Cleaning your drivetrain.
#52
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#53
Full Member
Besides being dangerously flammable, gas is also carcinogenic. It's not designed for parts cleaning, it's a fuel - it's designed to burn quickly and intensely. Why not use parts solvent that's made specifically for cleaning greasy parts? Get set up with a parts washer. Or you can buy a bucket of carb dip at any auto parts store or Walmart. Beats a trip to the burn unit.
#54
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Thread Starter
Not sure of the ratio of Dawn to water.
#56
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ywhat dangerous about gas , wh is everyone on here a safety expert LOLOL , its just as flammable as any other cleaner , its usually the cheapest thing that will deep clean everything from a chain in less than 10 minutes at about 3 dollars per gallon , you can also use lamp oil thats 2 dollars more and you get maybe a liter , or dw40 thats 4 dollars more , im talking taking the chain off the bike soaking it in a glass jar , swishing it around an dreating 3 or 4 times !
#57
Senior Member
That is also my first step in chain maintenance. I use a jar holding the chain, instead of directly into my heated ultrasonic cleaner bath and the soapy water, permitting multiple solution swaps until chain is clean, clean, clean. I then repeat w/ mineral spirits, followed by denatured alcohol, also in jars, all prior to Molton Speed Wax in my modified wax warmer.
The final result is a drivetrain that remains clean to the touch, dead silent with looong lasting lubrication, unless i get caught in the rain.
The final result is a drivetrain that remains clean to the touch, dead silent with looong lasting lubrication, unless i get caught in the rain.
My observations are that migrating / diluting every bit of internal contamination is the only "difficult" time consuming aspect, requiring multiple solution changes to get super clean.
#58
Full Member
Are you familiar with Park Tool Chain Brite? It's just citrus degreaser. You can get a gallon of Zep citrus degreaser concentrate at Home Depot, dilute it 50/50 with water, works every bit as well as the Park cleaner at a fraction of the price. Citrus degreaser rinses off readily, probably easier than Dawn.
#59
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Gasoline has such a low flashpoint...-40°C...that it is easy to get to flame. It is also more volatile than mineral spirits so a vapor of air and gasoline hangs over any open container.
I’ll add that it’s been suggested that using gasoline to clean bicycle parts is the equivalent of pouring gas into a lawnmower or putting it into a automotive gas tank. But it really isn’t. Gasoline isn’t poured into a large open container when filling gasoline tank. Washing parts is done in a pan or can and is open. Taking the parts out of the gasoline increases the evaporation of the gasoline, providing a larger vapor cloud for ignition.
but the real danger is the additives the oil companies have put in their gasoline formulas over the last 40-50 years. While those additives are great for improving engine performance and emission reduction, they are really nasty to breath in or absorb through your skin (most of them burn up in the combustion process or get 'treated' in the catalytic convertor). With plenty of other alternative cleaners on the market, there's no reason to use gasoline.
I use a Park clamp-on chain cleaning tool with some diluted Simple Green in it about 1x/month, seems to do a nice job. I might try Pine-Sol since I have a bottle of that around here somewhere (I don't like it for general household cleaning), dishwashing liquid might work, too. If you're really fond of petroleum distillates, try kerosene if its available in your area.
Kerosene is okay as a cleaner as is diesel fuel but both leave behind residue that is oily in nature. Mineral spirits evaporates relatively quickly without leaving behind any residue. As a plus, many chain lubricants use mineral spirits as a carrier.
As to Pine-sol, I wouldn’t. It does nothing more than mineral spirits. It also does weird things to your skin. A friend of mine does UV minerals and has a lamp. I used Pine-sol for some kind of cleaning...don’t remember what...and when he turned on the UV lamp, everywhere the Pine-sol had touched on my skin glowed. I don’t know what is in it but it made everything fluorescence.
Bottom line: just use mineral spirits. A cup of mineral spirits will clean a chain to the point where there is more chain lubricant in the mineral spirits than mineral spirits. In real terms, a cup will clean 10 to 12 chains without issue. I put the mineral spirits in a wide mouth Gatorade bottle, snake the chain in, shake vigorously for about 30 seconds (probably less), pull out the chain and hang it in the sun to dry. No extra washing, no rinsing, no need to remove water, and a cup of solvent isn’t difficult to dispose of.
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#60
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My observations are that migrating / diluting every bit of internal contamination is the only "difficult" time consuming aspect, requiring multiple solution changes to get super clean.
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Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Old School…When It Wasn’t Ancient bikepacking
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
Stuart Black
Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Old School…When It Wasn’t Ancient bikepacking
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
#61
Senior Member
I use a jar holding the chain, instead of directly into my heated ultrasonic cleaner bath and the soapy water, permitting multiple solution swaps until chain is clean, clean, clean. I then repeat w/ mineral spirits, followed by denatured alcohol, also in jars, all prior to Molton Speed Wax in my modified wax warmer.
The final result is a drivetrain that remains clean to the touch, dead silent with looong lasting lubrication, unless i get caught in the rain.
The final result is a drivetrain that remains clean to the touch, dead silent with looong lasting lubrication, unless i get caught in the rain.
Gasoline and other aggressive solvents are not required when warm water and dish soap are effective at dissolving the stuff attached to the exterior and interior of the chain.
My observations are that migrating / diluting every bit of internal contamination is the only "difficult" time consuming aspect, requiring multiple solution changes to get super clean.
My observations are that migrating / diluting every bit of internal contamination is the only "difficult" time consuming aspect, requiring multiple solution changes to get super clean.
But I’m almost as vehemently against soap and water because it is totally ineffective or needs huge volumes to be even marginally effective.
A gallon of soapy water will do a marginal job with an additional rinse of about a gallon and a further rinse to remove the water with something that will dissolve water and evaporate quickly. As I’ve said above, a cup of mineral spirits will do the job of roughly 24 gallons of soap and water (plus the water chaser solvent)
The problem is that a people spend far too much time “cleaning”, usually because they use something that makes the drivetrain dirty in the first place. Chains really don’t need to be cleaned to the point most people clean them. I “clean” a chain once when I install it. I use a wax based lubricant that keeps the chain clean and I don’t clean the chain again until I change it. Life is really too short to spend hours per week cleaning chains.
A gallon of soapy water will do a marginal job with an additional rinse of about a gallon and a further rinse to remove the water with something that will dissolve water and evaporate quickly. As I’ve said above, a cup of mineral spirits will do the job of roughly 24 gallons of soap and water (plus the water chaser solvent)
The problem is that a people spend far too much time “cleaning”, usually because they use something that makes the drivetrain dirty in the first place. Chains really don’t need to be cleaned to the point most people clean them. I “clean” a chain once when I install it. I use a wax based lubricant that keeps the chain clean and I don’t clean the chain again until I change it. Life is really too short to spend hours per week cleaning chains.
My cleaning / lubrication lasts a long time, unless I get caught in the rain.
My usage of dish soap and water in a small jar as the first step in cleaning is very effective, consuming only a small amount of water.
The final steps of mineral spirits and denatured alcohol prior to waxing result in very little contamination to both solvents, remaining saved in their small labeled jars for the next usage.
My chain remains clean to the touch between cleanings / wax application.
#62
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Sorry I wasn't clear in my post.
My cleaning / lubrication lasts a long time, unless I get caught in the rain.
My usage of dish soap and water in a small jar as the first step in cleaning is very effective, consuming only a small amount of water.
The final steps of mineral spirits and denatured alcohol prior to waxing result in very little contamination to both solvents, remaining saved in their small labeled jars for the next usage.
My chain remains clean to the touch between cleanings / wax application.
My cleaning / lubrication lasts a long time, unless I get caught in the rain.
My usage of dish soap and water in a small jar as the first step in cleaning is very effective, consuming only a small amount of water.
The final steps of mineral spirits and denatured alcohol prior to waxing result in very little contamination to both solvents, remaining saved in their small labeled jars for the next usage.
My chain remains clean to the touch between cleanings / wax application.
I’m assuming that you are waxing the chain. The wax doesn’t need to be removed prior to rewaxing the chain and water isn’t going to do anything to remove the old wax. Mineral spirits will remove everything you need to remove before waxing if you feel you need to remove the wax but why bother? You don’t need to remove the wax. Dropping the chain in the hot wax will remove the old wax and just dissolve it into the hot wax. The hot wax becomes the solvent.
If the chain has some grit on it, it will settle out on the bottom of the pan and can be left there for as long as you like. It does no harm. If the old wax has some grease in it, that won’t hurt anything and even help to soften the canning wax that most people use. Canning wax is a hard wax and it flakes off easily. A softer wax will stick to the chain better and provide better results.
Bike maintenance doesn’t need to be complicated. If you can do something easier, with fewer steps, and the same result, why complicate it?
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Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Old School…When It Wasn’t Ancient bikepacking
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
Stuart Black
Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Old School…When It Wasn’t Ancient bikepacking
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
#63
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#64
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Stuart Black
Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Old School…When It Wasn’t Ancient bikepacking
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
Stuart Black
Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Old School…When It Wasn’t Ancient bikepacking
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
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#68
Senior Member
At the end of a long day of bicycle riding, I like to disassemble my chain for a thorough cleaning, just in case some dirt found its way into this assembly.
My experience is that an old toothbrush and pipe cleaners work best for getting everything clean, clean, clean.
At assembly my preference is for all the logos on the outer plates to have identical orientation and to be positioned for correct reading on the top chain span when installed.
My experience is that an old toothbrush and pipe cleaners work best for getting everything clean, clean, clean.
At assembly my preference is for all the logos on the outer plates to have identical orientation and to be positioned for correct reading on the top chain span when installed.
#69
At the end of a long day of bicycle riding, I like to disassemble my chain for a thorough cleaning, just in case some dirt found its way into this assembly.
My experience is that an old toothbrush and pipe cleaners work best for getting everything clean, clean, clean.
At assembly my preference is for all the logos on the outer plates to have identical orientation and to be positioned for correct reading on the top chain span when installed.
My experience is that an old toothbrush and pipe cleaners work best for getting everything clean, clean, clean.
At assembly my preference is for all the logos on the outer plates to have identical orientation and to be positioned for correct reading on the top chain span when installed.
Otto
#70
#71
At the end of a long day of bicycle riding, I like to disassemble my chain for a thorough cleaning, just in case some dirt found its way into this assembly.
My experience is that an old toothbrush and pipe cleaners work best for getting everything clean, clean, clean.
At assembly my preference is for all the logos on the outer plates to have identical orientation and to be positioned for correct reading on the top chain span when installed.
My experience is that an old toothbrush and pipe cleaners work best for getting everything clean, clean, clean.
At assembly my preference is for all the logos on the outer plates to have identical orientation and to be positioned for correct reading on the top chain span when installed.
#74
Not quite dead.
I've read this entire thread with interest. Haven't read any recommendations for using a pressure washer. I mean, I just wipe down the dirty chain, myself, and lube with Pro-something, shift through the gears, and wipe clean.
But I have a friend who periodically uses a pressure washer to knock the grit off the cassette, chain and chainring. Then foam some WD-40 on the chain, then wipe dry, lube with lube, and wipe again. The grit is gone. The chain is lubed. Just his technique.
But I have a friend who periodically uses a pressure washer to knock the grit off the cassette, chain and chainring. Then foam some WD-40 on the chain, then wipe dry, lube with lube, and wipe again. The grit is gone. The chain is lubed. Just his technique.
#75
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Too much smoke. Current visibility is about 300 feet and there are actual pieces of ash falling out of the sky.
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Stuart Black
Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Old School…When It Wasn’t Ancient bikepacking
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
Stuart Black
Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Old School…When It Wasn’t Ancient bikepacking
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!