degreasing/greasing/oiling

eurotrotter

hey gang.
i commute in and out to college everyday, regardless of weather conditions.
i have noticed patches of rust on my chain a couple of days after the bike has endured a heavy down pour or cycling through a dirty/wet road for exmple.
I am quite concerned about this.

i DEGREASE and oil(wet weather lube) my chain and sprockets with the best of lubricants.
i do a thorough job, and i always dry the chaing and sprockets thoroughly, leave the bike overnight, AND ONLY THEN do i oil the chain with all season lube(at this time of year)
i do this about once a month.

am i do anything wrong here?

I also want to know what other things i should be lubing/greasing or whatever to ensure a good long life for my lapierre rcr 500:

here she is:
http://www.gerrysbikes.de/images/RCR500gross.jpg

thanks for the help guys,
Ed

short circuit

You would be surprised how quickly they rust ... I cleaned my bike last night and left it to dry overnight ... and there is slight rusting on the chain and sprocket today morning ... even though there was nothing on it last night.

eurotrotter wrote: »

hey gang.
i DEGREASE and oil(wet weather lube) my chain and sprockets with the best of lubricants.
Ed

The only reason that comes to mind is that in this weather you probably have to oil it more frequently as even the wet lube will only last so long. And this means cleaning the chain more frequently as well ... as if you lube a dirty chain ... you are just helping the grime get into the rollers to cause more damage.

In wet weather .. I try to get to my chain every two weeks.

Also ... use a bike specific lube ... and from your saying that you use high quality wet lube ... I don't see an issue here ....

Gavin

Unfortunately you need to do it more regularly in the wet weather!

xz

after every ride, clean and lubricate your chain, especially this time of year, every couple of rides in better weather conditions

SACH Central

For keeping your bike in tip-top shape check out this link from the ever helpful guys at Worldwide Cycles in Clonmel: http://worldwidecyclesblog.com/2007/06/11/tip-of-the-week-bike-washing/

barrabus

In case anyone is interested there is cheap degreaser on sale in aldi this week.
I just cleaned my bike with it and it did the trick. I haven't used others so I can't compare.

switzerland

Eurotrotter, funny enough I was going to post about the same thing. I have the exact same bike as you and see the same problem. After a few days out of the shop the chain was litterly covered in rust. I look after it similar to yourself. I even had it serviced last weekend but by Friday it was in awful shape again. I know the weather has been bad but I only do about 50-60miles a week so I don't think it should get this bad.

blorg

eurotrotter wrote: »

i have noticed patches of rust on my chain a couple of days after the bike has endured a heavy down pour or cycling through a dirty/wet road for exmple.

This can happen unless you immediately re-lube after such a ride. Once a month is unlikely to be enough in extreme conditions.

i do a thorough job, and i always dry the chaing and sprockets thoroughly, leave the bike overnight, AND ONLY THEN do i oil the chain with all season lube(at this time of year)

As short circuit says, if you leave it overnight you will have rust in the morning.

My own mountain bike and fixie chains have degenerated into a pretty bad condition rust-wise but this is all down to the environment they have been cycled in (snow.)

Tayto2000

If you're in Dublin, don't forget that they've been spreading actual salt instead of grit on the roads this year... Rust problems are going to be worse.

Wiping down with a light oil on a rag (eg WD40 or similar) to displace water on the chain after cleaning but before lubing helps I find...

xz

Tayto2000 wrote: »

If you're in Dublin, don't forget that they've been spreading actual salt instead of grit on the roads this year... Rust problems are going to be worse.

Wiping down with a light oil on a rag (eg WD40 or similar) to displace water on the chain after cleaning but before lubing helps I find...

NEVER EVER PUT WD40 on your chain.Use a dedicated degreaser or diesel instead to clean and displace water.
WD-40 was developed by the U.S. military in the 50s as a rust preventative solvent and de-greaser to protect missile parts. It quickly became a household item when people discovered it had thousands of other uses as a cleaner, rust-prevention agent, squeak-stopper and more. It also works wonders as a light lubricant on small items like hinges, locks, and toys.

Bicycle chains, on the other hand, are far too heavy and fast-moving for the lubricating power of WD-40 to have any effect at all. As a matter of fact, WD-40 will actually strip away any existing lubricant and leave your drivetrain dry - metal on metal. Basically, spraying this stuff on your chain is worse than using no lubricant at all!

Gavin

xz wrote: »

Bicycle chains, on the other hand, are far too heavy and fast-moving for the lubricating power of WD-40 to have any effect at all. As a matter of fact, WD-40 will actually strip away any existing lubricant and leave your drivetrain dry - metal on metal. Basically, spraying this stuff on your chain is worse than using no lubricant at all!

WD40 was also designed for water displacement. Works very well for cleaning the crap off a chain too as I recently discovered. Followed by a lube, does the job, as Tayto said.

niceonetom

xz wrote: »

NEVER EVER PUT WD40 on your chain.Use a dedicated degreaser or diesel instead to clean and displace water.
WD-40 was developed by the U.S. military in the 50s as a rust preventative solvent and de-greaser to protect missile parts. It quickly became a household item when people discovered it had thousands of other uses as a cleaner, rust-prevention agent, squeak-stopper and more. It also works wonders as a light lubricant on small items like hinges, locks, and toys.

Bicycle chains, on the other hand, are far too heavy and fast-moving for the lubricating power of WD-40 to have any effect at all. As a matter of fact, WD-40 will actually strip away any existing lubricant and leave your drivetrain dry - metal on metal. Basically, spraying this stuff on your chain is worse than using no lubricant at all!

nonsense. sorry.

wd40 is great at what it was originally intended for. water displacement. after i've degreased a chain and rinsed it with hot water, i use wd40 to drive the water out of the chain. wipe it away and then apply a proper chain lube.

it is not a degreaser (it's oil based), it dilutes heavier oils not breaks them down as a citrus degreaser would. you're right - it is not a proper lube - but it is not harmful to lubricants either. it's using it instead of lube that is incorrect, not as well as / before lube.

Harpz

MORE LUBE.
Rust won't be able to form under a film of oil. If its getting rusty then theres not enough oil on your chain.

Tayto2000

xz wrote: »

NEVER EVER PUT WD40 on your chain.Use a dedicated degreaser or diesel instead to clean and displace water.

That's the problem, degreasers don't displace water. A lot of the modern degreasers are in fact designed to emulsify with water to improve their cleaning characteristics (especially the citrus based ones).

Degreasing the chain then leaving it to dry overnight is therefore almost certain to produce rust - you've stripped away the oil covering the metal and there's water left on there...

That's why I use WD40 after degreasing, but before lubing, same as Blorg. It displaces the water and gives you a clean surface for lube. Running the chain through a rag before lubing gets rid of the water and any excess WD40 before applying a proper bike lube (I'm using finish line wet CC at the moment).

jebidiah

in this link http://worldwidecyclesblog.com/2007/06/11/tip-of-the-week-bike-washing/

the chap re lubes the chain but not the caset? is that the propper way ot do it or do you need to put something on the caset?

Tayto2000

jebidiah wrote: »

in this link http://worldwidecyclesblog.com/2007/06/11/tip-of-the-week-bike-washing/

the chap re lubes the chain but not the caset? is that the propper way ot do it or do you need to put something on the caset?

You're trying to oil the rollers on the chain and maybe the outside of the links a little bit. Putting oil on the cassette isn't going to do much except give dirt and dust something to stick to. this creates a nice grinding paste to wear away the chain and sprocket teeth...

jebidiah

thanks.