What's the best chain cleaner & degreaser?
 

For two years I used to use Simple Green and a brush to clean my
chain. This got it very clean even a clean rag would come off with
hardly any stain. I would then wipe it dry from the water rinse and
oil it right away. Then the next day I would wipe and re oil the chain
then wipe the excess oil. The chain lasted less than a year ( I ride a
lot of steep hills all the time so year isn't bad for me).

For the last two years I have done nothing but wipe the chain clean
with oil then reoil and wipe, My chain has lasted two years.

Bottom line, if you use water it will cause some rust, maybe very
little every time but that's wear. If you use kerosene or a solvent it
will dry the oil out of the inside of your chain which causes wear
until the new oil is worked in.

Say your system is perfect and doesn't contribute to the wear of your
chain. The first mile on dirt will grit your chain up like it has
never been cleaned. In fact it is reasonable to think that the oil you
put on the dry chain is moving into the rollers carrying dirt with it.
Moral, don't wear your chain out cleaning it.

On Wed, 31 Mar 2004 10:47:29 +0100, "Daniel Kelly \(AKA Jack\)"
wrote:

Hi,

Please may I ask your advice? What's the best device for cleaning mountain
bike chains? I'd like it to be cheap and to work without me having to take
the chain off.

Is the Finish Line Chain Cleaning Kit the best? And how about the
degreaser? Is it worth spending money on an expensive de-greaser or will
white spirit / washing-up liquid to the job?

And does anyone have any cunning trade secrets they'd like to give away
regarding cleaning the rest of the chainset? Or does everyone just use
de-greaser and a tooth brush?

Many thanks,
Jack


PS - Sorry if this message appears twice - problems with Outlook Express!