Complete Guide to Chain Cleaning & Degreasing Your Bicycle Chain

Maintaining your chain is one of the best ways you can save money on your bike.  After upgrading to your dream ride, the last thing you want to do is keep shelling out to replace parts that are wearing out prematurely.  

The first step to any well maintained drivetrain is to degrease the chain of the factory grease.  The lubrication that provides is mediocre at best, but it is also very sticky which attracts lots of dirt and debris.  This dirt leads to excessive wear, noise, and mess.  

If you fully strip your chain from the beginning, it will lead to a longer lasting chain, cassette, and chainring.  Even if you have been riding for a while, regular cleaning of the chain can be a massive difference in terms of efficiency, longevity, and certainly cleanliness.

Chain Degreasing can vary depending if you are doing a brand new chain to prepare it for wax or another lubricant, or if you are cleaning a chain that you have been riding.  This then will depend a bit on if you have a waxed chain or an oiled chain.  We will go into all of these options below.  

To strip a new chain you can go one of two routes.  You can use the StripChip in a pot of wax, which is certainly the quickest and easiest since it really requires no cleaning at all.  The other route will be doing a full degreaser bath.  We would recommend an old water bottle, chain stripper, and water.  You will also need a set of chain pliers to remove the chain from the bike.  

If you are cleaning a chain that has already been ridden with wax, you will simply need more lubricant, or if you would like to really clean it well, a pot of boiling/hot water.  

For a used chain with oil on it, the required materials are certainly more involved.  You will need a degreaser like Brake and Drivetrain Cleaner, a stiff bristled brush, and a hose.

You can use an ultrasonic cleaner with any of these options, but isn't absolutely necessary.  It is certainly a bit of a luxury.  The same can be said about an electric kettle for waxed chains.  it makes pouring the hot water over the chain much easier.

Once you have ridden a waxed chain, it is by far the easiest type of lubricant to clean.  You can wipe the chain down with a microfiber towel, and put it straight back in the wax.  Easy as that.  If you want to go a little bit cleaner, you can remove old wax by pouring boiling water over the chain.  

The easiest way to do this is with an electric kettle so that it keeps you from pouring hot water on yourself or another area.  Let the chain dry and it is ready to go back in the wax pot.  Once your chain has been waxed, it doesn't need any more degreaser making it a much quicker and easier process to keep clean.

Start with wetting the drivetrain with your hose. Then spray your brake and drivetrain cleaner on the chain, cassette chainrings, etc, then let it sit for 3-5 minutes. You will see it foam a reddish/purple color as it interacts with dirt/oil/grease. After a couple of minutes you can use your brush to agitate the cleaning foam and help get even more off the chain. Then finish by rinsing all parts you sprayed thoroughly until the water runs clear.

Once your chain is clean, you can give it a quick dry with compressed air, a leaf blower, or a rag. Once you hit this step, your chain is ready for lube to be reapplied.

A time or two each year, it can be a good idea to remove the chain from the bike and make sure that you give it a really thorough cleaning.  This can help get the dirt and contaminant build up out of the chain to have a clean surface for the oil to penetrate.  

To do this, it will often help to get the chain a little bit cleaner while on the bike.  Something like the steps above, or even just a wipe down with a gear wipe would be great.  This just gets the easiest to remove oil and dirt off the chain before the thorough cleaning.  

The steps are very similar to a new chain but if you remove the chain from the bike you can place it in an old water bottle and cover the chain with a light degreaser or something like SILCA Chain Stripper.  You can also start with some warm water and soap as it is often the cheapest solution.  This will require multiple baths so starting with some cheaper solutions can help save on the cost.  

Once your chain is covered, shake up the chain vigorously for 30-60 seconds.  This will remove a large amount of oil and will turn the cleaning solution black.  Dump that cleaning solution from the bottle, and repeat this step.  

As you move from bath number 1 to 2 to 3, etc you can progressively use a little bit better cleaning solutions.  I like to save Chain Stripper for the final two baths so that it can really do its job well and get the last bits of oil out of the chain.  It is unlikely that you will have the liquid in the bottle be completely clear, but it should at least be coming out a light gray instead of black.  

Once you have completed this process to the point where you think your chain is as clean as it is going to get, remove it and dry the chain.  This can be done with a microfiber towel, rag, compressed air etc.  Then you are ready to re-mount the chain on the bike to be lubed again.

Like many of these steps we can separate them into wax based and oil.  For re-waxing of the chain, you simply dip it back in the hot wax and hang to dry, just like you did the first time.  For a drip based wax like SILCA's Super Secret, one drop per link while spinning the chain backwards will do.  Let that sit for 4-12 hours and it will be ready to ride.

For oil based lubricants, this is the one step where it might be a bit simpler.  Just drip one drop per link on the rollers while spinning the chain in reverse and spin the crank 5-10 times to make sure the lubricant works it's way in-between the links.  Then get a clean rag and wipe away any excess lubricant on the outside of the chain.  This stops the lube that isn't doing the job of lubricating the chain from grabbing all the dirt and mixing it into the chain causing excess wear.

Absolutely!  Regular cleaning of the chain plus using a high quality lubricant are the two best things you can do to ensure that your drivetrain lasts as long as possible.  If you can do a quick clean every two weeks and a deeper clean every other month, you will see a drastically extended chain life.  

Using a wax based lube like SILCA Secret Chain Blend can take your chain from wearing out in just a few thousand km to lasting well into the 25,000km+ if you stay on top of regular maintenance.  That will save you a ton over the long run and will make your riding more enjoyable with a clean, quiet, and efficient drivetrain.  

For other tips or questions, please reach out to sales@silca.cc and we are always happy to help answer any specific questions or something we might not have been able to cover here.