Cycling UK Forum

I have black oil marks on the bottom of my cotton cord trousers. On left leg from rubbing crank. Think I tried Vanish bar with little success. Should I try a solvent eg WD40 with tissue to absorb it?

Vanish bar took the oil off my son's white t-shirt but that was nearly 20 years ago - maybe they've changed the formula. You could try one of the citrus oil degreasers, or even just ordinary cooking oil. I now clean any oil off my hands with a little almond oil and a tissue, then finish off with detergent.

If it it from the left crank it may not be oil but a mixture of aluminium and general dirt.

Rub Swarfega into the oil stains and leave it to soak in for a while before washing. In order for this method to work well, however, it must be done before washing or even wetting the dry fabric.

Vanish doesn't work well, I found that mucoff chain spray cleaner did the trick off my white Lycra panels on my shorts.

Roadster wrote:Rub Swarfega into the oil stains and leave it to soak in for a while before washing. In order for this method to work well, however, it must be done before washing or even wetting the dry fabric.

I keep a separate tub of clean Swarfega for this type of thing. Otherwise, the larger tub used for hand cleaning can contain the dissolved residues from mucky hands. This is my first resort for oil marks, so long as it's something that won't be damaged with water when the Swarfega is cleaned off.

I can't remember Swarfega failing me.

thirdcrank wrote:
so long as it's something that won't be damaged with water when the Swarfega is cleaned off.

I found that out this week, I bought a Paramo Jacket for the winter and it fell off it's hook onto the bike chain leaving a lovely oily mark on

the sleeve ,I gave it a clean with neat Swarfega and rinsed the area , I went out for a rainy ride yesterday and found it had removed all

the waterproofing from that one spot, ironically it didn't remove the oil mark ,possibly due to the waterproofing.

It's always worked before on normal materials,and as Roadster said use it neat on the dry material,then rinse off afterwards

Another Swarfega fan. Has also be successful on chip fat and oven insides - needs must.

Roger.

Nothing seems to get it off my socks.

I use washing up liquid & stain remover. I use a little water and washing up liquid and scrub it a little. If that doesn't get it all out, I put some Ecover stain remover on it while it's still wet, then wash it on the 'stained' cycle in the washing machine. I check that it has come out, and try again if not (it happens occasionally with white or light things). If you put it in the tumber dryer still stained, the heat will set it & it will likely be there forever more.

p.s. swarfega makes me itch

oil looks black because it is full of microscopic particles. I reckon the 'stain' is often comprised not of oil, but of these tiny particles, lodged in the fabric.

cheers

When I saw the thread title I thought it was an answer to the worlds energy problems.

Some 'Forumers' will laugh - scoff indeed - at this, but I always have success in removing bicycle related oil marks from fabrics by cleaning with white spirit.

I'm not telling you what to do, I'm just saying what I do.

Swarfega also works on most handlebar tapes to remove grease or the grub that comes up with time (epsecially when the bike is ridden withough gloves/mitts)

I have used WD40 with success. Bit of paper towel under the stain and then gentle use on top. Check somewhere inconspicuous first in case of worse stains.