How to clean cassettes?

What is the best way to get a cassette looking like new again. I have heard you can leave it in a solution overnight, If so what does that solution consist of.

Degreaser?

Any sort of degreaser… No moving parts, so just chuck it in a bath of your chosen cleaner. I’m using IPA at the moment, works well. Petrol, white spirit will also be fine. Leave it for 5 minutes, agitate with brush, refit.

What is IPA?

Degreaser + old toothbrush = quick and easy.

What is IPA?

India Pale Ale, of course.

Strip it off the bike. Scrub with a toothbrush or similar with fairy liquid. No need for special degreasers if you don’t already have any.

Remove. Jamjar of Petrol and toothbrush. Wipe down. Refit.

What njee20 said. I use white spirits.

Surely if people can see it you aren’t riding fast enough?

What is IPA?

Isopropyl Alcohol. Although I prefer otsdr’s suggestion.

stick it in the dishwasher when your Mrs isn’t around!

How the **** do you fit a cassette in a jam jar?

I just leave mine on the wheel and use a hand scrubbing brush i got from tesco for about £1 – bit of soapy water and then push against the freehub and roll it back, repeat until its clean. You wont get deep inside it without taking it off but this cleans the bits the chain touches and leaves it looking gleaming without using fancy chemicals

I use diesel

Comes out like new with no scrubbing

Warm soapy water and this brush work wonders; the bristles really get between the teeth. Much better than anything else I’ve used, including “proper” cassette cleaning brushes. I only ever take the cassette off and clean it if I’m changing hub bearings.

[edit] – what droppinneutron said

Cassette cleaning brush by stilltortoise[/url], on Flickr

Paraffin’s another good one, cleans chains like a mofo and it’s cheap and pretty reusable (you can let the dirt settle then pour off the clean fluid)

Take wheel out of frame.
Spray with GT85/Muc-off/whatever I have to hand.
Leave it for 5 or 10 mins.
Another Spray.
Then use the edge of an old t-shirt of cloth to get between the cogs and clean it out.

Easy.

I bought a tupperwear type box from the supermarket that was big enough, chuck the cassette in with a decent amount of Gunk from Halfords and give it a good shake, if it’s got a winters worth of wet lube and crap on it then I might leave it over night.

Easy.

You and I have different definitions of easy. This would rate as “faff” on my scale 😆

I used to mess around with all sorts of cleaners and rags, but by far the best method for me is to take a sturdy brush and use soapy water with a dash of washing up liquid and car wash liquid thrown in.

Every few months, I remove the cassette and apply a thin coat of grease to the freehub splines and I’ll chuck the cassette in the sink for a proper soak.

Bucket. Degreaser. Brush. I do the chain first then the cassette as the chain degreasing drips onto the cassette. I currently need to do it but after looking at the chain and cassette they’re quite worn so I’ll be “cleaning” them by lobbing them in the bin and fitting the spares I have.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys

stick it in the dishwasher when your Mrs isn’t around!

Phwaaaaaaaaaaaaaatttttttt! I push many boundaries in my house but that would get me a fair beasting by the current wife

Take the cassette off the bike and put in a pan of white spirit or surgical alcohol; Then wipe it clean with a clean rag and wash it under a tap with water as hot as you can stand (means the water evaporates of more quickly); put back on the bike.

use Ultimate bike solution from scotoiler. Just wash the bike once in a while, comes up sparkly. doesn’t appear to get gunk stuck to it.

I saw a tip on a GCN video that said one of those car cleaning noodle mitts does a good job at cleaning a cassette

Not posh enough to own a dishwasher, but now and again it’s nice to stand at the checkout in Sainsburys, with the rich and brandish a pack of dishwasher tabs.
Old plastic jug, half a dishwasher tab, pint or so of boiling water. Drop cassette, or component of choice in. Leave stand for ten mins, slosh it all about with an old pan scrubbing brush, pour away sludge, rinse well. Shake most of water off. Spray with gt85 to push the last of the water out . Dry. All sparkly and new looking.

power hose it off every month or so

After all that faff above – switch to wax lube, or at least for the summer – avoids all that oily gunk build-up.

5ltr bottle of ‘No Nonsense’ degreaser from Screwfix is cheap and effective. Did a batch of chains and cassettes yesterday – plastic tub and a toothbrush. Rinse with GT85

Remove salt from dishwasher
Put any non-moving parts in
Run on a cycle
Cool
Refit

@Yak. Good point.
I use dry lube all year round now. Doesnt seem to make stuff wear any quicker than usual and in spite of my cleaning method above. Very seldom needs doing to that extent.

I take off the wheel, spray WD40/GT85 at the cassette and the muck slides off and then gentle trickle of water.

Old rag on my chain after oiling so it doesn’t pick the dirt up so easily.

Bike is filthy after 3 dry rides. My cassette is SRAM 11-42 X1 so cleaning it to save £££’s.

Remove and dismantle to component bits (if appropriate) and place on concrete in yard. Take pressure washer and blast it until spotless. You may need wellies on to stand on the bits to stop them flying into the next county. No chemicals needed. Comes up like new.

Otherwise keep chain clean by wiping off excess lube and it will stay pretty clean anyway.

“Petrol, white spirit will also be fine. “

Don’t use petrol ffs. Really stupid idea. It may act as a good solvent, but it’s **** dangerous especially indoors.

Concentrated industrial detergent diluted down a bit. Don’t waste money on Muc-Off or any ‘bike’ cleaning products, utter rip-off.

Carb cleaner, but use in a well ventilated area and don’t sray it near anything you might like to keep grease in.

I just use spray degreaser, agitate using a paintbrush by back pedalling, hose down.

Doesn’t keep it 100% “as new” shiny, but clean enough to avoid excessive wear/noise/abuse from bike shops and ends up pretty shiney, plus takes hardly any time.

Job done……

(i suspect our younger readers have no idea what that^^ actually is 😆 )

I love this stuff.
http://www.sailandski.co.uk/acatalog/Fenwicks-Foaming-Chain-Cleaner-500ml–31877.html?gclid=CLjWyajJrM0CFfEV0wodcsoPGQ
Easy works great. Spray it on leave 10 mins and hose off! That’s chain and cassette like new 🙂
Might take a couple of goes to start with or a good brush scrub