[Closed] Are Chain Cleaners Any Good?

Not especially. Big coffee jar, fill with white spirits. Chain in, shake, dry, refit, lube of choice.

2 minutes

They're great at distributing degreaser onto your hub and bottom bracket bearings, but not very good at setting your chain up for being properly lubricated.

I bought the Halfords one when it was in the sale, it's ok. Not perfect, but better than nothing - at least I attempt to clean the chain now! Mine doesn't really leak at all either.

They're great at distributing degreaser onto your hub and bottom bracket bearings

I've not had this problem.

+1 nickc - they don't last long IME 🙁

2 of these
http://www.jejamescycles.co.uk/sram-powerlink-gold-item41718.html
and a jar of this
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_161497_langId_-1_categoryId_165713

chain off chuck in the jar for 5 mins shake them rinse in water = chain clean as a whistle

They can be delicate,very brittle plastic on the three I have had. Can be a little mucky but can't say I've had a problem spraying degreaser over rest of bike. Generally just drips on the drive. I use the fenwicks concentrate cleaner. High concentration first pass through or maybe 2 passes then lower concentration then water. I have also used Muck Offs specific degreaser with good results. One pass in that, then one in weak fenwicks then water. I bought a 5 litre jerry can of of degreaser which lasted ages. Not cheap on outlay but cheap enough per use. Have a look in Halfords, motorfactors for water soluble degreaser. Some motorbike shops also sell similar products. In some places it's a reasonable price but a trendy chain store like Hein Gericke can be as pricey as or more so, than bike shops.

washing up liquid all over chain - two old nail brushes held either side of chain - scrub back and forth until all chain has been thoroughly scrubbed - rinse with water - remove chain - wipe dry and apply WD40/GT85 - wash rest of bike - wipe chain again with a clean cloth - refit chain - apply lube(to each individual link one at a time)

2 of these
http://www.jejamescycles.co.uk/sram-powerlink-gold-item41718.html

I usually clean mine by removing the chain. But these new 10 speed chains are not powerlink compatible. Looks like a chain cleaner might be the only way.

Somebody here made the very good point that those cleaners are better at removing the oil than you are at replacing it.

I tested this theory by just wiping the chain down with an old sock and re-applying lube. It seemed to work fine, chain certainly lasted as well as I'm used to, although I still replaced after a year.

I use one of these (a halfords version) and it works very well, without covering the rest of the bike. I use petrol in it - an excellent degreaser.

Pointless unless you're going to scrub the clag off your chainrings and cassette too.

Wouldn't your bike then explode when you reached 88mph?

Mine's pretty much redundant since I moved over to Squirt wax lube, which is rather magic stuff. Goes on wet, dries hard, falls off taking the dirt with it once things get too mucky. Runs quiet too which is surely a good sign of an effective lube!

At least the Halfords one hooks onto the bike (rear mech), don't bother buying one that you have to hold while you rotate the chain.

I just use washing up liquid and water with mine, seems to work (got it for the commuter, which had strata of crap built up on the chain). Leaves the chain covered in bubbles, but a quick spray with WD-40 shifts those, then proper lube goes back on. Seems to work, and somehow I prefer that to using proper degreasers. For all I know washing up liquid is much worse but the chain hasn't melted yet.

I've used the chain-in-a-jar-of-degreaser option before, that probably works a little better and is still pretty easy, but I reckon this way is slightly simpler (30 seconds to prepare it, 30 seconds cleaning and then pour the remaining contents down the sink.)