Old derailleur and chainrings, new chain and cassette

I've never cleaned a chain yet and I don't intend to start now :-).

(Although I did clean my rear brake blocks with IPA when I changed the
wheel and the resulting massive performance improvement can't have
been entirely due to the new rim, so I'll probably clean my front
blocks and rim too when I get a moment. Also, I have the most
excellent brake squeal now.)

IPA? India Pale Ale? Was this deliberate or just spillage?
I don't clean chains either. Theory being that it would pick up new
grit which would be a harsher grinding paste than the old grit if left
in place. I oil everything a lot and limit bike cleaning to the
occasional dislodging of caked on black gunge.

cheers
Jacob

On 2008-03-26, Ian Jackson wrote:
In article ,
[...]
When it's either starting to go a bit rusty or is covered in gunge.
Which happens first depends on weather conditions and your generosity
with the oil. Then clean it and oil it again.

I've never cleaned a chain yet and I don't intend to start now :-).

(Although I did clean my rear brake blocks with IPA when I changed the
wheel and the resulting massive performance improvement can't have
been entirely due to the new rim, so I'll probably clean my front
blocks and rim too when I get a moment. Also, I have the most
excellent brake squeal now.)

I haven't heard of using beer to clean things before, but I suppose the
alcohol in it could have a degreasing effect.

IME the main thing which causes degradation is using it while not
properly lubricated, by which I mean that it makes a different kind of
noise. I've had quite adequate life out of chains just by oiling them
when they start to sound like they need it. The problem with the
chainsaw oil was that it tended to wash off. (Also, it's very thick
at most temperatures and strands of it tend to get on the rim.)

It's difficult to know what really does cause chain wear. I never used
to clean them, just oiled the crap. My most recent chain I cleaned
fairly often (took it off and shook it around in a bottle of paraffin).
Wear rate was exactly the same-- 1/16" per 11" per 7000km. But the clean
chain feeling is worth 2kph on my top speed so I keep on cleaning.

Ben C wrote:
On 2008-03-26, Ian Jackson wrote:
In article ,

(Although I did clean my rear brake blocks with IPA when I changed
the wheel and the resulting massive performance improvement can't
have been entirely due to the new rim, so I'll probably clean my
front blocks and rim too when I get a moment. Also, I have the most
excellent brake squeal now.)

I haven't heard of using beer to clean things before, but I suppose
the alcohol in it could have a degreasing effect.

Beer contains some sugar. Dried sugar solution on the rim massively
increases braking power. It doesn't last long, though, and the grabbyness
is dangerous as well as noisy. This is one reason not to put fizzy beer or
Coke in your water bottle with a leaky top. The other is that cycling with
a stomach full of gas isn't pleasant.

~PB

Quoting Ian Jackson :
My own inclination, which you seem to refer to, would be to ignore it
until there is some kind of symptom of a problem.

And then replace it with a hub with cartridge bearings. :-)
--
David Damerell Oil is for sissies
Today is First Potmos, April.

Ian Jackson wrote:

In article ,
Ben C wrote:

When it's either starting to go a bit rusty or is covered in gunge.
Which happens first depends on weather conditions and your generosity
with the oil. Then clean it and oil it again.

I've never cleaned a chain yet and I don't intend to start now :-).

They wear out phenomenally quicker if you don't keep them clean. Since I got
religious about cleaning chains I'm getting more than twice - possibly more
than four times - the life out of them.

(Although I did clean my rear brake blocks with IPA

Is India Pale Ale really the right stuff?

--
(Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
.::;===r==\
/ /___||___\____
//==\- ||- | /__\( MS Windows IS an operating environment.
//____\__||___|_// \|: C++ IS an object oriented programming language.
\__/ ~~~~~~~~~ \__/ Citroen 2cv6 IS a four door family saloon.

In article ,
normanwisdom wrote:
(Although I did clean my rear brake blocks with IPA
... resulting massive performance improvement ...)

IPA? India Pale Ale? Was this deliberate or just spillage?

This newsgroup is utterly hilarious :-). No, not beer.

Isopropanol, also known as isopropyl alcohol, often abbreviated to
IPA. It's a very effective cleaning agent, particularly compared to
its modest health and environmental risks. It's also very cheap :-).

See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPA_%28disambiguation%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isopropyl_alcohol

--
Ian Jackson personal email:
These opinions are my own. http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~ijackson/
PGP2 key 1024R/0x23f5addb, fingerprint 5906F687 BD03ACAD 0D8E602E FCF37657

In article , Simon Brooke wrote:
Ian Jackson wrote:

I recently had to replace my rear wheel, and switched from the old
6-cog freewheel to a freehub (Deore XT) plus an 8-speed cassette
[...]
derailleur. After I'd done this I noticed that the sprocket nearest
the cassette was very wobbly - perhaps 5mm of side to side motion

Lateral float on the upper jockey wheel is an intended design feature of all
modern derailleurs. It helps indexed systems align properly.

5mm sounds excessive though - that's more than the distance between
Shimano 8-speed sprockets.

In article ,
Alan Braggins wrote:
5mm sounds excessive though - that's more than the distance between
Shimano 8-speed sprockets.

Yes, the total available motion is more than the distance between
adjacent sprockets but it works fine for me:-).

--
Ian Jackson personal email:
These opinions are my own. http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~ijackson/
PGP2 key 1024R/0x23f5addb, fingerprint 5906F687 BD03ACAD 0D8E602E FCF37657