Periodic Maintenance?

[Tait]

On the recommendation of the local bike shop, I stumbled across Speed Clean Finish Line speed degreaser last year (comes in a big yellow spray can). I find that stuff to be amazing. I've tried Simple Green and the like, but even with plenty of scrubbing it never quite did the trick like the yellow Finish Line stuff does. I'm pretty bad about cleaning my drive train, so it gets kinda nasty sometimes. If I used djasonpenney's rule about cleaning it whenever I was afraid to touch the wheels, I'd be cleaning it twice a week or more. Maybe I'm just a sissy .

I don't like the little chain-scrubber toolkit things. In my experience, it's not long before the scrubbers get so grimy that they cease to actually clean. I use a brush to get the stubborn bits, then let the degreaser and several rags get the rest. By the time I'm done, it's looks shiny like the day I bought it.

For lubricant, I use a "dry" teflon-based lube, of which there are all kinds of varieties. My rule is to re-lube the drive train when I can hear the chain moving while riding.

[djasonpenney]

I rinse my scrubber with hot water in the laundry sink after I use it.

Originally Posted by Tait

<snip>
I don't like the little chain-scrubber toolkit things. In my experience, it's not long before the scrubbers get so grimy that they cease to actually clean.
<snip>

[Tait]

I meant while cleaning the chain. They pick up some grime the first couple times around, and the next 20 times the chain comes round it seems like they leave behind as much as they pick up. Then you end up doing what you would've done without it anyway.

[the Wumpus]

Okay, I guess I'm the slacker in the room. I run the chain through paper towels until it doesn't turn them black, then casually scrape the worst of the crud off the gears, paying special attention to the parts most inclined to tattoo my khakis. Then I apply a drop of oil from a trigger oiling can (20-50 motor oil, I had a quart left after selling the car...) to each pivot of the chain. Run it around a few minutes to work it into the kinks. Then run it through a paper towel again until it doesn't turn the paper towel black any more. I do this maybe once every month or two when it's raining, or IMMEDIATELY if the chain starts to squeak even the tiniest bit (rust in the pivots!), whichever comes first.

You better believe that dust and dirt sticks to that oil, that's what turns it black. That crud will wear down the chain a little faster than if it was perfectly clean, but... The tiniest bit of rust in the pivots will grind up your chain like nothing else. Iron oxide is hard, abrasive stuff, and liberal oiling keeps the bad rust away through the long rainy season.

I get around 4-6000 miles out of a Sram PC-58 (basic heavy duty 8 speed chain), measuring somewhere around 1/16" of wear over 12 inches of chain. I also have been using a Nexave steel cassette, which is showing no signs of wear after two chains except for a couple of dings from really rotten shifts. Which was my intention, that it should outlast the wheel, allowing me to skip that bit of maintenance. Did I mention I'm a slacker? Maybe even a cheapskate?