cyccommute 

With the right choice of chain lubricant, you can skip step one…and pretty much all the other steps as well.

While I agree, oil based lubricants are the reason that people need the elaborate steps for cleaning chains, drivetrains, and bicycles. The pictures I posted above are an example of the over use of oil but the vast majority of bicycles I work on at my co-op are just slightly less filthy. My picture in post 55 is typical of what my drivetrain looks like all the time. I don’t have to wipe or clean or do anything to the chain, drivetrain, nor bike to make it look that way.

People who hot wax have been convinced by others that they need to do elaborate cleaning of the chain for wax to work. There is really no reason for doing so. There really isn’t any reason for doing elaborate multistep cleaning of oiled chains either. They need to be cleaned more often because of the oil but the procedure needs to be no more complicated than a 30 second vigorous agitation of the chain in mineral spirits…which is relatively benign.

cyccommute 

If you are using a product that requires cleaning of the bike before you perform maintenance on it, you are doing it wrong. Road dust and mud are one thing but bicycles don’t need to be grimy from oil used on the chain. Here’s an example of what my bikes look like before and after nearly a month of constant riding while on tour. Beginning of tour on June 21, 2021. I did no cleaning on the bike before the tour and it hadn’t really been cleaned since its use on a previous tour in 2015.




July 21, 2021 at the end of more than 1200 miles of riding around the upper part of Lake Michigan. That included several days of rain riding. The only maintenance I did was to lube the chain after rain.



Bikes simply don’t need to be cleaned all the time…even when heavily used.

Koyote

I ride mostly on dirt and gravel roads (=dusty and dirty), and just do a wipe and re-lube every several rides, along with a more serious cleaning (with one of those handheld chain cleaners) when I wash the whole bike. My chain generally looks like yours in the middle of a cycle.

cyccommute 

My point is that I do zero “serious cleaning” because it is unnecessary.

Koyote

Yeah, I understand. My "serious cleaning" adds about five minutes of work, so not really very serious.

Eric F 

Results may vary depending on the user's level of tolerance for riding an un-clean bike. My tolerance is fairly low.

genejockey 

I'll put that in a more practical framing - the folks on this thread each obviously reach their own decisions on what is and is not a waste of time, and then simply don't do the ones that they think are wastes of time. To some, the idea of having to take a new chain and soak it in solvent to get it molecularly clean, before dipping it in hot wax seems like a giant PITA, and we get thousands of miles out of our chains. e.g. the chain on my Canyon ONLY JUST allowed the 0.5 tooth on the chain checker to drop into the slot after 5000 miles. But others don't feel like it's a waste of time at all and don't mind doing it, maybe even ENJOY it! So who's to say it's a waste of time?

terrymorse 

All I can think is that those roads in Michigan must be very clean. Just one day of rain riding around here (SF Peninsula) leaves a bike (and a person) pretty grungy. I gently hose my bike down after a wet ride, and I take off the soiled pieces of kit in the garage.

delbiker1 

Arguing about what one should do, and how to do it. You do yours, I'll do mine. Case closed.

cyccommute 

As is mine. I just happen to keep the bike from getting dirty while still riding it in the first place. As evidenced in post 55, post 127, and any of the following. You can see in all of the pictures that the bikes have dirt from use on the wheels and tires. They have not been specifically cleaned for the photo. The panniers in the touring bike picture show road grime from approximately 600 miles of riding. But the drivetrains are squeaky clean. I don’t like cleaning and I don’t do it often because I don’t need to.

Lombard

But then this thread would be dead. We can't have that.

cyccommute 

I wouldn’t say that they are all that clean. This picture was taken north of Lake Winnebago after 62 miles of rain. It was on asphalt but I’d still say that’s pretty dirty.



Just to be clear, I’m not from Michigan. The worst place to ride a bike in the rain that I’ve ever experienced is Mackinac Island. They don’t allow cars and use horses extensively. It’s best not to think about what is flowing down the road and why it looks green. Ewww!

Eric F 

My definition of "squeaky clean" and yours seem to vary a bit, but if that works for you, it's all good.

I don't mind doing cleaning, maintenance, or repairs on my bikes. After a good ride in the morning, spending a couple of hours tinkering on my bikes in the afternoon, with the garage door open, and some music playing, is a very happy way to spend my time. That's how I roll. I'm not trying to tell anyone else how they should do it.

tomato coupe

My bikes are 17% cleaner with 14% less effort, regardless of the conditions I ride in.

Hondo6

Sadly, many can't seem to do that. Thus the "religious wars" continue.

Hondo6

Cleaning what needs to be cleaned to prevent internal contamination is indeed a good initial step in many maintenance tasks. Example from auto maintenance: wiping the dipstick with a clean rag or paper towel/napkin/tissue before reinserting it to check the oil.

But that can be overdone to the point of being counterproductive, both time-wise and mechanically. You don't need to de-grease the exterior of the entire engine before changing the oil.

rsbob 

Handbags at dawn!

Fastfingaz

Couldn't agree More !!

elcruxio

You are absolutely correct.

I seemed to have missed a memo. I've been severely lacking in the mixing department and I'll be honest, I haven't boiled a dangerous chemical once. Should I be doing that? What dangerous chemicals would you recommend for best results? And also what do I mix them with?

wolfchild

I don't mind doing maintenance or repairs on my bikes. I have enough tools to do most of what needs to be done on bikes including wheel building or trueing. What I don't like is obsessive cleaning, there is no need to wash and clean the whole bike when replacing a set of brake pads or replacing a chain. None of the bikes which I own have been fully washed since new.

wolfchild

Just clean a small area around the part of the bike and component which is being replaced or worked on. There is no need to get the whole bike sparkling clean.

wolfchild

I don't know because I don't wax my chains....You should ask all the chain waxers out there about the methods and rituals which they use to create their homebrew chain wax. I do recall some posters here a while ago saying that they boiled all kinds of nasty chemicals to create their homebrew chain lube.

Eric F 

If I'm replacing parts on my bike, it's most likely that the bike will get a hose-off and wipe-down, as well. Depending on which bike, and it's current condition, the cleaning might take place before I do the other work. This is just how how I like to do things, largely because I prefer working on a clean bike. If you don't like to do it that way, don't do it.

elcruxio

Oh I just use food grade paraffin. I don't think it's all that dangerous, but I might be wrong.

I wonder what chemicals were boiled... paraffin wax boils at 370°C but you only need to heat it to around 70°C so that it melts. You sure about that whole boiling part? Seems a bit weird to me...

Lombard

While I myself am not in the obcessive hot wax cult, I don't see any "nasty chemicals" in parafin wax. The cleaners some people use are more toxic than parafin.