I’m seeing a contradiction on chain cleaning articles. One dodgy site says:

It is essential to avoid some common mistakes when cleaning a bike chain. Firstly, be cautious not to oversaturate the chain with degreaser as this can lead to damage or corrosion.

Then another site says to remove the chain and submerge it in degreaser.

The first site seems dodgy, like one of these machine-generated sites that scraps together fragments of other works and plagurizes it in a clumsy way. But is the advice good? If the chain is 100% degreased, when you oil it wouldn’t the oil eventually spread everywhere it’s needed?

The 2nd article says remove the chain. Yet I’ve heard advice to not re-use quick-links. So WTF are they implying we need to buy a new quick-link every time we clean it? If yes, then removing the chain defeats the cost effective motivation for cleaning it in the 1st place.

Maybe this is crazy talk, but one idea I have is to leave the chain on the bike and submerge just the deraileur into an ultrasonic bath and very slowly move the chain through it. Not sure if my deraileur has ball bearings… if it does, then indeed the ultrasonic would be a bad idea.

  • Ananääs@sopuli.xyz
    3·
    6 months ago

    Bike mechanic here. Of course it depends a lot on the conditions you ride in but normally it would be enough to spray some chain cleaner on a rag and just wipe the chain clean. Every now and then and especially if you ride in muddy weather you should take the chain off for a proper cleaning, if it’s super dirty, spray with heavy duty degreaser and let sit for a while wrapped inside a rag, then wipe clean and apply lube. Of course if you have an ultrasonic cleaner at hand you can throw in the chain and cassette for a thorough clean but you gonna need to finish it with a rag anyways. You can re-use quick links several times so it really isn’t that expensive. Make sure you don’t spray any degreaser/chain cleaner on the cassette when cleaning the chain (nor use a pressure washer) because that’s how you ruin the bearings in the hub and freewheel. Rather keep the chain a little bit too dry than too oiled, basically one drop of chain lube per “bearing” (link) is enough, apply oil and wipe the chain afterwards with a clean rag to remove extra lube and avoid muck build-up. Best chain care tip is to not use exessive lube AND wipe the chain clean before adding more lube. Motorbike chains have lube inside the links/bearings and the lube outside is to prevent rust, bike chains don’t have any sealed bearings and thus need external lubing.

  • elDalvini
    2·
    6 months ago

    I remove the chain and let it soak in WD-40 for a while. Then I spray it down with degreaser and rinse with a power washer. As long as the chain is well lubricated, I don’t have any issues with corrosion.

    Also, some quick-links are reusable. You should check with the manufacturer. KMC has a type that can be reused 5 times. With a bit of practice and a good chain breaker it is also pretty easy to remove and reconnect a chain with no quick-link at all.