New Chain Rusty After Clean, Is This Dangerous?

DaveyDave

Hi all,

I've cleaned my chain numerous times and kept it clean once or twice a week due to excessive crud from winter roads but it's extremely discoloured. I'm assuming this is rust?

I can't go a day without surface rust after cleaning with degreaser and wet lube the night before.

I have about 500km on it, so chain is fairly new. I didn't wash it for about two weeks when I first got it as I wasn't on it much but rust wasn't an issue but now it's like this. Is this safe? Should I get a new chain? Is it possible to remove the discolouration?

Pigeon Reaper

It looks like surface rust. It's perfectly safe to use but make sure you oil the chain more especially in wet weather. The discoloration will fade with use.

captain_boycott

Same happened to me a few weeks ago, new bike so was totally worried at first, but good news is that it disappeared completely after a good clean. I put it down to the grit on the roads during the last frosty spell.

seamus

It's perfectly safe. You'd want the chain sitting outside for a couple of years before worrying about corrosion.

Cold spells are particularly tough on bikes, the road salt is a complete bugger. If you can bear it, giving the bike a good hose off after a wet spin in the winter can save you a lot of hassle.

thejaguar

As above - the salt this time of year is a bugger. If you can give it a good hose down after a wet spin that'll do it the world of good. Also don't be shy about oiling it regularly.

DaveyDave

Thanks for the quick responses guys. I've got the bike pressure washer charged so shouldn't have any issues rinsing it off after each spin. It's only in the last week or so I noticed the excessive rust. Haven't seen it this bad before though! Looks like I'll need to clean it thoroughly more than once a week at this rate!

secman

Using a pressure water cleaner on bikes is usually not a good idea. Not good for greased areas or sealed parts. Best to use basin of suddy water or a dedicated soapy cleanser, using a soft brush. And a simple rinse , watering can or hose. Cleaning the chain would involve a bit more work, degreaser, good scrub, usually dry it before reapplying a dry or wet lube depending on time of year and conditions. I tend to wipe dry the rest of bike too .

seamus

The main issue with a pressure washer is that people use them on bikes like they do on cars - i.e. get the nozzle really close to dirty parts to blast the dirt off.

For bikes this is a bad idea as it will blast grease and lube away and force water into hubs, headsets and bottom brackets. So perfectly fine for a good rinse off of a bike that's freshly wet & muddy, but keep your distance. If the bike is dry and needs a proper clean down, then a pressure washer is no good for you, it's out with the hose and soapy rags.

DaveyDave

It's a Mobi pressure washer, made for bikes. It's not powerful enough to blast anywhere it shouldn't and I normally have it on a mist to loosen dirt and prepare it for a good scrub, then rinse off after The only time I get up close and personal with the pressure washer is for stubborn grit on the frame.

I'll keep cleaning it anyway, hopefully it starts to look better

07Lapierre

DaveyDave wrote: »

It's a Mobi pressure washer, made for bikes. It's not powerful enough to blast anywhere it shouldn't and I normally have it on a mist to loosen dirt and prepare it for a good scrub, then rinse off after The only time I get up close and personal with the pressure washer is for stubborn grit on the frame.

I'll keep cleaning it anyway, hopefully it starts to look better

oh yes it is! As others have said, keep your distance from the bike when using it.

gk5000

I had the same on a new bike, using some ceramic lube from shop..the odd time. Was rusting on the non contact surfaces like yours.

Cleaned the chain once with rags and wipes and applied old fashioned 3-in-1 oil. Bike is stored outside - no more rust. Think the 3 in 1 has me anti-water/anti-rust properties.

Maybe the rain is washing off the salt. And I don't believe in cleaning ...if at all, think you're just removing the lubrication.
(But I'm a commuter and not interested in ultra performance etc.)

saccades

I suspect that once cleaned/jet washed (on the bike) the chain and cassette/crank are not dried thoroughly and when you apply the wet lube (which is immiscible with the residual water) some chain is still wet as the oil cannot cover it properly and will oxidise like that.

It's why it is best to remove the chain with a quick link to clean, use something like WD40 after the water to remove the water, allow the WD40 to evaporate (it's too light as chain oil), then apply the lube to excess, then remove the excess.

ceramic lube is good for half a wet spin, I keep getting seduced by the promises and cursing my gullible self after 90 mins in the rain. Ireland is not california.

tomasrojo

This might sound very slapdash, but running the chain through a baby wipe (squeezing against rollers, and then against plates), then doing the same with paper towel, and then lubing lightly with something like a wet-ride lube (God, these names) does an adequate job if you're in a hurry.

I'm sure there some reason that makes that a daft thing to do, but it's ok for a utility bike, I think. I just don't have time anymore to do anything very thorough. I have full-length mudguards and a mudflap so I'm mostly getting rainwater, rather than road schmutz, in the chain.

crosstownk

OP, have you changed your degreaser and/or lube recently? Do you dry the chain and cassette after rinsing off the degreaser and before applying the lube?

I've the same chain, cassette & chainset and never had any discolouration or surface rust despite cruddy conditions.

magicbastarder

any time i clean a chain, i dry it as much as possible with a paper towel and usually leave it 24 hours before re-lubing, to allow as much water as possible to evaporate.
i wonder if the degreaser is being completely removed - perhaps there's residue and it's neutralising the fresh coat of lube?

Star hurl

I used to have the same problem.until I sprayed some G25 on chain after cleaning and then applied oil the next time I used it .

nialljf

tomasrojo wrote: »

This might sound very slapdash, but running the chain through a baby wipe (squeezing against rollers, and then against plates), then doing the same with paper towel, and then lubing lightly with something like a wet-ride lube (God, these names) does an adequate job if you're in a hurry.

baby wipes are an integral part of my life

fat bloke

I used to use washing up liquid to degrease chains and sprockets but I found out to my cost that they can have a high salt content so if you're not very rigourous about rinsing and drying you'll see spot rust on your shiny bits when you come back to your bike after a few days!

But the upside is that chains are pretty cheap really and should be changed more often than they are.

I was being really good there all winter with my posh winter trainer washing it after every spin, and then leaving it to dry for a day or two before coming back then to oil it. But it turns out that was also a really bad idea cos my rear derailleur seized. The advice I was given by the lad charged with fixing it was to not leave to dry, but to re oil / lube immediately after cleaning.

tomasrojo

fat bloke wrote: »

I used to use washing up liquid to degrease chains and sprockets but I found out to my cost that they can have a high salt content so if you're not very rigourous about rinsing and drying you'll see spot rust on your shiny bits when you come back to your bike after a few days!

Washing-up liquid is ok really, as you say, provided you rinse it off properly.

It does contain "salt" in the chemistry sense of the word, but not sodium chloride (or not that much, especially when it's just a squirt in ten litres of water), so it shouldn't be that corrosive. I used it all the time, when I had more time to do washes, and it seemed ok. Funnily enough when you read about this, its extreme corrosive properties are mentioned all the time, but it's clearly not that corrosive, if you rinse it off. People even claim that the manufacturers are concealing the fact that it's full of sodium chloride.

saccades

fat bloke wrote: »

But it turns out that was also a really bad idea cos my rear derailleur seized. The advice I was given by the lad charged with fixing it was to not leave to dry, but to re oil / lube immediately after cleaning.

Don't leave the chain to dry naturally - it's designed to be protected by a thin film of oil, you have to remove the water from cleaning, either by drying (a cloth/towel will not get inbetween the rollers) with a load of heat, or removing it by something like wd40 (which is Water Dispersant, formula 40), which will then evaporate much quicker than water, but needs to be removed as residue will "thin" out any lube added to a chain, not what you want during winter.

A damp chain at irish ambient temperature is just going to promote rust, as you discovered.

magicbastarder wrote: »

any time i clean a chain, i dry it as much as possible with a paper towel and usually leave it 24 hours before re-lubing, to allow as much water as possible to evaporate.
i wonder if the degreaser is being completely removed - perhaps there's residue and it's neutralising the fresh coat of lube?

Degreaser is like a magic bridge between oil and water (surfactant if you want to research them), with a hand/key for each different liquid so they "join" together. The actual degreaser concentrations pretty low in the bottle, much lower once diluted for use, really low once there has been an initial cursory rinse and negligible* after a final rinse.

What will kill the chain is improper drying and leaving damp for 24 hours which will promote rust.

Chuchote

You have them bikes spoilt.

saccades

Here's a picture of my bike





I know the science - just can't be bothered and no need to worry with a IGH.