Removing Smoove

I’ve started using Smoove chain lube. I’m pretty impressed so far. The time is coming when I’ll need to clean the chain and reapply. What’s folks experience?

Essential to use the Smoove brand cleaner? I usually soak a chain in Gunk engine degreaser in an old water bottle, shaking it every time I pass for a day or two. Will this get the more waxy Smoove off? Warm it up? Use a chain scrubber?

It seems a spotless chain is key to success with Smoove but this is the first time I’ve had to remove Smoove rather than oil.

You’re not supposed to use degreaser to clean a chain once you have started using smoove from memory as it removes it, which you don’t want to do.

I spotted that, and have been cleaning off the surface as part of a post ride bike wash. I’ve then applied more Smoove when the chain got dry/noisy as per the instructions. There must come a point though where muck gets in the rollers with old Smoove and it needs a proper ‘ clean and start again’ as per first use…

Smoove do sell a cleaner fluid – but is that just for first use prep/degreaisng? I thought it was for removing Smoove as described above.

I always found that going for a damp ride round my local trails removed it pretty effectively in about an hour … :)

Zero Friction Cycling has a guide to cleaning on and off the bike. Smoove is specifically referenced under “Other wax type” and covers “on bike” and “off bike (more thorough) cleaning. I haven’t used Smoove but have been using Morgan Blue for a couple of years and find running the chain through a cloth with soapy hot water, the clean water, then a dry cloth removes most contamination. Leave to dry for a bit then reapply lube. For a deep clean, chain off and turps bath as Zero Friction Cycling suggests.

Oh and yes I was doing this before I came across that website but it’s nice to get some reassurance from someone who seems to know their stuff. Of course this being the internet many will disagree with this approach.

Never did a deep clean in 7000+ miles of riding on the road. Just baby wipes with the chain in situ, then reapply.

The best way to refresh it would be to get some wax in a slow cooker and heat/agitate the chain in there for an hour. That will get it clean and waxed in one go.

Failing that, you can go back to square one with a white spirit/meths bath. Not really worth it though, unless you want maximum efficiency before a race. That will also prolong the life of the chain, but I never bothered. Not worth the time when chain costs so little and the durability is already several times better than oiling.

Thanks for the advice – I must admit I am ‘wax curious’ and wondered if Smoove was a half way house. Cheap slow cookers in Aldi at the moment I think 🤔 

I have a bit of an aversion to the black goo build up from traditional lubes, hence giving Smoove a go. I must say, for both MTB and gravel bike it does seem to work and not turn to black sludge or get washed off during a ride.

I must admit I am ‘wax curious’ and wondered if Smoove was a half way house.

It’s very different, proper immersive wax dries whereas Smoove still picks up dirt as it’s tacky.
I use Smoove on my summer bike, but winter road bike is proper wax as it comes back covered in crap after every ride.

I just wipe the Smoove chain down with an old towel and then reapply after every ride.

I started the same way – with a bottle of drip on wax (Squirt) but did end up trying some solid wax in an old slow cooker as it’s pretty straightforward. The cooker does have some advantages – because you leave the chain to heat submerged in the wax, you get complete penetration of the wax into the rollers. Also, if you heat and agitate an old chain then most of the particles inside the rollers should come out into the liquid wax where they will settle at the bottom of the pot. You can leave the wax to cool in the pot and then just switch it back on when you need to do another waxing. In theory, you can reuse the same wax up to around 10 times. I hot wax 2 times per year, and the rest of the time I use a drip on wax to top it up.

Your drivetrain will definitely say a lot cleaner. The only downside is that the wax is not as durable in wet gritty conditions. It’s never been a problem on my road bike, but I have worn through the wax on very wet/muddy mtb rides, which obviously isnt great.

Top tip when applying Smoove or similar – once you have dripped the wax onto each roller, use a finger to roll the rollers and work the solution inside the chain. I find that just heating and applying the wax is not really that effective. I have much better longevity if I work it into the links by hand.

I used it for the best part of a year, ended up removing it entirely with peatys foaming degreaser and reapplying peatys all weather link lube, so far it’s not too bad.

I found Smoove to be decent in the dry, but feel it’s more suited to riders who are less likely to ride through boggy, damp piney, claggy, moory, puddley environments. Roady gravelly bikeparky pea gravelly kind of riders it would do well for. Started to make me wince hearing the crunching and grinding noises coming from the back of my bike halfway through a soggy muddy jaunt up the hills.

It’s funny – I tried Peatys all weather link lube and it just turned into the horrible black goo. TBH I may have suffered due to not cleaning the chain well enough first. I still have most of the bottle so may try it again, maybe in summer or on the gravel bike. Different strokes etc…

I got the sample pack and found the wet weather one does that, reminds me of muc off lube. Not had much issue with the all weather one but then again I guess it does depend on the type of mud, it’s quite slodgy saturated slippy stuff up around me for the most part with a few clay-y type areas which I’ve been avoiding since I’ve started using this lube and since I rode up there sometime in november and it was hell

Top tip when applying Smoove or similar – once you have dripped the wax onto each roller, use a finger to roll the rollers and work the solution inside the chain.

Wouldn’t slowly back pedalling a few turns (like what I do) have the same effect?

I’ve been using Smoove for years and the only thing that really removes it properly is the Smoove Prep.  Never need to do it on the mountain bikes – I don’t think you need to worry about the innards, and the outer gets cleaned enough after a muddy ride.

On the road bike I do end up with a black sticky layer on the outside so that gets a prep clean maybe once a year

Wouldn’t slowly back pedalling a few turns (like what I do) have the same effect?

Their instructions are something like spin the cranks backwards 10 full rotations after applying, which is what I’ve been doing with it.

Applied Smoove to the PC1 singlespeed chain on my Genesis DayOne Alfine 8-10 times now. I’ve typically ridden 40-80 mile trips mostly on road in the dry or light rain and relubed approximately every other ride.

Though the lube seems to work well the gunk build up is very noticeable, especially around the rear cog. Though I always give the chain a thorough wipe before re-lubing I find the applicator on the bottle struggles a bit with the chunky chain, which may cause me to put a bit much on?

Resorted to a mechanical clean with a cloth and screwdriver as not keen to degrease and start again but perhaps that is exactly what I’ll have to do after the next biggish ride.

So with Smoove, when the gunk has really built up, it’s a chemical degrease job as with normal lubes?

I use Smoove regularly, then once in a while remove the chain and use Molten Speed Wax in a slow cooker, then back to Smoove again in very small quantities each ride.
Seems to work.

That’s probably a good system. Zero Friction Cycling did a piece a while ago about a hybrid approach, ideal for holidays or long tours. Hot melt wax the chain before hand and then top off with a drip wax like Silca or ceramic speed. He did mention Smoove is actually longer lasting and better in harsh conditions for this approach but as the wax is a different base, it will contaminate your wax pot when you go to rewax.

Im not convinced by zero friction, Hambini is doing something to disagree with his results, cant wait.
I use smoove and squirt, they are way better in dry weather than wet lubes, but wet mtb needs a wet lube.

Boil the chain in a pan, will melt the wax.

Anyone still using Squirt/Smoove should try Silca Super Secret. It dried completely and is not tacky like like Squirt/Smoove. Although Smoove is less sticky than Squirt.