standard bathroom type wash rags that you can buy at Wal-Mart for litttle or nothing. I think you can get about 20 rags for a dollar or two. Some can be washed and reused, but the greasy or dirty ones I just throw away. They are not expensive. Lemon Pledge wipes that you can get in a grocery store work quite well too with general clean-up.

As has been stated, go quick around the BB and hubs. I like the milk carton with hot water idea too as a first pass cleaning vehicle. This precludes "forcing" water which can cause it to enter areas that it probably should not (BB and hubs). At the same time it provides a good cleaning vehicle since the water is hot. Put the carton in your microwave to get it hot if necessary.

A method that has worked pretty good so far for me is to have a short section of garden house about 10-15 feet long near the water spicket that is easy to remove and drain after every use. With this method you are using low pressure cold water to clean the bike and drivetrain using a garden sprayer on the hose. The low pressure cold water will remove nearly all of the salt and dirt but leaves most of the lubricants intact since it is not hot enough to melt them away. Then bring the bike inside to dry and lube after it is dry. Doing this you can quickly hose down the bike after every couple of rides or after every ride if it gets really dirty or salty.

take chain off and submerge it in a waterbottle full of undiluted orange degreaser
take wheels off
take cranks off and submerge chain rings in weak simple green solution
spray bottle full of warm 4:1 simple green solution, spray down frame from top to bottom and shop towels and brushes and whatnot to grime out of tough areas
spray bottle full of warm water to rinse off simple green
pull and clean BB if necessary (every few months)
clean wheels and cassette with SG solution, brushes and shop towels

slap it all back together, tune the derailleur a little and call it good.

Sounds great.

What time should I bring my bike by?

:D

Sorry for digging up an old thread. I'm adding a comment as a public service to people who google "steam clean bicycle" and find this thread. I posted this info elsewhere on the bike forums on a another steam-clean thread.

There is a LBS here just outside of Madison, WI that has been offering steam cleaning for bicycles for years now. Many of the anal riders I ride with (like the ones that wipe off their spokes after each ride!) take their bikes to this shop to get them cleaned and the results are incredible. The bikes look showroom new. I've never felt it was worth the $100 cost of the cleaning, I just jube up the chain and wipe it down witha rag, and leave the grime everywhere else on my bike until it starts acting funny and I'm forced to take it apart and wipe it clean everything by hand. But I wanted to share that steam cleaning is done, and I've heard of no ill effects after a few years of people having it done.

I think the confusion is around what a "steam cleaner" is. My impression is that a steam cleaner doesn't "blast" steam out like a pressure washer, it is more like the steam that comes out of your iron but more of it, it kind of "wafes" out. It is very hot and it heats the grease/oil hot enough to lower the viscosity so it can no longer hold the sand and grit, so the extra grime just drips off along with the sand and grit etc. However since no detergents are used it doesn't actually "break down" the oil which makes it must gentler than using chemicals. Plus you don't have to worry about any detergents that seeped into places they weren't supposed that will reduce the effectiveness of your new lube after cleaning. It all makes sense to me, just never felt it was worth the cost.

I don't see how water will get anywhere it doesn't already get on your bike when you ride in the rain, or even just from condensation riding on a humid day, then parking your bike in a cool garage, water condenses inside your frame etc.

Just another experience to add the all the knowledge floating around!

Just found this on a motorcycle website....another peice of info on this subject....be careful...try steam at your own risk! Another vote against steam cleaning. Do bikes have "o-ring" chains?? So after reading this I'm not sure what the LBS that steam cleans does...maybe the just steam clean the frame??

"The high pressures and temperatures created by power washers and steam cleaners will wash the grease right out of a standard chain, which is bad enough, but at least you've got a fighting chance of getting it back in there. However, when those types of washers are used on an O-ring chain, the heat and pressure not only remove the lubricant but can also deform or damage the O-rings. Unfortunately even the best aerosol chain sprays won't be able to force the fresh lubricant past the O-rings (damaged or not), so what you'll be left with is a clean, albeit dry chain that's going to have a very short and unhappy life"

Haha, never saw this... but steaming a chain is a bad idea. Exposing your chain to water = rust. You can't clean oil with water anyways.

The best option is using an ultra-sonic cleanser filled with a degreaser.

Steam cleaning a bicycle drivtrain !? Is this some kind of a joke ? What's the point of this ?

I'm confused about the differing viewpoints on this issue. Everyone seems to be against steam cleaning, everyone saying it will "wash away" oil and cause "rust". Except half the people then say "use a degreaser/detergent" .....which obviously washes away oil too, in fact degreaser will wash away your lube better than any steam will. Put in a ultrasonic cleaner! That would get even the grease out that a steam cleaner couldn't get out, so that would seem even worse, yet it is offered as a better alternative than using steam?

This is why I'm not buying all the "anti-steam" comments on here as there appears to be a lack of knowledge/logic in lots of the responses. Again, my understanding is the steam cleaning is NOT a high-pressure steam jet, but a soft way of applying clean heat which reduces viscosity of oil so excess oil (and grit trapped in it) fall away. The benefit is that is very gentle method of cleaning (no scrubbing or chemicals) but can still get your bike very clean.

To those who say "water causes rust" You obviously have to re-lube after any cleaning, so when you re-lube it will push the water off of all metal surfaces since oil has strong surface tension than oil.

I've always understood the concern over cleaning past rubber O-rings, but I still can't picture anything like that on my bike (bike chains don't have O-rings like motorcycles), except maybe on the wheel hubs??. IF that is it, then just don't clean the wheel hubs, but that still leaves a lot of bike that is perfectly steam-cleanable, and steam is the the MOST gentle of any cleaning, requires no scrubbing brushes or detergents.

I still have not heard anyone list a specific area of concern on a bike, only generic fears like "it will take grease out of places it shouldn't" ....like where? Can anyone give examples of places with sealed O-rings on a bike that soft steam would knock out?

The steam cleaners I've seen used to clean dumptrucks at a paving company blasted out super-high-pressure
jets of steam and boiling water that would dissolve tar/asphalt and fling rocks and gravel across the lot.
(this is probably not what anyone is using on a bicycle)

If you're using a single-speed or IGH bike, just buy nickel-plated chains (about $10 at Yellow Jersey) and replace frequently. Also, you have the option of a full chaincase.

Nothing on your bike has rubber o-rings like a motorcycle chain. A little home steam cleaner like you see on infomercials probably wouldn't hurt anything. Some kind of industrial high-pressure steam weapon might be a problem if you point it at bearings in your hubs/headset/bottom bracket.

We all wash our bikes with water and they don't rust to pieces. It is a good idea to treat the inside of a steel frame with something but unless you leave it submerged even an untreated frame should stand up to many years of occasional washings.