# Clean and Lube chain or just lube after riding in the rain?



## ecub (Sep 3, 2011)

I have White Lighting (Clean, Epic, & Wet) as well as ProLink lube. Just finished a ride when it started raining. It wasn't a big downpour. I cleaned the chain using Park Tool Cyclone Chain scrubber with Simple Green mix and also wiped down the pulleys on the derailleur. I'm going wait until the morning to lube up the chain with ProLink to make sure the Simple Green has dried up. I was wondering was this too much to do after the rain or should I have just lubed it up?

It's a full suspension bike. Did I need to lube/clean anything else?


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## jmeldrum26 (Jul 3, 2006)

I am am White Lightning user myself and a longtime bike mechanic. I usually just wipe the chain down with a rag to get all the visible dirt off and then reapply some lube. Every month or so I will take the chain off and put it a parts washer to get the accumulated wax off of the chain as well as cleaning the chainrings and cassette. 

I always clean off the fork stanctions and wipe down the seals as well after every ride.


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## dundundata (May 15, 2009)

jmeldrum26 said:


> I am am White Lightning user myself and a longtime bike mechanic. I usually just wipe the chain down with a rag to get all the visible dirt off and then reapply some lube. Every month or so I will take the chain off and put it a parts washer to get the accumulated wax off of the chain as well as cleaning the chainrings and cassette.
> 
> I always clean off the fork stanctions and wipe down the seals as well after every ride.


:thumbsup:

I would rather relube right away after a serious cleaning, give the chain a good rinse and then dry (preferably with an air compressor)


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## mtnbiker72 (Jan 22, 2007)

Run a good wet lube that is applied properly (the White Lightning Wet for instance), and all you'll need to do is wipe the chain down after a wet ride.


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## RSWMTB (Jun 7, 2011)

It can't hurt 




.


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## perttime (Aug 26, 2005)

After a rain you usually get a lot of mud/grit on the drivetrain but I think running the chain through a chain scrubber every time may be overkill. Using a degreaser, you lose much of the old lube from chain internals. I'd usually flush the dirt off with water and maybe a brush, wipe off, lube, and wipe off after the lube has had some time to penetrate.


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## cautery (Aug 1, 2006)

The key to long-term chain durability IMHO is to make SURE that it is fully lubed with the proper grease BEFORE you ever use it, that all interstitial spaces are full of lube to prevent infiltration of water and grit.

IF you start here, and then keep the chain exterior lubed with a good non-dirt attracting product (some of the wax-based ones), then maintenance only involves routine removal of exterior grit/grime and re-application of the exterior lube.

I have two cleaning regimens... routine and deep. Routine is essentially described above... I use the chain scrubber with a dilute simple green solution to clean the exterior and re-apply.

The deep clean is accomplished by putting the chain in a sonic cleaner... this removes EVERYTHING including the internal lube. If you do this and DON"T properly get the lube re-applied, you WILL have internal chain erosion.

I take the chain out of the sonic cleaning solution and put it DIRECTLY into another sonic bath with a very light weight lube/oil that will more easily penetrate the smallest interstitial spaces to MAKE SURE I get all of the remaining solvent/soap/moisture, etc. out of the chain... I want nothing between the chain and the light lube layer... 100% contact.

Remove chain and drain for as long as cotton cloth won't show lube marks... Ususally for me, I leave it at least a couple of days and change the cloth twice. Now you have a chain with a uniform/thin coating of moisture excluding petro product that will keep the metal bright but not refuse the heavier lube.

Now, this next step can be done two ways... You have to get the heavy lube INTO the chain... method 1 is to put the chain into a vacuum chamber submerged into a heated portion of the heavy lube, and put under as much vacuum as you can generate and leave for 4 hours... I am fortunate, and have a vacuum chamber. When I don't want to drag it all out and set it up, I use...

Method 2 - I heat the heavy lube up in an old steel pot and submerge the chain in the thinned grease/lube. THIS METHOD CAN BE DANGEROUS, so I don't recommend it for the inexperienced. DO NOT DO THIS unless you are willing to risk the fire... IF you do EVERYTHING right you won't have a problem... It should be done OUTSIDE, in and OPEN AREA, AWAY from combustibles AND wind. Use a NON-open flame heat source if at all possible. MAKE SURE you KNOW the temps of vaporization and flash point of the lube you are using and DO NOT get ANYWHERE near these temps... You don't NEED to, as the lube will become sufficiently thin/flowing at much lower temps.

Heat the chain/lube combination as long as necessary until no bubbles are present in/around the chain. Use a WOODEN utensil with sufficiently long handle to lightly agitate the chain periodically to get the air to rise to the surface.

I use a turkey cooker with a double-boiler setup. The cooker has a flame excluder shield which helps keep the flame and the combustible lube well separate... 

After the lube is heated in, I remove the heat and allow it to return to a temp that is within the grease working temp so that it doesn't all run off when I remove the chain. After cooling, I remove and hang the chain until it returns to ambient temp.

Then I wipe the chain down, and run it through a chain scrubber to remove the excess grease/lube from the exterior of the chain. Then, I re-apply a wax-based "dry" lube to the exterior.


Yes, this is laborious, and OCD... but it works, and keeps the chain pristine.


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## perttime (Aug 26, 2005)

The ShelBroCo Bicycle Chain Cleaning System


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## papaish (Sep 13, 2011)

Whats wrong with use plain old purofin wax, Melt it down soak your chain in it for about 10 min, hang to dry, run it over a piece of PVC pipe to get all the extra wax off. Make sure the chain, chainrings and cassette are all degreaed prior. I have been doing this for years and works great, And after a rainy or muddy ride all I do is wipe with a lint free clean rag. Re wax every 500 miles or so, depending on the type of riding.


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## papaish (Sep 13, 2011)

Whats wrong with using plain old purofin wax, Melt it down soak your chain in it for about 10 min, hang to dry, run it over a piece of PVC pipe to get all the extra wax off. Make sure the chain, chainrings and cassette are all degreaed prior. I have been doing this for years and works great, And after a rainy or muddy ride all I do is wipe with a lint free clean rag. Re wax every 500 miles or so, depending on the type of riding.


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## papaish (Sep 13, 2011)

Whats wrong with using plain old purofin wax, Melt it down soak your chain in it for about 10 min, hang to dry, run it over a piece of PVC pipe to get all the extra wax off. Make sure the chain, chainrings and cassette are all degreaed prior. I have been doing this for years and works great, And after a rainy or muddy ride all I do is wipe with a lint free clean rag. Re wax every 500 miles or so, depending on the type of riding.


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## BrokenBones (Feb 4, 2005)

I'd say the only problem with using paraffin wax is the fact that it makes you keep repeating yourself.


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