I currently split the chain, chuck it is a wide necked bottle with water and washing up liquid to clean off all the dirt and debris. I then dry the chain on an old towel to remove most the stuck on remnants.

I have been putting the mostly clean chain in a second bottle with white spirit in the properly degrease before wiping dry, refitting and then lubing.

The white spirit is now pretty dirty and I was going to replace it but have run out and because it is Sunday the shops are all shut – apparently God gets upset about people selling white spirit on Sunday afternoons – so a quick look round the garage has turned up a 5 litre bottle of WD40.

I remember WD40 being good for cleaning stuff so I assume it is fine to clean the chain with. Will this be okay or will the WD40 stop any other lube sticking to the chain?

Be fine

Cool, back down to the garage then. Thanks

WD40 will work to flush any water in the chain out after you’ve done that bit, won’t do anymore issues, it’s a solvent at the end of the day, so although not as effective as white spirits, or IsoPropyl Alcohol, but will do in a rush.

Long term, thing i like doing with mine is taking the chain off, quick scrub then in an ultrasonic cleaner with IPA or another solvent and just let it run for a few minutes, comes out cleaner and nice and warm as well!

God gets upset about people selling white spirit on Sunday afternoons

Not true, he’s got shares in Screwfix and Toolstation and just wants to drive business their way

There a a few other things you can use to degrease a chain besides white spirit

Petrol-availible 24/7 if you go to the right garage

Isopropyl Alcohol- we use it at work so i always have a bottle handy at home, great for disc brakes and chains

Kerosene-if you have any around for oil lamps

Citrus degreaser-perfect for cleaning things around the house and on the bike

Personally i just use washing up liquid, really work it into the chain links, leave for 20 mins then run the hot tap and scrub the chain with a nail brush and then throughly rinse and hang up to dry before lubing

Been doing this for the last 5 years after trying the first 4 methods i mentioned for 5+ years, purely down to the fact you always have washing up liquid in the house

Put the white spirit through a paper coffee filter to remove the worst of the debris, this is what I do this with the jar of diesel I use.

It’s not far off being just light machine oil and white spirit so yeah, it’ll clean things but sprays are just much less good than soaking

I use paraffin, it works great and it’s hugely reusable- I bought a 4 litre bottle years ago and I’ve still got most of it, the crap settles in it really well so it’s easy to pour off the clean fluid, and it’s a bit less unpleasant to work with than white spirit. I’m sure it’s full of contamination now but it doesn’t really matter.

Gunk is great on drive chains then hose it off with water then dry and re-lube dont need to take change off gunk has been around for years.

The WD40 was poured into the container that used to have white spirit in and worked just fine thanks. I will continue to use it until it gets too contaminated.

Coffee filters and white spirit took bloody ages when I tried it and then when you poke it to see if it moves faster the filter rips and dumps the dirt back in the clean spirit. Only tried once. Mostly the bottle is just left to settle and then the clean poured from the top but it runs out eventually.

Innocent Orange Juice bottles have usefully wide necks if you are looking for something to use. The lids screw on tight and you can shake them vigorously with a chain in there with no splitting or leaking issues.

God didn’t smite me down which was a bonus too.

If coffee filters take too long use some kitcihen roll

I prefer thinners, in a plastic milk bottle. Add chain, fill to above chain with the thinners and give it a good shake.
Remove, rinse off in hot water, and into bottle two with more thinners, and more shaking.
Remove, allow to dry and lube.
Dry off any lube in old cloth and refit
About a tenner for 5 liters of standard thinners.

WD-40 is only white spirit and lanolin anyways.

I use virosol citrus cleaner after it was recommended on here a year or 2 ago. Really good for in situ. post spin chain cleaning. Just spray on, give it 10 mins and rinse off. Comes up looking new. amazing stuff. Is also now my goto kitchen hob \ counter \ extractor fan glass \ shower door glass etc cleaner.

I have been putting the mostly clean chain in a second bottle with white spirit in the properly degrease before wiping dry, refitting and then lubing.

You may be doing it anyway and not mentioned it, but I’d rinse the chain really well before wiping dry and re-lubing whether using WD40 or white spirits. Chain lubes need to go onto clean, dry metal. Applying chain lube on top of a layer of WD40 isn’t great.

Applying chain lube on top of a layer of WD40 isn’t great.

Ah, and answer to my actual question.

After white spirit I used to wipe clean with the towel and then leave a while to evaporate before adding lube. I did the same with WD40 but I guess it doesn’t evaporate as much. We will see what the next ride brings.

On a side note, I assume WD40 gives some lubrication so if I clean and WD40 the chain after each ride of ~30 miles will the WD40 be enough?

That’s what I do, but with GT85. My chains seem to last as long, or longer than others. Plus, they always look nice and shiny!

I’ve found WD40 to leave a persistent, greasy residue that attracts mud and grit. I used to use it as an all-in-one cleaner+lube, but have gone back to white spirit and light chain oil.

White spirits evaporate off but still leave an oily residue film. You wouldn’t clean your brake rotors with white spirits, but you can clean them with meths and a clean cloth. The WS residue may not make much difference in filthy off-road uses but lubes are based on dry metal contact and adhesion to the metal. (edit to add, I don’t know what that residue actually is, it’s petroleum-based so might be compatible with chain oils. Doesn’t seem like a good match for wax lubes but we’re mainly talking about oil here I think)
WD40 is the same. It degreases but needs removing properly before re-lubing, unless you just use WD40 for chain lube. But it’s a poor chain lube, too thin.

Personally I just use light oil or wax lube sparingly, wipe off excess before riding and let the chain run dry before re-lubing. Cleans itself pretty much. Occasional deep clean is with fairly liquid, hot water and a chain bath. Well rinsed through afterwards. I seem to get better chain life and much longer-running use with wax in summer doing this than a constant to-fro with lubes and degreasers. White spirits for deep cleans of stripped hubs maybe but I’ve never needed it for chains.

And people say Putoline is a faff!

And people say Putoline is a faff!

It is faff minimising that I am looking for. It takes maybe a minute to pop the chain off and into a bottle of soapy water to wash it, wipe dry and into the second bottle, shake, remove dry and refit.

If I can use something in the second bottle that lubes as well as cleans then the whole process is almost as quick as trying to clean and lube the chain with it in situ but a whole lot more thorough.

Personally I just use light oil or wax lube sparingly, wipe off excess before riding and let the chain run dry before re-lubing. Cleans itself pretty much.

Pretty much this. I’m always wondering why folk apply so much lube that it needs cleaned off so frequently.

^This

I wipe the mud off the chain and let it dry, then wipe again. Then drip Finish Line dry lube onto the edge of the links and work it in to the pivots with a gloved hand. Then wipe off the excess, which means anything still on the surface. Splitting a chain every time I want to clean it is likely to result in a chain that splits itself when I’m riding.

@greybeard. Phew, for a minute I thought I was the only person in here who just wipes/cleans the chain and then adds lube while it’s on the bike.

All this removing and cleaning all the time seems to be a bit of a faff in the first place.

For me it’s just clean bike, wipe down, lube the parts that need lubing, wipe off excess and put away dry.
A little lube or fork juice where necessary when you next go riding.

If it’s been a dry dusty day then I just wipe off the chain and reapply lube before putting it away.

I sincerely hope you’re all keeping the old manky cleaning fluids of choice and disposing of them correctly. ESP petrol.

And I’m guessing a few of you are disposing correctly and the rest simply pouring/flushing it away down the drain.

Not the most environmentally friendly post.

Surely you just dump it in the river with all the other shit(s)?

Phew, for a minute I thought I was the only person in here who just wipes/cleans the chain and then adds lube while it’s on the bike.

Likewise… there was a thread on here the other day about hot waxing chains too! Not much more than a quick pre-ride spray of GT85 here.