Clean Chains - Chain Maintenance

I now have a handle bar moustache ... it is awesome.

And don't be a tart about cleaning your bike ... ride the fucker until it dies ... then maybe bother fixing it.

I thought you had a midget on a retainer to do that kind of thing for you?

global financial crisis blah blah

How to pronounce メンテルーブ? My LBS stores everything on the back...

Years later... if it's still of interest to you, it's pronounced 'mentay rube', an abbreviation of maintenance lubricant.

Thank you.

Good bump, though. I've actually testes some degreasers and such.

Muc off every time!

I'm with Sheldon, chain cleaning isn't worth it, unless you take the chain off and really soak it.

This is a pain though and also weakens the chain every time you do it.

Anyone know how to get hold of that uber sticky factory lube that new chains come shipped with?

urgently need to clean chain

Dont take your chain off and soak it. It removes the injected grease from the bushings and they get really noisy. A spray of de-greaser and a good wipe/scrub does the trick. If you have a compressor a blast from that pushes out all the stubborn stuff between the plates too!

I find it much more important to properly clean chainrings though.

when you guys fit chains do you just lube them with the lube you sell? I seem to remember getting a chain fitted at Cycle Surgery a few years back before I had my own chain tool and the lube they used was the best I'e ever come across. really sticky and not 'oily' so to speak

If you have a compressor

oh how I wish I was in Greece right now...

I'd have a few suitable appliances at my disposal hehe :)

Japanese washing up liquid.... nuff said!

re chain
i gave my chain a wipe with a cloth that i had plusgas on. really surprised as to how clean it got. i don't know, but is this bad for my chain?

re: hands
one day I asked ginger pig if i could wash my hands in their sink. butchers soap wowzers. amazing.

re: hands, best I've managed is a drop of fairy liquid and some used ground coffee. magic.

um, shall try that one. thx

brown sugar and soap works fine.

I just ride my chain for about 6 months and then throw it away. I soaked it once over night to clean it in degreaser. It broke when I tried to put it back on and I ended up struggling to get a new chain on a Sunday.

....Anyone know how to get hold of that uber sticky factory lube that new chains come shipped with?

IME this stuff is not lube, it's just a surface protector for while the chain is in storage/transit. Always wash it off and apply proper lube before you use a new chain.

Not according to sheldon:

[

Factory Lube
New chains come pre-lubricated with a grease-type lubricant which has been installed at the factory. This is an excellent lubricant, and has been made to permeate all of the internal interstices in the chain.
This factory lube is superior to any lube that you can apply after the fact.

Some people make the bad mistake of deliberately removing this superior lubricant. Don't do this!
](http://sheldonbrown.com/chains.html#factory)

I wipe my chain down with a big wipe industrial, cleans the surface cack off without removing the grease from the bushings. Spot of lube after that and it's happy running again.

this works for me

Not according to sheldon:

Fair comment

Like many people, I usually trust Sheldon. Not because I blindly believe what I read on his site, but because I've found what he's written to be true. He's not infallible, however, and his website has been known to contain information which isn't universally agreed with, or which may be out of date, before now. After all, not everything there was written by the great man himself, and he's long dead anyway. I'm fairly confident that even if what you quote from Sheldon is true, not all chain manufacturers use the same 'grease' anyway, so it's not fair to say that it is true for every chain you buy.

I've learned from my own mistakes with bicycle and motorcycle chains over the past 25 years, enough to know that I can now trust my own judgement, just as I'd expect you to trust yours. I may be completely wrong so I wouldn't expect anyone to blindly trust me, or anybody else for that matter. Find out for yourself, then trust your own judgement, would be my advice.

So I'll probably continue to apply my own filter to everything I read on the Internet. I'll probably also continue to apply my own lube so at least then I'll know exactly what it is, rather than just guessing, or hoping, that the chain manufacturer has used something decent.

Peace

I don't bother removing chains any more. Wipe (sometimes scrub with detergeant), lube, sorted.
As long as you don't let the chain wear too much it's less than a tenner to swap it and frankly my dears, I'd rather buy than remove, soak, refit, lube, etc.

This all the time.

Replaced every 1,500-2,000 miles and it'll be fine.

its worth noting that although kmc chains say not to clean with degreaser - I am yet to have a problem doing so with any of their chains that I have used.

How the fuck else are you supposed to clean a chain? Anything you use (muc off, gt85, washing up liquid etc etc) is going to have grease removing stuff in it

Interestingly I was about to quote KMC regarding my comment about sheldon above.

Obviously I'm not saying he's infaliable, I basically agree with everything else.

KMC say the grease covering is left on the outside to protect during transit, you should wipe it, but don't remove the stuff inside:
http://www.kmcchain.eu/?en/faq/

During manufacturing one of the processes involves lubrication, we inject special grease into the chain. Right now a part of that grease stays on the chain's outside, which is needed to conserve and protect the chain during storage.
KMC recommends you to take away the excess grease from the chain's outside by spraying some (eco) cleaner along the chain and immediately wiping it. By removing the grease outside you will prevent it from atracting too much dirt. Make sure the grease inside the chain is not affected!

But as you said different companies could be different and I can't be arsed to search any more.

pff fuck it.
Last KMC L chain lasted about 4,000km with weekly attacks from MucOff and gt85, followed by a thorough lube and running through a clean rag. I never noticed any problems with shifting or noise etc.

Installed a new one on my winter bike 3 weeks ago, not cleaned yet, it's now making an awful noise so will be getting the cleaner out tomorrow.