Maintaining a shiny silver Chain and Cassette

kunalraiker
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Maintaining a shiny silver Chain and Cassette

Postby kunalraiker » Sun Apr 14, 2013 10:35 am

Question is simple.

How would you maintain a shiny new cassette and chainset to look new and clean.
Would you clean after every ride?
If so what would the cleaning regime involve?

I ask this because I intend to practice it


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bychosis
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Re: Maintaining a shiny silver Chain and Cassette

Postby bychosis » Sun Apr 14, 2013 5:44 pm

If I wanted a clean and shiny chain after every ride I'd have another bike for hanging on the wall or a massive oversupply of new gear to swap to new each time. :wink:
bychosis (bahy-koh-sis): A mental disorder of delusions indicating impaired contact with a reality of no bicycles.

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Re: Maintaining a shiny silver Chain and Cassette

Postby toolonglegs » Sun Apr 14, 2013 7:18 pm

You can get help for OCD.

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Mulger bill
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Re: Maintaining a shiny silver Chain and Cassette

Postby Mulger bill » Sun Apr 14, 2013 7:38 pm

toolonglegs wrote:You can get help for OCD.
Just call 12-345-6789-01-234-5678-90-123-4567-12-345-6789-01-234-5678-90-123-4567
...whatever the road rules, self-preservation is the absolute priority for a cyclist when mixing it with motorised traffic.
London Boy 29/12/2011

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Re: Maintaining a shiny silver Chain and Cassette

Postby toolonglegs » Sun Apr 14, 2013 8:09 pm

12-34-56-78-90-12-34-56-78-90-12-34-56-71-23-45-67-89-01-23-45-67-89-01-23-45-67 :oops:

Image

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RonK
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Re: Maintaining a shiny silver Chain and Cassette

Postby RonK » Sun Apr 14, 2013 8:26 pm

The ShelBroCo chain cleaning method is frequently recommended, and seems perfectly suited to those with OCD.
Cycle touring blog and tour journals: whispering wheels...

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g-boaf
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Re: Maintaining a shiny silver Chain and Cassette

Postby g-boaf » Mon Apr 15, 2013 11:38 am

Some degreaser on the chain and cassette after they've been removed from the bike/wheel. Then hit them with Rock and Roll Gold.

However the ShelBroCo chain cleaning method is highly recommended for best results.

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Re: Maintaining a shiny silver Chain and Cassette

Postby high_tea » Mon Apr 15, 2013 12:13 pm

Everybody is overlooking the simplest solution: apply silver paint after every ride. I hope a helpful solution wasn't called for; in that case I've got nothing.

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Dan
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Re: Maintaining a shiny silver Chain and Cassette

Postby Dan » Mon Apr 15, 2013 12:26 pm

Pfffft, paint is too expensive. Just don't ride the bike at all.

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Re: Maintaining a shiny silver Chain and Cassette

Postby TDC » Mon Apr 15, 2013 1:11 pm

I think the real question is how do I stop the wheels from turning? I have noticed this phenomenon when the bike is moving!

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Re: Maintaining a shiny silver Chain and Cassette

Postby george-bob » Mon Apr 15, 2013 1:45 pm

i have just started experimenting with parrafin wax as lube. so far ive put 200km on the bike since i lubed the chain and it is quieter than ever and hasn't picked up any dirt, looks like it was just cleaned! a little more work, but well worth it as i keep my bike inside and the grease was really difficult to control.
Image

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Dan
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Re: Maintaining a shiny silver Chain and Cassette

Postby Dan » Mon Apr 15, 2013 2:48 pm

TDC wrote:I think the real question is how do I stop the wheels from turning? I have noticed this phenomenon when the bike is moving!
Duh, ride in the stratosphere.

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Re: Maintaining a shiny silver Chain and Cassette

Postby TDC » Mon Apr 15, 2013 2:59 pm

Dan wrote:
TDC wrote:I think the real question is how do I stop the wheels from turning? I have noticed this phenomenon when the bike is moving!
Duh, ride in the stratosphere.
When pumping up the tyres to get up into the stratosphere, is Helium or Hydrogen preferable?

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Dan
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Re: Maintaining a shiny silver Chain and Cassette

Postby Dan » Mon Apr 15, 2013 3:06 pm

TDC wrote:When pumping up the tyres to get up into the stratosphere, is Helium or Hydrogen preferable?
Sheesh, get with it... :roll: Methane, man!

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barefoot
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Re: Maintaining a shiny silver Chain and Cassette

Postby barefoot » Mon Apr 15, 2013 3:18 pm

george-bob wrote:i have just started experimenting with parrafin wax as lube. so far ive put 200km on the bike since i lubed the chain and it is quieter than ever and hasn't picked up any dirt, looks like it was just cleaned! a little more work, but well worth it as i keep my bike inside and the grease was really difficult to control.
That's where I was going to go with this thread.

I've tried straight paraffin in the past, and found it's too brittle (if flakes off and doesn't last long). Then I mixed in some beeswax which was better. Now I add a liberal splash of Nulon engine treatment in my wax brew, and it's great. Google for methods and anecdotes - IIRC Americans tend to use Slick50 instead of Nulon, because that's what they have.

I now consider my wax treatment to be more of a cleaning and cavity filling exercise as it is lubrication. Soaking a chain in a bath of molten wax does a great job of softening any greasy stuff that's on the chain and washing it off. The gritty stuff sinks to the bottom of my electric wok (purchased from the Salvos for the purpose), and the wax soaks in to the chain to fill all the clearances inside, effectively sealing the insides of the chain so nothing bad can get in. Once it's cooled back to room temperature, the outside of the chain is dry, clean and shiny.

I found that a Nulon-waxed chain would give me ~200km of wet-weather commutes before it started sounding like it needed a lube. Rather than repeating the wax bath so often, I now just lube it with a very modest amount of standard wet chain lube. It doesn't take much at all, because there's so little space inside the guts of the chain for it to go... only where the pins have rubbed inside the rollers and pushed the wax away. Wipe the outside of the chain down, and it's good for another couple of hundred almost-as-clean km. Repeat until you can be bothered wax-bathing again.

When it's time to wax the chain again, wipe any grit off and chuck it straight in the wax bath. It's mostly still filled and sealed with wax, so there's not much gunk inside at all. But, inevitably, there's some gunk that ends up in the wax bath. And that's possibly the best thing about using wax as a chain cleaning solvent - it's so easy to clean the wax. Let it stand for a few minutes, and the gunk will settle to the bottom of the molten wax bath. Let it cool, and the gunk will be in a discrete layer at the bottom of the solid wax lump. Melt the dirty wax into a suitable throw-away receptacle, and it's gone. The rest of the block stays quite clean. Top up with clean paraffin as needed. So much easier than trying to decant the clean kero (or whatever) off the sludge in a bottle of dirty liquid solvent that has been left to settle.

I'm sure my wax solution now contains a fair bit of Triflo, Pedros and White Lightning lubes in it, as well as the Nulon I deliberately add. And that does it no harm at all. It's all lube.

tim

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Re: Maintaining a shiny silver Chain and Cassette

Postby Mulger bill » Mon Apr 15, 2013 6:34 pm

Dan wrote:
TDC wrote:When pumping up the tyres to get up into the stratosphere, is Helium or Hydrogen preferable?
Sheesh, get with it... :roll: Methane, man!
It has to be Helium. Methane and Hydrogen for bicycle flight have been outlawed since the failed launch attempt at the first avian velomobile back in 1937...
Image
For the smoothest ride, you'll need the all new Stratocycle AX (Aerocross) 50...
Image
...whatever the road rules, self-preservation is the absolute priority for a cyclist when mixing it with motorised traffic.
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Dan
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Re: Maintaining a shiny silver Chain and Cassette

Postby Dan » Mon Apr 15, 2013 6:43 pm

Not too far fetched ;)

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find_bruce
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Re: Maintaining a shiny silver Chain and Cassette

Postby find_bruce » Mon Apr 15, 2013 8:09 pm

Mulger bill wrote:For the smoothest ride, you'll need the all new Stratocycle AX (Aerocross) 50...
Image
Just the thing to jump the grand canyon :D

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Re: Maintaining a shiny silver Chain and Cassette

Postby alex » Tue Apr 16, 2013 11:45 am

rock n roll gold

use heaps and then wipe it all off the outside of the chain

clean chain and cassette forever

do not ever use muc off 'ceramic' lube
if i get killed while out on my bike i dont want a 'memorial ride' by random punters i have never met.

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Re: Maintaining a shiny silver Chain and Cassette

Postby Marx » Tue Apr 16, 2013 12:56 pm

Clean your chain every ride.
Don’t ride your bike.
Don’t look at your bike after you have ridden it.
Ride with a blindfold.
Don’t ride the same bike twice.
Ask your neighbour to stop you riding your bike.
Give your bike to your neighbour.
Only ride to your neighbour’s house & back.
Remove your chain & concentrate on descending.
Hang your bike on the wall of your loungroom & have your locks changed.
Move to a very dodgy neighbourhood & park your bike in the driveway overnight.
Post a house party invite on Facebook & go out somewhere else that evening.
Get a girlfriend.
Get a dog.
Go on holiday.
Meet someone else who rides their bike, & do what they do.
Buy a second bike, just to look at.
Take a photo of your bike just after cleaning it & stick it on your stem.
Befriend a very pretty girl who rides, then nothing else matters anymore.
-----------------------
A bike and a place to ride.

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Re: Maintaining a shiny silver Chain and Cassette

Postby human909 » Tue Apr 16, 2013 2:34 pm

Marx wrote:Befriend a very pretty girl who rides, then nothing else matters anymore.
Quite true. But it is even better if she is a cyclist as well! :wink:

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Re: Maintaining a shiny silver Chain and Cassette

Postby thejester » Thu Apr 18, 2013 10:59 am

barefoot wrote:
george-bob wrote:i have just started experimenting with parrafin wax as lube. so far ive put 200km on the bike since i lubed the chain and it is quieter than ever and hasn't picked up any dirt, looks like it was just cleaned! a little more work, but well worth it as i keep my bike inside and the grease was really difficult to control.
That's where I was going to go with this thread.

I've tried straight paraffin in the past, and found it's too brittle (if flakes off and doesn't last long). Then I mixed in some beeswax which was better. Now I add a liberal splash of Nulon engine treatment in my wax brew, and it's great. Google for methods and anecdotes - IIRC Americans tend to use Slick50 instead of Nulon, because that's what they have.

I now consider my wax treatment to be more of a cleaning and cavity filling exercise as it is lubrication. Soaking a chain in a bath of molten wax does a great job of softening any greasy stuff that's on the chain and washing it off. The gritty stuff sinks to the bottom of my electric wok (purchased from the Salvos for the purpose), and the wax soaks in to the chain to fill all the clearances inside, effectively sealing the insides of the chain so nothing bad can get in. Once it's cooled back to room temperature, the outside of the chain is dry, clean and shiny.

I found that a Nulon-waxed chain would give me ~200km of wet-weather commutes before it started sounding like it needed a lube. Rather than repeating the wax bath so often, I now just lube it with a very modest amount of standard wet chain lube. It doesn't take much at all, because there's so little space inside the guts of the chain for it to go... only where the pins have rubbed inside the rollers and pushed the wax away. Wipe the outside of the chain down, and it's good for another couple of hundred almost-as-clean km. Repeat until you can be bothered wax-bathing again.

When it's time to wax the chain again, wipe any grit off and chuck it straight in the wax bath. It's mostly still filled and sealed with wax, so there's not much gunk inside at all. But, inevitably, there's some gunk that ends up in the wax bath. And that's possibly the best thing about using wax as a chain cleaning solvent - it's so easy to clean the wax. Let it stand for a few minutes, and the gunk will settle to the bottom of the molten wax bath. Let it cool, and the gunk will be in a discrete layer at the bottom of the solid wax lump. Melt the dirty wax into a suitable throw-away receptacle, and it's gone. The rest of the block stays quite clean. Top up with clean paraffin as needed. So much easier than trying to decant the clean kero (or whatever) off the sludge in a bottle of dirty liquid solvent that has been left to settle.

I'm sure my wax solution now contains a fair bit of Triflo, Pedros and White Lightning lubes in it, as well as the Nulon I deliberately add. And that does it no harm at all. It's all lube.

tim
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Someone, somewhere is brilliant. 99.9% of the cycling universe will never do it, I'm one of those, but talk about a genius solution. I love this stuff.
Graphite powder was used by some, when I was kid. No good in the rain though.
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