Thorough Chain Cleaning

Today gave my bicycle chain a thorough cleaning. I used three new products to do this and this is more like a review of them. Ideally it should be in the gear review section of my blog. But I thought this is more of a how I used them than a real review. So here it goes.

The three things used were - the IceToolz chain scrubber, IceToolz chain cleaner and Finish Line Dry Lube.

The chain scrubber is very small and looks very el cheapo but it is easy to set up, particularly if you check out this video from IceToolz . I did exactly as instrcuted and nothing much went wrong.

• Open the top cover
• Take the round black wheel out 
• Pour a little cleaner in the chamber 
• Pour a little water up to the horizontal line in the middle. (I had over filled and the moment I put the wheel back - which is the next step - it spilled out.)
• Place the wheel back
• Hold it aligned along the chain under the upper part of the chain
• Put the lid back on over the chain. This part might be a bit tricky
• Hang it from the frame by attaching the strap 
• Start pedalling with the right hand while holding the scrubber with the left. 

What went wrong? First time the chain was not really moving. I took it off and attached it again. This time it worked. A little noisy but that's fine. The water solution did not turn grey. Some water was spilling out. I was glad that I was doing it outside my flat and on some old newspaper. Progressively the chain started feeling cleaner to the touch. The solution also turned a little grey.

I threw out the solution. There wasn't much left though. Most of it had fallen out. Next poured a little plain water in the chamber and repeated the process once again. The chain now looked and felt much cleaner.

Now was the time to dry it out with a clean rag. The rag didn't turn black, as I had expected.

Next poured some Finish Line lube on the back free wheel. I had watched this video from Finish Line . Turning the pedal forward. I don't know why but all instructions advice you to pedal back. Perhaps to make it less dangerous because pedalling forward makes the wheel go round and can hurt.

I changed into all the gears and then let the cycle rest for a while. After some time I held the same rag again to wipe it clean. This time a lot of black muck came on the rag. It looks and feels much cleaner now.

The chain is moving smoothly now. There is no squeaking noise from anywhere, contrary to what is discussed on various cycling forums. However, I couldn't see any white film on the links either.

Let me ride the bike today or tomorrow and I will come back.