EasyPeez
Veteran
- Location
- Cottingham, East Yorkshire
Hi,
First off apologies - I realise I've posted a few threads on here over the past weeks about various aspects of bike cleaning, and I realise that these are rather dull, and are making me seem a bit OCD! But the answers have been very helpful and I now have my required products all bought and my cleaning regime all sorted....except for one thing...
I like a pristine bike, but realise that the most important thing is to keep it well lubed and working properly. So while I would love a shiny chain to match the rest of my shiny bike, I'm happy to sacrifice that for a less-shiny but better lubed and maintained chain. So, my plan was to use the Mickle method. But as I only ride my summer bike in the dry I want to use dry ceramic lube and I'm not sure this is compatible with 'the method'.
Also, I have been reliably informed by a seemingly very knowledgeable poster or two on another thread that to use dry lube you must first remove the chain and rid it of all factory lube with white spirit, then dry it out. If not the factory lube will prevent the dry lube adhering. This seems to make sense. But when I put this to my LBS mechanic as my chosen plan at the weekend he was horrified. He said he would never use degreaser on a chain, white spirit, Muc-Off, Fenwick's GT85 or otherwise, and esp not clean out the factory lube as this will have penetrated deep into the rollers in a way that the dry lube I'll be adding won't do. His advice was just to wait until the chain needs lubing, then give it a good wipe over with a rag and add dry lube. Then repeat the wipe and lube at regular intervals.
So now I'm all confused and would appreciate answers to any or all of the following -
1) Is dry lube compatible with the method?
2) Do I need to strip the chain of all existing lube by soaking it in white spirit before I can use dry lube?
3) Is it still ok to clean the cassette and chainrings with a bit of GT85, then rinse it off and clean/dry it with a rag while using the method, so long as GT85 and water stay off the chain?
3) Is there a way of cleaning out the chain (the bits of dirt that get between the pins) when using the method? As it doesn't seem possible to clean between the pins by wiping with the rag alone. I normally like to use a chainbrush (http://www.evanscycles.com/products...gclid=CN3kk8vCr8QCFQQFwwod5LMANA&gclsrc=aw.ds) to get between the pins but don't want to undermine what I'm trying to achieve by mickling, or my brush to get covered in sticky lube and gunk.
Thanks. And I promise after this I will never trouble these boards with a bike-cleaning post ever again!
Andy
First off apologies - I realise I've posted a few threads on here over the past weeks about various aspects of bike cleaning, and I realise that these are rather dull, and are making me seem a bit OCD! But the answers have been very helpful and I now have my required products all bought and my cleaning regime all sorted....except for one thing...
I like a pristine bike, but realise that the most important thing is to keep it well lubed and working properly. So while I would love a shiny chain to match the rest of my shiny bike, I'm happy to sacrifice that for a less-shiny but better lubed and maintained chain. So, my plan was to use the Mickle method. But as I only ride my summer bike in the dry I want to use dry ceramic lube and I'm not sure this is compatible with 'the method'.
Also, I have been reliably informed by a seemingly very knowledgeable poster or two on another thread that to use dry lube you must first remove the chain and rid it of all factory lube with white spirit, then dry it out. If not the factory lube will prevent the dry lube adhering. This seems to make sense. But when I put this to my LBS mechanic as my chosen plan at the weekend he was horrified. He said he would never use degreaser on a chain, white spirit, Muc-Off, Fenwick's GT85 or otherwise, and esp not clean out the factory lube as this will have penetrated deep into the rollers in a way that the dry lube I'll be adding won't do. His advice was just to wait until the chain needs lubing, then give it a good wipe over with a rag and add dry lube. Then repeat the wipe and lube at regular intervals.
So now I'm all confused and would appreciate answers to any or all of the following -
1) Is dry lube compatible with the method?
2) Do I need to strip the chain of all existing lube by soaking it in white spirit before I can use dry lube?
3) Is it still ok to clean the cassette and chainrings with a bit of GT85, then rinse it off and clean/dry it with a rag while using the method, so long as GT85 and water stay off the chain?
3) Is there a way of cleaning out the chain (the bits of dirt that get between the pins) when using the method? As it doesn't seem possible to clean between the pins by wiping with the rag alone. I normally like to use a chainbrush (http://www.evanscycles.com/products...gclid=CN3kk8vCr8QCFQQFwwod5LMANA&gclsrc=aw.ds) to get between the pins but don't want to undermine what I'm trying to achieve by mickling, or my brush to get covered in sticky lube and gunk.
Thanks. And I promise after this I will never trouble these boards with a bike-cleaning post ever again!
Andy
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