Here is a really easy way to keep your bike chain clean and working well. Bike chains need to be kept clean and lubed to keep your gears working smoothly. But the good news is that regular light maintenance will keep your bike in great shape. This post with videos shows the quick and easy way to clean your bike chain, and keep it lubed too.
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Accumulated gunk on your chain will cause gears to slip, and make it hard to ride your bike. And a dirty chain will wear out your sprockets in record time. Plus, it takes very hard work to remove accumulated gunk from your bike chain.
How To Clean Your Bike Chain the HARD Way
One way to get your bike chain clean is to take it off, dismantle every single link, and then clean each link with enormous care. This is the traditional method, and it does make get your bike chain extremely clean. However, it is difficult and time-consuming. Plus it takes quite a bit of techie expertise to take the chain apart – and even more to put it all back together properly. Personally I would rather buy a new chain than go through all that!
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How To Clean Your Bike Chain the EASY Way – and Lube it Too
Regular Light Maintenance is the Key
A much easier way is to make sure your bike chain never gets dirty enough to need a heavy-duty clean. For that, all you need is regular light maintenance. During rainy weather, do the routine below at least once a week, but preferably even more often. At the end of each biking day is optimal. Think of it like brushing your teeth – a routine that takes a few minutes out of your day, but is worth it in the long run.
If you can’t manage every day, once a week will usually do it. And if you are lucky, you might get away with once every two weeks. It also depends on how often you cycle in rainy, muddy conditions.
This method assumes that you are doing regular chain maintenance, so your chain is not filthy when you start.
Step 1: Get Your Bike off the Ground
Make the chain accessible so you can work without hurting your back. Ideally, put your bike on a bikestand. These devices make cleaning or repairing your bike a whole lot easier. But if you don’t have a bike stand, a bike rack on the back of your car makes an excellent stand. We use our Thule Helium bike rack (reviewed here). You can also just turn the bike upside down, and balance it on its handlebars. Make sure to first remove items such as lights or bike computers that might get damaged.
Step 2: Clean the Chain with a Dry Cloth
Hold a cloth firmly around the chain, then turn the pedals a few times. This enables you to easily wipe the chain clean, as shown in the video below.
Video Showing How to Clean Your Bike Chain
This should get most of the dirt off the chain. The best possible option is to use a dedicated microfiber cloth. These are very cheap, and really get the job done well. Unlike an old towel or t-shirt (which I use to clean the bike frame), these will not get lint in your chain links.
Related Post: How to Change Gears on a Bike – Beginner’s Guide
You can simply use a clean, dry cloth if your chain is fairly clean. However, if you have a lot of oil and dirt on the chain, you will need to put a good quality degreaser on the cloth. A great degreaser will clean most parts of your bike – and also clean your hands afterwards as well.
Step 3: Also Clean the Cogs
Also wipe off the round cogs on the rear derailleur, and clean off any visible dirt or grease you can see along the chain or on the derailleurs. If you have a sprocket cleaner, use it to clean between the sprockets. A sprocket cleaner is like a plastic toothpick for bikes – cheap and worth buying, and usually sold together with a brush that you can use to brush out any gunk in the links.
It is useful and inexpensive to have the right tools, degreasers and lubricants. I recently discovered a great line of chain-cleaning products called Finish Line. They work well for me.
Step 4: Lube the Chain
Once the chain looks clean, turn the pedals again, applying a line of oil along the links, as shown in the video below. Your aim is to average out at one drop per link. Use a drip-type oil can. Three pedal turns should ensure you get the whole chain. Good oils will trickle out at just the right speed when the can is held upside down.
Video Showing How to Apply Chain Oil
Tip: For the rainy season, buy a lube that is designed for wet weather. These are usually clearly marked. They are wet when you put them on, but they dry into a waxy film.
Step 5: Spin the Pedals
Spin the pedals for about 45 seconds to give the lube time to settle into the inside of the chain links.
Step 6: Wipe off Visible Oil
Repeat step 2: hold a rag firmly around the chain, then turn the pedals a few times. This will enable you to wipe off all the visible oil. Your goal is to have oil inside the links, not on the surface. Surface oil will just attract dirt, causing a buildup of filthy gunk.
Step 7: Repeat Step 6
If you want to be a bike chain super hero, repeat step 6 the next morning for one or two pedal turns, to wipe off any oil that has oozed out of the links overnight. To remind myself to do this before leaving for work, I used to leave a dirty rag on my seat overnight.
Final Tip
If your bike is brand new – note that new bikes come pre-lubed with very superior lube. Don’t clean it off before you have to, because the oil you replace it with might not be as good. If cycling in dry, clean conditions, you might be able to go for a few hundred miles without lubing the chain of a brand new bike.Bottom Line
This whole chain-cleaning-lubing routine takes just a few minutes and is very easy. But if you repeat it regularly, your chain and gears should keep rolling smoothly right through the rainy season.Bike Chain Cleaning Kits
You can of course make this whole process even easier if you have on hand everything you may need. This is most easily achieved by buying a bike chain cleaning kit. I use the one below and it is easy to use on a chain that is moderately to extremely dirty. Just do NOT do what I did – leave it on the ground and then step on it, spilling oil all over the floor!
Note: I know that people have different opinions about cleaning bike chains, and some people feel quite strongly about it. So I want to end this post by quoting the late, great Sheldon Brown:
“This article is based on my personal … experience and my own theories. If you disagree with them, I won’t call you a fool or a villain, you may be right. I hope you will extend me the same courtesy.”
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Mike C says
Step 4 says, in wet weather you should use a dry lubricant. Shouldn’t you use a wet lube in wet weather?
Average Joe Cyclist says
Yes, I know it sounds wrong :) But in fact you use a dry lube that is intended to keep the chain from getting too wet. This is so mud will not stick to it.