Chain.. Rusty after 1 outing?

[Pale Rider]

Powerlink snapped today. Chain has managed 583 miles before a part has snapped. What a piece of shite.

I was a bit concerned when you mentioned you had 'deep cleaned' the chain a couple of times.

At the risk of increasing sales of CycleChat popcorn, deep cleaning is not something I would do.

Regular wipes and the occasional lube is my suggestion.

 

[Crandoggler]

Deep cleaning is removing the chain, degrease it, put it back on and lube it. I could have done the same leaving it on.

 

[e-rider]

So I like my chain nice and clean and it's been off the bike for a 'deep clean' a couple of times, as well as the regular clean and lube from time to time.

Monday I took my bike from my block to work. About a 1500m journey, if that. The weather was foul and raining at the time. The roads were also very wet, but I wasn't bothered! My chain was lubed and my bike was most definitely ready to be ridden in any condition... Apart from this it seems.

Later that evening when I had finished work, I poodled back to my room in the dry. Got there, and left my bike. I happened to go on a 3 day fly away, so when I returned, I noticed that my chain had gone rusty and looked like it needed binning!

Is dry lube really that awful that it can't deal with 1500 metres of wet road?

Anyway, cleaned it up with some WD40 yesterday as I wanted to go on a ride, but some rust remains. What's the best course of action to remove the rust? Bike sounds a bit like a kids bike who's never lubed the chain.

Might just upgrade to that gold KMC chain.

chains are made from steel, which rusts quickly when it gets wet! Put some more oil on it - simple

 

[e-rider]

Deep cleaning is removing the chain, degrease it, put it back on and lube it. I could have done the same leaving it on.

full degreasing of the chain isn't a great idea - try just regular wiping it clean with fresh lube

 

[Pale Rider]

Deep cleaning is removing the chain, degrease it, put it back on and lube it. I could have done the same leaving it on.

Some quick links are one use only, although plenty of people manage to reuse them.

The chain's been off a couple of times, so that could be why the link failed.

I wouldn't degrease it, on or off the bike, but again, lots of people do.

My chains have the clean appearance we both like just from the wipe and lube method.

 

[Smurfy]

1. If you don't like rust, nickel plated or stainless chains may be a better option. The ultimate non-rust solution is hub gears and belt drive.

2. On most modern bikes (i.e. those without chaincases) the chain is sufficiently exposed that wet rides will wash off whatever lube you use. In my experience, the only exception to this is chains that have a thick layer of dirty, semi-solid, oily build up.

 

[youngoldbloke]

Powerlink snapped today. Chain has managed 583 miles before a part has snapped. What a piece of shite.

What make is it?

 

[Crandoggler]

KMC reusable.

 

[festival]

My gut feeling is that the problems are mainly down to you messing about with it unnecessarily.
There's no reason for you to be removing the chain so often for the kind of riding you suggest you are doing.

Sorry!

 

[Crandoggler]

Well, yes. That's pretty obvious. The link has obviously weakened due to being removed and refitted. It's just annoying that a reusable missing link cannot survive 2 chain removals. As for the rust, I'm not really bothered and am well aware of corrosion of untreated metals coming into contact with moisture, yet surprised my lube couldn't last more than 1500m.