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  1. OakleyTheAussie on

    I used Silca’s chain prep but any mineral spirit should work with repeated baths. Check out Zero Friction Cycling for a good how-to guide.

  2. I personally use a dry lube with Heptane to penetrate the factory packing oil, then I follow that up with my wet lube of choice: Rock and Roll Gold. Unless I’m waxing the chain, then I do a two stage degrease with acetone followed by mineral spirits. Or maybe it’s the opposite way, I don’t wax chains anymore so who knows.

  3. The factory grease inside the rollers is valuable, the same stuff coating the outside is a dust magnet.

    I take it out to a concrete slab and spray solvent like WD-40 to cut the grease and wipe it clean.

    Soaking it removes the inside grease

  4. VaguelyIndirect on

    Why wash a new chain? Put some light oil on a rag and wipe the outside but there’s no need to remove the lube on the inside

  5. There’s two ways to go here: Leave the factory grease inside the rollers, degrease the surface of the chain and apply lube of choice. This is fine for casual use but isn’t recommended if you want really good chain life or are really looking to save those watts.

    Or, properly clean the chain using mineral solvents (Personally I use a ultrasonic bath cleaner but this is overkill): Degreaser, methylated spirits x2 or 3, finish with white spirit. Chain should rattle when you’re done, then use a molten wax lube like MoltenSpeedWax or similar. This lasts way longer and results in a significantly more efficient chain with less maintenance.

  6. D-limonene to cut the grease, followed by dish detergent and hot water scrub followed by isopropanol rinse.

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