Oil on my leg

spasypaddy

Why do i always get oil on my calves and shins when using my bike?

I know i need to clean the chain as im certain its got too much oil on it (thats how i bought it) but the oil doesnt even wash off my leg easily so what should i do?

ajohn9

wrong leg position on the bike? i duno!
doesnt look great if you dont wash it off asap!

david 142

I seem to recall that the reason I developed into a "right foot on the deck, start with the left pedal" sort of cyclist had something to do with keeping my right leg clear of the chain, as does my preferred hill descending position - yup! left leg straight...
In normal pedalling my leg doesnt touch the chain, although trouser legs sometimes get bitten!
A dab of neat washing up liquid or garage handcleaner should get the oil of your legs easy enough.
Until you can clean your chain properly,wiping it off with a rag, preferably dampened with WD40, applying clean oil and then wiping excess off with a clean dry rag might reduce the general gunge level! HTH!

spasypaddy

those are the two positions i already use!

fortunately i found some of that amazing orange stuff that washes everything off! I'm not worried about getting it off my leg its why its happening thats bothering me!

my chain is black rather than silver that you see on some pictures of bike chains, could this be purely from the amount of oil on it? whats the best way to get rid of all the oil and starting again. I think a silver chain would look better anyway...

knedlicky

Before you starting getting too obsessed with how to clean off the chain marks on your calf …

… I’ve met a couple of women who became very interested in cyclists with chain marks on their calves, by reason of thinking that if the men were so intense in their enthusiasm for cycling to have chain tattoos on their calves (as the women at first perceived the oil marks to be), then god knows how intense and enthusiastic they might be in bed!

If you are still not satisfied, then ... if the chain mark on your calf is pretty black, your chain needs cleaning, while if it is thick or smudged, you are over-oiling, or over-greasing, your chain.

spasypaddy

do i need a chain tool to clean the chain? will it come off without it or do i need to take apart a link?

notsoracy rich

… I’ve met a couple of women who became very interested in cyclists with chain marks on their calves, by reason of thinking that if the men were so intense in their enthusiasm for cycling to have chain tattoos on their calves (as the women at first perceived the oil marks to be), then god knows how intense and enthusiastic they might be in bed!

Have you got an e-mail address for these women?

ArDee

It depends on the chain whether you need a splitter or not, some have a special link you can remove, or you can use something like this;

http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/product-0-Ba ... -10008.htm

I do and it seems to work OK

pw1brown

Oil marks on your legs make you look tough. It's when the oil's on my best pale trousers when I'm going into town...

Give the outsides of the chain a thorough wipe with a cloth each time you lubricate. As long as the oil's in the links it's doing its job. That'll help a bit, but the chain will still leave some marks where it touches anything.

spasypaddy

cheers everyone i think i may sacrafice a rag tonight and wipe the chain down on the outside. I have no money at the moment as i joined the company after the cut off for payday so im going to have to wait till the end of august to spend more

craigenty

Watch Le Tour on TV tomorrow and see if you can see anyone with an oil mark on their calf

Monty Dog

Learn to put your left foot down and keep the right foot on the pedal - that way your calf in unlikely to come into contact with the chainring. A cheap and effective solution to in-situ chain cleaning is to spray some WD40 on a rag and wipe the chain with it - you only need lube on the rollers and pins, not on the outside.

spasypaddy

i only ever unclip my left foot and keep my right foot up, its the way i've cycled for around 12 years! I will be doing the WD40 cleaning technique until i can afford to buy some proper lube and a cleaner tool

spasypaddy

its looking better after just a wipe down! i think it needs a proper clean though, how do you get into the cogs to clean them?

whyamihere

You can get a proper brush for cleaning cassettes. I just use an old toothbrush.

spasypaddy

ok toothbrush it is then! i need a new one anyway

knedlicky

Halfords used to sell the Barbieri chain-cleaning set which Ardee mentioned above (don't know if they still do).

When mine reached the end of its day, I started wiping the chain with a few pieces of kitchen roll damped well with cleaning petrol, and also using a toothbrush for the links and (carefully) a narrow screwdriver around the derailleur wheels and around all the teeth, front and back. I think this method works well.

Don't forget to lubricate soon after cleaning.

david 142

It might be as well to point out here that chain manufacturers dont reccomend the use of solvent to clean bike chains as it tends to remove lubricants from the interior of the chain pivots. These are included during manufacture and cannot be replaced, unless, that is, you use the Sheldon Brown technique: http://sheldonbrown.com/chainclean.html
Sheldons site is excellent source of cycling know how BTW!
Detergent is the way to go IMHO and I like the "orange flavoured " one sold by Halfords. It doesnt stink up the locality the way that Gunk does! Its a bit pricy perhaps, but I tip it out of my chain cleaner into a jar and use it again, adding some new as required. However, if your chain has a heavy coating of crud then a solvent moistened rag is a reasonable first step.
I find it easier to use an assortment of brushes than to poke about with a screwdriver, but I do that as well sometimes. Especially cleaning the derailleur cage. Once you get your drive train clean you will find that a little and often is the easy way to keep it clean.
In fairness, there are those who swear by only using WD40 or GT85 on their chains for both cleaning and lubrication and claim satifactory mileage before worn out. Something to make your own mind up over. I found I could only manage a few miles before things got noisy. Same with wax. I prefer to use Finish Line chain oil and clean my chain frequently

Cesii

I have been using a car degreaser on mine. It's so quick just a couple of sprays and some rising it's takes much less time than the toothbrush method.
And you don't ended up covered in a fine spray of bike grease. That orange stuff is brilliant you can find that and the degreaser side by side in Morrison's total cost is just over a fiver.