"How to clean your bicycle chain
There’s something embarrassing about riding up behind someone on a bike that has a chain on it that sounds like someone grinding away at a metal pole with worn out sandpaper.
I haven’t worked out a polite way of asking someone if they’re deaf or not so I usually just roll my eyes and keep my mouth shut as I pass.
The chain on your bicycle is an essential part of your drive train. Without it, you’re not going anywhere so you probably want to look after it.
The good news is it’s not something you need to do often and is ridiculously easy.
Why should I clean my bicycle chain?
Apart from not going anywhere, longterm neglect of your bicycle chain can lead to premature wearing of your rear cassette (the rear circle things the chain runs on) and your front chainrings.
This happens because bicycle chains are natural crap magnets. Dirt, dust, metal fragments, bits of grass, mangled gladwrap (don’t ask), grease, your girlfriends pubic hairs – I’m not going to pretend I know why bicycle chains attract the most random of stuff but just any cyclist and they’ll tell you the same; they just do.
What happens over time is all this stuff collects on the chain and then slowly grinds away at the components the chain makes contact with, as well as wearing away at the chain itself.
On your rear cassette and front chainrings this means wearing away the ‘teeth’ the chain sits in as it goes over them. Your rear derailleur also has a couple of cogs that can get worn prematurely from a consistently dirty chain which then means the chain will start to slip around.
The chain itself also starts to wear and this is first noticeable in the pedals themselves. As a chain starts to wear out you’ll notice an increase in slack when you pedal forwards before the pedals engage the chain. This chain wear is only minimal but over time the slack in the pedals becomes quite noticeable and I find somewhat annoying.
A worn chain also wears out the components faster too which on top of all the bits of crud that get caught up in your drivetrain isn’t good for the longevity of the system.
How often should I clean my bicycle chain?
Some cyclists have a full blown cleaning regime but my own is a lot less structured. Basically I just let the bike tell me when the chain needs some lubrication, this is usually in the form of slight squeaking. Of course you should probably be lubricating before you can hear anything for optimum chain performance personally I’m not that fussed about it.
If the chain is looking particularly dirty I’ll give it a quick clean, this usually works out to once every few months or so.
How do you lubricate a bicycle chain?
If the chain isn’t looking too dirty you can get by with just a quick lubrication. Bicycle lube comes in wet liquid or dry wax form, there are some greases around but I’ve found they just wind up attracting crud onto the chain even faster.
I go for a liquid lubricant as I’ve found the waxy ones don’t perform as well in the wet and seeing as my Long Haul Trucker gets ridden whatever the weather conditions I want as much durability from my chain lubricant as possible.
The easiest way to apply lubricant to your bicycle chain is simply one drop of lube per link (the round things). Go once around the chain until you’ve done all the links, let it sit for 10 minutes or so and then gently place a paper towel on the chain and run it in reverse to wipe off any excess.
How do you clean a bicycle chain?
The easiest way to clean a bicycle chain is with a bicycle chain cleaning tool. These can be bought online quite cheaply and for some reason they always come in blue. Inside you’ll see a bunch of roller brushes which clean the chain as you run it through the machine.
Some bicycle chain cleaning kits come with a bottle of cleaner which after it runs out can be repurchased from a bicycle store. Personally I wouldn’t bother with this stuff, just use kerosene or methylated spirits.
To use a bicycle chain cleaner simply open it up fill it with your cleaning fluid and then place it on the chain. I find it’s best to use the upper length of the chain as you’ve got more room that way.
Rotation wise you want the little sponge in the cleaner to be the last thing the chain goes through so make sure you’ve got it around facing the right way. The sponge in my cleaner started to disintegrate pretty quickly so don’t worry too much if this happens.
Run the chain through the fluid for about a minute and then discard it, refill and repeat. You’ll know the chain is clean when the fluid doesn’t get dirty.
After using the cleaner simply wipe a paper towel over the chain, let it dry and then apply lubrication as above.
If the chain is really dirty (like my neglected chain on the right there) or you haven’t cleaned it in a while you might need to soak the chain.
To do this you’ll need to remove the chain and put it in a bottle of kerosene or methylated spirits. Let it soak for 10 minutes or so.
Then put a cap on the bottle and shake well, repeat the process until the chain is clean.
A good chain sets you back $20-$40 which is cheaper (and less annoying) then replacing a rear cassette or front set of chain rings so it’s in your interests to keep the chain clean. You don’t have to be anal about it (although some people are), a little effort every so often is all that’s required.
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