Chain cleaners

[Kim]

I've seen people with scottoilers on their bikes.  Seems to be a beard'n'sandals recumbentist thing.  I remain unconvinced that it's solving a relevant problem: IME recumbent chains  a) benefit from less-is-more lubrication, so as not to accumulate too much gunk that causes excessive drag in chain tubes and idlers  b) are generally exposed to less crud than DF bike chains anyway....

I agree. I also note that the chains on recumbents are two or three times longer and therefore each link sees two or three times fewer loaded articulations per mile ridden. Then again it is two or three times more expensive to replace when the time comes, too....

Yeah, that seems to average out.  Although my bikes aren't a completely fair comparison, because the uprights get a greater exposure to mud and salt.

Recumbent chains are also likely to see lower peak forces than uprights, as pushing back in the seat (the equivalent of riding out of the saddle) in a high gear is a great way to hurt your knees and/or fail to maintain balance.

[DaveReading]

Dishwasher.   

[quixoticgeek]

Dishwasher.   

We're hoping to get a dishwasher soon. But given my housemate moans at me for hanging chains up to dry in the bathroom, i fear putting them in the dishwasher may result in a sense of humour failure.

Thinking about it tho. I do have access to an ultrasonic cleaner at the hackspace. May have to give that a go...

J

[Oxford_Guy]

I like the Park Tool CM-5.2 chain cleaner, it works well and looks to be more sturdily built than others I've tried in the past, which have broken easily. I also like that you can purchase a set of replacement brushes when the originals are starting to look like they've seen better days, rather than having to replace the whole unit.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Hair gets everywhere.  I once managed to get some in rower40's pedal bearings after a single ride on the back of his tandem.

I bet it gets into those whizzy chain cleaners too.

True. Having 300mm chopped off my 750+mm hair back in the spring was a great improvement in the finding hair everywhere stakes, but it's growing back and I'm increasingly finding it on the bike. Don't get why, it's not like i ride along brushing my hair... Weird.

When i cleaned my Jockey wheels at 7500km, they contained a significant amount of hair inside the bushings...

Ah well, chain should be good for a few hundred km, or until it rains next...

J

If you keep your bike indoors, hair that's floating around the house ends up on it too. But if you keep it outdoors, random outdoor debris does.

[Kim]

I think the usual hair to bike vector is shoes, especially ones with velcro on them.  They pick up hair from around the house which then gets caught in the spinny stuff.

Recumbents have direct hair-entanglement options, putting it in proximity to seat pads, luggage (which are both potential velcro hazards) and if you're particularly careless, the rear wheel.   

[mzjo]

You are not meant to put filthy, gunky, crap-laden parts in an ultrasound cleaner, it fills them with crud and wastes the fluid. If you clean the crud off before using the cleaner you are probably just as well off simply cleaning and re-lubing without passing by the ultrasound stage.
The thing that does work well with crud is a proper parts washer which is basically a dishwasher with some very aggressive detergent, very hot water and a suitable filtering system and a sump to catch the crud. It still works better long term if you remove the worst of the crud beforehand.
Industrial fountain cleaners (called a "fontaine" over here, I assume the english word is the same translated) present the problem that they fill up with crud as well; I have seen workshops where removing crud in the fontaine was strictly forbidden. The environmental problems are compounded by firms that buy a barrel of cleaner and don't want to pay for recycling it - at NPK we had a hire contract for the machine and fluid which meant it was changed and recycled once a month (and we didn't care how much crud went in it; that was the recycler's problem). On sites we used to use aerosol brake cleaner/degreaser - sometimes in quite large quantities - because we didn't have portable cleaning equipment. We also got through very large quantities of industrial rags -also laundered for recycling. Hydraulic demolition kit probably presents the same sort of cleaning problems as a bike chain.

I always understood the chief advantage of a Scottoiler was that it ensured your numberplate was obliterated by oily crud. Regular sprayon grease will also do that but not if you're too lazy to apply it! Worst thing when I was despatching was the kind colleague who insisted on cleaning our numberplates - but he did do the rear lights at the same time!

[bludger]

This is the best chain cleaner I've ever used. Far better than the junk I wasted my cash on in Evans. And it's £5.

https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/TOBAH1/barbieri-bch1-chain-cleaner-pack-(inc-detergent--lubricant)

Used with this cheapo citrus degreaser https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/TOJOBCD/jobsworth-full-monty-citrus-degreaser

Bargain.

The Park tool one is good though it has a convenient hole in the top so you can squirt in water for the final rinse. But it's not difficult to get the same effect with the PX one and it leaves extra room in the budget for more bike junk you 'need' 

[Frank9755]

I just wipe mine with a rag either every couple of hundred miles or after it has got wet, and then put lubricant on it. I also scrape visible dirt off jockey wheels, chainring, etc and wipe cassette with rag.   I know I should oil the chain slowly, on each roller but I CBA so I just spin the chain as it squirts on, which takes about 3 seconds. 

I used to rotate chains and give them a thorough clean but ended up with dozens of half-eaten chains hanging off nails in the garage and couldn't remember which bike they were from, so don't do that any more. I just run them until they have stretched. I tend to replace them fairly early (c. 1000-1500 km) so don't think I've worn out a cassette in the last  10 years. 

I have had gadgets like the park tool one but they always spilled gunk everywhere and broke pretty quickly. I was toying with the idea of buying another, which was why I read this thread, but it has persuaded me not to.

[Shugg McGraw]

How do you clean a Park C-M5?

[bludger]

Stick it in the dishwasher 👀

[Oxford_Guy]

Stick it in the dishwasher 👀

The missus would just love that 

[hillbilly]

After trying lots of those chain washers tools, which were rubbish and generally only worked a few times before borking, I settled on:

Chain: WD40 + rag.  If baked on the old toothbrush with WD40 for scrubbing duties.  Cotton bud between chainlinks if necessary.
Cassette cogs: baby wipes used like floss
Jockey wheels: hard baked gunk gets the lolly stick treatment, otherwise a baby wipe run over it.

Seems to work and pretty straightforward.

[Si S]

I think the usual hair to bike vector is shoes, especially ones with velcro on them.  They pick up hair from around the house which then gets caught in the spinny stuff.

Recumbents have direct hair-entanglement options, putting it in proximity to seat pads, luggage (which are both potential velcro hazards) and if you're particularly careless, the rear wheel.   

A policy of only having a haircut when your ponytail interferes with daily ablutions means you don't even need a recumbent for that, I regularly manage to get the damn thing in the sprockets when oiling the chain and I've even had a plait stick between fork crown and tyre on the move 

[Crumbling Nick]

I know I'm repeating stuff I've previously posted here, but some may be unfamiliar with this.

That (plus Biggsy) prompted my experiment.

[Oxford_Guy]

I know I'm repeating stuff I've previously posted here, but some may be unfamiliar with this.

That (plus Biggsy) prompted my experiment.

Doesn't it rather depend on what you're lubing with? E.g. Rock 'N Roll's lubes don't seem to play nicely with existing lubes, and wax-based stuff like Squirt really needs a clean chain to start with. If you're just lubing with regular oil, I guess this is less of an issue, though.

I also find the thick factory lube most chains come covered in to attract tons of dirt, which not only makes the chain look a mess, but makes a mess off all your drive train components too. I'd understood that the purpose of the factory lube the chain comes with was more to preserve it from corrosion during storage than to act as an efficient lubricant.

The other factor is that whilst a dirty chain may not shorten the life of the chain, it doesn't look very nice and can make more of a mess of your clothes when riding or working on the bike.

[Brucey]

.... I'd understood that the purpose of the factory lube the chain comes with was more to preserve it from corrosion during storage than to act as an efficient lubricant.....

with some chains (eg campag ones) it probably is, but with most it isn't; SRAM and KMC chains come impregnated with grease. It is highly unlikely that anything you use subsequently will lubricant the chain bushings as well as that.

cheers