chain cleaners

In article <[email hidden]>, Roy Gordon

royg_XOUT@sonic_xout.com said:

Chain cleaner for my road bike. Campy 10 spd chain.

Any recs, comments, etc. most appreciated.

Rag with a little paint thinner to remove the oily crud then an old toothbrush.
Then use small amounts of oil to relubricate. Leave it on the bike while you
do so.

You are better off not immersing the chain in solvent. And you'll have more
time for riding and internet posting.

Tom Gibb <[email hidden]>

(TBGibb) said:

In article <[email hidden]>, Roy Gordon
<royg_XOUT@sonic_xout.com> writes:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Chain cleaner for my road bike. Campy 10 spd chain.

Any recs, comments, etc. most appreciated.

I bought a PARK chain cleaner and used it on a 1990 santana tandem
that i had bought used - stored outside. And yes, i've used the
oily-rag method many times in the past, and even the overnight soak in
kerosene-in-a-coffee-can method.

I have to say that the PARK tool did a spectacular job very quickly
and saved me a lot of time over the kerosene method. I was able to
reuse the chain soap for the second chain. I've since looked at other
cleaning units, and you might save $10, but they often come with no
cleaning fluid, or half the number of bristles, or just 2 or one
wheel, etc. Those cheaper units would be a false economy, imho. The
park unit gets between rollers which is difficult with the oily-rag
or kerosene method.

Chain solvents are carcinogens and the park unit keeps the carcinogens
away from the skin. So, IMHO a chain cleaner is also good for your
body an your longevity.

If dirty chains are a problem for you, I recommend this tool. At a
price of about 2x the cost of an SRAM PC-68 chain ($35), you will need
to have dirty chains a lot to recoup your money - maybe if you do
all-weather riding, or muddy mountain biking. My initial thought was
that I would have to trash these tandem chains, but they literally
sparkled after cleaning, so it paid for itself. I have some vintage
chains that I want to re-use until they are stretched out too far, and
this tool is a good value when replacement chains are costly or
difficult to find.

- Don Gillies
San Diego, CA

(TBGibb) said:

In article <[email hidden]>, Roy Gordon
<royg_XOUT@sonic_xout.com> writes:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Chain cleaner for my road bike. Campy 10 spd chain.

Any recs, comments, etc. most appreciated.

I bought a PARK chain cleaner and used it on a 1990 santana tandem
that i had bought used - stored outside. And yes, i've used the
oily-rag method many times in the past, and even the overnight soak in
kerosene-in-a-coffee-can method.

I have to say that the PARK tool did a spectacular job very quickly
and saved me a lot of time over the kerosene method. I was able to
reuse the chain soap for the second chain. I've since looked at other
cleaning units, and you might save $10, but they often come with no
cleaning fluid, or half the number of bristles, or just 2 or one
wheel, etc. Those cheaper units would be a false economy, imho. The
park unit gets between chain bushing which is difficult with the
oily-rag or kerosene method w/toothbrush.

Chain solvents are carcinogens and the park unit keeps the carcinogens
away from the skin. So, IMHO a chain cleaner is also good for your
body and could extend your own life (in a statistical sense.)

If dirty chains are a problem for you, I recommend this tool. At a
price of about 2x the cost of an SRAM PC-68 chain ($35), you will need
to have dirty chains a lot to recoup your money - maybe if you do
all-weather riding, or muddy mountain biking. My initial thought was
that I would have to trash these tandem chains, which seemed to be
covered in dried molasses, but they literally sparkled after 5 minutes
of cleaning, so the tool paid for itself. I have some vintage chains
that I want to re-use until they are stretched out too far, and this
tool is a good value when replacement chains are costly or difficult
to find.

- Don Gillies
San Diego, CA