need to stock up as ive let pretty much everything run out.

last time i bought any it was a choice of muc-off, hope sh1tshifter or fenwicks caravan cleaner i think.

so

1. whats the cleaner and lube of choice these days?

2. best place to buy, still CRC/wiggle?

3. dry lube for summer, wet for winter, yep?

4. are we still soaking chains in jars of petrol to clean em?

thanks

It’s very personal.
Isopropal alcohol.
Washing up liquid.
Swarfega jizer
GT85
Finish line stanchion lube
Squirt
Putoline chain wax
WD40

Water and cloth

Gt85

GT85 as a cleaner.
Soap and water as needed.
Finishline Dry as a lube.

Not changed that in years.

Interflon foodlube TF , made my grounchy old chain feel like new.

I purchased some Morgan Blue drivechain cleaner after reading a recommendation on here. Its not cheap but incredibly powerful.

Lube-wise, still using Squirt dry lube but I might try some Putoline wax for the winter.

Dry lube all year for me. Wipe and reapply before putting bike away.

No cleaning products apart from gt85 when I need to get grime off.

Stuff seems to last better with less cleaning.

Using Muc-Off cleaner and chain cleaning device bought through CRC’s Valentines promo ( 😆 ), currently lubing with the last bit of a small bottle of Progold Prolink before opening my 1 litre bargain basement £8 bottle of Muc Off C3 Ceramic from DFS that should keep me going for the next ~25 years! 😆

GT85 as a cleaner.

so youre spraying it on same as you would muc-off, leaving it a few mins then rinsing off?

thanks chaps

Fenwicks bike cleaner and foaming chain cleaner plus a brush and hose for cleaning.

Squirt for chain lube. GT85 for anywhere else.

Fenwicks bike cleaner and foaming chain cleaner plus a brush and hose for cleaning.

Squirt for chain lube. GT85 for anywhere else.

^This, plus some silicone spray lube for fork, shock and dropper post stanchions.

Water and brush followed by a liberal and haphazard application of UBS everywhere.

I’ve been using Screwfix degreaser, at £6 for 5 litres, and a Parks Tool chain cleaner. Works fine although I’m unsure of the environmental credentials of the degreaser!
Next a spray of GT85, leave and wipe off and finish with Finish line wet lube. Would use Muc Off ceramic out of choice but its quite spendy.

Green Oil. Bought direct or from LBS. They do wet & dry lubes, degreaser (dilute for bike wash) and a grease. Been ysing them for years and very happy. Lots of research goes into their highly effective and non-harmful products.

Putoline chain wax. Still the best by mailes

GT85 does more harm than good.

GT85 does more harm than good

whats the reason for this??

It’s mostly solvent, so strips any useful lube off leaving a thin film of teflon.

The teflon wears off quickly, so it’s useless as a lube.

If using as a cleaner, the teflon will discourage the lube that’s applied later from staying in place.

Smells nice though.

General cleaning:

http://www.screwfix.com/p/no-nonsense-heavy-duty-degreaser-5ltr/88668

Brakes:

https://www.actioncan.com/product/tf-90/

GT85 does more harm than good.

It’s good for a post wash spray on bolts and mechs, that’s about it IMO.

Same as dirtydog for cleaning, and rnr extreme means no need for degreaser type stuff.

^^^ agree on the rnr extreme, I was put onto it by nobeer in one of my similar threads 😀

thanks a lot, decided to get one of the concentrates then, maybe fenwicks, its cheap enough. havent got a spray bottle tho so ill just wait for an empty glass cleaner/ kitchen type spray bottle to become available from the kitchen cupboard.

and dry lube it is for the chain then, not sure which yet, cant find any of that rnr extreme.

cheers

RNR extreme ?

here you go :

uk supplier

ooh thanks. ordered.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvzVRxlIUL0[/video]

Sorry, couldn’t resist 😉

GT85 does more harm than good.

It’s good for a post wash spray on bolts and mechs, that’s about it IMO.

I mainly use it for cleaning grime off frames, rims & components – mostly prior to sale TBH.

Generally, I don’t like degreasers / cleaners unless they are absolutely necessary. A gentle bucket of warm car shampoo is usually sufficient if combined with a dish scrubbing brush for the cassette and jockeys, a (decent) chain cleaning machine and lube that doesn’t pick up all the crap in the world. A stiff brush, sponge and microfibre cloth are recommended.

IF I need a degreaser, it’s Fenwicks FS1 – I buy the concentrate and dilute as required for job in hand.

Lube choices – currently torn between White Lightning Epic Ride (the green one) and Clean Ride (the wax). Clean Ride is longer lasting and cleaner in my experience but more faff – The Epic stuff isn’t far behind and much easier to handle. I prefer JuiceLubes Fork Juice for stanchions but due to LBS supply deals it’s almost impossible to get hold of so I’ve shifted to the Fenwicks equivalent. The one lube that I will absolutely never be going back to is MucOff C3 Ceramic. That’s the very filthiest wet lube I’ve ever had the pleasure of. The amount of crap it picks up can’t be good, and it’s near impossible to remove without ridiculous levels of cleaning effort.

Turtle Wax car shampoo for the frame and wheels Gunk/Jizer for the chain, bike specific products tend to be overpriced.

Water for cleaning.
Paraffin for occasional chain deep cleaning.
Silicone spray for fork and shock stanchions.
Finishline Green Wet Lube for chain.

Those sprays like WD40 are good for preventing surface rust during storage when the bike is put away wet – and bad for everything else!

Paraffin for chain cleaning
Putoline wax for chain lubing- it just kicks the arse of everything else tbh
Occasional topups with whatever random lube I have, on top of it- finishline wet that I found in teh garage, just now.
Muc Off or similar if I want to get the bike actually clean, but usually I don’t bother
Cheap silicon spray on forks and to help stop mud sticking

GT85 is a decent surface cleaner and leaves a thin oil residue (there’s a token amount of ptfe in it but mostly it’s very much like paraffin and mineral oil). You can spray it over other things as a rust inhibitor too- a waxed chain frinstance, which often don’t deal too well with road salt. It doesn’t really “strip off lube” in teh way people think, unless you make a real effort- if you spray it onto a lubed chain it basically just sits on top.

It also kills the scottish midge and is a randomly good penetrating oil.