Using meths to clean a chain

Bwgan

I've had to strip the back end of my Felt Compulsion as all the bearings have gone. Whilst its in bits I thought it would be a good time to blast all the cr@p off it, rear mech cogs etc.

How long should you. Soak the chain for, does that strip off all the gunk or do still need to agitate it? What should I rinse it with?

Cheers

thistle_

I use white spirit and follow the "Sheldon shake" method. Meths probably works just as well.

If it's really gunked up you might still need to give it a good clean with a rag afterwards but it will be much easier to get it clean.

jonomc4

use diesel

jimothy78

thistle (MBNW) wrote:

I use white spirit and follow the "Sheldon shake" method. Meths probably works just as well.

No idea what the "sheldon shake" is, but I suspect it's similar to my technique -

I remove the chain and lay it flat, back-and forth, in a single layer on the base of a shallow tupperware container. Then I fill with enough white spirit to cover, put the lid on and shake horizontally, so as not to tangle the chain. I then remove the chain and pour the used white spirit into a tall jar, allow it to settle. Any dirt and water ends up at the bottom of the jar, and the cleaner, uppermost layers can be carefully poured off to use again. Depending on the level of contamination, I sometimes repeat the process a couple of times before regreasing and refitting.

If you've got the bike in pieces anyway, no reason not to use the same technique on cassette and crankset too.

Bwgan

I must have put some good stuff on it this summer! It's been soaking in meths all afternoon, it then went into a bottle with the meths and then had the hell shaken out. It then got boiled in water with some fairy liquid, and its still got some gunk on it!!!! Crankset is ok and I don't have a cassette tool yet :0(

stubs

Meths wont dissolve chain lube. Get some paraffin or white spirit or diesel and give it a soak overnight.

mikewoods

I use white spirit - chuck the chain into it when cleaning the rest of the bike and often leave it there until a day before riding again. I rinse off in hot water and leave to dry - still looks like new.

Bwgan

Now hearing this annoys me and makes me think my LBS knows f all. I just brought it up while getting a bottom bracket tool, I said white spirit and he said meths was much better, t1t!!!!!

stubs

Meths will lift small grease stains but it is a surfactant not a solvent. Keep it to clean fingerprints off your brake discs and go to a hardware store and buy a bottle of parafin, every time you use it let all the crud settle out and pour it back into bottle you can keep the same bottle going for ages.

Dont believe everything some spotty knob on minimum wage in a bike shop tells you they generally know everything about sod all.

Bwgan

Dont believe everything some spotty knob on minimum wage in a bike shop tells you they generally know everything about sod all.

Lol, it was the owner!!!!

stubs

Bwgan wrote:

Dont believe everything some spotty knob on minimum wage in a bike shop tells you they generally know everything about sod all.

Lol, it was the owner!!!!

A baldy spotty knob on less than the minimum wage then

spacedog

stubs wrote:

Meths will lift small grease stains but it is a surfactant not a solvent. Keep it to clean fingerprints off your brake discs and go to a hardware store and buy a bottle of parafin, every time you use it let all the crud settle out and pour it back into bottle you can keep the same bottle going for ages.

Dont believe everything some spotty knob on minimum wage in a bike shop tells you they generally know everything about sod all.

I question that meths is not a solvent, it's ethanol with stuff in to stop people drinking it. Ethanol is a pretty good solvent.

I would not use it on rotors, it will leave a residue. I would stick with something like IPA.

supersonic

Petrol works fantastic on chains.

Bwgan

Someone said diesel

stubs

Meths is not a solvent for mineral oil or grease. I believe the techno bullshit term is a Fatty alchohol long chain non ionic surfactant. Whatever that means I looked it up on wiki. The bottom line is Meths is rubbish for cleaning chains. Paraffin, Diesel, Kerosene, Petrol, heating oil, Jizer, Sodium Bicarb and warm water, Gunk, an old tooth brush and Fairy Liquid, Dish washer tablets, anything but Meths will do.

ps I could be wrong about the long chain thingy I am very very drunk

Bwgan

Hey, sounds good to me!!!!!

Bwgan

Got some white spirit on the go today, certainly shifted some gunk!

snoopsmydogg

supersonic wrote:

Petrol works fantastic on chains.

this is what I was always told

mrmonkfinger

stubs wrote:

Meths is not a solvent for mineral oil or grease. I believe the techno bullshit term is a Fatty alchohol long chain non ionic surfactant. Whatever that means I looked it up on wiki. The bottom line is Meths is rubbish for cleaning chains. Paraffin, Diesel, Kerosene, Petrol, heating oil, Jizer, Sodium Bicarb and warm water, Gunk, an old tooth brush and Fairy Liquid, Dish washer tablets, anything but Meths will do.

ps I could be wrong about the long chain thingy I am very very drunk

what about vodka, will that work?

Uli

what about vodka, will that work?

yes, use a bottle and you will not see any dirt on the chain.
But it is expensive solution and it doesn't clean the chain.

BlueAdvocate

Parafin; too tempting to drink meths