Degreasers

[petal665]

Yeah, your idea of clean and mine are rather different.

[il padrone]

I have not been degreasing anything much on my bike for the past 3 years

It shows! No way I could show my face on Sunday mornings with a drive train looking like that

It is a quite close-up photo Like I said, the Rohloff hub does seep some oil; no longer happening nearly as much as I fill it with a lesser quantity of oil (accepted as ideal by the manufacturer) When I took the photo the chain was as ridden for the past 600kms, not wiped clean of dirt.

But the chain is remarkably clean, has been lubed as required ie. about 5-6 weeks ago, and it has no squeaking or noise. The lube stays on through wet-weather riding. I care very little about what some wannabe racer-boy thinks, and much more about the servicability of my bike, with long-term durability and ease of maintenance a big plus. For me the PE lube works. I know MB on here will attest to that.

In previous times I used to routinely degrease the chain with kero and relube on a regular basis. This was the standard method - quite messy, dirty, and time consuming if you do it the best way by removing the chain. But then someone on a forum pointed out that the best lube is the original manufacturers' grease and described a method that involved not removing this original grease - much quicker and cleaner to do also
1. Wipe chain clean of dirt/grease with a rag.
2. Lube with quality, low dirt-attraction lube.
3. Wipe off excess
4. Ride your bike.

I gave it a try and have found that it works, and very well. If you have tried this method and found that it fails then we can talk about what we have done different. If you're talking through lack of experience then we don't have much to go on.

[silentC]

You certainly did a lot of reading between the lines from my one-line post! It's a skill I have never been able to master.

Suffice to say that, as I've mentioned a couple of times already, my bike is 20 years old, still has the original chain, chain rings, and the cassette I only changed because I needed a lower gear, I could put it back on tomorrow. So I must be doing something right. I imagine the "original manufacturer's grease" would be looooong gone.

And yes it is somewhat important to me for it to look clean too. It's one of my many foibles. I quite like the bike and I like it looking it's best. At 49, I don't think I qualify for the racer-boy tag but I do appreciate a well designed and looked after piece of machinery.

[il padrone]

Well my preference is to tour. I love the dirt roads and the rough stuff.





You think that bike in my post looks dirty? Try riding on with this gear

[silentC]

Sure, but I assume people wash their bikes when they get back, or do they wear the mud like a badge of honour?

My MTB is not anywhere near as clean as my road bike. The roadie does not go off the bitumen except to cross the odd verge. Horses for courses. I was being facetious in my remark but merely pointing out that I personally would be embarrassed to show up with my bike looking like that. No actual criticism of anyone else's methods was intended

[il padrone]

Sure, but I assume people wash their bikes when they get back

Sure was. That bike mud-pack was chipped off at camp, then finally cleaned a day later when we had a water source for cleaning. It's dry land out there; this was in the Flinders Ranges.

BTW the chain with PE was running very nicely through all of this. I did re-apply lube after the clean, but it was not really in need at that point.

[laterstarter]

This is the lubricant I went with. It's plastic and rubber safe. Do you all think it's a safe lubricant to use to lub the chain?

+++++1 on the Lanotec. I have used this for 3 years+. I also use the ones with PFTE added and the Inox versions as well. The big cans are no dearer than a small bottle of any bike chain lube, so it makes an economic and great chain cleaner and lubricant. I endeavour to treat the chain after a ride and clean off any muck, leave overnight and then wipe off any excess before the next ride. It can also be used on any pivot point in the drivetrain.

Reapply when chain/jockey wheels are full of gunk or chain just starts to chirp. I seem to get quite a lot of Kms out of each application, using it only once or twice each month (~800-1200km).

I also use on any pivot point in the drivetrain, including blowing out and lubing the shifters. Take care to keep away from brake pads when lubing the pivot points on the brakes.

[silentC]

My bottom bracket and headset are also original.

I really must learn not to skite about these things on forums

All the "original manufacturer's grease" fell out of my bottom bracket this morning and so I'm going to have to crack the seal on it for the first time in 20 years. Still, if it's another 20 years before I have to do it again I won't complain...

[Homo Suburbiensis]

On a slightly unrelated note (but still relevant) what degreaser would you use to strip a chain completely bare? One day I plan on trying parrafin wax as a lube, and the chain needs to be stripped beforehand. Would mineral turpentine be suitable.

btw I currently lube the chain like how Il padrone described above. I use rock n roll gold haven't used degreaser on the chain

[ironhanglider]

On a slightly unrelated note (but still relevant) what degreaser would you use to strip a chain completely bare? One day I plan on trying parrafin wax as a lube, and the chain needs to be stripped beforehand. Would mineral turpentine be suitable.

btw I currently lube the chain like how Il padrone described above. I use rock n roll gold haven't used degreaser on the chain

There is no need to strip a chain completely bare before trying wax and it is difficult to achieve anyway. The best lubricant is wax mixed with stuff anyway apparently some of which is likely to be in your existing lube.

I wax the chains on the race tandem. I re-use the wax too. Until I broke it, I would pour the used wax into a funnel and let the heavy bits settle to the point. I'd then cut the point off and top it up a bit for re-use. I use an old rice cooker for the job. Most of the debris is decanted off anyway, and wiping the bowl achieves a lot. My reason for wax is mostly because it is clean since I have to squeeze the bike into the car with the wheels off, and other lube marks are hard to remove.

Cheers,

Cameron

[jacks1071]

On a slightly unrelated note (but still relevant) what degreaser would you use to strip a chain completely bare? One day I plan on trying parrafin wax as a lube, and the chain needs to be stripped beforehand. Would mineral turpentine be suitable.

btw I currently lube the chain like how Il padrone described above. I use rock n roll gold haven't used degreaser on the chain

Petrol would be the quickest, let it soak in an ice cream container for a bit. Kero would also be fine but it won't work as quick.

[DarrylH]

Recently going through old (1987) newspapers, I came across a cycling column which recommended a mixture of petrol and naptha as a cleaning agent. Having never run across naptha I wonder what the result would be like. I am a firm believer in kero as the perfect degreaser but find that my wife hates the smell!!

[HappyHumber]

I am a firm believer in kero as the perfect degreaser but find that my wife hates the smell!!

Just as naphthalene can keep the silverfish at bay in the wardrobe/linen cupboard; think of the kero as a deterrent to keep the good lady wife away from the man-cave I associate the smell with clean parts. What's not to like about it?

[KGB]

It's good, I agree.
Most recently I've been using diesel as its a bit more oily and a 5L jerry can lasts forever for my purposes.

[diventare]

Kero for me.
Use it on everything metal and get it in bulk (20 liter jerry) from the local servo pump.

[prolific12]

can Kerosine be used as a general cleaning agent.

as a newbie, I just picked up my new bike, and it was in storage by the previous owner hence there is a lot dust,oil, debris, and road matter and was wondering best way to cleaning it without damaging the paint and the aluminium components. any suggestions?

thanks
Andrew.

[mick243]

Recently going through old (1987) newspapers, I came across a cycling column which recommended a mixture of petrol and naptha as a cleaning agent. Having never run across naptha I wonder what the result would be like. I am a firm believer in kero as the perfect degreaser but find that my wife hates the smell!!

Naptha = zippo lighter fluid

Kinda pricey for a chain degreaser....

[Mulger bill]

Recently going through old (1987) newspapers, I came across a cycling column which recommended a mixture of petrol and naptha as a cleaning agent. Having never run across naptha I wonder what the result would be like. I am a firm believer in kero as the perfect degreaser but find that my wife hates the smell!!

Naptha = zippo lighter fluid

Kinda pricey for a chain degreaser....

Cheaper HERE but still more exxy than kero.

[find_bruce]

I was always told to use kerosene rather than petrol due to the flash point (lowest temperature at which it can vaporize to form an ignitable mixture in air). Lighter fluid has a similarly low flash point and I wouldn't be using it as a cleaner.

[philip]

I bought this from bunnings recently as since getting into mtb I've realised I need to clean out the chain heaps more than the roadie. Being a concentrate, this bottle is going to last me freakin forever (makes 12000 litres). Citrus degreaser, biodegradable, just use it while washing the bike on the lawn, perfect.

[Frostee]

Simple Green for me. Wont hurt the environment, wont hurt your bike. I get it from Sprint auto. Highly recommended for degreasing.