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Cleaning your cassette on the bike

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Cleaning your cassette on the bike

Old 05-31-22, 06:21 AM
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dilbert2000
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Cleaning your cassette on the bike

I am new to disc brakes, just got my bike last January (2021).
I've cleaned it a few times outside with Simple Green and a garden hose.
I soak the cassette, scrub away with some brushes, hose the whole bike down, and let it air dry.
Then I lube the chain and off I go.

I just watched a video where they used a disc brake protector to keep the cleaner and dirt out of the brakes.
So far, I have not had an issue.
Am I going to cause myself trouble by not protecting my brakes?

Thanks

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Old 05-31-22, 08:20 AM
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WhyFi
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It's not a bad idea to try to keep the pads/calipers clean - it's easy enough. Contaminants could impact braking performance, but the most likely and noticeable effect would be noise.
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Old 05-31-22, 09:27 AM
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you can always remove the wheel. do you have a bike stand?
another doohickey that I sometimes use, is a chain keeper. something like this
mine looks like this
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Old 05-31-22, 09:39 AM
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dilbert2000
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Originally Posted by rumrunn6
you can always remove the wheel. do you have a bike stand?
another doohickey that I sometimes use, is a chain keeper. something like this
mine looks like this
Yeah, I have a bike stand, and one of those chain holders too.
I like the idea of taking the wheel off better than the protection - it's free.

As for contaminating the brakes, aren't they designed to take most anything? I thought disc was the preferred brake for cross.
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Old 05-31-22, 09:54 AM
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Originally Posted by dilbert2000
As for contaminating the brakes, aren't they designed to take most anything? I thought disc was the preferred brake for cross.
maybe that means mud & water, but not chain lube. the disk is easy to clean but the pads sometimes have to be replaced if they get "contaminated" I think
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Old 05-31-22, 09:55 AM
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dilbert2000
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Originally Posted by rumrunn6
maybe that means mud & water, but not chain lube. the disk is easy to clean but the pads sometimes have to be replaced if they get "contaminated" I think
Thank you
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Old 06-01-22, 12:33 AM
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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.
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Old 06-01-22, 04:25 AM
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if I have a cassette that is caked with gunk, I'll remove the cassette from the hub & give it the ole elbow grease cleaning. If it's not too bad, [leaving the wheel in the frame] I'll pick out the obvious junk, use a throw-away cloth that's moistened with some alcohol diluted bicycle lube (not grease) to wipe away as much as it can before I determine the rag is no longer effective. Follow that up by applying fresh lube where needed.

*Typically* I prefer to take the cassette off, as I'll have a second set of wheels to use in between cleaning. Had some issues lately with the spare set, so I am kind of relying on the lesser involved practice.
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Old 06-01-22, 05:51 AM
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I prefer to remove the cassette from the wheel for a thorough cleaning. To quick clean a reasonably clean cassette I use a cloth folded in half which I spray with WD40...it is NOT a lubricant...to wet but not dripping and slide it back and forth between the cogs to clean. Refold to a clean area of the cloth as needed. But nothing compares to removing it for a thorough cleaning...to the wheel as well.
You certainly do not want to contaminate the rotor or pads.
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Old 06-01-22, 07:12 AM
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FWIW - I often clean mine mechanically, meaning w/o fluids. there are specific brushes for this purpose. one can finish with a moistened shop cloth

prevention is better tho. a cpl BF contributors sometimes describe their techniques to keep their drivetrain cleaner, to begin with. reducing any cleaning requirements. you can probably find their posts by searching for "cleaning bike chain" etc on this site. there are probably a million threads on the topic
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Old 06-01-22, 09:18 AM
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I would not use a garden hose to clean a bicycle

the less water the better
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Old 06-01-22, 10:04 AM
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Another option.. you can consider spraying down these a bit with some Clean Streak or comparable (away from the bike), but not so much they'd be dripping.

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Old 06-01-22, 11:50 AM
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I tend to agree, the less water thee better. However, Imo, cleaning chain, cassette and rings on the bike, takes solvent and a hose. An easy method, that produces a good result, is to place the bike on a old towel, brush the cassette, chain, etc., with liberal amounts of white spirit, backpedal a bit, let it sit and drip off, remove the towel and then hose the drivetrain. Then wipe with a rag and relube. - a bit like the old pro mechanics used to do it. On a disc brake bike, wipe the rotors with a clean rag and solvent too.
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Old 06-01-22, 01:33 PM
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I wipe my bike off with those moist towelettes that come in a big tub or container. After cleaning all the painted and not so grimey places, I roll them up and use them like the floss that Sy Reene posted.

I might have to try that gear floss though. Looks interesting. But if your cogs are really gunky with months of grime, you probably will have to remove them to get them really really clean.
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Old 06-04-22, 02:26 PM
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Not to side track the thread but waxing your chain instead of liquid lubes eliminates 90% of drivetrain crud & cleaning. You don't need to do anything to the chainrings or cassette other than soap & hose down with the rest of the bike when you wash it. Something to consider and one of the biggest pluses to that method of chain maintenance imo.
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Old 06-04-22, 03:17 PM
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Originally Posted by Voodoo76
Not to side track the thread but waxing your chain instead of liquid lubes eliminates 90% of drivetrain crud & cleaning. You don't need to do anything to the chainrings or cassette other than soap & hose down with the rest of the bike when you wash it. Something to consider and one of the biggest pluses to that method of chain maintenance imo.
I didn't want to say it, but yeah. Cleaning cruddy cassettes and jockey wheels is time-consuming and/or gross. It's also something that anti-waxxers conveniently forget when crowing about how easy and trouble-free is it to stick with oil-based lubes. Frankly, it's one of the big reasons that I transitioned to wax a couple of years ago.
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Old 06-04-22, 03:52 PM
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Spray with brake cleaner.
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Old 06-05-22, 02:38 PM
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Originally Posted by WhyFi
I didn't want to say it, but yeah. Cleaning cruddy cassettes and jockey wheels is time-consuming and/or gross. It's also something that anti-waxxers conveniently forget when crowing about how easy and trouble-free is it to stick with oil-based lubes. Frankly, it's one of the big reasons that I transitioned to wax a couple of years ago.
This and avoiding riding in really crap weather!
Makes cassette cleaning unnecessary.
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Old 06-05-22, 02:59 PM
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if the cassette is left in the original packaging, it is even easier to keep clean!
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Old 06-05-22, 05:38 PM
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I trashed two sets of pads cleaning my cassette on the bike with degreaser, despite being moderately careful with the direction of spray. now I put a ziploc bag with one side cut to go around the seat stay, over the rotor and caliper, with a piece of duct tape or two to hold the bag closed. Much easier to degrease and scrub with a cassette brush when you’re not worried about getting a drop of degreaser on the pads.
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