Cleaning chain, chain rings, derailleurs etc

MickeyTake

It's easy to keep the frame of the bike clean and in good nick. However, the technical parts are more of an issue! What are people's approach to keeping the chain, chain rings, derailleurs etc clean and in good working condition?

A good old-fashioned scrub with soapy water or do you need anything else?

triggermortis

HOT soapy water, fenwicks degreaser, a few old brushes and rags and that's about it. I've been using old packing card to get between the cassette rings - seems to work well

Seweryn

MickeyTake wrote: »

It's easy to keep the frame of the bike clean and in good nick. However, the technical parts are more of an issue! What are people's approach to keeping the chain, chain rings, derailleurs etc clean and in good working condition?

A good old-fashioned scrub with soapy water or do you need anything else?

My recipe is to do it quite often - I maintain the drivetrain every second day at least (only using a dry cloth - see below why) and it only takes 2 minutes.

Secondly, the lubricant makes the whole difference. I use this stuff and it keeps the mechanical bits very clean, incomparable with the wet lubes, i.e. you can just wipe off the dust after your ride, and your chain looks shiny like a new one .

petethedrummer

Use a chain cleaner once a week. Takes 10 minutes max. Sometimes there is a nack to getting them to work. But once you get it, it's a doddle.

07Lapierre

Fenwicks foaming degreaser...great stuff.

Then clean regularly and dont go overboard when lubing the chain.

ian_rush

I think the important thing is to do it regularly.
I neglected mine and now whole drivetrain need replacing after less than 4000km.

funnights74

I'm having mine replaced at the moment after about 5,000 Km's. My lbs told me i did well to get that many kilometers out of my drive train as most only last about 4,000 Km's.
I mentioned the fact that i cleaned it very regularly and it wasn't jumping or skipping as they do when they tend to go but just making a terrible grinding noise but he showed me with a chain measuring tool that it is beyond help so off it has to go.

ian_rush

funnights74 wrote: »

I'm having mine replaced at the moment after about 5,000 Km's. My lbs told me i did well to get that many kilometers out of my drive train as most only last about 4,000 Km's.
I mentioned the fact that i cleaned it very regularly and it wasn't jumping or skipping as they do when they tend to go but just making a terrible grinding noise but he showed me with a chain measuring tool that it is beyond help so off it has to go.

I had the same experience, apparently my chain was "3" on the scale which is very bad.

I have just ignored the advice and 300km later had no major issues. I do tend to have to shift up two gears and down one, to move up one gear but it doesn't bother too much. When I told him this, the guy in the LBS looked like he was going to report me to the society for the prevention of cruelty to bikes.

I wonder is a lot of this advice aimed at people looking to keep their bike in race condition and not applicable to the Sunday plodder.

Sarz91

Paraffin is possibly the best and cheapest cleaner I've ever used.

funnights74

ian_rush wrote: »

I had the same experience, apparently my chain was "3" on the scale which is very bad.

I have just ignored the advice and 300km later had no major issues. I do tend to have to shift up two gears and down one, to move up one gear but it doesn't bother too much. When I told him this, the guy in the LBS looked like he was going to report me to the society for the prevention of cruelty to bikes.

I wonder is a lot of this advice aimed at people looking to keep their bike in race condition and not applicable to the Sunday plodder.

You're a patient man, i like my bike to be near silent so that noise i was experiencing was wrecking my head, and the thought of skipping through the gears to find the correct one would have me in a terrible state :eek: