Finally got some mineral spirits from home depot and did some cleaning. Since I did not have a chain breaking tool I just disassembled the rear derailleur and dipped the end of the chain into a small bucket with the spirits rotating the crank and shaking the loose end of the chain in the spirits. The chain was soo filthy. The spirits are completely black. I bottled them back up after I was done but I'm not sure if I should have even bothered. I can see the metal on that chain again! Washed the 11 tooth sprokets from the derailleur while I was at it. Tons of gunk accumulated over the two years that I had the bike for. I was lubing the chain from time to time but never bothered to clean it until now. I suppose a day or two is enough to let the dry in an assembled state before I re-lube? Did I need to pack any grease into the derrailleur sprokets upon reassembly? Chainring and the cogset are next.
Finally got some mineral spirits from home depot and did some cleaning....
What would have been wrong with spritzing everything with something like Simple Green and hosing it all off with water from a garden hose (and letting it dry) before doing what you did? Seems like you would have gotten rid of most of the surface gunk pretty easily.
Finally got some mineral spirits from home depot and did some cleaning. Since I did not have a chain breaking tool I just disassembled the rear derailleur and dipped the end of the chain into a small bucket with the spirits rotating the crank and shaking the loose end of the chain in the spirits. The chain was soo filthy. The spirits are completely black. I bottled them back up after I was done but I'm not sure if I should have even bothered. I can see the metal on that chain again! Washed the 11 tooth sprokets from the derailleur while I was at it. Tons of gunk accumulated over the two years that I had the bike for. I was lubing the chain from time to time but never bothered to clean it until now. I suppose a day or two is enough to let the dry in an assembled state before I re-lube? Did I need to pack any grease into the derrailleur sprokets upon reassembly? Chainring and the cogset are next.
Did you measure the chain pitch before cleaning? It could be time to replace the chain.
Finally got some mineral spirits from home depot and did some cleaning....
What would have been wrong with spritzing everything with something like Simple Green and hosing it all off with water from a garden hose (and letting it dry) before doing what you did? Seems like you would have gotten rid of most of the surface gunk pretty easily.
That will only get gunk off the outside of the chain (where it's mostly harmless) and leave it on the inside bearing surfaces (where the damage is done). Also it's a good way to get simple green and chain gunk laced water into places it shouldn't go, like hub bearings.
To the OP: Don't grease the sprockets, you want them as clean and dry as you can keep them. Anything on there will just attract road grit and transfer it to the chain. (Or just look nasty) Since there's very little friction between the chain and the sprockets (The chain rollers roll around the pin, not in the sprocket tooth) it won't accomplish anything anyway.
Finally got some mineral spirits from home depot and did some cleaning. Since I did not have a chain breaking tool I just disassembled the rear derailleur and dipped the end of the chain into a small bucket with the spirits rotating the crank and shaking the loose end of the chain in the spirits. The chain was soo filthy. The spirits are completely black. I bottled them back up after I was done but I'm not sure if I should have even bothered. I can see the metal on that chain again! Washed the 11 tooth sprokets from the derailleur while I was at it. Tons of gunk accumulated over the two years that I had the bike for. I was lubing the chain from time to time but never bothered to clean it until now. I suppose a day or two is enough to let the dry in an assembled state before I re-lube? Did I need to pack any grease into the derrailleur sprokets upon reassembly? Chainring and the cogset are next.
Did you measure the chain pitch before cleaning? It
Yes. It's well under 12 1/16s" for 12 links.
Quoted message said:
could be time to replace the chain.
Not yet. I probably still have less than 3000 miles on the bike (and that original chain). What's the chain&sproket material on Specialized Allez? (It's a tiagra/ 105 mix). The 11T sprokets looked almost as if they were made of some hard black plastic.
Finally got some mineral spirits from home depot and did some cleaning. Since I did not have a chain breaking tool I just disassembled the rear derailleur and dipped the end of the chain into a small bucket with the spirits rotating the crank and shaking the loose end of the chain in the spirits. The chain was soo filthy. The spirits are completely black. I bottled them back up after I was done but I'm not sure if I should have even bothered. I can see the metal on that chain again! Washed the 11 tooth sprokets from the derailleur while I was at it. Tons of gunk accumulated over the two years that I had the bike for. I was lubing the chain from time to time but never bothered to clean it until now.
Well then all this was a waste of time. You chain and cogset is definitely worn.
Not yet. I probably still have less than 3000 miles on the bike (and that original chain).
Do you know the exact figure? I'd have thought that it must be *considerably* less than 3000 miles if the chain is not worn to the point where it needs replacing.
