And yes, that year-old chain is stretched to hell and actively destroying my brand new cassette. Don’t shame me for it - look how shiny it is!
Heavy breathing intensifies.
Now I need a cigarette.
Question, why would you change the cassette and not swap the chain too?
They both are the same age. I converted this from 10 to 11 speed a year ago. I guess I just consider a year old cassette “new” and a year old chain as old.
And what’s holding you back from replacing the elongated shiny chain for a new chain, thus saving the poor pizza-cassette? :D
Conflicting long- and short-term desires.
Can confirm, those two never really match together
I see
Honestly, if your chain isn’t stretched, (use calipers to measure space in links,) you can get away with replacing just the cassette or individual gears. Just recently I overhauled my drive train. I only tend to ride using the smallest gear, (highest speed,) and just that one gear was worn down horribly after 3900 miles. I replaced just that gear in the cassette, and the chain, and retained the rest of the gears because they weren’t really worn.
Yep, just OP said the old chain was stretched to hell, and I wondered why they’d keep that setup with a newer cassette.
What should I use to clean and take rust off?
Degreaser like simple green and a wire brush
Mine looks like this permanently!
The wonders of waxing instead of oil <3 (although I won’t be nearly as positive about it in winter when I’m rewaxing that cunt every 200km)
How far do you go before rewaxing when it’s dry out?
Using the silca “secret chain blend” wax and using one application of their “super secret chain wax” direct lubricant at the first signs of a squeak that indicates it is going to need rewaxing soon I average around 400km per waxing during the dry months of the year.
I just make sure I give the chain a wipe with a dry microfibre cloth every now and then to remove any dirt and it is pretty much good to go.
I have only been waxing for just over a year and I am still honing my technique, particularly in regards to the chain cleaning in between each waxing. The cleaner the chain the better the adhesion of the wax so I’m hoping to improve those numbers a little bit over time but I don’t think I have too much room for improvement.
The best I have had so far was 550km on one chain waxing. The worst I had was 150km when it was very wet.
Interesting, I’ve just been running straight wax that I melt myself with a tiny crock pot, and two chains that I alternate. Just trying to gauge how long to run them between waxings.
Have you tried other waxes, or just that brand?
I haven’t, no, just that brand. The one package of wax I bought lasted me a year before I decided to empty out my pot (I use a wax melting pot designed for body waxing but is basically the same thing as a crock pot) and replace the whole thing with clean stuff.
I have just bought some more of the same brand because I had had good success with that one and when I looked at what else was available it was either more expensive or contained Teflon which i didn’t want due to the environmental aspect.
I also did a bit of research into making my own (see the video I posted to another reply in this thread as an example) but came to the conclusion it would cost me the same or a bit more in money and last me less kms so I just went with what I have experience with already.
I too do the two chain swap although I’m considering getting a third just for winter. My pot takes 3 to 4 hours to heat up and melt all that wax so especially in winter if I can spend a day at home switching through and waxing all the chains I think having 3 will make my next winter more bearable as I really don’t want to go back to disgusting, dirty oil!
Thanks for all the info, it’s great to hear about the process more.
If you want it to stay that way, use wax instead of liquid lube. It’s such a game changer to not have to worry about touching the chain.
Seems more trouble than it’s worth honestly. I’m sure it works for some use cases but I doubt the chain of my year-around mud basher is the ideal one for that.
Honestly I feel the opposite, I dip my chain yearly in the same parafin/Teflon mix I made many years ago using ozcycles recommendation and it saves so much time in cleaning grime off my chain. Though I don’t go through mud much, from what other people say it seems it would help even more in that scenario.
Can confirm, just cleaned up my commuter bike drivetrain to keep it waxed. It’s a substantial setup hurdle upfront (not so much financially) but then it’s super easy to just swap chains out for freshly waxed ones. Cleaning oily and grimy drivetrains on the other hand…
The only thing I’m looking up is to either go with a pre-made mix or find a substitute for teflon, due to environmental responsibility (ok it’s a pretty small amount, but still)
You may find this video by Trace Velo helpful where he goes into details of a replacement product he substituted the Teflon for and has had good results.
However personally I use the Silca secret chain blend which although marginally more expensive than what he is talking about I have found last a lot longer than he experienced so it evens out cost vs distance wise, if not being slightly better bang for your buck and they claim is environmentally friendly with no Teflon :)
Nice video! Thanks for the suggestion, I was looking exactly into those materials 👍🏻
Honestly, I think waxing is LESS work. I spend 2 minutes taking the chain off and popping it in to the wax, then another 5 minutes freeing the links and reattaching it. I do that maybe 2 or 3 times a year. Compare that to spending 10 minutes hunched over the chain, individually lubing each link then wiping off the excess once a week. You have to include the time spent deep cleaning every few months or so too.
It’s just no contest for me.
Why did you lube each link? Why not have the bike upside down, drip a few drops of chain oil on while cranking the pedal with the other hand?
Because that gets lube everywhere. You only want lube on the internal pins of the chain. If you just dump it on, you end up wiping off what you just put on. If you don’t clean it up correctly you pick up a ton a dirt that just makes things worse.
I find it makes absolutely no difference whether you go link by link or just douse the entire chain. It’ll attract dirt just as much either way.
I consider this one of those biking trends everyone follows because they’ve seen others do it, but nobody ever questions what the point even is. Like aligning your valve stem with the branding on the tire - don’t be ridiculous.
Mine hasn’t looked this clean since i bought it lol
eh, this can’t be good for the drive train. iirc you need at least 3 months of road grime, old grease, and unidentifiable organic matter that may include skin from the inside of your right ankle, I can’t see the chain being happy all nekkid like that. or maybe that’s just how my bike rolls.
Looks good boss
I used to pull my chain and cassette, and toss them in a sonic bath with degreaser. Let them buzz for a half hour, comes out amazingly clean.
What about the pulleys? They gunk up so bad with oil lubricants…
Suppose you could do the same with them, but I usually just replaced them every once in a while. The cogs were only plastic, and they would get pretty torn up from the abuse of mountain biking.
