[Closed] Chain cleanering machines - talk to me!

GT85 + Rag, been doing it for years.

yeah but it doesnt get inside the chain those little brushes soaked in kerosine ! seem to get longer chain/cassete life by running them through one of these!

The park tools one is amazing! (caviat; always cleaned the chain manually before, so no experience of other brands)

It's super easy to use, takes all of 30 seconds to get the chain so clean it looks new.

Only trouble is the degreaser for it is expensive and I've yet to find a substitute that works as well. I've just replaced the brushes that were about a year old; this needed doing, the bristles bend so after a while its not as effective

Quick link so you can take the chain off and put it in a jam jar of white spirit and give it a shake works for me.

Then a clean with degreaser (jizer or halfords citrus stuff) and a blast with a hose and it's spotless.

I do take my chain off and clean but every 10 or so rides - this i would use every other ride - got to be better than a rag!

Ive yet to see one of them chain cleaning things actually work. You can't get much easier than a undoing a split link and dropping the chain in an old coke bottle with a degreaser of you choice and giving it a good shake. Job done. Not tat I bother with that much these days, since using "squirt" wax lube it doesn't get dirty and sorta self cleans.

Total waste of money, Grimy's approach (I use paraffin) is better, and cheaper, and actually easier too.

I get good enough use out of chains/cassettes with a brush/hose pipe so I can't be bothered with anything fancy/time consuming.

You can't get much easier than a undoing a split link and dropping the chain in an old coke bottle with a degreaser of you choice and giving it a good shake.

You can quick squirt with the hose lube and done.

Another vote here for the park tools chain cleaner. i find using this is more effective than the jam jar method. the degreaser is expensive but i been using jizer as a cheaper option and used in conjunction with the chain cleaner really makes your chain look and perform, once re-lubed, like new.

They work well IME, I used to take the chain off but it's a fair bit more hassle and doesn't do a noticeably better job. I use a finishline one myself after breaking a Park one, the performance of both was about the same though. Using a wax lube is def a good start but a few hours in gritty Welsh mud will trash any lube you've got on the chain.

A vote for the Finish Line one (which is similar to the Park one, only green)

The MucOff one (fits to the top of a can of degreaser) is next to useless.

Andy

I've got the park one and it's pretty good, handle fell off ages ago tho.
I use it for a quick chain clean, the park degreaser is great but very expensive.
For a proper clean I use a 4 pint milk container and put chain in with enough degreaser (finesse/hope et all) to cover soak for a while then shake like buggery. If chain is very bad then it gets another go.
Much better job than any chain cleaner.

You can get 5l of generic citrus degreaser from sellers on Ebay for not much money. works the same, smells the same etc. Park one here, can't take chain off to clean as the 10s Sram links don't come undone again once locked.

I bought a cheap one a while back that came with a couple of brushes too - I think it was an ice toolz one.

I find it works really well. I use hot water & a fairly strong mix of Fenwicks FS-1 to start with. Normally this does the job & I then use a couple of cycles of clean, hot water to flush the chain before rinsing it off. Sometimes it might need a second dose of clear.

Finish Line Grunge Brush for me, easier and quicker than the bath type ones and just as effective.

I have a spare White Lighning chain cleaner in my parts bin if you want to try one cheap. Five quid posted.

- Rub off surface gunk if necessary with rag.
- Use Rock'n'Roll lube, which cleans and lubes.
- Done

I have a spare White Lighning chain cleaner in my parts bin if you want to try one cheap. Five quid posted.

I've been toying with the idea of trying one of those for 'interim' cleans. Does it actually work?

Yeah, it works well. I just don't need 3 of them.

Lol.

I'll email you.

Brush and rag to get the mud off the outside, then a Barbieri chainbath (approx £7 on ebay) with petrol and EP90 oil mix, twice.
Wipe down with dry cloth and ride.
Petrol evaporates leaving the gear oil in the bushes...ideal.
The dirty petrol/EP90 goes into a jar and the muck settles out, so can be reused.
Never use just petrol in the chainbath as it removes all the lubrication and leave the dry grit to do damage.
My first Barbieri lasted 20 years before the second set of brushes was worn out (they used to come with 2 sets).
White spirit or diesel can be used instead of petrol, but takes longer to dry out and is just as expensive.

PaulD

I've an old encased Park one - no handle. solid. the brushes give the chain a good going over but yes, these days I unclip the chain, soak in paraffin overnight, and then scrub with old toothbrush, wipe clean and dry out bingo. bingo.

I use two old toothbrushes with an elastic band tied around them.
Sprayed down with copious amounts of GT85.

Follow that with the traditional rag wipe down.

I won a Park one, and only recently got it out its packet to use. I only use it with washing up liquid & hot water & it's bloody great 🙂

Maybe it's down to the type of mud we have, but sandy/gritty stuff I never seemed to be able to clean the chain properly, now it's a couple of runs with the soap, then a couple with clean water to get ride of everything & it's sorted.

Should have bought one years ago, rather than faffing around with toothbrushes.

All very well recommending a quick link in the chain to allow removal and cleaning (i used to do it) but for those of us on 10speed sram or shimano systems afaik there isn't a quick link that isn't 1-shot

I won a Park one, and only recently got it out its packet to use. I only use it with washing up liquid & hot water & it's bloody great 🙂

Maybe it's down to the type of mud we have, but sandy/gritty stuff I never seemed to be able to clean the chain properly, now it's a couple of runs with the soap, then a couple with clean water to get ride of everything & it's sorted.

Should have bought one years ago, rather than faffing around with toothbrushes.

Powerlink + jamjar + paraffin.

The Fenwick’s sponge and fenwicks foaming degreaser is the best I’ve used

I've tried everything, chain baths etc etc, taking the chain off and soaking it (probably the best way but a real faff) but I've started using the Fenwicks foaming chain cleaner and I think its brilliant.
Anybody else tried this?

toons you just beat me to it!

I'm not sure if washing up liquid is the best thing to use as it has salt in doesn't it?

I use a jam jar along with white spirit, but even then I'm not sure if white spirit is better or worse than degreaser.

Morgan Blue chain cleaner and a brush, perfect job everytime.

+1 for the Park one. Dead easy to use and all brushes etc can be replaced as and when they wear out individually.

Or go for a belt-drive 🙂

remove chain

place into sauce pan immerse in sunflower oil

put on a low heat and stir for a few minutes

remove chain while still warm and draw it through a rag

repeat if necessary

this will clean your chain - happy days.

I'm on my 3rd Park one - they've finally changed the design of the clips that hold the lid on so hopefully this one won't fall to bits there?

Does a great job with the correct de-greaser. Cycle specific, eco-friendly, citrus stuff is shite and overpriced!

After much experimenting I have found this stuff: [url] http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_700554_langId_-1_categoryId_255222 [/url] is the daddy for getting it clean!

All very well recommending a quick link in the chain to allow removal and cleaning (i used to do it) but for those of us on 10speed sram or shimano systems afaik there isn't a quick link that isn't 1-shot

Fairly regularly reuse the quick link on my 10 speed SRAM chain, using the park tools thingy to break the link. I do replace it every so often but it probably gets about a dozen reuses before replacement. Been doing this for a couple of years now and not had any issues so far.

EDIT: Also I think there are wipperman links for 10sp chains that are designed to be broken and re-used if you don't want to do it to the SRAM ones.

What chain cleaner? I have used the same one for about 10 - 15 years and now it has given up the ghost?

If its lasted that long, how about the same one again? 😀

* Take chain off bike
* Put in jamjar filled with neat degreaser for at least half an hour while you clean the rest of the bike
* Take out chain and put it in an old takeaway container / Tupperware box etc
* Rinse under hot top in the container and shake until the water remains clear. This can take a surprisingly long time as micro-grit gets dislodged from deep in the chain.
* Dry chain as you see fit, use WD-40 if you must.
* Re-fit and re-lube.

If you use the three chain circulation method to minimise wear, you obviously have one chain on the bike, one soaking and one clean ready to go back on at any one time.

My degreaser of choice is similar to this stuff, can't remember exactly where I got it. Use neat to soak chains and then you can filter and dilute the jamjar contents for more general cleaning. Surprisingly effective at high dilutions, I usually use about 1:10 or 1:20 for general cleaning. Will tarnish anodised parts if used neat for longer than a minute or so, but the tarnish comes off pretty easily leaving a nice patina 😉

http://www.clickcleaning.co.uk/Products/6/Virosol-Citrus-Based-Cleaner-Degreaser-5litre.aspx

Anyone tried putting a chain through the dishwasher?

I'm not suggesting it's a good idea, just curious, ours seems to to a good job on crudded up baking trays, obviously you'd need to lube it straight after, I reckon it might be worth a trial...

Hmmm, nope it's a bad plan, I'll stick to the jam jar approach for now...

Edit:

remove chain

place into sauce pan immerse in sunflower oil

put on a low heat and stir for a few minutes

remove chain while still warm and draw it through a rag

repeat if necessary

this will clean your chain - happy days.

Is that actually cleaning it or basically just adding a viscous lube to a grimey chain?

I sort of like the idea, but I think I'd want to at least try and flush some of the crap out of the chain first and than use something more like [url= http://www.dirtbikebitz.com/putoline-chain-wax-p-2550.html?utm_campaign=products&utm_medium=BaseFeed1&utm_source=GoogleBase1 ]a proper chain wax[/url] than cooking oil to be sure the chain held some lube...

Removing your chain is far too much faffing about just to clean it! Doesn't get any better results than a scrubby machine thing either!

Anyone tried using a steam cleaner on their chain?

Mrs Wombat wants on and I'd be much more keen on the idea if it had a proper use rather than just having it for the hob/bathroom/wooden floors...

Mad Pierre - Member

Removing your chain is far too much faffing about just to clean it! Doesn't get any better results than a scrubby machine thing either!

Wrong on both counts... It's easier than fannying around with a scrubby machine, and also cleans it better

(you can do the old gilette test on this if you like- machine clean first then shoogle in paraffin, see how much more crap comes off)

DoctorRad - Member

* Take chain off bike
* Put in jamjar filled with neat degreaser for at least half an hour while you clean the rest of the bike
* Take out chain and put it in an old takeaway container / Tupperware box etc
* Rinse under hot top in the container and shake until the water remains clear. This can take a surprisingly long time as micro-grit gets dislodged from deep in the chain.
* Dry chain as you see fit, use WD-40 if you must.
* Re-fit and re-lube.

+1

never rated the brushed versions - they just dont seem to get it as clean as this method.

Park one here too.

I also sometimes do the chain off into bottle of degreaser/paraffin/diesel, but that's a bit of a faff compared to the chain tool.

By the way, if you are buying the Park CM5 Cyclone one from wiggle then [b]do not buy this one[/b] for £25:
[img] ?w=350&h=350&a=7[/img]
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/park-tools-cm5-cyclone-chain-cleaner/

[b]Instead buy this "Chain Gang" kit[/b], which includes the CM5 plus a brush and bottle of degreaser for £22:
[img] ?w=350&h=350&a=7[/img]
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/park-tools-cg-2-chain-gang-chain-cleaner-set/

Best feature of the Park one is the little magnet in the bottom to pick up all the little metal bits. Surprising amount of swarf comes off a chain!