Quick / Basic chain maitenance after commuting in the winter months

[John_S]

Hi NUKe, meic, Brucey & robc02,

Thanks for your messages.

NUKe, I must admit I don’t have that much time because at weekends I’m either doing various activities with the kids and with the rest of the time my other half tends to fill it with other (non-cycling) related jobs. However I do my best to clean my bike every weekend which includes cleaning the drivetrain with either Morgan Blue or Muc-Off drivetrain cleaner and then once clean & dry I use Muc-Off wet lube (in the winter) and dry lube (in the summer). At the moment I’m just trying to work out the best way to keep on top of the bear minimum drivetrain cleaning maintenance/cleaning after the weekday winter commutes given that I’m fairly time poor.
I must admit I’d not considered the hot chainsaw oil idea but I’m sure it’s a sound idea if based on Sheldon Brown’s advice. Howver but I’m pretty sure my wife might curtail any attempts to cook my chain in hot oil in our kitchen.

meic, that’s not a bad idea re: having multiple chains and the ability to swap & clean them. Re: a chaincase whilst I definitely agree that would help to keep my drivetrain cleaner they never keep 100% of the muck out and I think that then when it comes to cleaning it makes the job more fiddly. I quite like the single chain ring single sprocket set up on my IGH because at least there’s easy access to everything when I do clean it.

Brucey, I am in the flat lands of East Anglia and so I definitely know what you’re talking about with the salty road brine covering the bike in the colder months when the gritters are out. Unfortunately being realistic time wise giving my bike a complete wash every day is just not practical timewise but I do my best to wash the complete bike as often as I can. Re: a protective agent I currently use Muc-Off Miracle Shine was on the frame. I do have some ACF50 but so far I’ve only used that on certain parts of the frame. I’ve used it where some water got into the frame on a small tube between the seat & chainstay where the frame had two of the exhaust gas holes (I think that’s what they are) from when the frame was made). I’ve also used ACF50 inside the seat tube where some water can get in.

robc0, thanks for the tips and that’s definitely doable and is a useful tip to help me keep on top of things on a daily basis.


This is actually the first winter that I’ll be using this bike. Prior to now I’ve been using a Trek 7.1FX aluminium hybrid. This bike was over ten years old and it was second hand when I bought it for about £30 when it wasn’t in great condition. I replaced parts where necessary and this is the bike that I’ve been using for the last few years during the winter. Now I know it’s no excuse but because I’d got this bike quite cheaply although I did keep the bike in safe & working order beyond that my approach to cleaning was pretty laissez-faire which meant it was not done very often.

However the Trek was written off in an accident at the end of last year which is why I’ll now be using the Day One in the winter now instead of just in the spring/summer/autumn as I did before. Re: the Day One I’ve kept it in really good condition which is why I now need to figure out a more rigorous cleaning regime than I had with the Trek. However that cleaning regime has to take into account the lack of midweek time.

Cheers,

John

[John_S]

Hi Vorpal, pwa and freeflow,

Thanks for the extra tips & advice.


Vorpal, yes I guess it definitely depends on the conditions with the salty roads following gritting being the harshest on bikes and I'll try my best to really keep on top of things in these conditions. When I do clean the chain at the weekends I do use a Muc-Off chain cleaner which is the bos into which I put the cleaning solution.

pwa, cheers for the tip and a 5 minute make-do clean is definitely the type of thing I'm after.

freeflow, thanks for the tips and following your message and ones above considering another chain is something I'll look at.

Thanks, John

[meic]

I dont normally do things the disposable way but
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/kmc- ... lsrc=aw.ds

Buy three of these for £5 each. Allowing for six months of winter, they get 1200 miles each then throw them away. In the meantime you can not have the burden of chain care at the end of a dark commute after a day's work. You can literally afford to dispose of them if you neglect them too much.

Another option is to save up "end of life" chains and use them in the worst winter months if you have equally worn chainrings.

[John_S]

Hi meic,

Thanks for the link!

I must admit I'm against what is now our throw away disposable culture in our society as I'd like, if possible, to keep my personal impact & use of resources as low as practical. I'm not really a fan of buying incredibly cheap and then throwing away.

However as a cyclist instead of motorised transport commuter I guess I'm already doing a little bit for the environment and so if that possibly means going through a few extra chains then I might have to consider it.

Cheers,

John

[Mr Evil]

...To combat this there are only two approaches that I know to work;

1) washing your bike daily and then spraying it with a water displacer and/or
2) using a protective agent of some kind. I like waxoyl, but it is messy (oh yeah!). Some folk swear by ACF50, but I have yet to try it for myself.

3) Make the bike entirely from titanium, carbon fibre, and stainless steel.

I only wish someone would make stainless steel chains and cassettes.

[landsurfer]

Vorpal .."particulates from diesels. " are abrasive ?
Cause wear in mechanical devices ?
Please put a link to the Science please .... never realised that ....

[reohn2]

IMHO life is too short for maintenance if you ride twice daily in all weather.

My winter maintenance routine is simple:

Lube chain often, but sparingly with chain oil, including every time it rains heavily during a commute. If anything seizes, spray with WD40 and wiggle it. Replace chain and cassette at Spring equinox.

Does me for 2-3000ish winter miles, with fairly muddy back roads included. I might do a complete drivetrain clean/degrease once in the Xmas hols, but certainly not monthly, let alone daily or weekly.

[waits for opprobrium to rain down]

I think I'd have to agree wit that,other than the WD40 which I find GT85 far cleaner.

[landsurfer]

IMHO life is too short for maintenance if you ride twice daily in all weather.

My winter maintenance routine is simple:

Lube chain often, but sparingly with chain oil, including every time it rains heavily during a commute. If anything seizes, spray with WD40 and wiggle it. Replace chain and cassette at Spring equinox.

Does me for 2-3000ish winter miles, with fairly muddy back roads included. I might do a complete drivetrain clean/degrease once in the Xmas hols, but certainly not monthly, let alone daily or weekly.

[waits for opprobrium to rain down]

I think I'd have to agree wit that,other than the WD40 which I find GT85 far cleaner.

Me too, just a pragmatic engineering approach, can't fault it ....Also understand the cheap chain approach, as long as the chains are re-cycled why not ...

[Vorpal]

Vorpal .."particulates from diesels. " are abrasive ?
Cause wear in mechanical devices ?
Please put a link to the Science please .... never realised that ....

Well, it causes wear in engines. There are many many studies about the wear caused by diesel particulates in engines. http://link.springer.com/article/10.100 ... 016-0704-9 is just one example. If you want more do an internet search on 'diesel particulates abrasive wear' or similar.

The thing about it is that they are tiny particles; small enough to be suspended in lubricants. Which handily puts them where they do the most damage.

[John_S]

Hi Mr Evil,

If you're offering me a titanium or stainless steel bike I'll happily take it.

Back to my own bike and I'm going to do the best I can to protect it through the winter. One thing stainless I do have is stainless steel cables upgraded from the stock ones so hopefully they may help a little bit.

Following the link from meic I've taken a look at the chain.

At the moment my bike has an SRAM PC-1 chain on it.

https://www.sram.com/sram/road/products/pc-1-chain

Is there any general consensus between which chains are better between SRAM and KMC or at my price level are they pretty much of a muchness?

Also if I go for a KMC chain is the B1S chain from the link the best one to go for or are there others from the KMC range that people would recommend?

http://www.kmcchain.eu/chain-bmx_track_fixie

Thanks again for all of the advice & help!

John

[John_S]

Just realised there's also another page of chains compatible with single speed on the KMC website.

http://www.kmcchain.eu/chain-touring_city

[John_S]

Actually having read more of the KMC website and following on from Mr Evil's message where he's said:-

I only wish someone would make stainless steel chains and cassettes.

Is this the ultimate chain for a single speed / IGH bike because it's made from stainless steel?

http://www.kmcchain.eu/chain-KMC_Z1X_Inox-touring_city-wide

https://www.bike24.com/p295793.html

[Brucey]

if you want not to use a lot of chains, get a Hebie Chainglider; the chain will last about x3 as long (or more) in foul weather with one of these, (even if you don't clean it all winter long) and you can use a really heavy and effective chain lube that would otherwise attract grit etc far too much.

cheers

[700c]

Wipe with Cloth.
WD40 spray and leave overnight for it to evaporate.

On the weekend give it a proper clean and lube if you have time.

Done.

[John_S]

Following the message from Brucey I thought I'd take a look at the Herbie Chainglider but does anyone know if it'll work with the Alfine 8?

If for example you look on Rose Bikes ( https://www.rosebikes.co.uk/article/hebie-chainglider-rear-part-350-r-chain-guard/aid:2666222 ) it says:-

350 R D18 is e.g. suitable for Shimano gear hubs of the Nexus series and after modification also for Alfine SG-5700/501. Information at http://www.hebie.de

Then if you look on the Herbie website there's this pdf:-

http://www.hebie.de/fileadmin/pdf/chainglider/Hebie_Info_Alfine-CG_eng_05-2012.pdf

The Herbie pdf document says:-

The angled Alfine cog must be replaced with a straight cog from e.g. SRAM (http://www.sram.com) or ESJOT (http://www.esjot.com).

To be honest I don't really want to mess about with changing my rear sprocket.

Thanks for any thoughts.

John