would it be benificial?

lawless23456

hi all

would it be benificial to take the chain cogs off my bike and give them a clean once in a while? and will it do them any harm?

thanks

lawless

alfablue

CAn't see any problem with cleaning the cassette (cogs), but maybe it doesn't warrant removal or obsessional cleansing.

Regarding chains, there has been a recent discussion on this topic, there are two schools of thought, some of us think the chain should not be overcleaned so that the inner bushings have all the factory lube stripped out, and degreasers are a no-no. Light wiping with rag/wet wipe, brushing off grit, maybe soapy water wash.

The other school of thought is to use degreasers, immersing chain in white spirit, using chain cleaning machines, anything to get the chain shiny and spotless (and maybe literally "squeaky clean")..

I am of the former school of thought - along with KMC and Sheldon Brown.

Discussed at length here

KMC advice here

Mettan

lawless23456 wrote:

hi all

would it be benificial to take the chain cogs off my bike and give them a clean once in a while? and will it do them any harm?

thanks

lawless

Yes, in addition to cleaning your chain it's important to clean your chainrings and casette regularly (no need to take the cassette off though) - if you have a look at your chainrings after a ride, you'll see that they're covered in Grit (amongst other things) - your cassette will also likely have a small amount of grit on it - you can use fairy liquid/hot water or a degreaser to clean the grit and the gunk off both your chainrings and cassette - use an old toothbrush or paintbrush to do this - then rinse carefully with water or wipe clean with a rag - you can then use products such as TF2 Teflon and Finish Line Cross Country (assuming you've cleaned the chain aswell) on the different parts of the drivetrain/other etc etc.

synchronicity

I'm also from the former school. There's no need to take chains off to clean them. I've seen some amazing mileage on chains + cassettes doing it this way. I also just use a light-weight oil for the chains. I only tend to use wax-based lubricants for my best bikes as it is too expensive. The one good thing about it is it doesn't leave marks on your legs and stain everything as much as standard chain oil.

I previously did it the old way... I'd take chains off, degrease them, etc. But I think it's too much pfaffing about really. Especially with all the rental bikes I've got. I basically just wipe them over thourougly with a rag every week, then reapply the oil.