Steam cleaning experiment: Failure!

"Tom Parker" wrote in message
...

A few months ago I posted about the idea of steam cleaning
the chain, cassette, rings, etc. I decided to go ahead
and give it a try, so I bought a Sear's steam cleaner on
ebay, and today I tried it out on the bike. In a word,
results were very disappointing.

I had to hold the steam jet extremely close to get
any effect and this resulted in a narrow 1/16" band
of cleaning. So, I had to go link by link, and work on
each of the four sides. Needless to say, this was very
time-consuming and required detailed work. Worse, there
was still a layer of slime even after steam cleaning.

I then tried spraying first with de-greaser. This had
an immediate effect, as the gunk started dripping off.
But follow-up steam cleaning did little good. Only wiping
with a cloth would really remove the residue.

So, my hopes for a quick easy way to clean the transmission
were dashed. Steam cleaning is not the answer, for me.
I'm going back to the old-fashioned way of de-greaser,
soap and water, and brushes. For the chain, I might try
the alternative suggestion of removing and soaking in
a solvent.

The only bright note was that afterwards I discovered a
20-year old can of Boraxo powdered hand cleaner, which
did a very effective job of cleaning my hands!

Boraxo! That's great stuff! It is not gentle to your hands; but there's
nothing more effective that I've found. The gritty powder helps scrub-off
the dirt and grease. I used to find Boraxo in public washrooms, now I
rarely encounter it. Too bad. I hate the flowery liquid stuff they use
nowadays. The smell is awful!

-Barry