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I was looking to buy a chain cleaner and first looked at the Park ones on Evans etc where they are about 30 quid, but then I saw that on Amazon you can buy a cheap (presumably Chinese) one for less than the price of a Park brush. Is it really worth lashing out 30 quid on a "real" one?
I had a cheap eBay chain cleaner before and thought it used a lot of degreaser and didnt really clean better than how I was doing it before and using less fluid.
I now have two toothbrushes taped together which I run the chain through after its sat with some chain cleaner/degreaser on it.
It's worth pointing out that the Park one does come with £10 of cleaning fluid and that replacable parts are available. I bought one in June and it's a great thing. Effortless to use and does a really good job, even when I'm using cheaper Halfords degreaser.
I bought a park tool one of Amazon for £16 last year so it might be worth keeping an eye on the price or shopping around.
I had one of the cheap ones prior to that but it fell off my work bench and smashed like glass, the park tool one is a tougher type of plastic.
I bought my park one 10 years ago and it has lasted, unlike the cheap one I had before which cracked clipping it on after about 6 months
IIRC the Park one has a magnet in/on it. On the cheapo one i use, I've glued a magnet from a disk drive to the bottom. It collects quite a blob of "something".
The Park one seemed to perform the best out of a very small number of models I've actually used.
I’m not hugely into chain cleaning but I’ve got one of the below and it gets the chain fairly clean really. £15 including the spray cleaner. I bought a second can of it and moved the cleaner thing across. I reckon it’ll be a bit tired by the time I finish this can but the whole thing was only £15 to start with. Might just get another one when it dies.
The park one is the nicest to use out of all of the devices I’ve tried, including some fairly fragile cheapo ones.
I gave up on chain cleaners when I broke my 2nd park - I realised that a paintbrush to apply degreaser and a toothbrush to remove it does just as good a job and is actually less faff.
does just as good a job and is actually less faff.
How is it less faff?
Park one is:
Fit the cleaner, fill with fluid, cycle it a few times, remove the drain plug and drain to a container, replace the plug and fill with washing up liquid/water, cycle a few times more, unclip the cleaner, wipe the chain dry...
It must take all of 5 mins max?
Thanks all. I do like nice tools but I don't like spending money. Decisions ... !!
How is it less faff?
Park one is:
Fit the cleaner, etc etc
Brushing degreaser onto the chain ~ 5sec
Brushing chain with toothbrush ~30sec
I also found the chain cleaner to be a faff to store (for me) and I'm fairly sure that both the ones I broke were due to leaving them sitting outside making them brittle.
Also using a toothbrush extends the use of the toothbrush beyond the bathroom.
Also using a toothbrush extends the use of the toothbrush beyond the bathroom
Must taste a bit funny afterwards though?
Must taste a bit funny afterwards though?
Citrus degreaser’s alright
Fit the cleaner, fill with fluid, cycle it a few times, remove the drain plug and drain to a container, replace the plug and fill with washing up liquid/water, cycle a few times more, unclip the cleaner, wipe the chain dry…
Washing up liquid?
Paint kettle, paint brush, Screw Fix degreaser diluted with water, and give the chain/cassette a soak.
As suggested by Geex many moons ago I’ve found Cif Mousse to be the best, easiest chain and cassette cleaner I’ve ever used. Spray it on before washing the bike, brush the chain if it’s utterly gopping, hose off, dry chain, relube.
I've used rock n roll extreme lube for years, never have to clean the chain.
Winter is an effective degreaser?
I've had a few chain cleaners, good ones I've won in races and cheaper ones.
They never seem that effective. Paintbrush, some sort of degreaser is ok most of the time. If it looks particularly gunky then whip the chain off and put in a jar with a solvent like white spirit.
I had a cheap one but it seemed to disintegrate with the chain cleaner. I've got the park one, but I find I get drips of oily mess all over the garage floor. (because I never remember to put newspaper down).
The easiest and cheapest option I've found is a quick link and a 2pt milk bottle half full of petrol. I just stick the chain in and give it a quick shake.
Going to try waxing though over Christmas.
Take chain off, throw in tub of paraffin, give it a shoogle, leave a few minutes, give it another shoogle, chain is clean. Soak in/boil in lube, chain is lubed. Put back on bike. Sounds like a faff but takes literally a couple of minutes and works better than anything else both for cleaning and lubing.
Squirt lube, chains get a wipe down after a ride, go through a stiff brush if its mucky. then lube.
If you degreasing your chain after every ride, you are going to be flushing all the grease from the rollers.
Take chain off, throw in tub of paraffin,
I used to do that with 10 speed but the new 12speed quick links say single use only. The only time I re-used one it broke on a ride so I haven't tried again. So £3 a time to take the chain off makes an £8 chain cleaner seem good value. It does a really good job too.
oikeith
Washing up liquid?
...to clean the degreaser off the chain before drying and reapplying lube.
I used to do that with 10 speed but the new 12speed quick links say single use only.
I'm still 11sp but get a couple of uses .. after that you can pop them by hand way to easily for me.
I use a Fenwick's chain cleaning sponge (£1.99) it works a lot better than a chain cleaner I picked up from Ebay.