Tusk

Never mind. My conditions are nowhere near as tough as yours. I just have a lot of san on the road, which is weird, given the amount of rain we get every year.
I pull the chain two or three times per year. Not that often.

sean.hwy

Looks like a nice turn out in SF. I have only ridden that section at night.





I take my chain off every time for cleaning. I soak in mineral spirits for several days and put it in at least two jar. Then scrub it/wipe it down on 4x4. Hang it up to dry for several days before applying chain lube the night before a ride. I don't think the lube works as well if there is still mineral spirits between the pins. I rotate between several chains.

When I first started riding I used one of those automated cleaners like a few people have posted. I didn't give it much thought back then. I don't think that cleans inside the pins very well and then if you just put lube on semi wet chain with cleaner on it the lube does not go and stay like it should. No mater how much you dry your chain on the bike with towel etc.. the insides pins still going to be wet. Your lube is going to be diluted and probably not stay on as well.



Pre puppy ( sept, been hiking more with the dog ) I was riding about 500 to 700 miles a month and would rotate/clean/lube my chain once a week. I guess that's roughly 200km +

eduskator

Try it next time. You'll see - it does make a difference to deep clean it every once in a while. I soak mine in fuel overnight every 1000miles or so, then in hot soapy water. Your environment seems harsher than me so more maintenance is clearly needed in order to get maximum lifespan (if that's what you're looking for).

SoSmellyAir

mschwett is either churning out megawatts or riding in extreme environments: is this cassette toast? - Bike Forums

Is your chain tacky (i.e., mildly adhesive) or greasy to the touch? Minimizing the accumulation of fine sand would increase drivetrain longevity.

mschwett 

unfortunately, no megawatts. i average 200-210 watts over a longish ride, normalized power typically around 220, peak 1000 but not for any meaningful amount of time. 200lb total weight of rider plus bike.

chain feels smooth to the touch, leaves a bit of grey/black grime on rag or fingers after a ride, but looks very clean and sounds good.

SoSmellyAir

Kilowatt! Got my metric prefixes wrong while typing in a hurry.

The used chain at the top looks very clean on the outside for a chain that does not come off the bike for cleaning, but the interfaces between the inner chain plates and the rollers are more critical for chain and drivetrain wear.

mschwett 

i’m guessing my casual chain cleaning routine does a good job on the outside and hardly touches the inside, which of course is the part that contacts the cogs. :facepalm:

eduskator

Can't really get to the inside unless it's submerged and shaken in a liquid (fuel does the job - for the fancy people out here, an ultrasonic cleaner also does the job.

SoSmellyAir

I remove the chain, put it with both quick links in a (clean) wide mouth pasta sauce jar with OMS, shut the lid tight, shake it for a minute, and let it soak overnight. If we are doing laundry on that day, I leave the jar on top of the laundry machine for one wash cycle (for the extra agitation). Then I transfer the chain and both quick links to another (clean) wide mouth pasta sauce jar with OMS, shut the lid tight, shake it for a minute, and let it soak for a few hours. The chain comes out spotless, and after hanging to dry for a couple of hours, it goes into the Crock Pot for waxing.

OMS is hard to buy in California, but you can still buy it from an art supply store for 3x what Lowes charges.

Gamblin Gamsol | Oil Mediums | Michaels

I have bought a quart from Michaels and a quart from Lowes.

scottfsmith

I just found a video from someone else who came up with the same idea. I thought it was my own brilliant idea, ah well.


At around 5:30 he starts lubing the chain. Notice zero splattering. He has a later follow-up video where he expects he can get 3x or so more life from a single lube with this method vs the hand drip-on of Silca SS.

DaveSSS 

No point in long soaks, agitation is what's needed. See if you can buy camp stove fuel at walmart. I get crown brand for much less than coleman.

SoSmellyAir

I can buy camp fuel at REI but would not dare to use camp fuel with the laundry machine agitation method, especially since I have a gas dryer.

timtak

I sometimes use my whole body vibration machine -- they are cheap second hand because they are not terribly useful for exercise imho -- to agitate my chain between hot waxes (candles, ptf and Molybdenum Disulfide). Taking a waxed chain off is pretty easy with a quick link because you don't get dirty hands (or hardly). Every 300km about. I'll do it now.

The hole body vibration machine also gets used as a leg stretching device.

terrymorse 

Awkward typo there, Tim.

timtak

Well spotted. A Freudian slip from my gay side, quite probably....
The hole [in my] body, vibration machine...
My hole [every]body, vibration machine!

Here it is being used to clean my chain (these days I use a container with a lid). Click through for a video.

Chain Cleaning by Timothy Takemoto, on Flickr

SoSmellyAir

This is a great idea. I was looking at orbital shaker (like from biochemistry lab back in college) but these are < half the cost.

easyupbug 

I posted this on Bike Mechanics discussion:Switching to a Catrike recumbent trike on bad arthritis days and finding my calf/clothes get marked by that very long bike chain, times 3 length, I switched to solvent wax and am very happy with the results. Still early but wear rate looks good to date and being retired I take the time to keep my bikes spotless and the trike was much more work with my homebrew when compared to my uprights.

Tried scottfsmith application method with a never used dusty Park Tool Chain cleaner going slow to not make a mess and it was pretty clean and much faster than dripping on 100s of links.

mschwett 

resurrecting my own semizombie thread...

still pretty happy with drip wax except for chain longevity. replaced last chain at 2,500 miles and it was far enough gone (maybe .6%) that the 11t and 12t cogs also had to be replaced (skipping under load, by load i mean 500-1000w).

the latest chain, which i've been cleaning more and lubing a little less, per shop recommendation, is at 1,600 miles and almost fits into the .5% side of my chain checker. .4% or so. seems like the wear rate is extremely similar. seems like very short chain life.

Troul 

I've noticed this too. Although, I've noticed the noise to be less when compared to a traditional lubed chain. That is only if the wear is below a certain amount. Once the waxed chain gets stretched to a point, the noise is no different than a gunked up greased chain.
I do like being able to not "mark" my own territory with the cleanliness of the waxed chain.

spelger

its funny, i've been waxing for a long time and i still get chain ring tattoos. pretty sure the dark color is from the chain ring anodizing wearing off.

Lombard

No, that's dirt. Contrary to what many believe, drip was is not clean. It attracts dirt and gets gummy.

spelger

not sure if it matters but i don't use drip, i do the hot wax thing. but, i think you are right about the dirt. just today while adjusting my FD on a very new bike and was surprised to find as much black dirt on the underside of the BB shell. i've only had it out for about 6 rides now. i never ride in wet conditions.

Lombard

I must have assumed you were using drip wax because that's what the thread title is about.

Dry riding won't collect as much dirt, but there is still dry road dirt kicking up all the time. Sometime at the end of your ride, wipe a tire with your hand as you roll it. You will have a black stripe on your hand.

mschwett 

I started using a little less drip wax per application, but slightly more frequently with more frequent cleaning with the park cyclone. Bike sounds great, less accumulation of visible crud, but wear rate appears identical.

latest chain is almost reading .5 on the checker, at 2,000 miles. Measuring it carefully under moderate tension suggests the same. Thinking i might bite the bullet and replace it now to save my 11t and 12t this time… although they’re pretty cheap.

bblair

Squirt user here. I would guess about 2-300 miles between applications, but in the summer I wash my bike that often anyway, so reapply. Dawn dish liquid gets my drivetrain sparkly clean.

But in the cold, wet salty days.....those are inside days for me. And it's not because I want to keep my chain dry.