Cleaning a chain in the house
prj45
Posts: 2,208
OK, so I normally clean my chain out the front on the road, in the summer. This does involve me coming back into the house looking like I've been spat all over by people chewing very dark tobacco.
Of coures, in winter that leaves Satuday or Sunday morning/afternoon to get a clean in during daylight hours, presuming it's not so cold that you risk frostbite.
Anybody attempted and suceeded to clean a chain and rear mech in the house of a Sunday evening and not spatter greasy black spots all over their hand painted kitchen?
Of coures, in winter that leaves Satuday or Sunday morning/afternoon to get a clean in during daylight hours, presuming it's not so cold that you risk frostbite.
Anybody attempted and suceeded to clean a chain and rear mech in the house of a Sunday evening and not spatter greasy black spots all over their hand painted kitchen?
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Comments
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Old towel in your fist, run the chain through the towel, occasionally changing the bit of the towel in contact with the chain. That removes all the grime, then just relube.
Alternatively, if you want to degrease properly, fill a plastic bottle halfway with degreaser, drop the chain in, put the lid back on and shake. Handy to tie a bit of string on the end of the chain so you can get it back...0 -
I also a little plastic bucket with hot water in to help get the muck off.FCN 2-4.
"What happens when the hammer goes down, kids?"
"It stays down, Daddy."
"Exactly."0 -
TdF race mechanics have a waterbottle cut in two - bung some degreaser in there with a narrow paintbrush. They bung the waterbottle in the seat tube cage and then paint the degreaser on the chain as they pedal it on their workstand. Rinse off and relube - voila !0
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That's what dining rooms and podcasts are for. answermethis usually has me in fits while cleaning the bikes.
are for as the workshop shed and bike shed are too cold at the moment. Have a plastic/canvas sheet which is mildy absorbant, which acts as a back drop for my enthusiasm.
I use an old baking tray (~15mm deep) as it is non-stick, which helps.
Take chain off, blast it with degreaser while it sits in the baking tray, against the backdrop. When blasting i stop to massage the chain, especialy twisting so i can hear the grit crunching. The crunching is my indicator of how much of the crud inside the chain has been crushed.
When there is chain width of fluid gathered and it has been properly jet-sprayed. I leave it to soak. The residue speak for itself. After soak - it comes out of the oil/degreaser bath and into a warm water bath with detergent. It gets a wash in there, similar to washing socks. It then gets two rinses until I am happy that all detergent has been removed. I then dab it dry and immediately blast it with a hairdryer until all the moisture has been erradicated. it gets put back on the bike and lubed immediately cos i figure the time between 'dry' and 'lube' is when moisture will attack it.
Wipe stuff off with one cloth...re-lube with another.0
