Chain cleaning frequency

j4mesj4mes

Hello,

How often do people clean their chain?

I had started to degrease after each ride but not sure if this is overkill.

There seems to be quite a lot of gunk on the chain and cogs, even when I add small amount of lube to a clean chain.

Thank you

nicklouse

when covered in crap of shifting is poor.

a wipe down and lube is more important.

quattrojames

Do you guys clean a chain 'by hand'? Or a tool such as Park's CM5 Cyclone Chain Scrubber?

stumpyjon

I clean my chain pretty much every ride with a brush and degreaser, every four to five rides it goes through a chain cleaning tool. Like Nick says a gunked up chain can cause poor shifting (and is more a of sod to clean properly when it's been left).

Anonymous

nicklouse wrote:

when covered in crap of shifting is poor.

a wipe down and lube is more important.

^^THIS.

Excess degreases can build up inside the rollers of the chain, making any lubing less effective.
Degrease it occasionally when giving it a properly thorough clean, otherwise, just wipe it and lube it.

cooldad

Use something like Squirt and there is no build up of gunk.

Anonymous

I'll build up your gunk in a minute.

apreading

I have to say that I have just switched to Squirt and what they say is true - the mileage I have done since first application would have left the chain squeaking or grinding and in need of attention before Squirt.

weeksy59

i've not 'cleaned' my chain in 15 months. I give it a bit of a hose along with rest of bike and then a wipe and a lube... but have never used a cleaning machine of taken it off for cleaning properly.

never missed a beat.

Anonymous

apreading wrote:

I have to say that I have just switched to Squirt and what they say is true - the mileage I have done since first application would have left the chain squeaking or grinding and in need of attention before Squirt.

I've heard lots of good stuff about this "squirt". I'll check it out when my finish line wet runs out, which should be... Er yonks!

Daz555

I run it through a rag after each ride and then lube it.

jon1993

if you get a split link just take the chain off get it in tub or something a good shake with some wd and it gets rid of all the crap in the hard to reach places plus alot cheeper

stellamandude

Anybody on here use GT85 on their chains ?

cooldad

stellamandude wrote:

Anybody on here use GT85 on their chains ?

It's too thin - not a chain lube.

tomtomthepipersson

stellamandude wrote:

Anybody on here use GT85 on their chains ?

I use it to clean my chain now and again. Never as a lube tho - I use Squirt for that.

nosnevets_semaj

To clean a chain get some turps. (BIKE UPSIDE DOWN) Old towel. Pour the turps onto the towel, Grip the chain with the towel gently. Turn you peddles and let the chain rub against the towel to get the worst off. then then blast it with finish line roughly inside the chain. Just to get the worst off. Then just blitz the whole thing with a hose pipe. Try and get inside the chain. Never fails! Oh and re-grease of course.

Fallout

i cleaned my chain for the first time ever last week after a wet ride down Cwmcarn and the bike is running 100% better all i need to do now is to keep on top of it and clean or lube it after every ride

Northwind

nosnevets_semaj wrote:

To clean a chain get some turps. (BIKE UPSIDE DOWN) Old towel. Pour the turps onto the towel, Grip the chain with the towel gently. Turn you peddles and let the chain rub against the towel to get the worst off. then then blast it with finish line roughly inside the chain. Just to get the worst off. Then just blitz the whole thing with a hose pipe. Try and get inside the chain. Never fails! Oh and re-grease of course.

That's incredibly overcomplicated... Take chain off, throw in some paraffin or white spirit, give it a shoogle, take it out, relube.

nozzac

I've tried various products with varying degrees of success but none seem to stop the build up of muck particularly well.

These days I just run the dirty chain though a rag with some motorcycle chain oil on it, that removes the muck and lubes the chain all at once. Takes 20 seconds.

Every now and again I do a proper degrease job on it but it's a hassle to do it all the time.

S-M

stellamandude wrote:

Anybody on here use GT85 on their chains ?

I use it on my chain to clean it!!

I remove the chain, hang it from the garage roof and then blast it from top to bottom with GT85 to blast all the crap from it.

Leave it to dry, then usually refit to the bike, before oiling it.

I usually oil it with a homebrew mix of Castrol Magnatec and white spirit, but as i am at deaths door with a dislocated shoulder, i removed the chain this morning, sprayed it down with GT85 to clean it and then left in in an coffee jar full of neat Magnatec.

Its probably going to be in the jar for a few weeks, so it can have a nice soak

philRM

to be honest.... when i can be bothered it gets the occasional clean and lube but thats it.

D4V1D

I own a Cube which is fitted with a connecting pin, I've brought a chain splitting tool and replacement chain connection pins. I've decided that I'm going to wash my chain with a degreaser ( some thing like petrol ), dry it completely and then soak in a oil bath over night. But day to day I use a dry spray wax which worked well on my enduro motorbikes.

getonyourbike

Every few proper rides I take it off, drop it in some white spirit, give it a shake around, take it out, wipe most of it off and leave it properly dry. Then I relube off the bike with my favourite wet lube, let it soak in to all the rollers and then get all the excess off that I can. The lube is only needed inside the rollers so if it's anywhere else the it's just attracting cr@p to the drivetrain, resulting in it having a shorter life.

whitestar1

I also degrease and lobe by hand at lease twice a month. Have had no problem and its been 710 miles since May.

hinsby

Clean it, then when dry use Squirt lube chain wax, you wont need anything else, it just works brill. check the reviews on B Radar!