Cleaning a cassette

[Cuchilo]

Ive just done mine and have no idea if its right but it looks shiney .
I put the wheel on my knees with some newspaper on the floor .
Then used pipe cleaners to get between each cog . You can hold one end and spin the cleaner around the cog to get it right in there .
Once all the cogs had been done I then used baby wipes . Fold the wipe into three and stretch it as you work it in between each cog . You can then use the cassette to turn its self while you move the baby wipe ( a bit like a shoe shine buff )
You end up with a pile of dirty pipe cleaners and baby wipes that you can just chuck on the newspaper ( but clean hands ) and the whole lot has cost about 20p .

Now youre going to tell me I have demolished my cassette and need to buy a new one

 

[bpsmith]

Baby wipes melt cassettes quicker than wet carbon! Didn't you know?

 

[Cuchilo]

Baby wipes melt cassettes quicker than wet carbon! Didn't you know?

I flippin knew it

 

[kevin_cambs_uk]

Wd-40 and I use cotton buds to get in between the sections that are riveted together.

 

[steveindenmark]

Well I have just done mine. It's the first time I have taken my cassette off the wheel to do and it was a doddle.

I put the cassette in a biscuit tin with white spirit and used a paint brush and just kept brushing it for about 10 minutes. The amount of gunge and grit that comes off it is a shocker. I changed the white spirit 3 times but poured the old stuff into a jar as suggested on here. The last change I poured it over the cassette and the liquid remained clear.

I then dried the cassette using rags and a dry paintbrush and then lightly oiled it.

It finished like a new cassette and the chain just purred when it got on it.

I would suggest to anyone who doesn't take their cassette off to clean it, to give it a go. It cleans very well, you learn a bit more about your bike and there is a sense of satisfaction. But most of all the bike runs better and wears out slower.

 

[Drago]

Dishwasher.

 

[ayceejay]

I question the need for oiling the clean cassette - surely this will attract dirt.

 

[Yellow Saddle]

I question the need for oiling the clean cassette - surely this will attract dirt.

Oil has no magnetic properties. Whilst chrome-plated and titanium cassettes won't rust, naked steel cassettes will rust and some light oil on the cassette before it is stored clean will protect it. Whist cassettes usually oil themselves when working by their sheer proximity to an oily chain, a clean chain and cassette seeing some storage in damp conditions is not something we want to see when we return to our bikes after some weeks of no use.

 

[jamin100]

Baby wipes work for me.

Baby wipes here also

 

[Saluki]

I use Forever Living Aloe Vera liquid soap to clean bits and bobs when they are off the bike. I figure if it gets grease and muck off my hands, it will do my cassette. It's not let me down so far.
If the cassette is not in bits, I use Purple Harry bike floss.

 

[ayceejay]

Oil has no magnetic properties. Whilst chrome-plated and titanium cassettes won't rust, naked steel cassettes will rust and some light oil on the cassette before it is stored clean will protect it. Whist cassettes usually oil themselves when working by their sheer proximity to an oily chain, a clean chain and cassette seeing some storage in damp conditions is not something we want to see when we return to our bikes after some weeks of no use.

I agree with what you say regarding storage of bare metal but since we are talking about a cassette on a bike the second part of you post is more apposite.

 

[Elybazza61]

Morgan Blue. Never fails to bring things up

This^ with a stiff brush and then a soapy water wash down.

 

[zaza123]

Another vote for GT85 here. I use an old cotton cloth and a CD to get inbetween the cogs. Never really take it off unless I have to

I use this method on your recommendation and it works a treat. It's easy to do even with the wheel still fitted. From the back of the bike feed the rag coated CD between the cogs as far as it will go then lift allowing the chain and pedals to turn. Move the CD back down and repeat applying pressure to the left for a few turns then to the right. Move the rag round on the CD to get a clean bit then repeat between the next two cogs. Once a week, get the wheel off and give the cassette a treat spraying with GT85 or similar before performing the CD trick. For a disc brake bike make sure you cover the disc with a clean cloth though. That can be a real surprise the next time you ride and pull the back brake on to hear a swishing sound as you carry on at the same speed.

 

[Sunny Portrush]

Baby wipes melt cassettes quicker than wet carbon! Didn't you know?

I was gonna ask if anyone uses wet wipes on the bike (all parts!) but not sure if you were being flippant or not! I have some citrus cleaner for the chain but was thinking of cleaning it first with a wet wipes so that the citrus cleaner can really do it`s stuff

 

[MisterStan]

That'll be fine