This is me on my personal bike for the most part… run the chain til done. But every now and then I will clean and lube with with some fast dry lube… as a treat.
I just lube and replace unless it got caked in mud. Then I’ll clean it but I hardly ride bikes anymore so they’re lucky to get lubed unless they’re squeaky
Lube or replace and only clean when muddy cru checking in.
Also never ride.
Except I never let my chains get squeaky, that’s bad.
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Don’t grime shame me bro
Letting your chain get so dry is squeaks before lubing it is like running your car completely out of gas before you fill up.
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I just wait until the gas light comes on
I had a roommate like this, then she would only put in like $5-10 unless she was driving that day further than that would take her.
I was one of the never lube guys, just replace the chain when it’s done. 'Course I went too long a couple times and ruined a couple drivetrains. I’m onto this ultrasonic plus wax thing coz I have the ultrasonic, and the wax lube seems to be the cleanest, and likely the best, in terms of being longest lasting.
Some lube ain’t so bad. What comes on Shimano chains is pretty waxy already and not especially messy. What comes on KMC chains is oily and turns into black crud within a couple weeks.
Considering very expensive and precise watch parts get ultrasonically cleaned I can’t see metal wear being a thing here.
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You’re thinking what I’m thinking.
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FYI a decent US cleaner will punch holes in 'loominum (as i believe its called in freedom units) foil, it’s how you tell the machine is working properly (or has not been fu><z0red by begin run dry with the heater on full blast for the umpteenth time… long story).
However, in all my examining things i’ve put through an ultrasonic cleaner under an electron microscope i’ve never seen any significnat damage that could be attributed solely to the ultrasonic action (there was that one time i “washed” a fracture face in acid instead of detergent).
usually cleaned things for 5 minutes max.
from memory damage would be in the form of pitting (due to repeated collapsing of cavitation bubbles with the attendant shockwaves). so long as some of the original surface is intact even severe pitting shouldn’t cause much chain stretch (might reduce life tho, or conversely retain lube, it’s a feature not a fault)
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I remember reading something in the manual that came with my cleaner about possible damage with cavitation and tiny gas bubbles, and to run it on a “degas” mode first for certain things. I don’t remember the exact details though…
Fun fact: that cavitation can be used to treat groundwater in situ (remove pollutants from groundwater without pumping it to the surface for treatment).
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Man, I wanna be smart about science stuff like y’all are.
how?
The ground surface is blasted with a shit ton (scientific term) of sonic energy. This energy vibrates the subsurface and the resulting cavitation creates heat energy. This either thermally destructs pollutants or frees the bonds between them and the impacted media (soil or water). The freed compounds are removed from the subsurface using vapor extraction methods.
IIRC it requires a LOT of energy.
Footnote: This is not the field I work in, I am only supplying secondhand information from friends who work at other companies.
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thank you for better explaining HOW cavitation fucks it up
get me into adding an ultrasonic cavitator to my dishwasher
Now here’s an idea. Dishwasher from craigslist free section hooked up on the side of the garage run with degreaser in it.
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I don’t have water running to my garage, but I could hook one up in the laundry room? maybe I shouldn’t have given away that extra dishwasher.
but I was thinking mostly about getting my dishes cleaner