Gear and chain oil - Page 2

Pedro's degreaser and finish line lube after all rides. I do this religiously without a bike stand living in Manhattan in a studio apartment. Yes, after every ride I drag my bike up a flight of stairs, grab all my rags, degreasers, lubes, and brushes head back down outside with my bike AGAIN to clean it. Then after cleaning it I drag everything all the way back up the stairs. That reminds me I should get a bike stand with bag holder and pockets this way I can just lug stuff up and down from my apartment. Laborious yes? that's the price you pay for living in a brownstone in Manhattan.

Not really surprising considering the fact that WD-40 is not a lubricant...

Why do you clean and lube your chain so much?

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Because the bike is 1.5months old and I'm trying to keep it as fresh as possible. Plus don't really feel like dropping more cash on ala carte sram gruppo components, if at most I'd upgrade the spider on my s900 crank to a cinqo / quarg or go a complete red cinqo/quarg setup. Maintanence helps me keep an eye on the amount of work I put on the bike, scan the carbon for cracks, etc. Probably just the anal new purchase inspection after every ride, then again it's rather nice doing so.

That makes sense, although I've never experienced that. My Look 595, right now, has muddy water dried all over the down tube, seat tube, and chainstays. She is, after all, a working girl.

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I really don't have another +4k to drop on another bike, my lifestyle doesn't afford it. My belief is to keep and maintain a good machine and it'll treat me right. I expect her to take me through next year's NY Tri (yes doing a tri with a roadie) as well as many more century rides.

I'm not exactly flush with cash, and I certainly don't have the money to replace my bike. However, following my usual standard of care, my Campy Record component group is still functioning perfectly after 4 years; my frame is perfectly fine; the wheels roll true and free; and my chains, which only get a drop/link of ProLink every 100-150 miles, still last a very long time. The current chain is approaching the 5,000 mile mark w/ no extra love needed.

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I follow about the same maintenance routine as Alienator, with fine results. My chain and cassette get a real cleaning about once a year. Rest of the time, Prolink is all it takes, with an occaisional wipe-down with a rag when the chain looks dirty. Certainly would clean the drivetrain often if I thought that helped extend life, but IMO all frequent cleaning does is enhance the bling factor.

Understand some people enjoy cleaning and seeing a shiny cassette and chain at the start of every ride. As long as you're not using any strong solvents or alkali or phosphate-based cleaners, frequent cleaning probably won't hurt anything.

I do about the same routine too, except that I still use Tri Flow with teflon ( I probably will use it till it's used up ) and I only lube about once a month, unless something unusual happens.

I usually don't clean the chain, chain rings, or cassette during riding season.

But, I will wipe down the frame, seat, handle bars, wheels, tires, etc with a damp cloth a couple of times. I usually use Meguiar's NXT spray wax on the frame, just to add some protection and shine.

During the winter they each spend time on the repair stand getting thoroughly cleaned, that's when I usually clean and re-lube the greasy parts and I put a couple of coats of Meguiar's NXT paste wax on the frames and rub down a lot of the unpainted/unchromed metal parts with Eagle One.

A few questions on chain maintenance:

1. How often do you find yourself cutting a chain over the course of its life, and why do you do it?
2. How many of you use the Park Tools CM-5 chain scrubber? If not, are there other tools or cleaning methods you would recommend?

I just bought some replacement pins for a 10s Ultegra chain so that I could explore maintenance with the chain removed. It seems like cutting the chain too often would accelerate its deterioration, though I can see how it can allow for better cleaning. For my standards of "clean", I could see myself never cutting the chain, except for when it needs replacement. I'm curious to know the norms of others out there, though. Can any of you remember the approximate number of times you cut the same chain before finally replacing it?

For routine chain cleaning, I had been using the CM-5 scrubber, which worked great until it got left behind during a recent move. So, I'm looking into cleaning methods. I might just get the same tool again, but I'm interested to try something different.

Thanks for any info.

Generally once, but my link has a removable link.

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I am wondering if Record chain has significantly smaller clearances than 105. If you flex your chain from side to side in your hands, do you hear/feel any sand or grit inside? That'll usually get me to clean a chain.

Of course, maybe some people are better than me about riding inside the white line where cars keep the road swept, but I wonder if it's possible to get 5,000 miles with that condition.

Can you say which brand of removable link and whether you'd recommend it? I'm assuming it's for Campy Record from other posts.

I was also looking into what was needed to cut my Campy 10s chain and was shown a short piece of chain at the LBS. They said that I needed to replace part of the chain with it, but it was very pricey. The alternative they showed was the removable link. However, they said that the link caused its own noise, which was a problem for some. I decided I'd better wait for next time, but still think the removable link is a good idea and would like to learn more.

Thanks,

Only shorten the chain when it's new, never take a chain off for cleaning. Have used SRAM with the master link, but prefer Shimano chains now. Although I've never ruined a Shimano chain when shortening or re-connecting it, imo it's an unnecessary risk and expense to do this routinely for cleaning since I don't believe in soaking or deep-cleaning a chain anyway.

Have a Performance-brand chain cleaner "machine", and admit I used it after returning from a trip to NM and CO this summer. Must be more grit out west than we have here in the humid south, because the drivetrain was really pretty dirty and gritty after 500 miles out there.

Concerning cleaning on the rest of the bike, I do try to wash sweat and sport drink off the frame tubes after every long ride, to prevent corrosion of the aluminum. Plus, it gets a good overall wash with detergent about once a month. Just keeping the finish clean seems to be enough: paint still looks fine after 5 years although it's never been waxed.

Note, not here to convince anyone to change their cleaning rituals, but just sharing mine.

I don't use a Record chain. Instead I'm using a KMC X10 SL, and all KMC chains come with a removable link.

The only real problem I get with grit is when the winds are blowing. You can imagine that in the desert, we've got plenty of stuff that can go airborne. I've found, though, that doing 2 laps of the chain w/ ProLink when the dust and sand have been really blowing.........well, i've found that cleans the chain really well.

When this chain is done I'm gonna get a Campy UN chain. It's been quite a while since I've had any experience with a Shimano chain.

__________________
Sex is horrid
Pain is Fun
I cut my fingers off
One by one