Lubricant and degreaser

[cryptic_abbreviator]

1. Chain de-greasing is not so much of an issue. But still asking, do you basically unhook the chain (magic link/...) and clean it separately or degrease it right on the bike?
2. Someone (much experienced gentleman) once mentioned that using kerosene/ diesel aint a good idea for the chain. Coz it tends to create play between the rollers, that is difficult to lube, with whatever quality lube you might try. Better to use non-solvent based mechanism (read detergent) to scrub the externals of the chain. Personal experience?

cleaned out the cycles today . Your post prompted me to take some pics of the quick 5 chain.





if the route to salvation from from those before pics to


here and


here

has a short cut to avoid elbow grease through a thumbs up bottle and some kerosene to dunk the chain in, I'll take it.

I have till recently been doing the laborious hot water and suds route. This seems to be far better - ie quicker and cleaner.

Will it affect the chain ? I'll take my chances for such shininess.

for the last ~ 1000 km have been lubing chain on bike on the Sport 1. did the same bottle and kerosene treatment after undoing the master link this time.

The Q5 chain gets icetoolz PTFE the tiagra chain gets Finishline Red.

will report

ciao
gr

[Iceman1969]

I use Teepol or Pril to degrease , although I did use the Icetoolz degreaser ( not too great ). for lubing chains the wax based lubs do fine,in dry weather though.

I have just tried White lightening wax lube, after lubing the chain you let it dry well. The advantage is that after a couple of rides the muck and dirt does not stick, comparing the old lubes certainly the chain looks cleaner.

Read somewhere that in the good old days the pro's used to dunk their chains in melted wax !

[deepakvrao]

Krishna, Shankar,

I do what gr did. Chain in 'diet pepsi' bottle, not thums up, and diesel. HAving said that, I do it much less now for 3 reasons.

1. I ride more out of the city, so chain remains a bit cleaner for longer
2. I use wet lube, and let the chain get black, but it remains silent
3. If the chain lasts me a 1000km more, it's still not worth the effort

Also, have had rust issues with Shimano/SRAM and less with KMC. YMMV.

Cassette is cleaned off the bike. Takes 5 seconds to remove the cassette.

My bike gets cleaned about once in 2 months making it every 1600km or so, and I have it down pat. 1 hour for the whole thing.

[krishnas]

Thanks Deepak and GR.

Answers most of my questions.

Followup Q (always have one ) - Chain de-greasing is off the bike. What about lubing? Is that also off the bike, or when you have it on?
And, is the life of the magic link / chain degraded with every open-close? Is that a fair comment or a general myth to keep folks like me laboring with hot water/ rugs on the bike?

Thanks a lot for the pics, GR.

[cryptic_abbreviator]

Followup Q (always have one ) - Chain de-greasing is off the bike. aWhat about lubing? Is that also off the bike, or when you have it on?
And, bis the life of the magic link / chain degraded with every open-close? Is that a fair comment or a general myth to keep folks like me laboring with hot water/ rugs on the bike?

a I find it easier after re-installing the chain. The advantages I see are no need to fiddle with clean, shiny and slippery chain, and I guess it would be easier to "manage" while applying lube. I use a syringe to get FL-R on. start with the magic link portion rotate pedal slowly to keep chain moving as you lube link by link. If I were to do it off bike I would have to move from link to link

bI guess no more than open-close of QR reduces its life.

get that chain off and clean it. even if you want to use hot water and detergent it will still be easier

the end result is a nice satisfying fresh clean chain ride experience.

ciao
gr

[deepakvrao]

Lube is on the bike, and since my chains last about 3-4-5k, the missing link is used once or twice only.

[krishnas]

Thanks again, Gurus!
Gotta try this approach next time.

GR, thanks for the tip of using a syringe for applying FL-R. I find the Red too runny and difficult to apply on the chain without spilling LOTS. Green on the other hand is perfect viscosity.

[garethmartin28]

lubricant -finish line dry or wet
degreaser - diesel

[Anool]

Didn't know where to post this, so it goes in the thread I found most appropriate.

These guys are offering "a thorough High-Pressured Diesel Cleaning for your bicycle" !!!

"The bicycle will be:
* Completely disassembled
* Washed thoroughly with High Pressured Diesel
* Assembled back
* Fine tuned "

Is this a sure shot recipe for busting all the bearing areas, or not ? There's no mention of any greasing.

[sar.the.psyco]

saw this link only after slogging it out with a brush, soap water and rags for 2 hrs yday trying to clean the chain. I knew i had to use Diesel/Kerosene was a bit lazy to get it.

i shall try the bottle and kerosene method for the roadbike chain.


Q: for cleaning the cassette, any thing apart from cassette remover tool and toothbrush/hair dying brush needed??

Q: Do u like soak the cassette in diesel/kerosene before cleaning or do u just dip the brush in the liquid and scrub the cassette??

[cool_dube]

Guys,

What is the recommended frequency of chain de-greasing/lubing for the following usage:

a) Daily commute to office over a total distance of ~15 kms in typical city conditions (dust, smoke, etc)
b) Mild trail riding over alternate weekends

Thanks in advance...

Edit: I am planning to use Finish Line Multi Degreaser and Finish Line Dry Lube for the battle...

[Vj50222]

Have been using "Pharmaceutical Liquid Parrafin" as lube for the past 3 months (Have done about 700kms). Compared to 2T oil it attracts lesser dirt. 200ml is just 40 rs on local pharmacy shop.

Clean the chain with diesel (Old tooth brush and a bowl of diesel, wont remove the chain), wipe the diesel with a cloth. Lube it with Liquid parrafin, let it stand by in the night and wipe excess lube with a cloth. Have been doing it for every 200kms. (Takes about 20/30mins)

Cant compare with the branded lubes as I have not used it.

[Vivek788]

now that is a cost effective suggestion

[hitanshu]

viewtopic.php?f=12&t=5194 FYI.

Finish line is good for the chains IMO.

[shankarbn]

http://www.bikeszone.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=5194 FYI.

Finish line is good for the chains IMO.

And actually much cheaper than all other options in the long run.