PatrickGSR94

I've been trying to get my chain as clean as I can as it's been probably a year since I cleaned the whole drive train off the bike. I let the chain sit in various jars of mineral spirits over the course of 2 days. Then I ran the chain through the ultrasonic cleaner with mineral spirits for 2 cycles, wiping the chain down after each cycle. Then I rinsed the chain under running water, and finally stuck it in the oven at 250° for about 10 minutes to get rid of any remaining moisture.

But there still seems to be some black residue buried down in between the rollers and plates, especially on the faces of the inner plates. Even after wiping all the inner plates there's STILL some stuff coming off of it.

Is it just impossible to get a chain completely spotless after it's been on the bike for a few thousand miles?

ThermionicScott 

Just letting it soak won't do much. The ultrasonic cleaner helps to loosen grit and old lubricant, but you'll still want to shake up the container after passes to encourage the grit to come out of the chain and stay with the solvent.

Even after a couple of passes with cleaner solvent, I do notice a little gray residue when wiping down the chain with a white paper towel. I figure that I've gotten the chain about as clean as I reasonably can (certainly much cleaner than it started) and don't worry about it.

randomgear

Well, it's about 25 days too late but here is the one and only (endorsed by the great Sheldon Brown himself) solution: The ShelBroCo Bicycle Chain Cleaning System

Jamminatrix

How messy do you want to get and how patient are you?

A waterpik will get where you need it to and blast the gunk out. And then in a week it will be all for naught.

digibud

if you install a master link it's pretty easy to get a chain 100% (well...nearly so) clean. I remove my chain, put it in a small pan (backpacking stove lid) with 1" sides and swish it back and forth and use a stiff brush on a side. The mineral spirts turns black. I dump it in a bottle and add new mineral spirts (only deep enough to immerse the chain), flip the chain, brush and swish, dump the spirts, add new spirits....and after a few agitations and bit of brushing I take the chain to a sink and repeat with soapy water. When I'm done the chain is spotless and it doesn't take long. Then I bake the chain in a 220F oven for about 20min to dry it completely before reinstalling. Sounds like a lot of work but it's not and the mineral spirits is reused after sitting for a while when the dirt settles. I have a sonic cleaner and don't find it to be of any particular use for chain cleaning.

caloso

Ask your doctor if Paxil is right for you.

101stairborne

Now that's funny!

long john

Lol maybe I can use all master links or something!

PatrickGSR94

Yeah I was actually thinking about that page when I made this post. I figured someone would mention it.

trailangel

That's Funny
How much is your time worth per hour?
If you want "like new" clean, buy a new chain.... more cost effective.
Or read up on OCD and see a doctor!

JerrySTL

Why do you want a chain perfectly clean? You aren't going to eat off of it.

People who go overboard on cleaning chains often have the worst chain life. That heavy duty cleaning removes all the lubricant and it's sometimes very difficult to get the lube back in. Dirt on the plates of a chain makes it look bad but hardly bothers shifting at all except if it's really crusted on like after riding a mountain bike in the mud.

Back when I used lubes like ProLink Gold AND the chain was really dirty, I'd pour the lube in a chain cleaning tool. That way it would clean and lube at the same time. If the chain was just a little dirty, I'd wipe it down with a rag then apply the ProLink to each pin. After a few hours, wipe the chain down again.

For the last couple of years I've gone old school and started using paraffin wax again. I just wipe down the chain with a rag; disconnect the KMC link; and drop the chain into a crock-pot with a couple of inches of paraffin wax melted in it. I let the chain sit there for an hour or so then swish it around some. Next I hang up the chain to dry and cool down. Re-install chain. It's good for 300-400 miles easy.

JerrySTL

Now that's good. My daughter use to clean her chain using Q-Tips, but she was a slacker and didn't disassemble the chain.

Bikerdave222

Yeah I figured it had to be a joke!

bikepro

You're ready for this:
The ShelBroCo Bicycle Chain Cleaning System

Sorry but I didn't see the earlier post.

ThermionicScott 

For the most part, I'm content not to debate the best chain maintenance method (since there isn't one ), but I wanted to address this:

This shouldn't be news to anyone. You drain the old oil out of a car when putting in new oil, right?

Probably true with old bushed chains, but not the ones any of us are likely to be using. Thick oil like Chain-L or similar will penetrate a clean dry chain easily, given a couple minutes. And just by listening to how the chain sounds when you move it around before and afterward, you can hear that the oil has gotten everywhere it needs to go. It's truly NBD -- nothing to get people worried about.

davidad

I now clean mine every 800 miles in an ultrasonic cleaner then lube it on the bike. It never seems 100% clean, but my chains last a long time.

JerrySTL

Yes but you probably don't put a few quarts of degreaser into the engine crankcase the run the engine for a while in an attempt to get it perfectly clean inside.

Actually back in the day we use to put about a gallon of kerosene into the crank case of a car engine and run the engine to get out the sludge. Clumps of the stuff would drain out. Then you'd put in some cheap oil and a filter and run the engine some more then drain it again. Even more sludge would drain out. Then you'd put in the good oil and filter. It probably wasn't the smartest thing to do, but it often raise oil pressure and stopped lifters from clacking so much.

Lazyass

Just go to Walmart and buy this for 10 bucks. Spray the chain down with whatever you're using and let it sit for about five minutes before running it through the brushes.

CliffordK

What about throwing the chain in the dishwasher

cny-bikeman

Wear is a continual process, and that wear produces very small metal particles. Even if you perfectly clean the chain (solvent, then clean solvent, then compressed air) it will soon be "dirty again from wear and dust. Want perfectly clean? Buy chains in bulk, change every 200 miles and clean all parts of the drive train each time. Better yet, store the bike in a sealed glass display case.

FastJake

I find that two rinses in a 32oz Gatorade bottle filled halfway with mineral spirits gets my chains very clean. The key is to shake vigorously. I let the gunk settle to the bottom and pour off the clean stuff next time. It's a pretty clean, painless process and takes maybe 5 minutes each time I have to do it. When I wipe the excess oil off a clean chain with a white rag I do notice a little gray on the rag. But it's so minimal I don't worry about it. After one ride it will likely be dirtier than that.

TakingMyTime

Thank you! lmfao

HillRider

It accomplishes two things:

1. Gets your chain very clean
2. Gets you a trip to divorce court.

berner

After rinsing a chain I like to warm it up to evaporate all the water but I prefer to to leave it out in the sun for several hours. I sometimes use an oven also but too warm a temperature may anneal and soften the metal so be careful about that.

79pmooney

And only ride it in that same case. (Remember to bring oxygen or your performance will suffer.)

Ben