not crazy about cleaning the cassette with the wheel on the bike...
messy cause the crap drips and the spray hits the wheel rim and tire... creating more which needs cleaning...
spraying water to remove the cleaner and crap, from top or side, when the wheel is vertical, allows some of this to collect inside/behind the lockring. and you don;t get the chance to wipe/remove.
Freehubs are not totally sealed - over time that crap gets into the inner freehub - still is degreaser, just now dirty...
pulling a freehub to clean and relube is way more PITA than using a different cassette cleaning method...
If I'm not gonna pull the cassette off the hub and clean separate (preferred method). I'll do one of two.
1. quickest - wheel off bike, dip the cog brush in cleaner, run brush thru cogs, then run t-shirt thru cassette to get the loose stuff and cleaner off - works fine - wheel back on bike, go ride
2. not as good - wheel off bike , same as above, but maybe there's more crud left than I can get with brush and shirt - then maybe I give it a spray - but only by holding wheel horizontal, cassette side facing down and spraying from side only (better is spraying from over top of rim, thru spokes, to cassette) , let the contaminated water drip on old, thick rag under the wheel, overspray is clean and ok to hit rim/tire - none of the contaminated water/solvent/crud goes under/behind the lock ring. Let wheel sit for 10-15 minutes on the catch rag, with wheel/ cassette face down to finish dripping off.
Wipe wheel and cassette - put on bike, go ride.
always done on the driveway... not where green things grow... nor do I leave puddles which might attract a walked dog or some other critter...
every few months I feel guilty and have some time to pull the cassette and make it shinny... then I go on a 30/40 miler, look at cassette after the ride, and I'm cured from being OCD for another 3 or 4 months... LOL!
course if you only have one bike you ride regular, being OCD is not that painful. I have way too many other things to get done besides cleaning all the bikes I use regularly... Garage Queens need not apply... LOL!
Ride On
Yuri
Last edited by cyclezen; 06-01-22 at 12:38 AM.