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Old July 30th 03, 02:31 PM
asqui
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Default Yet another thread on chain cleaning

I did three rinses of White Spirit and it worked like a dream! It was kind
of scary to see the WS go completely black virtually instantly in the first
and second repetition. (This is after I had cleaned it as best I could with
rags and degreaser aeresol!)

I left it to soak for a few hours then in the last repetition the WS
remained dark but transparent after some shakes so I fished it out and hung
it up to dry. I didn't bother saving the previous dirty WS because I figured
the grease was dissolved in it and would stay dissolved forever. The last
one I did leave in the bottle to use as the first rinse next time.

This morning the chain was beautifully clean, inside and out. I could feel
its love eminating.

I cleaned the sprockets and chainrings, put it back on, gave it a liberal
spray of lube (I believe it is called Super Spray Lube or something, and
apparently it is recommended my the British Cycling Federation... so I guess
it can't be that bad, even if the PTFE claims are bogus.) The chain looks
beautiful. I'm not sure how long it will stay clean (I think much longer
than it did this time, after they lubed the dirty chain with heavy grease,
and then I foolishly rode it). The LBS guy did after all sell me this lube
as an alternative to wax!

Then I measured the chain......

It would appear that it is getting rather close to half a rivet width off at
the 12 inch mark. (When at full tension from the derailer) How can this
be??? I checked the chain on my old bike (I cringed when I saw its state...
bearing in mind it was left in a relatively "clean" condition for storage)
It had barely any stretch, and I never cleaned that thing at all, with
anything, and lubricated it with WD-40 (*cringe*) then later Halfords chain
wax. I have done ~1,000 miles on it and that's after I bought it used! How
can this brand new chain be so stretched after only ~800mi from new?

Is it possible that being so clean and free of heavy oil/gunk inside has
made it seem longer?

I tried the "pull the chain off the front of big chainring and see how much
it moves" technique and it barely moves. The movement is localised to one
complete link only, and less than half a tooth height (using this test I
believe the criteria for a new chain is when you can pull it away more than
a tooth height).

What is going on here? Do 9 speed chains wear a lot faster when not taken
care of, because they are so loose that grit can get inside much more
readily?


Dani


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