Drivetrain aerosol cleaner recomendations

Fenwicks is pretty good

https://fenwicksbike.com/product/foaming-chain-cleaner/

WD-40 bike degreaser

works for me and its not crazy money

Jobsworth Chain Cleaner and Degreaser Aerosol - 500ml | Planet X Bikes

Damned stuff removed all grease from my internal freehub bearing (admitted not well sealed), so strips the chain clean

Don't use messy wet lubes, then you wont have to clean up the mess. Squirt for me, no mess and drivetrain needs nothing more than water to clean the mud off.

Normal WD 40 works well for me

Doesnt need to be an aerosol....

Buy yourself one of these:

https://www.screwfix.com/p/hozelock-spraymist-translucent-trigger-sprayer-1ltr/7623K

And some of this:

https://www.screwfix.com/p/no-nonsense-heavy-duty-degreaser-5ltr/88668

And you'll have an equivalent to an entire pallet full off 500ml 'bike cleaning' aerosols.

WD40 or GT85 on cassette, then run rag through it for intermediate cleans. I take it off and use screwfix' no-nonsense' degreaser (diluted) when off the bike - it's very effective stuff. Chain is usually wiped clean, or taken off and popped in a small tub with aforementioned degreaser.

Cheers for the replies

The Jobsworth one from Planet X is a no go for me purely because of the shipping costs makes it £12 and there is nothing else i want or need from Planet X and they dont seem to offer free shipping when you spend a certain amount anymore

Will look into Fenwicks

Doesnt need to be an aerosol….

Buy yourself one of these:

https://www.screwfix.com/p/hozelock-spraymist-translucent-trigger-sprayer-1ltr/7623K

And some of this:

https://www.screwfix.com/p/no-nonsense-heavy-duty-degreaser-5ltr/88668

And you’ll have an equivalent to an entire pallet full off 500ml ‘bike cleaning’ aerosols.

+1

You can dilute the screwfix stuff quite a bit and it still be effective.

I usually dilute it between 1:4 and 1:9 into a spray bottle (no need to buy one, just use any old kitchen cleaner bottle) and it's enough to clean most parts. Then use a paintbrush to work it in neat on any really shitty bits.

Not interested in cleaners that you use in chain baths, leave the parts in a tub to soak in etc…

Just be aware that any degreaser that's a good enough surfactant to break down chain gunk is also good enough to soak past the freehub / bearing seals and f*** those up too. I've convinced myself over the least few decades that the solution to reducing bike maintenance is to do less bike maintenance.  Chain lubes that need constant re-application and cleaning with harsh chemicals, etc is what kills bike parts.

On the bike I only use car shampoo for the bike itself and carefully clean anything that needs degreaser with a toothbrush to avoid it getting where I don't want it.  If the cassette has got crusty enough to need a real clean then I take it off and do it properly.

Don’t use messy wet lubes, then you wont have to clean up the mess. Squirt for me, no mess and drivetrain needs nothing more than water to clean the mud off.

Or a variation on this, I never got on with Squirt or UBS or similar so would say Putoline / other hot wax year round or dry lubes in summer depending on the desired frequency Vs level of faff.

Once you've got it clean, you could switch to a cleaner lube.

Doesn't have to be a fancy wax or whatever, some wet lubes are much less gunky.

Weldtite TF2 All Weather is the perfect balance IME (and dead cheap).

Yes, I should have said  - I'm using at at about 5:1.

A quick squirt and a brush of the cassette and a backpedal gets the chain perfectly clean.

Like I said, you've got the equivalent of a pallet full of brightly coloured 'bike specific' chain cleaning aerosols there for less than £25.

Cheers for the replies, will look into some of them

i use wet lube as my work bike does 100 miles a week in all weathers, dry lube/wax doesn’t last very long

drivetrain gets cleaned at least once a month due to the weather hence wanting aerosol cleaner to save time and effort, never had any issues with it washing out freehub/ bearing grease etc….

i use wet lube as my work bike does 100 miles a week in all weathers, dry lube/wax doesn’t last very long

Same here, although I find putoline is by far the least faff still because it only needs doing monthly?

Having said that I'm cheating at the moment and using chainsaw oil* as my DFF packed up after a decade of frying chains.  As long as I apply it sparingly and wipe the chain off afterwards it seems to stay clean. Trick seems to be to coat it little and often, any oil on the outside isn't helping the rollers and just becomes muck.

*looks an smells like the old Weldtite wet lube, but comes in liter bottles

*cough* Putoline *cough*

Elbow grease from home bargains is £2/l

Not the shite that Decathlon has if you were tempted.  Did absolutely nothing.

I've got some cheapy TFR that I mixed up 2:1 in a little squirty bottle (old fry light bottle actually) and I just spritz it on the Cassette/chainrings leave for a few mins then scrub with a drill mounted brush and rinse with hose off.

Leaf blower and old rag to dry, silicone spray now and then to try and keep rust at bay

Always a worry for me with a spray that it gets onto the discs.

@IHN *cough* risk of burning the house down *cough*?

I've adopted my usual practice to drivetrain cleaning i.e. not bother. Since switching from a wet to dry lube everythign is less gunky anyway.

Fenwicks is pretty good

I've tried two cans of that, both were terrible.

All the Fenwick's stuff I've tried has been awful - I don't know how other people have been getting good results with it, but I'd never buy anything made by them again.

Brake cleaner from the auto factors used on everything....

Cif works well for me.