New chain degrease – dishwasher ?

My usual routine with a new chain is a soak in turps and a rinse in meths to remove factory grease, before fitting and applying lube of choice. I have 2 that I’ll be replacing at weekend, and then using Silca Synergetic lube.

Is it a brainwave to skip the messy smelly turps and meths and just pop them on the top shelf of the dishwasher for a 60 minute cycle ?

Do you actually need to clean them? I just stick them on and clean after the first ride

Dishwasher will leave salt residue hidden in the links. I’d just continue to do what you do.  You can filter the solvent afterwards with a coffeee filter paper and reuse it a few times.

Ah, never thought about the salts, thanks

Just fit the new chain and use it. The factory grease will lubricate it very nicely.

Use new chain as is and at the very least start lubing it after a few weeks.

I’ve always found the factory grease really sticky and noisy, personally I strip it off the surface (but not out the rollers) with some gentle citrus degreaser and stick some light lube on to get it moving a bit.

You were already doing the best thing. It’s a bit of a faff with the turps but if you plan on running a clean drive, it’s one of the best options. I was disappointed with Silca chain stripper. Even after using that, I was still getting more out using turps afterwards

ZFC site also includes results for factory grease and dry chains to benchmark against.

Dishwasher will leave salt residue hidden in the links

The salt in the dishwasher doesn’t go in the actual dishwasher, it’s just regenerates the water softener.  It’s just a very hot wash with strong degreaser then a rinse with softened water.

There was something that said run the chain with the factory grease for a few rides as it helps run them in before washing them and using something better?

Im pretty lax about it TBH, I got wax my chains and work on a homebrew wax recipe, but some people put way more effort into it.  I wash it in the same jar of mucky white spirit each time, then wash that off in boiling water.  And if it dries out between waxes I top it up with (whispers) B&Q bio chainsaw oil.

I know we all used to do it – but leaving factory grease on seems to be the worst thing you can do for a chain. Source: https://zerofrictioncycling.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Lubricant-detail-review-Factory-Grease-v1.1.pdf

I use diesel in a little container . Needs barely any as your not removing dirt just current sticky oil

I then rinse off with water , dry and back in the bike for normal chain oil

As they all come in plastic packaging I don’t understand why they just don’t use a normal chain oil to stop them rusting

As they all come in plastic packaging

They don’t. I’ve ordered chains in bulk and they came loose in a big box. Many manufacturers will order them in packing crate size containers. Even at the Ultegra/XT level kit and above.

I don’t understand why they just don’t use a normal chain oil to stop them rusting

Because the factory grease is a lowest common denominator lubricant/corrosion inhibitor for customers who don’t lube their chains until they either grind, graunch, squeak or go rigid and orange. OK maybe not quite that far, but either way a factory oiling wouldn’t last more than a few days/weeks for customers remotely like that.

For anyone with a decent service routine and regular cleaning/relubing, factory lube isn’t all that. At the very least it needs a thorough and regular external wipe down so it doesn’t attract loads of dust and dirt. Or leave gooey, sticky residue all over your entire driveline.

I could see a fairly solid business case for manufacturers to offer a dry or lightly lubed chain as an aftermarket thing at the higher levels of kit though.

branesFree Member
I know we all used to do it – but leaving factory grease on seems to be the worst thing you can do for a chain. Source: https://zerofrictioncycling.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Lubricant-detail-review-Factory-Grease-v1.1.pdf

yes, I read the zero friction site stuff a year or 2 back and changed to current regime, i ‘think’ it works better than just fitting and running with factory grease for a ride or 2 and then cleaning and relubing.

No

The trouble with running factory grease is the contamination you pick up. It’s all about where you’re going to do those first few rides.

The very best method is to strip the chain and lube with a light oil then use indoors so there’s no contamination. Strip again, then wax. You’ll have taken some of the high points off the freshly manufactured chain. That really is taking it to the far end of a fart though.

Wow,I have never, ever done any prep to a new chain.

Cut it to size,whack on some (seasonal )lube and ride.

I have also never put any bike bits in a dishwasher.

IMO, that’s for people that live alone with a stripped down motorbike in their kitchen.

😉 🙂 🙂

To be honest if you’re on a MTB or Grrrrrravel bike at this time of the year, I’d run it for a ride or two with the factory grease, then clean and relube with decent all conditions lube.  It’s minging out there…

Summer/drier, I’d strip the grease off before use.

BillOddieFull Member
To be honest if you’re on a MTB or Grrrrrravel bike at this time of the year, I’d run it for a ride or two with the factory grease, then clean and relube with decent all conditions lube.  It’s minging out there…

TBH, that has crossed my mind, yes, one chain is going on eMTB, the other on gravel bike, both are at around 0.5% wear on SRAM 1x GX

Bit of a tangent, but has factory grease got a bit lighter and less sticky in recent years? Never see that gloopy green stuff any more.

Anyway, I just size and fit the chain then ride it (usually in somewhat wet conditions) – I use a light-ish lube and re-apply every ride.

That zero friction stuff is more for roadies IMO.

ZFC recommendation for stripping factory grease off a chain is CeramicSpeed UFO drivetrain cleaner.  It’s not cheap, but it goes a long way and you can filter and reuse and it’s supposed to be eco friendly.  It is really effective.  I don’t know how they do their assessment but they think you need an awful lot of rinses with whitespirit or similar to get the same result.

At the very least it needs a thorough and regular external wipe down so it doesn’t attract loads of dust and dirt.

How does it attract dirt?

While I applaud any one with as much time on their hands / dedication as the bloke from ZFC, some of the conclusions he comes to are bananas. The sorts of folks who concerned about efficiency loss, or do care about this stuff are stripping it off, whereas  I don’t think my choice of not bothering to clean off the factory lube has impacted my drivetrain longevity to any extent that I could be bothered to measure.

While I applaud any one with as much time on their hands / dedication as the bloke from ZFC, some of the conclusions he comes to are bananas.

Yea, a lot of his conclusions are a long way past the point of “will this last a long wet weekend riding in Wales” which is what most people want to know.  The last 0.1% doesn’t really matter when your lube has washed off on day one in the river crossings on Strata Florida.

How does it attract dirt?

It’s sticky, any dirt that touches it remains there.

I was always under the assumption that the factory grease was only to stop it rusting between manufacture and being sold?

As they all come in plastic packaging

And if they do, that packaging is the perfect size to make sure you don’t waste any degreaser (whatever you use).

As I’m a “waxer” a new chain gets a hot bath in boiling water and then into jam jar No 1 with Gunk degreaser and gets agitated, then into jam jar No 2 with fresh Gunk and the same process repeated. Then wash out in boiling water the chain and dry off using a dry link free cloth. A hair dryer will get the chain bone dry.

Then its into a third jam jar with fresh acetone, agitate for a couple of minutes, deep soak for another 20 minutes, remove and dry with a clean lint free rag and hang up to “deep dry”

At this point its into the wax for me, but it could also be back onto the bike for the lubrication of your choice.

A premium lube like Silca Synergetic is wasted if you’re not going to strip the factory grease

First one is done, I couldn’t actually find the turps so it had a good soak in mucoff concentrate degreaser in a tub with a lid to allow a vigorous few shakes, a hot water rinse and a meths dip and air dry. Seemed pretty squeaky clean thereafter so it’s now on the ebike and lubed.

Will do the gravel one tomorrow

I know we all used to do it – but leaving factory grease on seems to be the worst thing you can do for a chain. Source: https://zerofrictioncycling.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Lubricant-detail-review-Factory-Grease-v1.1.pdf

I just read that link, and when you wade through all the padding and finally get to his testing results, it looks like he’s claiming around 5W difference between the worst factory chain and the best re-lubed chain, and only 2.5W for the best factory chain. That’s not a negligible difference, if you’re really after maximum performance, but not really a big deal for most people.

As for the “contamination” issue, it’s not a problem I’ve encountered. I guess you could wipe down the outer surface of a new chain, as suggested above, if you want to avoid picking up a little dirt.

I’ve fitted a new chain and ridden a 1500km road event without doing anything to it. It performed fine, and everything was still running smoothly at the end. This was in dry conditions, and I wouldn’t expect to travel that distance without additional lubrication if it was very wet, but that was a pretty good test for me.

The ZFC guy obviously wants to promote his products, but seems a bit obsessed with his “special knowledge” and with rubbishing anyone who disagrees with him. I suspect the chain manufacturers probably know a bit about what they are doing and the stuff they lubricate their chains with.

I’m an enthusiastic convert to chain waxing for subsequent lubrication, because I find it convenient and cleaner than conventional lubes, but for initial use, I still think you can’t beat factory grease.

I stick the new chain on, and wipe the factory stuff off the outside with a few blobs of my lube of choice and a rag. The sticky stuff can stay in the chain inners. It’s gone soon enough.

For the road and TT bike, I’m in on the turps as a solvent (well, cheapo white spirit, not real pukka turpentine  as that’s expensive and uncommon in local B&M or Wickes.

A couple of ex-coffee jars that have seals (Douw Egberts).

– wipe off the worst

– into the jar #1 for a while

– rinse off with water

– into jar #2 (the less dirty one) for a while

-rinse

– ####  squirt with alcohol (IPA – as in rubbing alcohol, not a modern overly hopped artisan craft beer ### – the water rinse + this is really important to get the white spirits solvent out of all the links / rollers as that **** up any attempt of oil or wax to adhere to the steel of the chain and just results in a mess ooozing out of the links after 5 minutes riding.

Then wax (or sometimes I’ll use the ‘squirt’ wax based lube).

It sounds a faff, but isn’t much to do really- and I alternate 2 chains so 1 is ready to put on when the other needs attention. And SOOO much cleaner in use – I probably do it more for the cleanliness than any small power improvement (as I’m too porky for that to matter really).

Mtb… not so bothered as the grit around my parts just rodgers everything anyway.