Basic Road Bicycle Maintenance : Cleaning a Bicycle Chain

[timgaylehughes]

dude expert village is nuts... 130000+ videos??????

[shimanopower]

dirt isn't biodegradable? 

[WRTYIO]

I think that chain cleaning box is just a 'faff' doesn't an old rag and with appropriate cleaning solution just do the same job. You still have to clean the cassette with something else anyway.

[datboysha40]

Use water to rinse the excess? LOL. I think the best way is to use a light degreaser like Simple Green and a towel. Spray the degreaser on the towel and rotate the chain through. Then use a lube of your choice, and lube each link connection with a few drops. Let the chain soak in the lube, then go back with a clean towel and get the excess lube by rotating in chain throw the towel. Tadow. Sometimes it's better to use a small amount of degreaser in a towel, just to get the road grime off.

[210482fmj]

save urself money and don't buy a chain cleaner. some degreaser and a plastic tub if you can remove the chain easily and a brush then rinse and dry with cloth then toss in a tub with some oil. dry and not dispose of the the dirty water on the ground or let it go down drains. instead soak it up from the plastic tub with tissue paper and bin the paper. much better for enviroment as it can then be incineratedb without water pollution

[danyel19090]

hmmm I don't like to clean the chain with water because of the rust and for the free wheel it will be rusted

[peterpiranha]

bitch can clean her own driveway.

[IYUB30]

Thank you very much! This helped a lot.

[95bradders95]

thanks, this helped me out a lot

[1996shakeandbake]

where do you get that cleaner thing

[barrylachapelle]

Thanks for this. Helped a newbie.

[electrocomm]

i wait for new videos. This guy is so funny

[middlemanclayton]

why not spray WD-40 on the chain and the gears while ur spinning it....

[TagumTrailRider]

@middlemanclayton WD-40 for some reason is not good for the chain( i Just heard that from some people), and if you spray WD-40 directly to the chain, you might also accidentally include the discbrakes or the rim which make your brakes slip(very dangerous if you're going really fast)

[chrisbear08]

if you were to take your bike into a dealership. would they do a better job than you can do?

[bcb0xer]

dont put water on ur bike.. it will make it rust.

[Micsilma]

Robert,

Normalmente, quando vou realizar a limpeza da Bike eu primeiro, limpo toda a mecância com querozene e depois com agua e sabão, em seguida seco com um pano limpo, e faço a lubrificação com cera especifica para bike. no caso de rolamentos internos, prefiro levar a bike em uma oficina especializada.

O que vc acha ? Estou fazendo corretamente a limpeza ?

tks

Michael Martins

Campinas, SP, Brasil

[cuevarap]

If you run out of chain cleaning fluid, properly diluted dishwasher liquid soap in your chain washer can also do the trick. Then give it a wet old rag treatment, dry it afterwards with an old dry one. Finally, a good lubrication process and you're off.

[StormyTgurl]

Split your chain once with a chain splitter buy two Wippermann ConneX links. Slip your chain off, submerge in a container full of paraffin (cheap) leave it for a while, clean up chainrings and cassette, wash chain in water, re-join chain by hand with one of your conneX links (keep the other as a spare, should you get a chain break on you) Lube with Wax not oil much better and less fiddly than a chain scrubber

[303030WORKS]

A great, helpful video.  Thanks.

[bastardmakervdh]

use water to clean off the gunk?!? isn't water the enemy of metal?

I think after the chain has been passed through the cleaning tool you should just use an old rag to clean off the excess so that you don't rust your chain.

[regger270]

exactly. this old man is crazy.

[Usethebanana]

You shouldn't keep your bike in a constant wet environment, like a bath. That is true. But it is able to handle some water. The lube should protect it from water. I mean. It's not going to rust in the 5 minutes that it had water on it.

You take your bike out, when it rains, right? Did you see it rust on the spot while you were staring at it?

[bastardmakervdh]

well I generally try to avoid biking in the rain if I can. I just don't understand why he wouldn't take an old rag and use that instead of hosing it down; that seems a lot more logical solution considering this is a bike maintenance/preservation video.

[Usethebanana]

The reason I can think of is, using the chain cleaner you can losen a lot of the dirt and all the little parts are soaked and come loose. But using a rag you can only clean the surfaces you can reach, but all the dust that came loose will still be stuck on the inside and against the edges of the parts. Running water over the chain would wash away these loose particles. then dry it and lube it to protect it again.

But I wouldn't hose it down, too much power will force water inside the bearings

[bastardmakervdh]

ya, too much force on the bearings and I would assume it could get in between the links so that's no good either. bottom line: watering can cause rusting and general stiffening in your links. you should probably use that machine a few more times after it has dried and a new chains are dirt cheap.

[seosean]

@Usethebanana Actually I do see it rust where I'm staring at it. After having my bike out on some rides while it rained for a few days I see rust all over the entire chain.

[Usethebanana]

Well duh... Never said you should leave it out in the rain. Did not ask either if you see rust WHERE your're staring, but WHILE you're staring (in other words, do you see rust growing in a matter of seconds?)

If you read the comments, my point was you can use water to clean your chain, but you should ALSO dry the chain afterwards. But it won't suddenly fall apart if you use water on it.

[PemboCycling]

@bastardmakervdh I use water through the chain cleaner at the end of cleaning since it will flush any degreaser out.

Water + oil = oiled chain

Degreaser + oil = no oiled chain

Never had a problem as the chain is dried with a rag as it exits the cleaner (so isnt dragged onto other components) and after 10 - 15 mins I put oil on the chain.

[ospTube]

He has a wife? Lol (I doubt it... mby a partner)

[jpastonc]

Don't be a bloody idiot.

[Marchand2]

Thanks for the video, really appreciate people like you helping new riders with bicycle maintenance tips.

[ZippOnFire]

are you like 240 years old?

[jaffacake4life]

hah u dont want ur wife to fiind an oily drive, do you even have a wife, if u do shes probably sick of your obsession with having ur bike completely spotless and having to wash that same top over and over for each of ur videos

[zebra3567]

hey I have also a tool like that but this man showed me I was using it in the wrong way. The best advice comes from an old man :) 5 stars

[steveeb]

This method is not necessary. Wipe chain with rag after each ride. Lube when it starts to make noise. The chain throws grime to the outer sides, the rag then removes enough of it to keep it reasonally clean.Ride more, clean less!

[fordieform]

jeese finally a guy who may or may not be an expert but at least has experience

-hero

[samechazwres9311]

those blue tires r nice.. wat size r they

[byen8]

dont clean the chain, be a man, let the gunk build up nicely

[00sven00sven00]

well if its road grime just put it back on the road where it came from!

[joecompy]

Every town should have a hazardous waste pickup day (usually at town DPW) where you can bring your collected dirty chain cleaner solution.

[SooofreshSoooclean]

he says the solution he uses is biodegradable and the oil and grit in the chain isn't.... SOOO what the heck do you do with the solution after the cleaning? Do you just poor it down the drain, outside, or have to filter out the oil/grit? I'm very environmental friendly and I love riding bikes but what is the point of biodegrable solution when the grim your cleaning isnt' and you need to put more effort to disposing the remains... Any one know what to do with the solution after cleaning chain?

[lamborghinicrazy9]

The grime and dirt that comes off when/if you filter it is dirt and sand and some dust maybe and this is part of the earth. the other lube and grease that is on it will mix with the solution. if you want to get serious, you could recycle the previous lube by using it again (although grimy), but most of it will mix with the cleaning solution. excellent question.I understand that you dont want that grease going into the environment, good on you, much respect.Hope i help. Maybe there are other ways

[ghostrid3]

for my bike i just keep using WD-40 on the chain. Anything left over goes in gutter with all my other used oil and antifreeze

[regger270]

Fuck you, it's not supposed to do that.

[spicetrader]

You know, my bike didn't come with one of those stands. Nor do I have the chain cleaning box or magic fluid. How about if I just spray some olive oil on the chain and sprockets and go for a ride?

[motobecaneguy2]

hmm thats a great idea!

[j5sully2012]

or you could go buy one and not be a big asshole! that sounds like a good idea.

[nomadito]

Extremelly valuable instructions. Thank you very much!

[sphinxrising58]

The easiest way to clean your bike, sprokets, chains is found at your local car wash, only make sure you put it on high pressure rinse, & recall to lube everything after it dries.

[ilikevidsandcoolstuf]

when did i get a wife........

[bo1wei4]

Ohh... OK, soo i have to use a chain cleaner, AND chain cleaner fluid... who would have known!

[xweexsamix]

thankss helped alot

[opmdevil]

I would not use any dissolvent to clean up the chain. All the oil that has been inside the chain will come off and, i admit, the chain is clean, but there is no lubrication inside.

Easiest and the proper way to clean up the chain is just put oil on the chain and then use a cloth of something so around the chain and backpedal like now on the video.

[nubetre]

That's only lubrication, opm. If you don't clean your chain all the roadborne grit and general nastiness just gets worse and worse. Ideally, if you have a Powerlink or something along those lines, you should take your chain off to clean it proper, but that can be a pain.

[hunthicks]

Just relubricate. Anywhere the cleaner can get, the oil can get.

[opmdevil]

If you use cleaner you usually remove all the oil from the inside of the chain. If you then just spray some oil on the chain, the oil is on the surface on the chain, not inside the rivets and that's worse than having sme grit.

When i used to clean my chain with cleaner, I afterwards took the chain off and put it i a jar of oil. Then I let it be in the jar for a while so that oil gets everywhere, then I would take the chain out and let it drain and then I'd wipe it clean. Awfull mess.

[SnowmobileFreakDon]

oh my goodness who wouldn't know how to change a good dang tire???????????? or any shite like dat!! geebuss!!