cleaning bike parts

webbhost

Hi all,

I might be giving my bike good clean today ready for a ride tomorrow but want to know your opinion on a cleaning method.

General idea is to buy a bottle of white spirits - remove main removable parts (i.e. chain, back gears) and let them soak to make them gleam with shiny metalness. I want em looking like new, but my usual cleaning methods (a sponge a bucket and some water / washin liquid) doesn't do this. It cleans the chain from dirt etc but it leaves them nasty black color.

Is there any adverse effects possible if I do this - and are they likely to happen?

I'll still be cleaning the bike itself with some normal washin liquid or some proper muc-off stuff if I can get down the bikeshop today

stevebendall

Don't use washing up liquid - it contains salt, the crystals will gradually scratch the paint, as well as accelerate corrosion

Use muc-off if you like, but I prefer that as a specific degreaser. For the main frame and non-oily components justa standard car shampoo does the job

Slow Downcp

If you're removing parts etc, a dishwasher works well for parts like chainset, callipers etc, and apply a little lube on any pivot points when dry. Spray a little degreaser on really soiled parts.

If you can't use a dishwasher, get some Fenwicks - spray neat onto oily parts, scrub with a toothbrush and rinse. Use diluted for cleaning everything else.

Nuggs

Slow Downcp wrote:

If you're removing parts etc, a dishwasher works well

I can just imagine trying to explain to my wife why that's a good idea!

dennisn

webbhost wrote:

General idea is to buy a bottle of white spirits - remove main removable parts (i.e. chain, back gears) and let them soak to make them gleam with shiny metalness. I want em looking like new, but my usual cleaning methods (a sponge a bucket and some water / washin liquid) doesn't do this. It cleans the chain from dirt etc but it leaves them nasty black color.

Is there any adverse effects possible if I do this - and are they likely to happen?

I'll still be cleaning the bike itself with some normal washin liquid or some proper muc-off stuff if I can get down the bikeshop today

FWIW I don't soak chains and the like anymore. Too much trouble and am not convinced
it does any more good than a good cleaning with soap and water and muc-off. I also don't think that taking a chain apart and putting it back together all the time is a good idea.
I just wipe it down with a clean rag once or twice a week and re lube with a wax based
something. No problems. As for the black color, well, there might be a lube out there that
leaves your chain bright and shiny after a day or twos hard use, but I doubt it. Just because it's black does not mean BAD. Lots of lubes turn black. While it's nice to have bright and shiny things, a bright and shiny chain and cassette are not necessarily a sign
of good lubing practice.

Dennis Noward

Barkiesnake

Nuggs wrote:

Slow Downcp wrote:

If you're removing parts etc, a dishwasher works well

I can just imagine trying to explain to my wife why that's a good idea!

In our house my wife IS the dishwasher, can't see her cleaning my bike bits though lol

Mister W

Try this link - http://www.trinewbies.com/BikeClean/Welcome.asp

unclemalc

How to clean chains and drivetrains and keep them clean is one of those topics.....

For the past few years I have started with a new chain and at least once a week (more in winter - perhaps after each ride) I hang the bike up for comfort and spray GT85 onto the chain along its whole length and rotate it backwards through some clean rag (don't get it trapped in cogs... :shock: ). Do this until it has returned to 'new'.
Then run some 3-in-1, or similar, along it and rotate it a few times to work it in and then run the chain through another bit of rag to remove the excess.
= clean, smooth-running chain.

However, remember that there is crud all over the faces of the cassette cogs and the chainrings so clean those off carefully, or that crud will spread itself along the clean chain: Spray lightly with GT85 if only light dirt is present, or blast it off with the same if its horrible, then cut/rip a thin (1 inch or so) piece of clean cotton rag, and slip this between each of the cassette cogs. Pulling this around the space between the cog pairs will remove the crud.
Don't forget to clean the teeth, like a good boy....

Someone else will come along now and say never clean it - let the factory-applied lube just sit under the crud... :shock:

DomPro

unclemalc wrote:

For the past few years I have started with a new chain and at least once a week (more in winter - perhaps after each ride) I hang the bike up for comfort and spray GT85 onto the chain along its whole length and rotate it backwards through some clean rag (don't get it trapped in cogs... :shock: ). Do this until it has returned to 'new'.
Then run some 3-in-1, or similar, along it and rotate it a few times to work it in and then run the chain through another bit of rag to remove the excess.
= clean, smooth-running chain. :

Thats basically what I do with the chain to. GT85 pulls all the muck out. I won't use a degreaser as this removes the factory grease from inside the chain = wears out the chain bearings!

nickcuk

I have some petrol with 2-stroke additive left over from a garden project and I used it on a 1" paintbrush to clean all the gunk off the chain, cogs and shifters. Wiped the brush, and cleaned surfaces with a throw away lint-free cloth, then a quick spray over the mechs with GT40 and a few dabs of 3-in-1 on the chain. Bike's been purring for the last 200 miles.

Smokin Joe

stevebendall wrote:

Don't use washing up liquid - it contains salt, the crystals will gradually scratch the paint, as well as accelerate corrosion

Someone always says that.

I've been using washing up liquid on cars, bikes and motorcycles for over 40 years without any problems.

stevebendall

Smokin Joe wrote:

stevebendall wrote:

Don't use washing up liquid - it contains salt, the crystals will gradually scratch the paint, as well as accelerate corrosion

Someone always says that.

I've been using washing up liquid on cars, bikes and motorcycles for over 40 years without any problems.

Maybe, but why, especially when cheapo car shampoo (even Tesco Value stuff is ok) is cheaper than washing up liquid on a price per litre basis!

nferrar

I occasionally take my cassette and chain off (rather than the usual use a chain cleaner thing), you don't really need to leave it soak much. I do the cassette first and jsut swish one bit at a time in the degreaser, scrub it briefly with a brush then give it another quick swish and it's clean. At the same time if you leave the chain soaking in degreaser by the time you've done the cassette you should just need a quick going over with a brush on the chain. Only do this after a few hundred miles though as prefer to leave the original grease in the links as long as possible (plus it takes more than 10 minutes which is usually my boredom threshold for bike maintenance ).

Smokin Joe

stevebendall wrote:

Smokin Joe wrote:

stevebendall wrote:

Don't use washing up liquid - it contains salt, the crystals will gradually scratch the paint, as well as accelerate corrosion

Someone always says that.

I've been using washing up liquid on cars, bikes and motorcycles for over 40 years without any problems.

Maybe, but why, especially when cheapo car shampoo (even Tesco Value stuff is ok) is cheaper than washing up liquid on a price per litre basis!

No, the car shampoo you have to buy. The washing up liquid you nick from the kitchen.

Scrumple

Dishwasher?!

These things are full of salt!!! They will rot your parts in no time, and the super heating can't be good??

As for silicon spray (GT85 etc) some say it is a degreaser and will strip your chain of all the lube?!

Confuses me, all this advice!