Of all the parts of your bike that need
cleaning, your chain is perhaps the most important one. A clean chain is a
long-lasting chain, and that also has a positive effect on the lifespan of your
whole drivetrain. So it is a definite money-saving tip. There is a specific
technique to effective chain cleaning, though, and we're going to go into real
detail in this video. So, time to roll up your sleeves. The first point to
mention is that to get anywhere here, you're going to need a specific product to
degrease your chain. I'm sure you'll all be all too familiar
with that feeling of trying to get oil off your hands. Soap and hard water don't do
the job. Maybe washing-up liquid might go a little bit better, but, essentially,
you're stuck with it. Well, exactly the same is true for cleaning your
chain. Go near it with cold water and a sponge, and you will not get anywhere,
so what you need is a specific degreaser. Now, various chemicals that you have lying
around at home might do the job, to some extent. So, something like white spirit,
or paraffin, or diesel will all get your chain clean, but they're pretty
nasty, really. They're certainly not environmentally friendly, and I
think we can do better than that. Now, if I'm not doing a super quick clean,
then I'll always bring out the proper degreaser. Now, I always use a biological
one. It might not be important to you, but it is to me. All degreaser can be
pretty nasty stuff, so it is definitely a good idea to use gloves and then be
careful that you don't get any in your eyes. Ready for anything, I see. Then
it's just a case of decanting a small amount into a suitable container. A
sawn-off water bottle is quite a good use for old ones. And then I simply paint it
on with a brush. So, just I paint it on liberally, and then give the chain a
backpedal, then we just leave it sit for a couple minutes. Now, this next bit
is a cool little hack. So, you see, if we clean the chain now just with a
sponge and hot water, it's going to look nice and clean. But if we then look
closely, we'll see that there's quite a lot of gunk still between the plates of
the chain, and it's this gunk that's actually going to be wearing away
at our drivetrain. So, enter our hack. This is a nail brush. Now, some
of you might not know what one is, and I'll forgive you for that. This is
another nail brush, because we're going to need two. Now, they're both available
from pharmacies or big supermarkets, something like that. Essentially, what we
do is we sandwich the chain between our two nail brushes, and then we backpedal,
and the little bristles will clean the chain inside and out. Now, you might need
to do a bit of modification of your nail brushes, maybe trim the inside bristles
down slightly so it does fit nicely around the chain. So, that is our hack. There
is a specific tool for the job as well. This is called a chain bath or
a chain cleaner, and essentially, it is a more convenient and, arguably,
significantly more effective way of cleaning your chain. It's designed
specifically for the purpose. You simply sandwich your chain in there.
Fill the top reservoir with degreaser, and then backpedal your chain
through, and it gets clean. You will always need to finish off
with a sponge and hot, soapy water just to make sure you get all the
degreaser off. That is absolutely vital, in fact, because if you don't, any residue
will mean that your chain oil won't stay on properly. So this guards against it.
The next step is to dry it with a rag and then re-lube your chain. Now, it's
probably a good idea to use some kind of aerosol lube first. That way your chain is
completely dry, and it'll stop it getting rusty if you have to store your bike
outside. Now, it has to be said. There aren't really any occasions where
you would just clean your chain. The rest of the drivetrain does need a
good clean as well, and seeing as you've got your cleaning stuff out, you might as
well. So you can paint your degreaser onto a cassette and onto the jockey wheels
as well. Now, I know a lot of you do worry about getting degreaser into sealed
bearings, thinking that perhaps that will then decrease the lifespan of your
bearings. And to a certain extent, that might be true, but it's certainly not
essential to dismantle your drivetrain every time you're going to clean it.
Personally, I don't really have the time to do that, and I would rather just
re-grease my bearings as and when they need it. But it's entirely up to you. Now,
clearly, a gleaming drivetrain is going to do wonders for your morale, but let's face
it, you really need to clean the rest of the bike as well for full effect. So, if
you want to see how to clean a bike in 30 minutes, completely and utterly
thoroughly, then if you click just up there, you'll get straight through to that
one. Or if you want to know how to select the right lubricant for your chain
and the conditions that you ride in, then you click just down there,
and you get straight through to it. Otherwise, subscribe to GCN.
You can do that by clicking on that. Well, that big box there
that says, "Subscribe".
If you find yourself getting a bit deeper into building bikes I'd highly recommend RJ the bike guy's channel as well https://www.youtube.com/user/shyflirt1
I really like GCN, the hosts are funny and entertaining. Do you know where I could find a list of their Instagram and/or twitters?
Yeah.. GCN have been a huge help to me as well
GCN is fun, though in general I find Art's Cyclery instructional videos have better advice when the two offer different opinions.
I love GCN, they're like the Top Gear (UK) of the cycling world.
Someone else already suggested RJ the Bike Guy, but I'd recommend him above GCN. Sheldon Brown is the most useful source though.
GCN well help too me HUGE
I'm surprised it's not on the sidebar.
Yeah, GCN has been a huge help for me