What products and implements do you use to degrease/clean your chain/cassette/derailleur and chainrings

And how often

He sheepishly adds “never done it”

GT-85 and one of them fangled cleaning brushes with curvy bits etc on.

After every ride.

Do you just lash it on all over when fitted or do you have to strip it down?

get a park tool type chain scrubber.

they do a kit that includes the scrubber, a brush to use on your cassette and some degreaser.

Once that runs out Halfords do some orangey degreaser by the litre (that’s rebadged Weldtite stuff) is fine and costs about a tenner.

Fenwicks foaming degreaser, a cup of tea (while it does it’s magic), then an old washing up brush and a bucket of water

Chain cleaning tool (as above), hot water and washing up liquid.

Back pedal the chain a lot through the cleaner do cassette and rings with a stiff brush and more hot water and washing up liquid.

Empty chain cleaner and run the chain through with clean water (twice if I’m feeling very moralistic). Rinse down thoroughly – there should be no real worries about using washing up liquid if you rinse it off thoroughly.

SRAM links are a godsend, I simply remove the chain, scrub with washing up liquid and water and brush out the chainrings and cassette.

In summer when using a dry lube I’ll do this once every three or four rides but in winter it’ll be every ride.

Jizer & old tooth brush

Big fan of proper chain cleaners…they just make life easy. Finish Line Citrus Degreaser is pretty damn effective too.

Plastic pot with paraffin in. Chain comes off, goes in pot, gets shoogled, soaked for a few minutes, shoogled again- comes out sparkling clean. Quick wipe down, let it air dry, then relube while off the bike (you’ve got to really get the relubing right as you’ve fully degreased it- I use a melt-in wax.) Sounsd like epic faff but isn’t really, the actual work is just moments.

Can’t be beat imo.

Take chain off, put it in a jam jar of paraffin shake and leave, then remove chain wipe with cloth and re-oil ,,,,job done.

Anyone use ol’ fashioned Gunk engine degreaser?

HOPE Sh*t Shifter and a few brushes. I found the Bikehut Citrus Degeaser just seemed to smear and smudge the existing grime around the drivetrain without really removing much of it.

commute on it for a week in pi55ing rain. Usually strips all lubricant if not topped up!

rattle in a jar of white spirit / wipe / spray with GT85 / wipe / lube

I use neat Fenwicks FS1 in one of those clip on chain cleaners up there^^ except mine was from Lidl and quite cheap

Yeah I use Gunk engine degreaser and it’s very effective. Just chuck it in a jambar or bowl over night and it’s then just a case of wiping clean. I tried some juicy lubes citrus decreased and I would strongly advise everyone to steer clear. I can only assume it was mainly water as over night my nice new chain had the beginnings or rust! All this biodegradable eco nonsense that it’s trendy to have written on bike cleaning stuff just doesn’t seem up to the job to me.

Park Tools citrus degreaser. I know it works as the chain’ll get surface rust in an hour if it isn’t re-greased.

I have an old washing up bowl, a dish washing brush and those pliers for SRAM’s qiuck links. Makes it a 10 minute job.

Oh and the automotive stuff doesn’t cost a fortune like the bike specific stuff.
I don’t think proper degreaser should make a chain rust!

Chain off once a month and into white spirit for a while, scrub, repeat, rinse, dry.

Sugar soap works and is cheap.

White spirit as it has a little oil in so stuff doesn’t rust straightway.
Also been using Eurocarparts cheap as chips brake cleaner when I need to de-winter clean stuff. But not on brakes, “as it has a little oil in ”

Petrol in a jar, brush off later on/next day. Apply lube carefully to each roller. (I use White Lightning Clean ride as the wax gets back into the rollers nicely)

My drivetrains last ages as I’m a spinner not a grinder.

3 chain rotation, one on the bike, one in soak, one oiled.

So ok I get the chain options……while lashing the gunk/white spirit or whatever degreaser on cassette and chainrings etc need I worry about said stuff attacking BB/freewheel hub/bearings and effectively degreasing or damaging them?

Fenwicks foaming degreaser and my amazing new Park chain cleaning device. Other devices seemed ok, but it turns out my chain is actually silver in colour, and I got 20p for the scrap metal that collected on the magnet at the bottom as well!

For my geared bikes: Chain off, into old milk bottle 1/3rd full of white spirit, shake it about a bit, Leave while I scrub other bits with old washing up and tooth brushes and soapy water to get the shite off, shake the chain about a bit more, leave for longer, eventually pull out, clean/off and shove in jam jar of oil, shake about leave, shake about some more (ideally leave in that over night if I’m not using the bike the next day), shake some more…

Retrieve chain, wipe off excess oil and refit,

maybe once every 4-6 weeks or so… DH Bike chain has been sat in white spirits for about 2 months though, so it should be really, really clean by now…

for the SS and Fixie I just smear more oil on the chain every other ride and possibly degrease it as above maybe once a year if its lucky…

Tried one of those chain cleaner tools, found it quite faffy and not very effective TBH…

Anyone else not bother with any of this and yet still get decent life out of their chains?

Those recommending washing up liquid – I seem to remember being told a long while back that this washing up liquid was a bad idea because it has salt in it. Is that still an issue?

Petrol in a jar, brush off later on/next day.

I use diesel – more or less the same effect, but considerably less danger of burning down the shed. 🙂

thepurist – Member

Anyone else not bother with any of this and yet still get decent life out of their chains?

Alright life, but much inferior performance- a well cleaned and lubed chain deals far better with bad conditions.

whatever degreaser on cassette and chainrings etc
Cassette off.

Fenwicks FS1 and a toothbrush.

Liberally drizzle FS1 over the cassette & chain while back pedalling until the chain has done one rotation then scrub with a toothbrush for a few seconds and wash off with a good blast from the hosepipe.

Anyone else not bother with any of this and yet still get decent life out of their chains?

Me. I just spray with GT85 once every few months and do a scrub down, then relube. It’s probably overdue a scrub.

I’ve always found the putting it in a jar and shaking it approach doesn’t really get the dirt off in winter.

Chain scrubbers really clean them plus you get enough degreaser on the rest of the driver train to give it a scrub with the same stuff.

Since switching to Rock N roll Blue 2 years ago a wipe with a rag is generally enough then re apply lube and that is it.

thepurist – Member
Anyone else not bother with any of this and yet still get decent life out of their chains?

Got about 1200 miles on a chain and cassette, mostly offroad, some beach/rockpools etc. Hose it down regular and lub it and not had any bother so far. Think the chain might be nearing the end of its life now tho.

thepurist – Member
Anyone else not bother with any of this and yet still get decent life out of their chains?

Me. Clean chains are nice, but I’m not convinced it makes much difference to wear, or performance (up to a point).

Even completely dry chains are as efficient (different point I know).

Will try to keep everything clean with a wash on the bike with Hope Sh*t-shifter (far superior to neat Fenwicks FS1 imo), but if it’s caked in black greasy crud then it’s off the bike & clean with toothbrush & WD40 before Sh*t-shifter. Usually only need to do this with new chains as the manufacturers’ lube seems to coagulate into a sticky mess in no time.

Use Prolink progold extreme lube, applied as a drop to each roller before wiping the chain as dry as possible afterwards. This seems to avoid the greasy black crud & reduce requirement for off-the-bike cleaning to once or twice a year.

Scottoiler Ultimate bike solution.

Can’t beat removing the cassette (30 second job) and cleaning with the pressure washer. Comes up like new every time. Cheain is soaked every couple of weeks in diesel for few hours and then pressure washed too, air dried and re greased. The natural riding we do around here in wales means it stays looking nice for about 30 seconds! 🙁