CarrollB

I measured my 8-speed chain with a Park tool and somehow picked the one link that was worn to the .7 spec. I replaced chain with a KMC Z 727 and after measuring the old chain found it was not as worn as I thought. I couldn't find any place on the chain where the .7 part of the tool would fit into the chain. I will keep the old chain as a spare but probably never use it again. I use Finish Line dry Teflon lube. Using alcohol mixed with acetone did very little to remove the lube and dirt from the old chain even after soaking it over night. I have one of the Park chain cleaner tools, so what degreaser should I be using when I need to clean the new chain?

Wheever

caloso

leob1

rumrunn6

I have a strapon chain cleaner too & found the fluid that is sold with them does nothing. I tried a citrus cleaner & it worked better. but really, this kind of chain cleaner tool is just a beginning. meaning, not a total solution. maybe, just maybe, if you used them on a weekly basis, they would be more useful, but once a year, for me, they are inadequate when used alone

Iride01 

IMO, dirt and crud on the parts of the chain you can see are no issue other than when it gets on your leg.

Washing your chain in solvents just washes out the lube that was otherwise clean and happily doing it's job in the places you can't see.

Hope you have enough popcorn @leob1. This can go on for pages.

fietsbob

Used indoors or outside?

cyccommute 

There are several problems with your way of thinking. If the chain lubricant is solid or semi-solid (i.e. hard and soft wax), what you say is mostly true. With solid or semi-solid lubricants, there's no mechanism for the dirt and crud to hold onto to the lubricant so there isn't any crud to be get into the chain. The problem with solid and semi-solid lubricants is that they don't flow back into the gaps at the pins when they get pushed out. The chain is noisier because of this. But the gunk is kept on the surface of the chain (if any thing sticks to the chain) because the solid and semi-solid lube fills the big gaps at the edges of the chain.

If you use a liquid lubricant (i.e. oil), there is also no mechanism for the dirt and crud to be kept out of the chain and the liquid lubricant serves as a dirt trap. The whole point of a liquid lubricant is that it flows back into the gaps when it gets forced out. Pedaling forces serve as a kind of mini-pump which moves the liquid out of the gap and gravity sucks it back in. Any gunk on the outside of the chain small enough to get past the gaps in the chain will get pumped into the pins where it can do damage.

Solvent shouldn't force any more or less particulate into the chain independent of the kind of lubricant you put on the chain. The way that the chain is cleaned could result in more gunk getting further into the chain. Chain cleaners might clean more stuff off the surface of the chain and force it further into the chain but that is likely due to the small volume of solvent rather than do to the tool.

I'm not saying that wax based lubricants are better than oil based lubricants in terms of lubricity. Wax may starve the pins which results in wear while oil transports grit to the pins which results in the same wear. Based on my experiences and those reported by most bicyclists, 3000 to 3500 miles is about the average mileage that most people will get out of a chain independent of the lubricant so it doesn't really matter which lubricant is used. The only real differences is cleanliness. One is clean, one isn't.

First, stop using acetone in your chain cleaner tool. The plastic is probably polycarbonate and that doesn't do well with acetone. It melts it.

Second, stop using the wrong solvent for cleaning oils. Chemicals can be classified as polar or nonpolar. Oils used for chain lubricants are nonpolar and dissolve poorly in water without chemicals there to modify the properties of the water...i.e. detergents. Acetone and alcohols are polar compounds and don't dissolve the oils very well just as water doesn't. The solvent you should use is below.

This is the solvent you should use. It won't damage your chain cleaner like acetone will.

I would also suggest this way for cleaning as well. Chain cleaning tools are messy in my experience and it's usually just easier and cleaner to take the chain off and processing like Wheever suggests.

Finally, a word on mileage. There will be all kinds of people claiming that they get 50,000,000 miles out of a chain by cleaning the chain every 3" of travel. In other words, they travel 3" stop and completely clean the chain and repeat. I have no doubts that you might be able to get very long mileages out of your chain by constantly cleaning it but you spend all your time cleaning and not much time riding. Chains are too cheap...and you should be using cheap chains...to spend a lot of time and effort trying to get excessive mileage out of them. Lubricant them occasionally, clean them occasionally, and don't obsess about squeezing snot out of Lincoln's nose. Life is too short to spend too much time on chain cleaning.

Spoonrobot 

I prefer dish soap and scrubbing. Take chain off, put in bucket, scrub down with stiff brush and dawn detergent, rinse, strain out the particles saving grey water for later use. Takes 5 minutes and leaves the chain clean on both the inside and outside.

AlmostTrick

The long posts make me laugh. Just use Wd-40

Iride01 

That is why I like my method. Just wipe the crud off the outside. I don't even take my chain off. 10 to 15 years between replacement seems like enough life.

As for the new chain the OP was asking about. At most the excess lube on the outside visible surfaces can be cleaned off if it is desired to try and prevent dust and grit from clinging to the chain. But a dry rag or rag lightly soaked in a solvent such as mineral spirits or light lube/solvent such as WD40 will clean it dry without removing the lube already on the internal surfaces that the mfr put there. Removing the chain, swirling it in some mineral spirits or other solvent will remove the lube and IMO is just as likely to wash grit into the bearing surfaces of the chain.

texaspandj

+1
Added benefit, the wd40 contains enough lubricant to keep your chain happy. Providing you do NOT remove manufacturers lube with paint thinner, mineral spirits, etc.

Brocephus

I periodically use a rag to wipe off as much grime and built-up lube as well as I can, prior to any re-lubing (which is roughly every couple hundred miles, I guess). I only "clean" them very occasionally. I've had a Park chain cleaner machine, and a couple bottles of Pedros citrus degreaser, for many years. I find this to get the chain shiny clean, with not TOO much trouble (though it is a bit of a PITA). Then I lightly hose everything off (because it does slop up the entire area), then spin the hell out of the chain to shed excess water, and re-lube.
Close enough, I figure.

cyccommute 

Chains aren't sealed. Any wiping of the crud off the outside just pushes some of the crud inside. Any oil with it's carrier solvent you put on it flushes that crud to the inside. Even if you use thick oil without a carrier, the whole point is to replace the lubricant inside the chain with "fresh" oil from outside the chain. That "fresh" oil carries anything that is large enough to get past the gaps in the chain on the outside of the chain into it. Wiping the outside of the chain only rids the chain of the visible particles. The smaller microscopic particles that you can't see are what are grinding away at the chain.

Any chain, whether the new one that CarrollB is installing or one the I'm installing, will need to be relubricated at some point in its existence. Doing that once will remove most of the factory lubricant. Doing it twice will remove more of what is left. Relubricate 3 to 5 times and there won't be a nanogram of the factory lubricant left.

Cleaning it with a solvent doesn't wash any more grit into the chain than lubricating the chain does...these aren't sealed units. Removing the old lubricant (especially oil based) with solvent flushes the grit out of the bearing surfaces that refreshing the lubricant simply can't. The solvent removes the oil and the grit because there isn't anything there to hold the grit in place anymore.

cyccommute 

75% of the WD40 is exactly what you said not to use. Like above, use it one to 3 times and there won't be any factory lube left over. My bet would be on a one time use of WD40. Its solvents are pretty efficient at being solvents for material like the factory lube.

noglider 

I rarely clean my chains. It's too much work. When I do, I use mineral spirits. But by the time I need to clean my chain, the chain is half worn, so I replace it. This is bad for the environment, but this is my one indulgence in waste. I'm very good at reducing, reusing, and recycling.

Sometimes I clean my bike with furniture polish in a can. It's a wax/water mixture. It can clean a slightly dirty chain but not a very dirty chain. I clean the cassette cogs with it, too, and I clean the jockey wheels, since the gunk there gets back on the chain.

I oil my chain with Chain L or some other heavy oil. It seems not to attract much dirt, and I don't have to apply it often. Thin lubricants such as ProLink require frequent application.

texaspandj

I'm not sure what percentage of wd40 us mineral spirits, as the formula is secret, shhhh. But whatever it is, its perfect for cleaning and lubing chain all at the same time, YaY! Do that once a week and it leaves more time for riding. Btw I'm only going by My EXPERIENCE with wd40 as a cleaner/lubricant.

cyccommute 

It's not as secret as you think. I do know what percentage of WD-40 is mineral spirits and what percentage is oil. I have looked it up many, many...well too many times to count in regards to these discussions. It's listed on their MSDS. My point is that using it removes the factory lubricant quite efficiently.

wingless

The "easy" way to eliminate most of the chain crud is dish soap in a heated ultrasonic cleaner. The soapy water gets black almost immediately. I repeat this step until the water stops getting black. This is fast and easy.

If waxing is the end result, then I put mineral spirits and the chain into a jar, then into the ultrasonic cleaner. I then repeat that step w/ denatured alcohol.

The internal and external chain parts are then very clean, ready for wax.

evan326

cny-bikeman

Oh..... my .... god.
The soap/water vs. petro debate will never be solved. There will always be people who consider solvents to be evil, and there will always be people who consider soap and water to be inefficient. There will even be people who think that soap and water is "green", and that paraffin is the perfect chain lube.

davidad

I clean my chains in an ultrasonic cleaner with a water-Simple Green mix. I rinse off the chain, dry it and install it. I lube my chain with a mix of chainsaw bar oil to 4 parts mineral spirits. Ride 800 miles then repeat. I usually get 1000 miles on the factory lube before cleaning.
The chain saw lube does a good job in the rain.

https://www.sheldonbrown.com/brandt/chain-care.html

Asi

A jar of diesel-gasoline mix is for me (thanks to my wife i have a full tank of this mixture.. 50L with 30L diesel, 20L gasoline).. works decent, the diesel provides some kind of lubing. I do this for my mtb and road bikes or any bike with a quick-link. And apply plenty of lube and wipe the excess afterwards.

Most of the time i don't bother taking the chain off (fixed gear, no quick-link.. and this is what i ride most.. so it's most of the time for me).. brake cleaner works like a treat. Sure it's very bad at pushing crud inside the chain or wiping any type of lube.. but for my daily i need a clean-ish chain to keep my legs and my pants clean. Plenty of lube is ensured afterwards after it's dry (to dry i haste things with a heatgun.. very bad if water was nearby but since it's not i take my risks). I change chains once a year so i'm not very worried about durability.. also 1/8" full bushing chains are very durable anyway.

Chain drives should have an oil bath for proper lubing and encapsulated from outside elements. But it's very impractical, heavy and expensive to do so.. so bikes use the very inefficient type of lubing, motorcycles use a better system with a sponge that feed oil to the chain constantly, and for a timing chain in an engine is closer to perfection with oil bath and full cover from outside.
Just as a reference point. A timing chain will certainly provide same wattage and forces that a pro cyclist can attain (or even more, much more). The speed is a lot higher at 3000rpm in average. And even so it may last the lifetime of the engine of 300k km or more until it needs servicing.
Comparing now to a bike.. speed is low, power is low (jumpy but not as jumpy as the torque of an engine that goes from positive 100Nm to negative 5Nm at every 100ths of a second), and the average life is a tiny fraction of what a timing chain lasts. The difference is in the lube system (there are plenty of engines with single row 1/2" timing chains that are not thicker than 1/8" chains).

Again, a well lubed chain will work for quite a while before showing sign of wear.. so no need for an overly complicated system to make the chain last forever.

pesty

Coke Zero. Best chain cleaner in the world.
As for re-lube... sugar free maple syrup. I strongly recommend Maple Grove Farms.

Ordinary soda is great as a cleaner, Coke Zero is even better. With the syrup, the sugar free bit is key. It has just the right viscosity to get in really good to all the nooks and crannies. And because it's sugar free, it's not sticky so dirt and grim won't be a problem.

I love these discussions... and then as soon as someone mentions WD-40 it gets really entertaining.

Cuyuna

Park strap-on with some Jungle Jake or Simple Green, or something like that. Works great, simple to use, only takes a few minutes.