how to clean bike gears and chain

By dipping often, brushing and, when the chain is clean, wiping off the excess solvent, you’ll get things spic and span. I try not to get it muddy, but have used car washes (carefully), and can do a descent job with a 1 gal jug of water. Discover the right way to look after bike chains. LiveAbout uses cookies to provide you with a great user experience. With the right supplies and know-how, your bike chain could be clean in a half hour or less. Last Updated: September 6, 2019 For cleaning your bike, first either move outside or find a place such as a garage or basement where it won't be the end of the world if you drip on the floor. Use degreaser on the cassette and chain Spray more degreaser over the chain and cassette and give them a scrub. You might want to take a few pictures with your cell phone of of these parts so you have a reference when it comes time to reattach your chain. Soaking also give your degreaser time to break up thick or stubborn grime. It is made up of four parts: a cassette (collection of gears on your back wheel), a rear derailleur (metal arm on the back wheel), chain rings (big gears next to your pedals), and the chain. By using our site, you agree to our. If you don’t have a chain cleaning tool, use a rag. Feel the master link with your fingers to make sure it is properly fastened. How to Clean Bike Gears. Some products, like WD-40 or CRC, are not suitable for bicycle chain lubrication and could shorten the life of your chain. There are 18 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. Manually clean the cassette, chainrings (or the whole driveside crank), and chain in a degreaser bath. Shift the gears on your bike while turning the pedals so that the chain is on the largest ring in the front and on the smallest socket in the back. Using a gear brush really helps you to get into the cassette cogs. Follow that up by drying the bike thoroughly with a few clean, dry rags. A dirty and rusty chain makes you work harder, ruins gear shifting, and can damage the other parts of the drivetrain. It took them 40 times to figure out the formula that is now known as WD-40. It'll never be perfectly clean with this five-minute approach, but do your best and you'll definitely see results as you wipe away most of the grime. This article was co-authored by Ikaika Cox. Every bike chain degreaser on the market possesses similar features that enable them to eradicate all forms of grime and debris, but the Runaway Bike Degreaser is one product that offers customers with more than a bicycle maintenance item. This helps take away the final bits of grease and other crud that were dislodged as you cleaned with a brush and worked at the pulleys and gears. Shift gears so that the chain is on one end of the cassette. If it feels as though the chain is caked or that its movement is limited by grime, it's time to clean. This will help protect the chain from rust, make your pedaling more efficient, and extend the life of your chain. As long as the chain isn’t really grimy, you’ll be able to wipe off the greasy mess (photo) with a few minutes of scrubbing. If you don't have a degreaser formulated for bicycle chains available, you can use an equivalent found in your home, though these might not be as strong or fast acting. 59. We use cookies to make wikiHow great. 02. of 06. Where many cyclists would perhaps degrease and clean their chains before re-adding lubricant, others may wish to use WD-40, which will clean you chain and add lubricant at the same time. He received his BA in Literature & Philosophy from Utah Valley University in 2015, and has been a bike mechanic since 2012. Your first rinse in degreaser will be quick, breaking up heavy grime. If the link is skewed, sitting unevenly in its slot, it could warp. If you have a dirty one then it will be slow to shift and will wear down your expensive drivetrain. If you're using WD-40, take advantage of the red straw attachment to focus the spray. Here's how. 3.6 out of 5 stars 624. Your chain is your bike's primary moving part and the one that needs the most love and frequent lubrication. Finally, you'll want to wipe down your chain one final time with a solvent-soaked rag. Ikaika Cox is the Director of Operations at the Provo Bicycle Collective in Provo, Utah. The second bottle can be used to soak the chain for deep cleaning. Keep in mind that this will remove even the factory wax off of the chain, so you will need to lubricate the chain well after you are done. A bike stand is a simple holder for your bicycle that you can buy or build from scrap parts. A clean bike chain will easily shift through the gears. Reattach the chain to your bicycle and lubricate it. You're really just getting the outer surfaces of the chain so there are a couple of additional steps you can take to get your chain that much cleaner if you desire. You can use a specific rotor cleaner or rubbing alcohol to clean the rotors. A chain cleaning sponge (essentially a sponge with a groove cut into the top) makes cleaning a chain easy — just grab the chain in the sponge’s … If you ride in dusty or muddy conditions, you should clean your chain regularly. Sometimes you’ll hear that WD-40 is only for removing water and keeping things rust-fre… FREE Delivery on your first order shipped by Amazon. A chain caked with sludge requires more drastic measures. A poorly maintained chain can hurt the efficiency of this energy transfer, making your bike ride less smooth and more strenuous! {"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/1\/1d\/Clean-a-Bicycle-Chain-Step-1-Version-3.jpg\/v4-460px-Clean-a-Bicycle-Chain-Step-1-Version-3.jpg","bigUrl":"\/images\/thumb\/1\/1d\/Clean-a-Bicycle-Chain-Step-1-Version-3.jpg\/aid550346-v4-728px-Clean-a-Bicycle-Chain-Step-1-Version-3.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":259,"bigWidth":728,"bigHeight":410,"licensing":"