Chain Cleaning Kit

JoeMontana

Hi folks,

I'm pretty new to mtbing, having just picked up a Giant Talon 2.5 on the Gov't cycle scheme for £300 (any thoughts on this model apreciated btw). I want to take care of the thing and, living in an apartment, have no garage in which to care for it. Seems to me that the best way to sort the chain is with a box-type cleaning kit but they look very lightweight and reviews complain of fiddly use and, well, as I said 'light-weighted-ness'. They won't break the bank at fifteen quid but I want to know if they are worth that, and if so, which one is best. There's one on wiggle for £14 with two better-than-an-old-toothbrush brushes.(http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/LifeL ... 360024028/)
Is it worth it?

Cheers,

Joe

llamafarmer

The brushes can be quite useful, I have the park tools version, which has the hook on one end and the brush on the other. The chain cleaning devices are ok, but a toothbrush and some soapy water is probably the most effective.

Sir HC

Fairy liquid and a selection of stiff brushes after every muddy ride.

I use sram chains on all my bikes, which come with a powerink so removal is easy. Every few rides the chain comes off and goes in a jam jar of white spirit, chain comes out good as new.

stickygreen

I just bought the exact same one your looking at and it seems fine to me,only used it twice but it works well and my chain looks like new.They do seem to be delicate but if your gentle with it it will be fine,the more expensive one's are probably better built but on a budget it's fine.

blister pus

The easiest and cheapest way to clean a chain is get a bottle of white spirit and two jam jars with decent screw cap lids.

- wipe excess crap off chain

- take chain off

- drop in jam jar

- pour white spirit up to half or 3/4 way, screw lid on

- shake, shake, shake and shake again .....baby. (shake until clean)


- drop chain in other jam jar and repeat only with warm soapy water. Repeat till smell has gone from chain.

- towel dry thoroughly then stick in warm place to dry off properly. Spray with GT85 to force redsidual water out if you want.

- chain back on and lube.


Leave the dirty white spirit in the jam jar on a shelf out of the way to settle. All the crap sinks to the bottom and congeals eventually ready for you to pour the clear white spirit back into the other jar, ready for next chain clean.

MountainPete

I do something very similar to the above, just with a degreaser.

JoeMontana

Cheers for the advice folks - nice explanation blister pus. Its all about the mess really due to lack of a garage for example. I'll probably follow your example stickygreen so I don't have to remove the chain from the bike.

ride_whenever

the easiest way to clean a chain is hose of any obvious crap...

plenty of lube on a rag, run chain through rag until no longer leaving black marks.

new rag, small bit of lube just to clean it off.

stickygreen

It will drip alot and make some mess but put plenty of news paper down and it'll be fine.

blister pus

I've done it both ways - cleaning chain on the bike - cleaning chain off the bike - and doing a proper clean with chain on the bike I found to be false economy of labour (hence I don't do it). Unless you have a bike stand.

It's easier taking the chain off, you get a better clean and a lot less mess and you're essentially operating over the sink - tip: buy a spare £1 washing up bowl and operate over that.

and white spirit is a fine degreaser, along with paraffin ...except that's more garage-y.

Northwind

Likewise, I think trying to get a decent clean on the bike without a cleaning machine is a waste of time, it takes far longer and makes a lot more mess than just taking the chain off and throwing it in a tub of the cleaner of your choice (I use a strong mix of tesco's daisy universal cleaner and water if the chain's muddy, as it's dirt cheap... And then paraffin to degrease it and remove the water from the chain. Then I lube it off the bike as well, much easier- all in, it takes just a few minutes and gets it showroom fresh, absolutely gleaming.

Skonk

I just use Squirt lube and never have to worry about any of this

Start with a sparkly clean chain, apply Squirt (as instructed on the bottle) and then the chain never gets dirty enough to cause any problems. Re-apply squirt every few rides and thats it, no need to degrease ever again.

blister pus

Must admit Squirt is working out ok so far. But the chain has to be clean and free of any coating whatsoever for maximum effectiveness. Still under trial but looking good so far. 8)

ccc

Skonk wrote:

I just use Squirt lube and never have to worry about any of this

Start with a sparkly clean chain, apply Squirt (as instructed on the bottle) and then the chain never gets dirty enough to cause any problems. Re-apply squirt every few rides and thats it, no need to degrease ever again.

Had a bottle of this stuff arrive today. Just finished cleaning my chain, gonna wait for it to dry completely and then try it out. Hope it lives up to the hype...

blister pus

Just follow the instructions about the chain being clean and dry and applying to the inside of the chain, I left mine over night and you can really see a milky film over it in the morning.