Adventures in greasemonkeyland

[Kimmyt]

So I had been saying that I was going to clean my bike really well. I'd been saying it for a very long time.

Unfortunately, I never did anything about it.

My chain was caked with gunky black stuff, my bike was grimey. Mud was splattered up through the seat, there were trails of grease on the forks.

Let's just say I'm not very good at maintenance of expensive things. it's like with my car... I'm always forgetting to get my oil changed until it's 2000 miles over the limit. Sigh.

Plus, I wasn't really sure what to do with my bike... all those moving parts, and it was sooooo dirty! (this is a road bike, mind you, I couldn't even imagine how dirty a mountain bike can get!)

So I made a trip to the bike store and picked up one of these babies (http://www.performancebike.com/shop/profile.cfm?SKU=16488&subcategory_ID=4216)
so that I had no excuse any longer. And I got down and dirty with my bike for the past 2 hours.

Really dirty.

I scrubbed that thing for hours, but the dirt buildup was so great that i still couldn't get it all off. Short of taking the chain off (and I'm very seriously considering getting the masterlink thing but I wanted to remove most of the grease before putting one on) and removing the cassettes, I just don't know how to get it all off!

I used a citrus degreaser, toothbrush to get in all the nooks and crannies, a wet sudsy t-shirt to clean where the brush wouldn't go... but it's still dirty! Of course, not nearly as dirty, the cogs at least look remotely metallic instead of a dull dirty black, but still!

I want to get it so very shiny and pretty! And then I promise promise I will take better care of it in the future... I'll be good about wiping off all the extra lube and try and do a decent clean once a month.

Any tips on how to get rid of really really bad dirt/gunk buildup?? I feel like I've let my poor bike down!

K.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Kimmy, you might want to have your local bike store (LBS) do a thorough cleaning of your DRIVE CHAIN/GEARS area. Tell them to remove your chain and degrease it thoroughly and also remove and clean the cassette and the clean the front gear rings and the derailleur wheels, etc. YOu can handle the rest of the bike. If your chain has that much hardened gunk as you describe I can't imagine getting it totally clean without taking it off.
The other thing is that if you've been running your chain really dirty and gritty for a long time, it may be worn enough to have them put on a NEW chain when they clean your gears. Chains don't last forever. Then you could start from ZERO dirt! ;)

[DebW]

You could buy one of
these (http://parktool.com/products/detail.asp?cat=5&item=CM-5) and clean the chain on the bike.

[Kimmyt]

Well, I got myself a latte this morning and went to work on the girl. She looked much better than I thought she would, most of the gears actually looked silver and there was only a bit of hard-to-reach grit in some places. All in all she looks pretty good! The chain could still get cleaner, and I thought about one of those chain-cleaner gizmos, but I think in the end it would be easier to just be able to take the chain off and clean it, then I could scrub at the cassettes to my heart's content without having to worry about shifting to move the chain out of my way.

Anyway, she's looking purdy and is just waiting to dry off before I am going to bring her in from the garage (before it starts to chill up out there) and then I will lube and wipe her off.

I have to say though, i really enjoyed tinkering with her out there (and it smells NUMMY in there, like citrus degreaser!) and am seriously considering the $110 course a bike shop near here offers on hands-on DIY bike tuning and maintenance!

K.

[Kalidurga]

I ...am seriously considering the $110 course a bike shop near here offers on hands-on DIY bike tuning and maintenance!

Go for it! I would have loved to have taken a similar series of courses offered in my area, except that it was around Xmas time and I couldn't have left work early for it. The more I learn (mostly here at TE), the more fun it is to work on my bike.

As for cleaning the cassette: I remove the rear wheel and sit down with it in my lap with the cogs facing up. Then I slip the edge of a rag in between each set of cogs and "shoe-shine" it back and forth. After that, it takes just a few little wipes here and there on some of the teeth to get the cogs looking brand new. If you're worried about the chain scraping against the chain-stay while the wheel's removed, you can use this: Pedro's Chain Keeper (http://pedrosusa.stores.yahoo.net/chainkeeper2.html).

[Triskeliongirl]

An even easier way to clean the casette is to remove it and immerse directly in solvent. Its wasy to remove, all you need is a chain whip and wrench. Once you know how to do it you can also swap casettes to your hearts content! FYI, I do use the park tools chain cleaner, it works great. Also, remember, you don't need to get it perfectly shiny clean, the goal is to remove grit and dirty oil, since all you are going to do is lubricate it again anyway.