Degreaser

chunkyboy

Can i use any degreaser to clean my chain/cassette etc ? I use a Park chain gang cleaner on my chain and a spray bottle and brushes to do my cassette/jockey wheels. I normally use Park/Pedros/Finish line degreasers. The reason i ask is because my dad has got his hands on a 10litre tub of Viro-Sol citrus based degreaser (never heard of it) and has asked me if i've got any use for it. So was just wondering if it could be used to clean my chain/cassette etc.

Shaun20

Is this it http://www.cloverchem.co.uk/uk/products ... sol_uk.htm I would be careful not to get it into the freehub or wheel bearings and make sure you dry and relube you chain thoroughly afterwards.

10 Litres should keep you going.

allthegearnoidea

take your chain off and drop it in a put of diluted degreaser every so often (what i do) and have a spray bottle of diluted degreaser for the rest, but rarely use it as like to keep the drive train sparkly clean!

chunkyboy

@shaun20 - yeah that's the stuff, i might do as allthegearnoidea says and dilute it down instead of using it neat

allthegearnoidea

seeing as general cleaning for it is 1:50 - 1:100 10L is going to last you a Long time lol!

using it neat is a recipe for disaster lol! prolly find the bike'll fall to bits loL!

in seriousness, i used mine a little too strong the first time and it caused the powerling to fall apart! - the pin came out!! :shock: was lovely and shiny though!

chunkyboy

@allthegear do you just dilute yours with water ? Is that the best thing to do with any degreaser ? I've always used park/pedros/finish line degreasers neat, never seen any instruction on any of their bottles to dilute it so just used it neat and never had any problems using it that way yet.

allthegearnoidea

Yeah matey, water, the one I use is 1:10 (B&Q one), so a litre gives me 10L of degreaser! Ideal!
A lot of the specific ones are pre mixed, but degreaser's degreaser! Just follow the directiond and you can't go too wrong!

Same with a lot of things, the bigger brands charge a premium for what is essentially the same product as the budget brands! All Purpose Cleaners an ideal example, flash APC is something like £2/L where as the budget versions 99p/1.5L!(Daisy APC in tesco) Both dilute to 1:4 for harsh cleaning or 1:10 for normal, both do exactly the same thing just the branded one carries the premium from the name!

chunkyboy

Thanks for that i had no idea there is degreasers available that can be diluted. I think i will look at them in future as it seems there is money to be saved compared to the brands i would normally use and if they do the same job it's happy days.