i have discovered, much to my initial disappointment, that there is an obvious, yet hitherto unrecognised corollary to my perennial need to ride with a shiny chain. i probaby should have seen it coming and perhaps one or two of you already did, but were too polite to point it out. for the chain, to state the glaringly obvious, is but one facet of a bicycle drivetrain, along with front and rear mechs, chainrings and cassette sprockets. the front derailleur is, perhaps, the innocent party, for it has but one job to perform, and assuming it's correctly adjusted, does it rather well, whether mechanically or electrically.
the rear derailleur sports a couple of toothed wheels, but since they are inevitably black, any effort put into cleaning them is bound to go unrecognised. same goes, in my particular case, for the chainrings. but while we're on that subject, it's a bit of a faff that, in order to present a unified and polished exterior to the world, that the chainring bolts are now on the inner face of the crankset. time was when you could removed the bolts, slide the worn chainring over the crank arm, and then do the opposite with a new one. progress has meant that we now need to remove the cranks to replace either chainring.
what is wrong with these people?
but, to return to the subject under discussion, in the majority of cases connected to the world of the road bike, the rear sprockets (all twelve of them) are of a silver hue and thus will graphically indicate any muck that has attached itself about their person. this state of affairs becomes more apparent when matched with a shiny chain. therefore, a predilection to present a pristine set of chain links, will almost, without question, bring the concomitant need to keep the sprockets clean.
were each and every cassette sprocket to exist in isolation, this would be a less onerous task to undertake, but, presumably for engineering reasons i have failed to comprehend, five or six of them are invariably rivetted together in two sets, meaning judicious use of cloth edges to clean out the gunk sitting between conjoined sprockets. it's a task that is certainly do-able, but on many occasions, remarkably time-consuming. and, slave that i am to (almost) perfection, i have been in the habit of removing the cassette from the freehub, dousing all in a bath of wd40, and cleaning each by hand, prior to reassembly on the hub.
once there, out comes the cloth mentioned above, firmly inserted between the rivetted chappies, and here we go round the mulberry bush. as my mother has always said 'pride bears no pain'.
i can see several of you have already begun to snigger at my apparent ineptitude, aghast that anyone would undertake such lengthy maintenance, purely on aesthetic grounds. but, of course, aesthetics are only part of the result. though your own mileage may vary, depending on the groupset attached to your pride and joy, campagnolo record twelve-speed chains are not noted for their low cost, and nor is the chain tool that they mandate you ultilise to attach a new one. if we combine the grit attracted to the chainlinks in the course of a rural bike ride, with that deposited on the cassette sprockets, we have the perfect recipe for abrasion, meaning reduced chain-life.
therefore, keeping the chain clean is but one part of the equation; allowing identification of any untoward malfunctions, such as cracked or broken side plates, reducing any potential crud build-up, and yes, showing a shiny chain when the cycle is parked outside debbie's. but to complete that equation, it wouldn't do any harm to keep both the chainrings and the cassette in similar condition. if all are subject to abrasion enforced wear, it can mean an expensive replacement programme. campagnolo record chainrings are priced well north of £100, as is a replacement cassette, while the chain manages to nudge above £50.
so while the sniggering has yet to subside, let me advise that i have now seen the light, and employed green oil's excellent agent apple extreme degreaser. having removed the worn chain from the bicycle, though green oil suggest pouring some agent apple into the bottom section of a milk carton, in the absence of the latter, i used an empty tin of peach slices, the contents of which will grace the top of my green city jumbo oats porridge for the next week or so.
employing a nearby paintbrush, i then painted the degreaser onto the chainrings, the derailleur jockey wheels and lastly, the cassette sprockets on the rear wheel that had been removed from the bicycle frame. i have used other brands of degreaser on previous occasions, but on this particular occasion, the agent apple more than deserved the extreme suffix. in well under a minute, the cassette sprockets looked almost as new, before spraying them with water to remove any degreaser left behind. this stuff is as close to magic as you're likely to get. granted, green oil suggest immersing the componentry in the degreaser, but it proved every bit as effective with a brush.
and the best bit is that it can be re-used up to three times. once the cassette was as pristine as when it was born, it was simply a case of pouring the liquid back into the aluminium bottle for next time. the product uses fermented apple extract, natural alcohol, and orange extracts, so it's environmentally friendly, and boy does it smell good. priced at only £16.99 for 300ml, this is a no-brainer. and with autumn and winter genrally being the worst of the crud seasons, now is defintely the time to stock up.
i had feared that, due to recent chain rattles in certain gears, the inner chainring was in need of replacemnt, but following the degreasing process, the affixation of a new chain and a subsequent test-ride, my fears were unfounded and my bank balance can breathe a sigh of relief. all that remains is to replace all the gear and brake cables before winter sets in, but we'll see just how long iit takes before i get round to that.
sunday 25 september 2022
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................