This is by far my most hated chore, so much so that it is costing me a fortune in new drivetrains because I literally never do it. I have the Park Tool chain cleaner, but I still don’t do it, mostly because the degreasing fluid slops out and makes a mess as well as having to be refilled too many times. Is there a machine that makes this hateful task any easier? I’d be well willing to spend good money on it as I’d make a massive saving in prolonged chain and sprocket longevity…

Chain cleaning. Twice a year maybe?

Mmm. Can be an issue and a faff.

This is how I personally deal with it – MTB and road…

Never use a chain cleaning tool (as directly recommended by KMC). Oil rollers on the chain regularly with Finishline Red. Wipe outside of chain with a babywipe after almost every ride to remove debris from the outside. On a semi-regular basis clean any excess build up off chainring teeth and jockey wheels.

I get more life than ever out of this method as I never fully clean all the grease/ oil/ wax build up out of the chain by using a chain cleaner and heavy solvent. Total time for chain maintenance is 90 seconds. But I use a light lube sparingly and keep on top of things regularly to make it easy. Once in a blue moon I crack out the wet lube for long, wet days and it does take a bit more cleaning.

Ducksmart black stuff?

It’s a gel. Apply, leave a while, hose off.

I did ours this morning, I hate it too, it’s a crappy job. I just take them off and soak/shake them in a jar of premix to get the thick off then dry them and stick them back on the bikes with a waft of 2T oil on them. I suppose it takes longer to get my backside into gear to do it than actually doing it though!

edit- I’m going to get some Putoline wax and do them this week.

Shermer Sed: “Is there a machine that makes this hateful task any easier?”

Microfibre cloth (I prefer blue), a little GT85, relube in moderation if necessary.

Soapy wash with a sponge. Let it dry. Relube as necessary. Easy 5 mins, don’t overcomplicate it

A quick hose down and then leave to dry. #muchsmugness

Old sock to clean (by running chain backwards through it). Then oil. Remove excess with old sock if it’s not wet outside. If really filthy repeat clean and oil process again.

If riding in sandy places, add paraffin to old sock for cleaning.

Done.

Jet washer is one option.  Don’t listen to the fearful about gouging grease out of bearings.  Just get a small cheap washer, and keep it 8″ or so away from the bike and it’ll be fine.  I’ve been doing it 15 years and my bearings seem to last far longer than everyone else’s.  The only time you put the nozzle right up to the bike is on the chain where it goes over the block. 30 second blast and your chain is totally grit free (test it by twisting it in your fingers and listening for grinding sounds).  Then either lube straight away or I put WD40 on whilst the bike is in the garge then next ride I lube it before going out.

However my jetwasher is broken now and rather than repalce it I’ve been using muc-off and a normal hose to blast it out.  I’ve been using Shimano wet lube or Weldite TF2, and they are so durable  the muc-off doesn’t strip it all off but it’s enough to get the grit out.  Works nicely.

Rubbing the outside isn’t going to get any grit out of the rollers though which is where you really need to clean.  Hose or jet washer is the only way to blast it clean.  Even if you remove it and shake it in paraffin it’ll still be gritty and fail the twist test cos you’re shaking it up with the same grit that was already in it.

Takes me 5 mins to do mine with a hose, I do it as soon as I get in.

I enjoy it.

I use the Park but I have a different method, which makes it easier and better than the normal way.

A light lube means a wash down with plain water is usually enough.  I’ve used White Lightning  Epic for years,  summer & winter.

I run the chain backwards through a rag at the end of every ride and apply fresh lube.

^^

As above ..the chain is the one thing I give attention to before packing the bike into the back of my car ..wipe down with an old towel ..lube back at home ..

I’ve got one of those Muc Off gadgets that you clip onto the lower chain and run the chain through it backwards.

Drove me nuts last year, because the chain always came off the 34T On One Ringmaster. But when the chain stays in place, it’s great, makes it a 5mins tops job to clean and re-lube.

I should have done a clean since swapping back to the 38T chainring back in November (so I could use the 24T granny again), but I’m ashamed to say I’ve not done a clean… Just applied fresh C3 Wet Ceramic lube several times on top of the old stuff.

I take mine off, throw it in a tub of paraffin to soak for 10 minutes, give it a shoogle, throw it in a tub of cleaner paraffin for 10 minutes, give it a shoogle, voila, it is as clean as clean gets. But you have to really relube it right as you’ve also cleaned all the lube off the rollers where it really counts. So I use proline wax which melts right in, and as a result I need to clean/lube my chain about 1/10th as often as I would otherwise. It’s more of a faff each time but it adds up to far less bother, and more chain life

Before washing the bike use paintbrush to lightly coat chain in degreaser, hose off, run chain through microfiber sponge loaded with water and then apply lube once bike clean. Job done.

What are you lubing your chain with that it’s picking up all shite of the day

As for using the pressure washer…..that’s just silly.

Good quality lube wiped back after applying and not just globbed over everything ready to act as a dirt magnet and create a lovely grinding paste…

I know I’ll get “but my area is very muddy” but have ridden all over the country and many places round the world….and never found more than a rag is required to keep the chain clean if you do it straight after the ride religiously and never apply new lube over old without cleaning it (it does more harm than good anyway )

Certainly never used those chain scrubber machines , more faff than it’s worth and seem to be only good at creating land fill.

Chain cleaning gadget is a piece of piss?

Fill to the line with mucoff type stuff, pedal backwards, wash it off, run through a dry cloth, lube.

Piece of piss like.

Flaerguard from Scottoiler.

Water soluble chain lube. Just use tap water and a soft brush to clean the chain after a ride, re-apply and park.

Or just re-spray and park if you’re feeling lazy.

My bikes are famous for being as muddy mess but the drivetrains are always immaculate.

https://www.scottoiler.com/us/products/ultimatebikesolution.html

I am with trail rat – converted to Widers and Sodstrom chain lube no 3. Work brilliantly as the ,muck seems to fall off – a quick rinse with water after each ride and then when its really claggy ad your bike cleaner of choice. First few uses you will be amazed at what comes out of the rollers but after a while it just gets cleaner and cleaner. Not had to use degreaser/chain cleaning tool or make any serious effort since using it.

A ha. Can’t see any problem with that :rolleyes:

I never degrease my chain, ok very occasionally a bit of muc-off on the very rare occasion I use it to clean the bike. Use ‘clean’ lubes (squirt, W&S, prolink, RnR blue) and rag chain after ride and relube. If the bike is really mucky and gets hosed off so do the chain. Hose pipe and a washing up brush from Ikea.

I like a nice clean drivetrain, and hate cleaning/degreasing it, so stopped using finish line wet and changed to the lubes above.

Finish line chain cleaner device with whatever degreaser I have around. Fill to the line, clip to chain, whizz the pedals around backwards 20-30 times and hey-presto, clean chain. The work of a couple of minutes.
Leave to dry then lube up.

Have squirt sorted out their onions yet.

Despite starting with an immaculately degreased chain from the parts washer

I could never get it to last more than a couple hours….

Prolink and rnr blue are good though and currently using the mucoff dry lube.

When it’s new, don’t degrease it – all the insides are full of wonderful grease which will last a long time.

A wipe with an oily rag, possibly with some degreaser to clean the outside of the chain only and that’s the lot.

I think this will make the chain last a long time before it finally needs a thorough degreasing (chain cleaner device / remove and soak in a jar etc). Once this has been done, the inside of the chain is now dry and the problems keeping it lubricated internally start which I think is a lot of what’s being described above.

I’ve never tried the putoline approach, but it sounds like it works well and goes some way to replicating the “new chain” grease state (new chains are greased before assembly).

Another Putoline user here. In a deep fat fryer.

Get home do nothing, ride bike again next time. Chains still last about 3x longer than anything else (not exaggerating!) despite the almost complete lack of maintenance.

On the odd occasion (circa 500miles off road) the wax wears off or gets washed out the chain comes off and goes in the fryer, 10min and a few shakes of the basket later to flush grit out and its done. Lift chain out, allow to cool and refit to bike later.

It is slightly more faff than just oiling it but no more than any other cleaning method.

My other option is an oil can filled with bio chainsaw oil, just apply that liberally to a hosed off chain, spin cranks backwards to work the oil in and the grit out, and wipe clean. There’s nothing special about chainsaw oil, its no better than cheap wet lube but its really cheap so using a lot isn’t a bother.

putoline.  chuck dirty old chain n the tine, boil until like new

<span style=”color: #444444; font-size: 12.8px; background-color: #eeeeee;”>Have squirt sorted out their onions yet.</span>

I’m was happy with squirt in the summer, lasted well enough, unless it was very wet. Hence changing lube since autumn. I might try smoove this summer as it’s getting good reviews or just stick with W&S or prolink if they don’t attract too much dust (only been using them in the wet so far).

Only running RnR blue on the 9 speed hardtail to finish off the bottle I have as I’ve not been so impressed with the latest batches after it came back from sabbatical.

Re the comments on Putoline (thisisnotaspoon and tjagain) – just take off chain and chuck into tin / fryer.

I assume that they are cleaned / degreased / flushed out etc first – they don’t go into the molten wax dirty do they?

+1 for clean lubes. Squirt in the summer and Rn’R extreme or holy cow for winter.

Ride bike, get it filthy. Hose off, including the chain.  Apply drop of oil to each roller, spin chain, then wipe the chain with a rag (old cotton t-shirts are best). Fold ‘rag’ and run between sprockets and wipe chain rings. Done.

Never use de-greaser as it strips the lube out of the inside of the rollers – this is where oil is needed.

An old rag is all you need, no chain cleaner devices.

markwsf – yes the chain comes straight off the bike ad into the molten wax.  Its not filthy like with standard lubes and any grit just goes to the bottom of the tin

As TJ, just straight in, its over a litre of wax so even after many (8 or 9) years there’s only a bit of grit in the bottom of the fryer under the basket. If it was a problem I could always decant it like you would liquid paraffin for chain cleaning (just hotter).

Only thing to take care with is its not too wet with water otherwise it boils over.

I don’t clean it (apart from a few wipes with a rag if it starts getting clagged up) and since I’ve stopped measuring the bloody things for ‘stretch’, my chains last absolutely ages!

I have only used a chain cleaner once. Total waste of time. Wipe off excess crud oil and ride. Makes no difference to how long the chain lasts.  If anything cleaning all the dirt out of the barrels and links makes it worse.

Nothing wrong with degreasing chain every now and again so long as you re-lube afterwards. Leaving old stuff in there indefinitely is not the best thing to do as it gets contaminated with grit and small abrasive debris which you want to flush out occasionally. I’ll remove and soak mine in paraffin give each link a wiggle until any grittiness goes away the clean off with a microfibre cloth and relube afterwards. It is a bit of a faff so only do it a few times a year, but seems to work OK for me.

Chains are cheap anyway. Buy cheap and replace often. Treat them as a sacrificial item to protect the more expensive items of your drivetrain.

Scotoiler UBS or as it is now called Flaer Guard.

Spray on chain. Ride bike.  It’s it’s hugely wet – relube using a small dropper bottle – not really needed to yet.

Get home rinse chain, chainrings and cassette, use a hose without nozzle or watering can – that is sufficient.  It will all look like new – it really cleans off that easily and well.

Spray on and ready to ride immediately.

“markwsf- Member

When it’s new, don’t degrease it – all the insides are full of wonderful grease which will last a long time.”

I had a disaster with a brand new KMC, went very sticky on the first ride and chainsucked itself to death. When i got the warranty replacement they told me in future clean it thoroughly before the first ride and relube with “something more suitable” than their factory grease

Sheldon would not approve though

Clean rag. Keep wiping until no more dirt comes off. Apply fresh lube. That’s it.