Cleaning my drivetrain

I'm just wondering if you have any tips and tricks for cleaning the drivetrain. I tried to clean it up after my last (really dirty, wonderful, adventure) ride outside. I've been riding on my trainer for awhile now and am wondering what I need to do to keep my chain and derailleurs clean. Right now I'm lubing my chain every couple of rides inside and read that if you run your finger on the chain and any grit of blackness comes off it's time to clean it and lube it.

So how often do you clean your chain and derailleurs when using the bike on the trainer?

How often do you lube? Right now I'm using Finish Line Dry Teflon Lube

Any advice for cleaning everything while it's on the bike? I'm afraid to take it off since I'm so new to this. First I heard Simple Green was good then I heard Simple Green was awful for the drivetrain.

So much to learn, so little time.

Others may disagree, but I would say that if you're riding exclusively on the trainer, you probably don't have much need to clean it -- just lube once and a while (lube acts as a solvent too, if you're chain is pretty clean already just running it through a cloth while dripping lube on it will make it nice and sparkly).

I, on the other hand, have been riding outside in the lovely snowy weather we've been having in Vermont and am trying to figure out how I'm going to manage to clean my drivetrain, when it's cold enough outside that water will freeze on the bike, but I don't have an obvious place to do it inside (where the mess/dirty water can be sufficiently contained).

Someday I will have a house with a bike mudroom that has a drain in the floor...

I got one of the chain-cleaner thingies and it does work better than a sponge (though a sponge is adequate). I too would like to hear opinions on Simple Green... I have found both dish soap and degreaser (I have some Pedros) to work OK but leave a little to be desired. When bf left a black grease ring in the washing machine from washing greasy bike rags, I did a little research and bought some Simple Green, and it took the grease right off and rinsed out cleanly. So I'm convinced it would work on bikes, I just don't want to hurt my components.

Riding on the trainer, I wouldn't think you'd need to clean very often at all. Every couple rides seems too often to me.

In dry weather, I clean my bike every week, maybe 2 weeks if I didn't ride a lot. (I average 14 miles/day if the weather is decent. 7 miles/day in this stuff.)

In this slushy snow, I discovered this week that I have to clean every night. :mad:

I use the chain cleaner thing with Simple Green once in a while (monthly or less). My regular cleaning involves running the chain through a rag and "flossing" the casette and chainrings with the rag. And wiping the wheel rims. Then I oil the chain, let it air a bit, and dry the excess oil by running the chain through a clean spot on the rag.

I use the Park "chain gang" plastic doohicky that you clamp onto the chain and run the chain through. Generally I use plain ol' dishsoap. Cuz I'm too cheap to go buy anything else...:o

I've had nice luck using Boeshield lube, seems to handle the Seattle slop nicely. Don't know if it would be a lot different for a bike on a trainer.

At our house, we wipe down the chain with a terry shop towel after every outdoor ride, and "floss" the cogs with a terry shop washcloth(thinner edge to get between cogs). then there is less lube on the outside of the chain to attract road grime and grit, as well as less of the dirt.You only need lube on the inside of the little chain joints. I lube with dumonde tech, the light formula, but I live in coastal southern California. I think your lube choice depends on local weather(wet vs dry) and road conditions. Some of my friends swear by Triflow. And I don't think you'd need much cleaning on the trainer either, but it can't hurt to wipe the chain off from time to time, and lube when it gets too dry. Tokie

I use Simple Green for everything (almost :rolleyes: )

The only thing about it is that it's slightly acid, so you have to rinse very thoroughly. As long as you do that, it's harmless.

What I actually want to try next for waterless drivetrain cleaning is CitraSolv. It claims to contain no petroleum distillates and no toxic solvents (unlike most of the citrus degreasers on the market). Anyone use that? TriFlow is seriously toxic.

ProLink Gold, best stuff ever, and I've tried them all. Cleans and lubes. I usually do it about once a week in season. Chains last almost forever with proper maintenance. Use Prolink to wash away dirt and old lube, keep drying/cleaning chain with paper towel. After you no longer get a lot of "black" on your paper towel, but mostly a grey, chain is clean. Give one last application and sock up any excess with a paper towel. If done regularly, it only takes a couple minutes, a bottle of lube will last a couple months, and you only need a few paper towels. Quick, easy and works great - quiet drivetrain, long chain life, and no rust.

I spray the entire drivetrain with Simple Green, let sit for a few minutes than rinse off with no pressure. If it's really dirty I'll use Simple Green in one of those drive chain cleaner do-hickies and then rinse with water. I clean the jockey wheels with a rag/small brush then take a rag to the chain until it's "clean". Then I lube the chain and wipe off any extra lube. Then I take the rear wheel off and take a brush/rag to the cogs. After the drivetrain is clean I wash the bike. Works for me.

Thanks this was a huge help. I think I'll take a cloth and floss the cogs tonight to get the grit out from my last outdoor ride and leave it at that for awhile. I might try the Simple Green thing when I can start riding outside in Spring, that way I'll have access to a hose to wash it off well and dry it down.

And thanks for the tips on lube preferences/use. I've been using mine to clean the black junk off the chain so that seems to be working ok. It just seems like it gets black again pretty quickly.

Oh and I'm in awe of all of you riding outside in the snow/slush. Being really new at this I can't imagine me doing that right now but I think you're pretty amazing. We have so much snow up here I can't make it to our barn (it's down a little trail from our house) without snowshoes anymore.

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Originally Posted by Tokie

"floss" the cogs with a terry shop washcloth(thinner edge to get between cogs).

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You know what else works well, when you've used all your terry washcloths and haven't done laundry yet? A t-shirt! We are inundated with bike-event volunteer tshirts and bike ride tshirts. Cut it down the middle and go to town.

Dawn dishwashing detergent for cleaning, rinse with fresh water and dry, then apply Pro-Link Gold. Best to let the ProLink set overnight, but it works well even if you get right back on and ride. Wipe down every now and then with a rag wetted with ProLink.

I tried Purple Extreme for a couple of whiles, but found it didn't work as well as ProLink, and the chain started squeaking before the advertised 400 mile interval.

Tri-Flow is a good wet lube, but it tends to get kind of messy, and just about as much tends to get on my sock or ankle as stays on the chain ;-)