Chain lubing

"Doki" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Do you bother cleaning the thing, or just stick a bit of oil on every so
often? I'm using finish line x-country or some such, and have one of those
halfords chain cleaners, but no degreaser to go in it...

The cleaning is very important. I used to use white spirit, but nowadays use
Finish Line citrus degreaser, which can be diluted (and therefore isn't
*quite* as expensive as it looks!) and works better. White spirit is
available from B&Q, local hardware shop, etc. Finish Line products are sold
in a lot of bike shops, including Halfords (I think - someone correct me if
I'm wrong, please).

Doki said:

Do you bother cleaning the thing, or just stick a bit of oil on every
so often? I'm using finish line x-country or some such, and have one
of those halfords chain cleaners, but no degreaser to go in it...

I use Diesel. Remove the chain, soak it in Diesel while fettling the rest of
the bike, brush the chain while it is still immersed, with a tooth brush,
wipe away the excess, refit and relube.

On Sun, 5 Sep 2004 14:18:02 +0100, "Doki" <[email hidden]>

wrote in message : said:

Do you bother cleaning the thing, or just stick a bit of oil on every so
often?

Both. I use wax lube, which needs topping up reasonably frequently
especially in poor weather, but when the chain starts looking skanky I
clean it.

Quoted message said:

have one of those
halfords chain cleaners, but no degreaser to go in it...

Use Finish Line citrus degreaser.

And better than the on-bike cleaner, use the Sheldon Shake:
<url:http://www.sheldonbrown.com/chains.html> - yes, it really is
better :-)

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at Washington University

Doki said:

Do you bother cleaning the thing,

I do. SRAM Powerlink makes chain easy to remove and soak in a jar of
white spirit.

Quoted message said:

or just stick a bit of oil on every
so often?

It's debatable whether your chain will actually suffer doing that, but
there is a danger of more grit getting flushed into the chain innards, and
filth just keeps building up.

Quoted message said:

I'm using finish line x-country or some such, and have one
of those halfords chain cleaners, but no degreaser to go in it...

Those sort of cleaners are quite good if you don't like taking the chain
off. I found the Barberi one splashed a bit, though.

~PB

"Doki" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Do you bother cleaning the thing, or just stick a bit of oil on every so
often? I'm using finish line x-country or some such, and have one of those
halfords chain cleaners, but no degreaser to go in it...

I use citrus all purpose cleaner from the supermarket in my chain cleaner. 1
litre bottles are a fraction of the cycling specific products prices.

Ken

in message <[email hidden]>, Martin Newstead

(') said:

Doki said:

Do you bother cleaning the thing, or just stick a bit of oil on every
so often? I'm using finish line x-country or some such, and have one
of those halfords chain cleaners, but no degreaser to go in it...

I use Diesel. Remove the chain, soak it in Diesel while fettling the
rest of the bike, brush the chain while it is still immersed, with a
tooth brush, wipe away the excess, refit and relube.

Ditto, except parafin rather than diesel. Similar stuff, but I find the
smell much less unpleasant. I also hang the chain up to dry for at
least a couple of hours - usually overnight - and then relube it before
refitting it. After lubing I leave the chain for as long as possible
for the lube to capilarise its way into the rollers before wiping off
the excess with kitchen paper. Then I refit.

I've tried the little plastic clip-on cleaner devices, and my experience
is they're nearly as much hassle as taking the chain off, and much less
effective.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; this is not a .sig

"Simon Brooke" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

in message <[email hidden]>, Martin Newstead

(') said:

Doki said:

Do you bother cleaning the thing, or just stick a bit of oil on every
so often? I'm using finish line x-country or some such, and have one
of those halfords chain cleaners, but no degreaser to go in it...

I use Diesel. Remove the chain, soak it in Diesel while fettling the
rest of the bike, brush the chain while it is still immersed, with a
tooth brush, wipe away the excess, refit and relube.

Ditto, except parafin rather than diesel. Similar stuff, but I find the
smell much less unpleasant. I also hang the chain up to dry for at
least a couple of hours - usually overnight - and then relube it before
refitting it. After lubing I leave the chain for as long as possible
for the lube to capilarise its way into the rollers before wiping off
the excess with kitchen paper. Then I refit.

I've tried the little plastic clip-on cleaner devices, and my experience
is they're nearly as much hassle as taking the chain off, and much less
effective.

I tried to take my shimano quick release chain off the other week. I found
the link, but couldn't be bothered to figure out why it seemed to be stuck.
Must find some cheap swarfega.

Kenneth Clements said:

I use citrus all purpose cleaner from the supermarket in my chain cleaner. 1
litre bottles are a fraction of the cycling specific products prices.

Ken, have you got a brand name or anything for that? Couldn't find
anything similar in the local Waitrose. Thanks