Cleaning the Chain

[Dogmama]

Question: Do you move your couch & vacuum underneath it every week?

Neither do I. Nor, do I want to disassemble the entire bike to do a routine cleaning.

This is a really slick way to clean the chain.

First, get one of those chain cleaning gizmos, I think Park Tools sells one. They're a plastic thing that you fill with degreaser, fit your chain into it, clamp down the top & turn the pedal to run the chain through. That removes the big gunk.

Next, get a citrus degreaser - there's a bunch of them around. Spray the chain well (put a rag underneath the chain to protect your paint and rims.) Then get one of those cans of compressed air, keep your rag underneath the chain and spray each link. You'll be amazed at how much black gunk comes out. Added bonus - your chain is dry & ready for lubing!

Remember - people do judge you on the words you use -- and how clean your bike is!

[Barb]

Don't you have to rinse the degreaser? I use the orange stuff in my park tool thingy. Stuff works great, but I rinse it several times then hold a rag over my chain while I spin it to dry.

[Irulan]

I rinse with clear water, then air dry, re lube.

~I.

[Barb]

yummy looks like chocolate dipped bike.

[CorsairMac]

Irulan hun: are you sure you didn't "discover" that bike as part of an archeological dig?

[Irulan]

Irulan hun: are you sure you didn't "discover" that bike as part of an archeological dig?

The ride started on a frozen trail. The plan was to be off of it before everything thawed. You think that's bad, you should see the blobs on the roof of my (white) car. It was so bad, no one could even shift.

It doesn't look like that any more. I follow the degreaser plan laid out in the first post.

Irulan