Chain Cleaners, Any Good, Worth The Cash ?

jedi_master

I normally just spray on the degreaser leave for 5 minutes or so then spray off but i recently have been looking at these chain cleaners and i'm wonder if there any good and not just a bit of a gimmik.

Was looking at

Muf-Off Chain Doc
Finish Line Chain Cleaner
Park Tool Cyclone Chain Scrubber
Pedros Chain Machine
Weldtite Dirt Trap Chain Degreaser Machine

The Weldtite and Pedros look the identical from the pics on crc and i cant see brush's only cog's.

Whats your opinions?

jacktheoc

i have got the park tools cyclone and it is excellent...had it for about 6month and nothing wrong so far...definetely recommend :!:

The Spiderman

They all work well,but I have found I rarely use mine now since I bought an SRAM chain.I just seperate mine,and stick it in a container with sme degreaser instead.

Did you know you can add an SRAM powerlink to a shimano chain.Makes removal and cleaning so much eaasier and at £2 a lot cheaper too.

Ciaran500

Same as Spidey, used to use one and it worked fine but now I just whip the chain off when I'm starting to clean the bike and sit it in some degreaser. Comes out spotless.

nferrar

Regularly use a chain cleaner myself and it works a treat.

toontra

Off with the chain (SRAM powerlink) and into a tub of white spirit - vigerous shake and then drip dry. Wipe dry with cloth, lube up then back on bike (after cleaning cassette, rollers, etc).

dirtbiker100

just to say thanks for creating this thread, i've been thinking the same.
don't the chain cleaners do in between the links where most of the grit accumulates and doesn't come out with plain liquid degreaser?

simbil1

I got a little one for a fiver from ribble (they don't seem to stock it anymore), and it is very good. I've also got an old big one - that took more solution and did a slightly better job but not really worth the £20. Back in the day, I used to split my chain and soak in petrol - works very well (should use a bio degradeable nowadays rather than white spirit / petrol). It's a pain when you decide you want to jump on your bike and discover it has no chain though!

aircooled68bay

For a really mucky chain.

1. Spay with Degreaser,

2. Take 2 nail brushes (pence from any shop)

3. Put one either side of the chain squeeze together

4. Rotate pedals to run chain through Brushes

5. Turn brushes through 90 degrees

6. Repeat 4

7. Rinse with water

8. Remove chain using SRAM link and put in a tub

9. Cover in Degreaser put lid on tub

10. Shake

11. Remove chain from tub

12. Rinse with hot water

13. Wipe chain with a Rag

14. cover in GT85

15. Wipe with a Rag again

16. Refit to bike and Lube


I cant see the point on spending £20 when IMO my method will get the chain a lot cleaner and A whole lot cheaper.

dirtbiker100

does your method clean "inside" the chain? its fine getting the outside looking lovely but if theres still grit inside working like sandpaper then its not gonna help much.

mikeitup

I've got the Finish Line one and it works fine.
My grotty chain ends up sparkling!!

simbil1

dirtbiker100 wrote:

does your method clean "inside" the chain? its fine getting the outside looking lovely but if theres still grit inside working like sandpaper then its not gonna help much.

Yes, soak and shake methods work fine at cleaning right inside the chain.

jedi_master

So they work thats good. Not sure if i can be bothered to remove the chain after every few rides or so though. Do you need though park master link pliers to remove the power link or will a pair of long noise pliers do the job fine.

The Spiderman wrote:

Did you know you can add an SRAM powerlink to a shimano chain.Makes removal and cleaning so much eaasier and at £2 a lot cheaper too.

Didn't know that, good to know though.

gk141054

The Spiderman wrote:

Did you know you can add an SRAM powerlink to a shimano chain.Makes removal and cleaning so much eaasier and at £2 a lot cheaper too.

No I bloody didn't know.... :oops:

£2 sounds cheap to me so I think I will invest in one of those...

Is it easy to fit one to a Shimano chain then? Will I need any other tools / parts or is it literally just the powerlink?

Will it have any effect on the bike fitting one?

Cheers

gkf9

The Spiderman wrote:

They all work well,but I have found I rarely use mine now since I bought an SRAM chain.I just seperate mine,and stick it in a container with sme degreaser instead.

Did you know you can add an SRAM powerlink to a shimano chain.Makes removal and cleaning so much eaasier and at £2 a lot cheaper too.

Can you undo the powerlink often without weaking the chain?

Anonymous

you can undo the link by hand and it is designed to be done like that so has no effect on strength, just remember, the links wear at the same rate as your chain so when you fit a new chain, fit a new link too

gk141054

gk141054 wrote:

Is it easy to fit a powerlink to a Shimano chain then? Will I need any other tools / parts or is it literally just the powerlink?

Do I litterally just pop out any link and whack the powerlink in?

Anyone help me out on this?

Anonymous

you will need a chain tool to split the chain in the first place but the new link is fitted by hand.

toasty

I use a Finish Line cleaner, the major benefit to me is the small amount of degreaser needed, I can fill it up and clean my chain on both my bikes and the missus bike in 15 minutes. It's fairly dusty around here, even if the rest of the bike is immaculate the chain can be utterly destroyed.