Cleaning chainrings

Jamey
Jamey Posts: 2,152
edited June 2008 in Workshop
When it comes to cleaning my drivetrain, I can get the cassette pretty shiny with wet wipes and my Park Tool cleaner seems to do a good job on the chain but the chainrings are always a chore and I never seem to be able to get them as clean as the other two components, meaning that within a few minutes of finishing off the cleaning session the chain rollers are back to being a dull grey/black colour.

Anyone got any tips? I suppose I could use wet wipes to do every single tooth individually but that seems a bit silly. With the cassette I use wipes for the sides and in between the sprockets and then a brush for in between the teeth, but using the same technique on the chainrings just never seems to work very well.
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Comments

  • biondino
    biondino Posts: 5,990
    I did a big old clean yesterday and it seems to me that the last 5% of cleaning will have such a marginal effect and takes SO long that as long as you have got pretty much all the crud off, you might as well live with a non-sparkly chainring.
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  • Jamey
    Jamey Posts: 2,152
    Yeah, I guess so... It just makes my heart sink when I've got the chain sparkling, finish off the cleaning, do a quick test ride around the block and get back to find the chain looking similar to how it did before the clean.

    But I guess, as you say, it's purely cosmetic at that stage, and in this country no chain (at least not on a commuting bike) is gonna stay clean for any length of time.
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  • biondino
    biondino Posts: 5,990
    That's basically how I feel about tidying my flat :)
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  • andrewgturnbull
    andrewgturnbull Posts: 3,861
    Hi there.

    A stiff brush and a bucket of soapy water is what you want. Job done in 1 minutes - you'll be there all day wiping the chainrings.

    Cheers, Andy
    http://www.andyturnbull.co.uk
    http://www.stirlingtri.co.uk
  • robmanic1
    robmanic1 Posts: 2,150
    Did a spring clean on mine over the weekend, ended up taking the cranks + rings off, then soaking them in degreaser, didn't take too long and they came up luverly and sparkly, wont last though in this blumin weather :roll:
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  • pbracing
    pbracing Posts: 231
    Nice Saxondale quote - true.

    What's the best tool folks use for cleaning the chain?
    Must be something more efficient than my toothbrush.

    Cheers
    Why not? My bikes.
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  • aarw
    aarw Posts: 448
    a little degreaser and a stiff brush. rinse. dry. done.
  • biondino
    biondino Posts: 5,990
    This is probably a REALLY dumb question, but how do you clean the brushes with which you clean your greasy gunk?
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  • Jamey
    Jamey Posts: 2,152
    I had a brush that I had used only once, yet it still managed to get so greasy that all it did was smear grease around whatever I was trying to clean instead of scrubbing it away. In fact, if you tried to brush something that was reasonably clean it put more grease onto the object than it took away.

    I filled a jar up with methylated spirit, put the brush face-down into it (bristles totally submerged) and left it there for a couple of weeks, agitating it every day or two.

    It didn't clean the brush.

    So to answer your question, I'm not sure it's possible.
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  • aarw
    aarw Posts: 448
    what sort of stuff do you guys have on those chainrings???
  • Doobz
    Doobz Posts: 2,800
    This is probably a REALLY dumb question, but how do you clean the brushes with which you clean your greasy gunk?

    Petrol would work - I have been told to use it to soak a chain and even to wipe over chainrings etc..
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  • Jamey
    Jamey Posts: 2,152
    Yeah, whack a bit of petrol on them and then use a brush with wooden bristles. Be sure to scrub as fast as you possibly can and, in order to see clearly how clean the bike is becoming, only do it on a sunny day and use a magnifying glass to check thoroughly.
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  • Swannie
    Swannie Posts: 107
    White spirits.

    Very cheap. Almost as good, in my opinion, as "proper" degreaser. Cleans grease and oil off my brushes nicely, stuff literally drips off.
  • redddraggon
    redddraggon Posts: 10,862
    I clean my chainrings with white spirit on a rag, takes all of about 2 minutes.
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  • Not Another Hill
    Not Another Hill Posts: 382
    Halfords Citrus Degreaser. Use a soft bristled paint brush to work it in. Leave it for 5 mins or so. Then wash it all off with Fenwicks FS1 (diluted). Then throw cold water over it all.
  • desweller
    desweller Posts: 5,175
    I'd be careful with petrol. It has very low viscosity and no surface tension, so it can and will go almost anywhere - like your freehub and bottom bracket. The grease within those parts will not like that too much!

    Des
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  • bornagainbiker
    bornagainbiker Posts: 127
    Whats wrong with JUST using old rags?

    It ain't bloody hard I'm amazed at some of the suggestions so far its not ingrained just smeared over steel and alloy and it does (surprise surprise) rub off.
  • Jamey
    Jamey Posts: 2,152
    Problem with rags is when they get dirty. Wet wipes are better as they can be thrown away afterwards.
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  • redddraggon
    redddraggon Posts: 10,862
    Jamey wrote:
    Problem with rags is when they get dirty. Wet wipes are better as they can be thrown away afterwards.

    Well have two rags - a wet/dirty one to wipe the rings and a dry one to wipe off the crap - seems to work for me. It's not hard to clean chainrings.
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  • Jamey
    Jamey Posts: 2,152
    redddraggon wrote:
    It's not hard to clean chainrings.

    I'm finding that the opposite is true, which is why I posted.

    Particularly between all the teeth of the rings, unless I wanted to sit there for ages doing it with rags (or wet wipes, or any other cleaning utensil).
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  • bornagainbiker
    bornagainbiker Posts: 127
    Could you please quantify ages? It just seems to me that your a bit lazy.

    I can probably get all mine done in 30 mins with a couple of rags.

    Using wet wipes just strikes me as plain daft and a waste of money all you end up doing is transfering the 'cleaning' solution on the wet wipe onto you drivetrain and unless you then wipe that off it would probably have an effect on whatever lube you choose to put on.

    So how many wet wipes do you get through? a packet each time?!
  • Jamey
    Jamey Posts: 2,152
    Prove it then... Come round to mine and show me how it's done.
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  • cee
    cee Posts: 4,553
    Jamey wrote:
    Prove it then... Come round to mine and show me how it's done.


    hoho that old chestnut!

    "will you just show me how to clean the oven again darling? Im not sure I know how to do it properly!"

    :lol::lol::lol::lol:
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  • andrewgturnbull
    andrewgturnbull Posts: 3,861
    bornagainbiker wrote:
    Could you please quantify ages? It just seems to me that your a bit lazy.

    I can probably get all mine done in 30 mins with a couple of rags.

    Hi there.

    Did you really mean 30 mins to clean the chainrings???

    The whole bike takes 10 mins max, maybe 15 if I do the chainbath/relube thing.

    Cheers, Andy
    http://www.andyturnbull.co.uk
    http://www.stirlingtri.co.uk
  • andrewgturnbull
    andrewgturnbull Posts: 3,861
    Quick link for you:

    http://www.belgiumkneewarmers.com/2007/ ... -wash.html

    Cheers, Andy
    http://www.andyturnbull.co.uk
    http://www.stirlingtri.co.uk
  • 4candles
    4candles Posts: 240
    WD40..

    gets tar off too.
  • redddraggon
    redddraggon Posts: 10,862
    Cleaning most of the chainrings' teeth is easy peasy, surely it's only the awkward to reach ones that are difficult?
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  • Jamey
    Jamey Posts: 2,152
    True, the big chainring is easier than the rest. But I tend to use the middle ring most, so that's the one I'd like to do a really bang-up job on, in an ideal world.
    My photography // My helmet cam videos // My bike
  • bornagainbiker
    bornagainbiker Posts: 127
    I was of course including the tea&fig roll break - my apologies I should have made that a bit clearer :wink:
  • neeb
    neeb Posts: 4,473
    There are always bits on the outside of the smaller chainring that you can't really get to (unless you remove the chainrings) because the bolt fastenings / struts of the large chainring get in the way. Life's too short to worry about things like that though! Similarly it's a b*gger to clean the part of the chainstay behind the chainset.

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