PhilFo 

Just a few weeks ago i gave away my 1972 Mercedes 220D. This thread has me missing her.

Kontact

I would highly recommend to my Balkan comrades that they not waste their precious resources on something as pointless as degreasing a chain.

Bike Gremlin

I asked the same question a while ago, this is the topic:

https://www.bikeforums.net/bicycle-m...an-amazon.html

Went with this one (German Amazon link):
https://www.amazon.de/-/en/dp/B07416...roduct_details

It works OK.
But diesel isn't much worse in terms of cleaning and degreasing.
And is a lot easier to find and a lot cheaper.

Relja BalkansGuy Novović

cyccommute 

Your “joke” fell flat. Just accept it. And I said no one thing about toxicity. I was addressing its efficacy.

Chuckles1

I use a plastic jug with kerosene to clean chains at end of season, because it's handy and works. I thread an old guitar string (thinnest ones) through the end of each chain, drop chain in jug of kerosene, and let strings hang out over lip before screwing on the top. As the OP stated, it's easy to give the jug an occasional shake and after a few days or weeks all the grit is in the bottom of container.

I pull them out, wipe down with old rag, and hang in greenhouse to dry.

in spring, I melt a pot of paraffin wax, dip chains with guitar strings hanging over edge, and after 5-10 minutes pull them out and hang to dry/harden.

I do about six chains for three bikes, and that's enough since I took up golf and only ride a thousand miles or so annually now. Wax is great lube, lasts about 300 miles, and the bonus is the rear end of the bike, including cassette and derailleur, is non-oily and stays remarkably clean. One ten pound block of wax will last my lifetime.

Best system I've come up with. If a chain starts squeaking and I'm not ready for mid-season swap, I just paint some wax dissolved in clean kerosene onto chain on bike, and it's good for another 100 miles or so.

Thank goodness for master links! They make my system easy.

Colorado Kid

Isn't diesel fuel highly flammable? Why use something like that around the house when other things are better?

smd4

It’s flammable, but not like gasoline.

I use it to start our steam locomotive.

cyccommute 

It’s combustible. Flash point of 120 to 180°F (52 to 82°C). Mineral spirits and kerosene have slightly lower flash points. None of them are what I would classify as “highly flammable”. They will burn but it’s a bit tougher to get them ignited. Kerosene (think of it as #1 diesel) is what is used for all those flames that Hollywood loves so much. It’s also used for fire eating demonstrations.

macstuff 

I completely understand bicycle chains, in all of their simple complexity. I understand the variations and levels of bicycles and their uses. And through a lifetime in abuse of the subject, I can even understand OCD in its myriad of complexities. But what I find hard to understand is why someone with a $1k+ bike and the means to afford better things associated with bicycles, fixate on chains.
if a person is worried about chains, buy them a gross at a time and change out the chain every 20 miles or whatever the number is. Even the most expensive chain is relatively cheap in the grand scheme.
diesel fuel?
Sorry to be glib.

Thinking on it a bit more....
Although in 50 years I have never had a chain issue, I'm sure there are reasons for chain worry I don't realize. Sorry if anybody's ears got warm.

Kontact

What do you think the words "worse for your health" mean?

Perhaps it is hard to see the humor if you are not reading the sentences?

SkinGriz

Not highly flammable. Gasoline is highly flammable, diesel frequently needs a wick or something to kick it off.

Or the adiabatic feedback loop.

cyccommute 

“Worse for your health” was the punch line? You need better writers…


​​​​​…or a better day job.

Kontact

No. Let me explain it to you clearly and explicitly:

You said no one mentioned toxicity. I mentioned toxicity by saying "worse for your health", which people generally understand to mean that the substance being referenced has some quality that is deleterious to your health. "Toxic" is a word that means "poisonous" or "harmful", and is synonymous with something being "bad for your health".

And then I pointed out that someone that missed that obvious reference to toxic substances may have missed other things in what they were reading, including a facetious suggestion to use a known toxin. This use of facetious or sarcastic language is commonly referred to as a "joke", even if the intended effect wasn't levity and laughter but to make an impression in a way that is more effective than than being entirely direct.

At least, that's the way it works with normal people.

Trakhak

cyccommute's offhand remark that kerosene is used by fire-eaters wins this thread.

cyccommute 

Although poorly worded…thanks spell check…I said “And I said no one thing about toxicity. I was addressing its efficacy.” It should have be “not” instead of “no” but the meaning is clear.

Your language didn’t come across as either facetious or sarcastic. I thought you were serious about using methyl ethyl ketone which is a lousy solvent for grease. It’s not particularly toxic either. Certainly not more toxic than diesel. I wouldn’t drink a gallon of either one but neither would cause much in the way of health problems.

Your joke fell flat because there are lots of goofy people on the Bike Forums who suggest lots of goofy things…and are serious about it! Diesel fuel is a little goofy as a cleaning fluid but it’s not nearly as monumentally stupid as using gasoline which, if I recall correctly, has been suggested above.

Jeff Neese

That's only if your bicycle gets stung by a jellyfish.

SkinGriz

I guessed they used something like Bacardi 151, but I’ve never tried it so I don’t really know.

Pop N Wood

Geez. You guys are gonna wet your panties when you find out I keep a peanut butter jar full of carb cleaner in garage to degrease my chains. I typically smoke a cigar while cleaning them as well.

Steel Charlie

An appropriate Cuban I hope

And I use pickle jars. PB around here is in plastic

pdlamb

Most interesting post yet! What kind of locomotive? Is this coal or oil fired?

And re: bikes, do you cycle to the roundhouse?

smd4

The railroad is too far to bike to, along narrow country roads that I wouldn't feel safe riding on.

The locomotive is a 1941 Vulcan 0-4-0T switch engine. It burns liquid fuel--so anything from diesel to vegetable oil, but usually used crankcase oil. The burner uses a jet of air (and eventually steam, when we have it) to atomize the oil into a fine mist (think lighting hairspray on fire). This mist is ignited by me soaking an old rag or cardboard in diesel (hence my comment), opening the fuel and atomizer valves, igniting the cardboard and throwing it in front of the burner, till the fuel spray ignites.

abdon 

It works perfectly fine as a degreaser. I would have been horrified if the OP said gasoline as that stuff is carcinogenic.

I would question the need to leaving it soaking in there for that long but if that's where he wants to stash his spare chain have at it

Pop N Wood

I do have a couple of real Monte Cristos left, but those are more special occasions.

I purposely use the plastic jars because I don't like having glass in the workshop. Safety First...

Redbullet

It simplifies the process by avoiding one manipulation for storing the chain elsewhere than the PET bottle, it avoids Diesel smell over the whole storing period (the PET is closed with its cap) and the time submerged helps in deeper cleaning without other mechanical actions. Indeed, using paint thinner would do the same, with just a little bit more costs and effort to procure.

Really, I can't understand why so many people crucify so bad the method with Diesel: it is quite simple, easiest to procure, cheapest and, as I said earlier, a few minutes of smell and a few drops of Diesel on the floor tiles per year are absolutely negligible.

cyccommute 

There’s nothing wrong with diesel but there’s nothing right with it either. If the whole idea is to get rid of the grease and oil, why use something a film of oil behind? Nothing is going to be damaged with diesel. It won’t corrode the metal. It’s relatively nontoxic. It’s not very flammable. Mineral spirits (another name to look for is naphtha) does the same work but it evaporates cleanly.