It’s acceptable to throw away the old chain.
for cleaning the new one an ultrasonic isn’t necessary. Just get some silca chain stripper, it takes five minutes and is super easy. If you are careful it’s easy to filter out the chain goop and reuse it lot.
I think he’s talking about using a waxed-base chain lube, not actually waxing his chain.
oh ok, either way it’s by far the easiest way i know to get a bike chain as clean as a whistle.
My girls aged out of their childhood Redline Pitboss and so I replaced a bunch of things and gave it to a neighbor kid . I cleaned the (new) chain with Stripper and added drip wax just because it’s super fast and easy, and because i fanatically hate the goo that comes on chains. probably they will blast it with wd40 later on but i can only control some things in this universe.
Some great reviews on that one but oof, the price. I also can’t get it locally it looks like, and I “have to” get this done before tomorrow (critical mass), but I will keep that on my radar.
Was just gonna use mineral spirits to get the factory corrosion protection grease off and then give it an alcohol rinse. A writeup from Silca also mentioned blowing it out with compressed air which i’ll also do.
mineral spirits totally works but it takes a while to do perfectly and is stinky.
The Silca stripper stuff is spendy but much quicker/less stinky than the multi-step process. I don’t have parts washer so no idea how it compares to that.
In case anyone wants to go into Helluva Ride Territory for chain cleaning: https://zerofrictioncycling.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/CHAIN-Prep-FAQ-Guide-V2.pdf
Hambini has beef with ZFC, but I am willing to believe anything a guy with the last name of “Keirin” says.
Yes, it threads on when you tighten it.
youtube keeps recommending this guy to me. I watched a little bit a while ago and it seems like he’s just a total dick for the sake of it. But makes good BBs? or something?
thats the long and short of it
That’s a great writeup, thanks for the link!
Fortunately last night I did basically what it says for the mineral spirits method. I got pulled away a couple times so the chain soaked in it for ample time. Rinsed it with denatured alcohol and then isopropyl because a) i had a bunch of it, b) why not? and c) I don’t know what the additives in the denatured might do .. maybe nothing, but … see point B. Blew the whole thing out really well with compressed air, and then gave it ample time to evaporate fully.
We’ll see how it goes… My goal is a very quiet chain so I hope im not down the wrong path with the wax, but the more i read the more im realizing that wax might not actually be the way, but overall it seems better than wet lubes.
I’ve achieved a pretty silent in the past with wet stuff, but it doesn’t stay quiet, so if the wax isnt dead silent but stays consistent i’ll be happy with that.
The chain I got is just a run of the mill KMC, and i was pretty torn on that because I was thinking about getting an Izumi, but kept reading they were noisy, although not everyone said that. I never had an issue with my SRAM PC-1s that I’ve ran for like 15 years but figured id give the KMC a shot.
I’ve done it that stripping process few times now with mountain and road chains. I use wax based drip lubes, mostly because they aren’t dust magnets.
As far as noise goes, wax gets squeaky in the wet. I try to reapply the drip every 4 hours of riding. We have a chain lube thread on here, somewhere. I’ll have to dig it up when I’m not on mobile.
yeah I like the aspect of it not attracting dust/dirt, and these days i’m very much a fair weather rider so the chain doesn’t really see water at all. like the only times it does is if im riding at night through the college campus nearby and get hit by a sprinkler.
Update: She’s silent, boys! Mission accomplished.
Axle is a bit further back in the dropouts than I’d like, but well within the acceptable range, and it’s been like that since I geared up 3 years ago - no issues. Washer is nowhere near hanging off the back. I’m just being picky. It’s a frame/cog/chainring combo to where I can’t remove a link or it would be too tight - I tried.
I just wanted you all to know that last night I took a chain out of the package and installed it on my bike.
Then this morning I rode 25 beautiful miles of country roads and I didn’t think about my chain once!
you could have done that ride 30 seconds faster if you waxed your chain though
i assume you had your aero socks on, right? you’d be a fool to skip that important piece of kit.
Aero socks last longer if you wear them under your regular socks.
whats the go-to mostly slick 650x42-48 tire these days? i don’t know that i feel like dealing with reens rn. use case is mostly paved of varying quality and jaunts onto gravel and singletrack, but i’ve always been pretty comfy rocking actual slicks on trail.
@EndpointBraden i reckon you’re probably the guy for this one
Getting geeked up to start working on wheels. Realized my tub of grease is like 15 years old and I need some general purpose grease for the garage. SQ what are people using? I see lots of options, was thinking about getting a tube of the Pedro’s grease but wanted to make sure I’m not missing something stupid
Big tub o’ Motorex atmo