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Tips to get chain completely clean on-bike?

muzicianmuzician Posts: 20
edited June 2018 in Workshop
I have a Filzer CC3 chain scrubber which from what I read online is supposed to be a good one. I take great pains to get the cassette, jockey wheels and chainring clean so there's no contamination from them and scrub and rinse the chain multiple times so it's sparking. When you run your fingers or a rag down it, nothing comes off, at this point the chain and all gear teeth seem white-glove clean.

Yet when I squirt on lube and wipe the chain, I'm getting residue on the wipe-down towel. What I'm guessing is happening is when the lube is applied, gunk is being irrigated out from under the rollers, where the scrubber brushes don't reach.

Any tips on getting to that under-roller gunk without taking the chain off the bike and sloshing it around in solvent/degreaser?

Posts

  • imposter2.0imposter2.0 Posts: 11,969
    You are over-thinking it, just a bit (ie a lot). Getting the chain that clean serves no useful purpose. Just get it clean enough (which it sounds like you are already doing) then re-lube it and go riding...
  • figbatfigbat Posts: 680
    ^^^This^^^

    But if you must get it spotless, it is probably quicker and easier to whip the chain off, and the cassette, and get at them in a bowl using your degreaser/cleaner of choice. With the chain off and rear wheel out, the derailleur is also much easier to get at.
    Cube Reaction GTC Pro 29 for the lumpy stuff
    Cannondale Synapse alloy with 'guards for the winter roads
    Fuji Altamira 2.7 for the summer roads
    Trek 830 Mountain Track frame turned into a gravel bike - for anywhere & everywhere
  • imafatmanimafatman Posts: 351
    I thought I was bad cleaning my chain twice a week.
  • darkhairedlorddarkhairedlord Posts: 7,178
    If you want something more aggressive try Pagid brake cleaner, but i'd put a rag on the chainstay first, just in case.
  • muzicianmuzician Posts: 20
    darkhairedlord wrote:
    If you want something more aggressive try Pagid brake cleaner, but i'd put a rag on the chainstay first, just in case.
    The citrus degreaser works great on the parts the scrubber hits, I was just wondering about the parts it doesn't get to.
  • cooldadcooldad Posts: 32,599
    Stripping lube out from inside the rollers is pointless. It's where you want the lube, and takes a while for new lube to penetrate right in. You'll just wear your chain out quicker.

    It's a bicycle, not an operating theatre.
    I don't do smileys.

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  • muzicianmuzician Posts: 20
    cooldad wrote:
    Stripping lube out from inside the rollers is pointless. It's where you want the lube, and takes a while for new lube to penetrate right in. You'll just wear your chain out quicker.

    It's a bicycle, not an operating theatre.
    It's not the old lube that I'm thinking of - it seems gray residue means metal particles. It's the metal particles I want to clean out.
  • pinnopinno Posts: 47,863
    Petrol. It's perfect for stripping it pristine clean.

    However, strip it only occasionally and re-lube properly.
    seanoconn - gruagach craic!
  • svettysvetty Posts: 1,904
    cooldad wrote:
    It's a bicycle, not an operating theatre.
    Brilliant! :D
    FFS! Harden up and grow a pair :D
  • cougiecougie Posts: 22,512
    New chain every time. You know it makes sense
  • muzicianmuzician Posts: 20
    cougie wrote:
    New chain every time. You know it makes sense
    Lol. :lol:
  • AndymaxyAndymaxy Posts: 197
    Ultrasonic cleaner.
    If you wax your chain you never have to clean it.
  • surfercyclistsurfercyclist Posts: 894
    As I use Squirt wax lube on my chains, I always clean off the lube/grease from a new chain in petrol or kero then wash it in washing up liquid then fresh water to completely remove all lube then once dried apply Squirt. This needs to be done with chain off bike. The cleaning process only needs to be done once in a chains life, after that just a quick rinse/wipe is sufficient before reapplying Squirt. Others will no doubt have differing opinions on this....
  • trekvettrekvet Posts: 221
    Get yourself a chain tool and some quicklinks, take chain off and wash it in white spirit in the washing-up bowl. You'll be amazed at all the grit an stuff that comes out. It is the only way. Buy new washing-up bowl and a bunch of flowers.

    Or you could just brush the white spirit along the return run and catch it in washing-up bowl, then as per above.
    The Wife complained for months about the empty pot of bike oil on the hall stand; so I replaced it with a full one.
  • captain_tiaracaptain_tiara Posts: 106
    Use Rock'N Roll Gold.

    Clean chain & low friction....
  • crankycrankcrankycrank Posts: 1,830
    TrekVet wrote:
    Get yourself a chain tool and some quicklinks, take chain off and wash it in white spirit in the washing-up bowl. You'll be amazed at all the grit an stuff that comes out. It is the only way. Buy new washing-up bowl and a bunch of flowers.
    Or you could just brush the white spirit along the return run and catch it in washing-up bowl, then as per above.
    +1. Keep the White Spirit in a jar and let the gunk settle to the bottom for 1+ days then pour clean WS into another jar and re-use many more times.
  • apriliariderapriliarider Posts: 222
    Use Muc off ceramic chain lube - it is water soluble so a quick blast with the hose gets it shiny in no time

    Bit censored for winter bike though :D
  • meursaultmeursault Posts: 1,433
    SurferCyclist wrote:
    As I use Squirt wax lube on my chains, I always clean off the lube/grease from a new chain in petrol or kero then wash it in washing up liquid then fresh water to completely remove all lube then once dried apply Squirt. This needs to be done with chain off bike. The cleaning process only needs to be done once in a chains life, after that just a quick rinse/wipe is sufficient before reapplying Squirt. Others will no doubt have differing opinions on this....

    I thought washing up liquid had salt in it?
    Superstition sets the whole world in flames; philosophy quenches them.

    Voltaire
  • figbatfigbat Posts: 680
    An enduring myth. Well, strictly speaking it does have salt in it, in the chemistry sense of the term “salt”, but it doesn’t have sodium chloride in it.

    Here’s the science bit.
    Cube Reaction GTC Pro 29 for the lumpy stuff
    Cannondale Synapse alloy with 'guards for the winter roads
    Fuji Altamira 2.7 for the summer roads
    Trek 830 Mountain Track frame turned into a gravel bike - for anywhere & everywhere
  • surfercyclistsurfercyclist Posts: 894
    meursault wrote:
    SurferCyclist wrote:
    As I use Squirt wax lube on my chains, I always clean off the lube/grease from a new chain in petrol or kero then wash it in washing up liquid then fresh water to completely remove all lube then once dried apply Squirt. This needs to be done with chain off bike. The cleaning process only needs to be done once in a chains life, after that just a quick rinse/wipe is sufficient before reapplying Squirt. Others will no doubt have differing opinions on this....

    I thought washing up liquid had salt in it?

    Even if it did have salt in, I'm rinsing it straight away in clean water anyway so wouldn't matter anyway.
  • jp4uriojp4urio Posts: 16
    From experience if you’re keen on seeing your face in the chain/cassette etc, be very careful to keep degreaser away from wheel bearings. My incessant cleaning cleared them out on my Fulcrums, replacements are now fitted and liberal spraying halted.
  • keef66keef66 Posts: 13,123
    You'll never get a chain internally clean using a chain cleaner on the bike. Best you can hope for is what you're doing, and accept that the application of lube is washing a bit more muck out.

    If you wish to pursue the holy grail of a clinically clean chain, the only realistic way of achieveing it is to use an ultrasonic parts cleaner with several changes of solvent / degreaser. And then I think to get the lube back in to the internals, you'd need to marinate the now sparkly chain in your chosen oil / wax / whatever in the ultrasonic bath. Which all sounds quite a faff, but if that's what floats your boat, go ahead.

    I used to try to get chains clean by taking them off and shaking in successive lots of white spirit or paraffin, but I CBA with that these days. Now I leave them on the bike, wipe down with a rag soaked in spirit every week or so, relube sparingly, then wipe down thoroughly and repeatedly with a clean rag. I accept it's not perfect, but it's good enough to avoid premature wear of the drivetrain, and 9 / 10 speed chains are cheap enough.
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