CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Commuting

Chain Maintenance

(48 posts)
  • Started 6 years ago by dessert rat
  • Latest reply from LaidBack

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12

  1. dessert rat
    Member

    Never really got on with the chain cleaners as such a faff and very messy - not so easy living in a flat.

    Just wondering if any LBSs provides a chain cleaning service. Pop in, 5 mins and a few quid later it's like new.

    Daily commuting in winter really mangles chains and as it's a gradual decline in performance it’s not that noticeable, but the difference when its properly clean is a lovely feeling.

    The bike shop that comes to the Spokes breakfast does it then, so maybe it’s a service one LBS offers ??

    Asking for a lazy friend of course.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  2. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    Accept that chain cleaning is a kind Presbyterian duty of atonement reminding us all that from ashes we came and to ashes we shall return.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  3. neddie
    Member

    Switch it out for a Hub gear + belt, or;

    Hub gear + fully enclosed chain.

    (may not be cheap)

    Posted 6 years ago #

  4. threefromleith
    Member

    I live in a flat and long ago found that cheap baby wipes are an excellent chain cleaner (after failing to get on with a chain cleaner & degreaser).

    Use a few to clean your way around the chain until it looks like new again, lube, wipe off any excess by running the chain through a rag and you're good to go.

    They're also excellent bike cleaners in general for those who live in flats!

    Posted 6 years ago #

  5. wingpig
    Member

    Cheap baby wipes and a wooden coffee stirrer to poke gunk out from between the links, wiping it off onto a babywipe. Quite possible to perform in such a way as to leave no residue on kitchen floors or dining room carpets. I find the best place to harvest chaingunk is from the jockey wheels, so maybe give them a quick scrape outdoors.

    My only proper chain cleaning device broke on its first use twelve years ago. I did briefly try using a couple of nail rushes clamped together around the chain but it quickly results in a pair of nailbrushes gummed up with dark brown chaingunk and no appreciable reduction thereof on the chain itself.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  6. urchaidh
    Member

    These wipe thing from ScrewFix are pretty good for this sort of thing, as well as other jobs around this house.

    We have a wee shower room which it turns out is big enough to get a bike in. It has been 'suggested', however, that I don't try it again.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  7. Juanito
    Member

    I found baby wipes get ripped a bit too easily. I just run it through a rag (including jockey wheels and wipe of chainring) and re lube. Once every few weeks. Reminder when it gets too loud. A lighter lube also helps I think, I used finish line but switched to green oil recently. It's a lot lighter so doesn't last as long but stays cleaner.

    @urchaidh I might give those wipes a try. Especially to clean the whole bike (hopefully without stripping the paint).

    Posted 6 years ago #

  8. minus six
    Member

    i have a weekly routine

    apply degreaser of choice with bare hand, work it in for a minute or so

    use old t-shirt dabbed in cold water to remove the black

    repeat process with jockey wheels

    rinse hands

    use another (cleaner) old t-shirt to dry the chain

    apply chain oil to each rivet sparingly (purple extreme)

    work this in with your bare hand while rotating

    use oil saturated rag to remove excess

    clean hands with swarfega

    Posted 6 years ago #

  9. gembo
    Member

    Sheldon is your man for ultimate chain cleaning routine.THe video is a thing to behold.

    I inherited many teatowels when my mother in law died. THese have been used to clean the chains a fair bit now.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  10. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    We've all let Iain Iain's friend down in our own ways. He doesn't want lessons. He wants reassurance that someone will clean his chain for him without asking too much in return.

    Is that too much to ask?

    Posted 6 years ago #

  11. wingpig
    Member

    "I found baby wipes get ripped a bit too easily."

    Get some of the 'Toujours' brand from Lidl - not the bumwipes, which are much thinner and easier to rip as they're meant to be flushable. They're strong enough to floss round various inaccessible crevices of the frame without ripping, don't remove paint and can usually be removed from the packet without the packet ripping in stupid ways.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  12. steveo
    Member

    Mail order chain cleaning service. You send me your chain, I'll dunk it in some white spirit and once dry send it back? Nominal fee £10 & p+p

    Posted 6 years ago #

  13. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    @steveo

    Nailed it. Go and post your address. I'll supply the seed capital to fill your bath with paraffin for half the equity.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  14. dessert rat
    Member

    am asking for a friend

    Posted 6 years ago #

  15. Roibeard
    Member

    I suspect the bike shops will point folk to replacing the chain instead. The labour costs would be similar (assuming nothing else needs changed), and the benefits would be more long lasting.

    Unless, of course, the entire drivetrain is nicely "bedded-in" (aka worn) such that a new chain slips dramatically...

    Robert

    Posted 6 years ago #

  16. acsimpson
    Member

    Google suggests that if you can stomach it then Halfords will do it for £20.

    Of course you may find a similar outcome from taking you bike to the local garage and pressure washing your drive-chain.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  17. dessert rat
    Member

    @acsimpson - i resorted to the garage wash last week, albeit the foamy brush not the power thing last week. Brutal but effective.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  18. edinburgh87
    Member

    Maybe overkill but I found 10mims an ultrasonic cleaning bath and some light spirit (sold in B&Q as an eco friendly white spirit) does well for the occasional deep clean (of chains and mechs etc ntoo if you feel the need), say every quarter, while wiping down on a semi regular basis

    Posted 6 years ago #

  19. gembo
    Member

    I left a chain in car oil all year after buying it, using It once, not realising it had salt on it, it seizing on the hook in the garage, me leaving it all summer(me then putting it in the oil until the next winter) then Matt at just bikes unseized it. Then used it the whole of the next winter.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  20. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    @steveo

    Is your bathtub 'ultrasonic'?

    Posted 6 years ago #

  21. steveo
    Member

    Yeah yeah, course it is*. How else do you think I get the kids clean.

    *We'll I've never heard it working.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  22. unhurt
    Member

    I thought you were just dipping them in white spirits.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  23. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    Back in the day there was a rumour ultrasonic baths killed your sperm. And I don't mean steveo-style whole-body baths.

    Great for cleaning intricate glassware though. The awesome power of microcavitation.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  24. Edinburgh Cycle Training
    Member

    After reading on here about the babywipes, I've never used anything else (except an old toothbrush on the jockey wheels)

    Posted 6 years ago #

  25. unhurt
    Member

    @Iwrats so, as long as you didn't store your sperm in intricate glassware I assume everything would work out ok?

    Posted 6 years ago #

  26. Trixie
    Member

    I bought one of those chain bath attachment thingies. The video made it seem so simple. My attempt involved the chain coming off, oily liquid everywhere and lots of rule 2-ing. I've done little more than wipe with a rag and re-oil since.

    This weekend I'm going to Lidl for baby wipes.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  27. chdot
    Admin

    “This weekend I'm going to Lidl for baby wipes.”

    Time and place??

    Could be a new CCE flash mob event!

    Posted 6 years ago #

  28. unhurt
    Member

    Just for the record: my chain bath works fine. Perhaps a niche in the market for remedial lessons in its operation?

    Posted 6 years ago #

  29. EdinburghCycleCam
    Member

    "My only proper chain cleaning device broke on its first use twelve years ago. I did briefly try using a couple of nail rushes clamped together around the chain but it quickly results in a pair of nailbrushes gummed up with dark brown chaingunk and no appreciable reduction thereof on the chain itself."

    Are you me? :)

    I got a chain bath free with a can of muc-off, which broke on the first use. I then also moved to two Tesco nail brushes held together, and liberally covered in muc-off chain cleaner - the brushes don't go black, but if you don't clean them properly the muc off causes the nail brushes to disintegrate.

    I tend to take my rear wheel off, clean the casette with muc-off and an old toothbrush, then use the nailbrush & muc-off technique for the chain, then muc-off and toothbrush on the jockey wheels. I think I'm single-handedly keeping muc-off in business.

    People at work swear by this: http://www.wiggle.co.uk/park-tool-cyclone-chain-scrubber-cm-52

    I've yet to try the baby wipe (I've also heard flash wipes work well too) technique, which is probably just as environmentally unfriendly as using half a can of muc-off - I'll give it a whirl this weekend, since my chain is starting to look decidedly gummy.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  30. Trixie
    Member

    @unhurt - One of these days I may feel up to trying again. It was one of those things I thought would take 20mins and I was there for over an hour all filthy and annoyed...

    Posted 6 years ago #

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