Smooth As Silk

 

Last Sunday, 11th July, 2021, I cleaned the Red Roadie fairly thoroughly. I wanted to do it because a few days ago I had to ride in the rain for quite some time. 

First I cleaned the bike with the 3M Shampoo. Next I applied a little bit of kerosene to get rid of the black lube marks. This really cleaned up the bike. Now I wanted to experiment with my newly bought Formula 1 Caranauba wax. I thought I would experiment only on the front fork. 

So first I cleaned the fork with a little bit of isopropyle alcohol. This really made it clean and the natural new colour came out. But the real richness of the colour came out after the application and buffing of the wax. This glaze is really addictive. It makes you want to ride the bike right away. And the smell of the wax. Oh, it's addictive.

I finally waxed the entire bike except the chain stays. The bike now looks like new. Water droplets drop off the frame. And if I hold the frame there is no finger mark. I have to now see how long this lasts. Of course, I did the buffing with microfiber cloth only. The application was with the original applicator.

After this, I cleaned and lubed the chain. The usual process was followed. First with kerosene. Next with water and soap. After thoroughly drying it up I applied the new lube. WPL Wet Lube. I had bought this a few months ago from Happy Earth for Rs 600 I guess. This is a Canadian brand. 

The effect was simply superb when I rode it first on Monday. The bike became butter smooth. We in India call it butter and not silk ;-) The bike glides like a bird with not the slightest hint of any roughness. Of course the chain is new but then I had been riding with the new chain for about 150 Km. It wasn't this smooth before.

My experience with different lube brands is rather limited. Therefor my opinion may not matter. And I never say anything good or bad without using it. 

I have been using Finish Line dry lube since buying the bike. It's a reputable American brand with lots of good reviews online. I have never had a wet lube as they are not easily available in India. This experience with WPL completely changed my perception about what a good lube can do to a bike. In comparison Finish Line now seems like a very ordinary lube. 

WPL is apparently made from natural bio-degradable material. Apparently if the chain gathers a lot of dust it can be just sprayed and cleaned with water. I shall see how that works but sounds very hi-tech. I do not know what it is made of but it makes the ride very smooth. Thank you very much WPL.

    

 

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.