Has anyone ever found a way to clean chain and drivetrain such that their longevity is significantly improved? Still searching after 20 years, on and off…

I found that the best way is to clean the chain… properly!

Muc-Off X1 machine works brilliantly for me.

This is going to end with 50 different contradictory opinions.

IME, when things are really manky there’s no substitute for a full-on deep clean, soak and shake in paraffin. If you clean your chain by any other means then do this, you’ll be amazed by how much crap still comes out, it’s like a shaver advert. But you have to get the lubrication perfect for this to work, because when you’re cleaning you’ve taken all the old lube out of the rollers. A lot of folks get this wrong I think. My melt-in wax does the job, not everything will. And if you don’t do it right it’ll be really bad.

But this gives me chains that last, but more importantly shifting that works in terrible conditions, for longer.

I couldn’t give a rat’s ass what Sheldon says either 😉

I find spending £10 every 6 months doesn’t really matter.

I’ve never felt I’ve cracked either. Usually drop it off the bike and clean it with muck off and toothbrush.
I do have a parts cleaner with Deb Jizer but as Northwind says, it can clean it out too much so this is reserved for abused chains near the end of their life.
I just bought one of those Park Tool chain gang whatsits. Only used it once so far but seems to do a good job but may be just superficial clean. The colour of the chain lube after a few hours of riding lets me know how well it cleaned up.

I adopt the rub it down with a cloth when it gets to gritty and lube. Then replace when it rubs along the ground………….

Just use scottoiler ubs. I was constantly cleaning dirty black chains but now when I get back from a ride i just put the hose on lightly and spray the cassette whilst using a the brush from a dustpan and brush set to scrub the drive train. It takes a couple of minutes and come up like new. After riding yesterday morning I showed a mate who was sceptical and he was very surprised how easy it was and how spotless the chain and cassette were.
I’m not sure on longevity of the chain but even if its shorter ill still be happy not having to clean the black gunk off caused by other chain lubes.

This greatly depends on your idea of transmission longevity. I’ve spent a fair amount of time over the years experimenting with transmission maintenance, because it can be a fairly regular expense if you get it wrong, but more importantly, a well maintained transmission in reliable and doesn’t ruin rides.

Plenty will disagree with me and I think there is an element of local conditions and riding style and general mentality/attitude in which approach works for who, but I work on the basis that a clean chain with no debris contmination wears the least and try to re-establish those conditions as frequently as possible.

In practice for me that means three chains in rotation on a fairly strict clean and purge cycle. I’m talking off the bike once every two rides at most, a soak in degreaser, a purge of the degreaser and re-lubrication. I don’t believe in adding fresh lube to a dirty chain, it’s just creates a dirty slurry.

My method is based on a high degree of systemisation to make it as little of a ball ache as possible. I have jars standing with each of the fluids I use, plus hooks to hang chains on when they’re standing.

I’ve successfully used this system for about 6 years now, I’m beginnings to see a repeatable interval of about three years on the same cassette chain ring and 3 chains, to 1.0 wear and virtually flawless performance up to that point. The new variable is N/W chainrings I don’t know how well they’re going to last yet, but I expect less so.

I clean everything pretty thoroughly about every 10 hours (or so). So, chain off and into white spirits, cassette off, and jockey wheels, chainring get thorough wipe down.

everything back together with a smear of chain oil of your choice.

I get about 18 months of 1-2 rides a week

I find there is no substitute for taking the chain off every now and then for a good clean.

In summer I use dry lube to avoid the chain picking up too much dust and turning into grinding paste. I am yet to work out a good system in winter that doesn’t involve cleaning the chain every ride.

I get about 18 months of 1-2 rides a week

Until what? If I measure my chain, I’m lucky to get six months before it’s at 10-1/16″ across ten full links.

Is white spirit as good as paraffin? I used to use the former…

IME…oh, and I run a Rohloff so it’s cheating.

If it’s been a wet / mucky ride or when I see visible dirt on the chain, then I hose it down (not jet wash) dry it with a rag and (sometimes) blow it down with an air compressor to make sure as much of the water has been forced out. I’m currently using Progold prolink oil and I carefully oil between the plates…as I understand it the pins wear not the plates so oil between the plates is where it all happens. I clean it properly maybe once every 600 miles / every 2ish months with a Park chain cleaner and lots of hot water / fairy liquid.

IWFM…just changed chain after 13 months of use and circa 3K miles before it hit the 0.5% wear mark.

…and I do rate what Sheldon Brown says!

Got a Wipperman Connex Nov 2013 and another one last year both still going strong

Hardly any lateral play compared to Shimano/KMC/SRAM it seems the tolerances are tighter = less opportunity for dirt to get inside the rollers

Used to Squirt the first one but the chains work fine without it.

Expensive but chain maintenance is minimal

Until what? If I measure my chain, I’m lucky to get six months before it’s at 10-1/16″ across ten full links

And what happens when it reaches that point ?

After 25 years I’ve come up with the following rules that work for me*

1. Only use lube that can get cleaned off fairly easily. I tried wax lubes for a while but found that the difficulty of cleaning them wasn’t worth the cleanliness and long running benefits. Happier to clean more easily more often.

2. Following on from (1) I use as light and dry a lube as I can get away with.

3. I use a fairly environmentally friendly degreaser (Viro-Sol – cheap and very effective) as I can’t take the guilt of 25 years polluting the drains

4. MOST IMPORTANT LESSON – I don’t actually clean it that often. If I can get away with just topping up the lube on it then I do. There’s too many bikes in the household now to worry about them all being clean all the time.

5. ANOTHER IMPORTANT LESSON – it doesn’t matter on the singlespeed, just slap some more gooey lube on

6. Cleaning has to be quick or you won’t bother – happens every 3-4 rides probably. Run through chain cleaner with Viro-Sol (it’s cheap so no need to skimp), wash with warm water and washing up liquid along with rest of bike, rinse well with carefully directly hose, wipe down chain with cloth and then towel to get as dry as possible, then relube thoroughly.

I used to be anal about the whole thing and take everything apart, but you’re just shortening your (available) life more than extending the life of your chain!

* May be pants for others depending on kit, riding, location, weather etc etc 😉

And what happens when it reaches that point ?

That’s the point at which I was always told you should replace your chain so as not to cause excessive cassette or chainring wear.

The wisdom certainly used to be that if you leave your chain until it’s 10-1/8″ across ten links, then it will have worn the cassette to the point where it may skip with a new chain.

The one and only guide to use
I’ve followed this guide for years. Sheldon has it nailed. It’s a little labour intensive but the chain longevity from this process is unrivalled!

Big fan of rock n roll gold. Takes 2 mins and no chain removal…
Do it after a ride or day before.. Not just before a ride

Hardly any lateral play compared to Shimano/KMC/SRAM it seems the tolerances are tighter = less opportunity for dirt to get inside the rollers

I tend to use £10-12 SRAM or KMC chains, and did wonder whether tighter tolerances would mean a longer-lasting chain… at least until the tolerances slacken off due to wear…

The wisdom certainly used to be that if you leave your chain until it’s 10-1/8″ across ten links, then it will have worn the cassette to the point where it may skip with a new chain.

So you then fit a £15 cassette, so every 6 months MTBing costs £25 for a new chain and cassette.. It’s hardly the end of the world… it’s about 1/4 of a Rapha Sleeve 🙂

What Jonathan says, pretty much. Life’s too short and crowded for systematic chain cleaning, especially when dealing with multiple bikes 🙂

So you then fit a £15 cassette, so every 6 months MTBing costs £25 for a new chain and cassette.. It’s hardly the end of the world…

This is true, but part of me doesn’t want to be throwing away more lumps of refined metal than strictly necessary. However, there comes a point at which life is too short…

Jetwash it. Degreaser and jetwasher, blasts the grit out. You can verify this by taking it in your fingers and twisting it – you can hear the grit. Jetwash it til there’s no grit left inside. Only takes about 60 seconds!

Putting it in white spirit doesn’t actually remove the grit, it just loosens it.

I agree with Andysredmini’s solution. ^^^

Scottoiler have been making MTB chain lubrication / cleaning systems for what must be a good 15yrs now. I had the system in what was maybe a very early incarnation, which possibly clouded my judgement of it somewhat, but that still can’t take away from how well it worked!

Basically, the system I had replaced the bottom jockey wheel with one that had a tiny little feeder tube in it. This tube led up to a reservoir of water based lubricant (most folk clip it to the seat tube via a rubbery ‘squid’ that when squeezed, pumps the lubricant down the hose onto the chain.

As the lubricant is water based, it’s only really needed on dry days. On wet rides, the lubricant is washed off the bike and good old fashioned water keeps the chain running smooth. Also, being water based, very little trail crud sticks to it and even when it does a quick hose down, spin of the pedals, squeeze of the squid, and you’ve got a ‘just out the packet’ clean cassette and chain.

I really liked it, but to be honest I drifted away because of issues with getting spares. What with the way t’internet rules all nowadays though, I’ve been thinking of getting one again as it easily tripled the life of my drive chain, and I’m hard on them as I’m a proper biffa of a lad.

……Having said all that, I can’t seem to see the system on their website now! It did work though, wasn’t the prettiest, but it did really work! However, they still supply the water based lubricant which was at the heart of the system.

C.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/scottoiler-ultimate-bike-spray-anyone-using-it/page/3

Some pics of my 9 month old, used weekly or twice weekly, chain and cassette lubed with UBS on this page.