First cleaning of a new chain?

[MacB]

but don't you do this?????

And I quote from the great man himself :

Serious cyclists, who value performance and are willing to take the time to do a job correctly use grease, but, of course, disassembly is required to access the surfaces that need to be greased.

 

[youngoldbloke]

- and note the importance of using the correct grease for the rollers, and side plates respectively.

 

[Marin Maniac]

After ride, wipe clean with cloth. Once all visable crap/muck gone, lightly oil with wet/dry lube as you see fit. Forget about it till after next ride.

I do once a week clean cassette and chainrings with baby wipes. Keep on top of it and everytime you clean it won't take you more than 10 minutes.

 

[youngoldbloke]

No one has answered the OPs question - do you remove/wipe off the factory lube, and re lube before first ride with new chain- or what? - I don't know the answer. If you leave it when do you decide to remove it and relube, or add more lube of choice? (Saying 'Mickle method' is not the answer).

 

[Panter]

I asked the same thing a fair while ago on here.

I was actually advised to leave it but it was really sticky and I'm convinced it would have ended up with an edge like an angle grinder after a few miles so personally I cleaned it off.

Maybe it depends on what the manufacturer has applied?

 

[summerdays]

I have a new chain too ... and also find that its sticky ... I put up with it for a bit then I clean it off the outside of the chain - wiping method. Then relube. I'm not trying to remove it from anywhere other than the outside of the chain.

 

[tuffty]

Best you scroll to the bottom of the page

D'oh! Hook, line and sinker.

 

[simongrant]

Yep,i tried wiping it with a cloth last night and like has already been said its really very very sticky,much like treacle.So again,what should i do as it has collected a fair bit off dirt/dust particles on it now,done 86 miles.
Summerdays,did you use a dry or damp cloth?I tried a dry clean rag but it did nothing but leave even more little particles on my syrup chain lol
Cheers

Simon

 

[Chris James]

I used a baby wipe for the first wipe of the outside of my recent new chain. It seemed to remove the stickiness without getting rid of all the lube.

A rag spayaed with WD40 would probably do a similar, or better, job.

 

[grhm]

I just applied new lube on top of the sticky manufacturers lube, turned it through all the gears and left it for a few minutes - then wiped off the excess. This seems to have diluted the sticky bits on the outside of the chain and allowed it to be wiped off with a dry rag.

I've then maintained it with the wipe clean, apply lube, wipe clean "Mickle Method" ever since - seems to be working for me.

 

[fossyant]

+1 Apply new lube, wipe and let dry.

This should remove some of the sticky oil from the 'outside' of the chain.

TBH, I find using the small bottles of chain lube best - just drop a little onto each roller, give the chain a bit of a spin round, let dry and wipe.

The non-sticky wet lubes are great for crappy conditions. I'm quite warming to White Lightening Clean Ride at the moment..... goes on very watery (bit tricky at first), but leaves a wax coating - penetraits well, run the chain round, then wipe off excess - it takes off any dirt as well. Any excess wax then just flakes off, and it stays pretty clean.

 

[youngoldbloke]

Picking up on your point, fossyant - I recommend using one of these to get the lube exactly where you want it - one drop on each chain roller.