Cleaning the chain and cogs

[Phoenix Lincs]

I noticed my chain and cogs are looking decidedly muddy and mucky. Does anybody have any recommendations for products/ways to clean these please?

 

[Supersuperleeds]

Mickle method for the chain:

http://www.cyclorama.net/viewArticle.php?id=349&subjectId=9

 

[mickle]

Hooyah.

 

[Phoenix Lincs]

Hooyah.

Thanks so much. Guess that's my job for this afternoon if I don't need to track down any 'products'.

Lovely hubby will be watching the Grand Prix and I'll be getting myself dirty in the garage (or garden, depending on the sunshine)

Cheers

 

[Nigelnaturist]

If the cassette is really bad take it off, bottle of white spirit and an old brush (can be done in situate but easier when it's off. Same for the chain if it's really bad, then re lube.
Edit you can also split the cassette by removing the pins and clean individual cogs (and change ratios with different ones if you want)

 

[avsd]

I tend to use a degreaser on the cassette/chain with a stiff brush and then wash off using a low pressure garden sprayer.
Sample degreaser is:
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/...LA-PLA-Eng-DT-SE|kw:105751UK_Citrus+Degreaser
Garden sprayer
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_r=1QT2CCR627NZ2750ZK50

 

[Phoenix Lincs]

Thanks everybody. I've done the dry rag trick first offered. I'm not brave enough to tackle the cogs yet though

 

[slowmotion]

If you want to clean the cassette, take off the back wheel and use matchstricks to get the worst of the crud from between the cogs. They are just the right width. Then cut some baby-wipes into 40mm strips and wind them up into thin bits of "string". Use them to do a final clean between the cogs.

 

[doog]

Tesco value wet wipes for the whole bike, dirt cheap. For the cassette rip the wet wipe in strips as above and rub backwards and forwards between the cogs.

 

[Nigelnaturist]

I still think it's easier to just take the pins out of the cassette and clean them individually, the pins are only there for convenience of putting the cassette on as a whole, though not sure about 9 and 10 speeds.

 

[Shut Up Legs]

Sometimes if my chain is really filthy (although I rarely let it get bad), I'll use cotton buds to remove gunk from between the links. This typically takes about 6 cotton buds (both ends), as they get dirty fairly quickly, but is easy enough to do, taking roughly 5 minutes. Otherwise, I use Mickle's method. I used to use degreaser, and then of course found that apart from its effect on the chain lube, it also eats into the frame's paintwork.

 

[Nigelnaturist]

Old plastic bottle, take chain off, put chain in bottle, add white spirit and shake, with the top on the bottle remove chain once clean, re lube

 

[slowmotion]

A variant of the above suggested by Nn^^^^.
Jizer degreaser, an industrial, water soluble product without the faintest trace of citrus or pretty smells. Shake in plastic bottle and pour out the black liquid. Refill the bottle with washing-up liquid/hot water. Shake it like crazy. Keep rinsing the bottle and chain with hot water until no trace of bubbles remain. If there are no bubbles, the idea is that all the degreaser has been washed away too.
Put your sparkling chain in a fan oven at 50-100C for a few hours to drive off the water. Relube while warm/hot to encourage the oil to flow into the rollers etc.

BTW,the carbon footprint of this process is a matter for your individual conscience.

 

[malcermie]

Put your sparkling chain in a fan oven at 50-100C for a few hours to drive off the water.
If I did that I dread to think which bits of me 'er indoors would put in the oven

 

[Ticktockmy]

I take the Cassette off the wheel, put it in a cheap poundland tupperware type container with any old solvent that not going to melt the Box depending whats handy white spitirt of Jizer and shake it like crasy, then I use a stiff brush again from poundland and give it a good scrub to remove the last of the crud. The chain I do the same, then re-soak it in a mixture of veggie oil, Teflon grease and a small amount of Colemans stove spirit all mixed up, make a great lube for the drive chain. the chainswheel set I strip apart and clean again in the white spirit the reassemble, remembering to ensure the locking screw assemblies are set to the correct torque..