Unanswered Park Cyclone chain cleaner & water in the links

[Telkwa]

Back in the '70's I hardly did anything with my chain. Flip the ten-speed upside down, find dad's oilcan on the workbench, squirt some oil on the chain. Done.

Things are different now. I broke a chain on my e-bike at 2000 miles. Wake-up call. I bought one of those blue Park Cyclone chain cleaners. Used it the other day. Seems to work just fine.

According to the directions inside the box, you're not supposed to use a petroleum-based solvent. You're supposed to use a water-based solvent, then empty that out and run the chain thru again using water with no solvent at all.

I'm concerned about rust inside the links. Park's instructions don't address the issue. Just says to dry the chain off. I fired up an air compressor and blew off the links. Then I soaked the chains with some ProLink. But I'm quite sure there's still water down inside the links and that worries me.

I welcome any feedback from the group.

 

[Telkwa]

I googled around.

1) Found several articles saying "don't use water-based solvents" because the water will cause rust inside the links. My concern exactly.
2) Apparently mineral spirits or kerosene won't ruin the Park Cyclone cleaners.

I think I've answered my own question.

Bicycle Chain Cleaning and Lubrication

 

[Mountie]

I’m wondering if using the turbo cleaner on my Levo is what helped destroy the bearings. All the degreaser sits in that dreaded little well behind the front sprocket not doing any good on the seals and bearings. I’ve not used the turbo cleaner on the bike since the motor was replaced under warranty and just wipe the chain off and take it off for deep cleaning. Just a thought.

 

[Mountie]

Chains are cheap compared to the motor and in 3000kms I’ve never had a chain or link break on any of my Levos.

 

[TheBikePilot]

I think 2000kms on a chain is pretty good. I accept about 1600miles on mine.

Only thing about changing a chain and not the cassette on an ebike is you will find slippage on some gears under load as the chain is quite harsh on the cassette teeth. The chain tends to 'bond' with that cassette. I would take a chain break as time to change the cassette also, and possibly your front chainring. I've found ebikes get through these items in about half the time due to the forces through them and if you've changed gears under load a lot..

I would carry in your trail pack a couple of spare master chain links. Very easy to change and if you have a Turbo Levo you've got a chain break tool in the headset under the SWAT tool but I carry one on a separate multi tool. There's a spare chain link in there too...You could run that chain for longer if you wanted but take that as a message it's on the way out!!

Personally I changed the cassette for a more beefy one which was heavier but should last a lot longer than 1000miles and hopefully I can change a chain and not have the slippage issue but modern 'lighter' drivetrains aren't really set up well for the force applied through ebikes.

I haven't gotten rust on my chain, I clean it using wax free bike/car cleaner in the chain cleaning tool and then dry it off with a rag and lubricate it using Muc Off dry or wet lube. Doesn't seem to get rust on it..

 

[steve_sordy]

When the chain is looking particularly disreputable, I use a proprietary degreaser, Hope's "Sh1t Shifter" to be precise. It is claimed to be brake friendly although I don't put it to the test!

Once the chain is clean, the whole bike gets washed as normal. The water rinses off the degreaser and no doubt leaves some random mix of degreaser/water inside the chain. I used to spray the chain with a Teflon lube Weldtite's TF2 to force out the water. Then wipe dry and lube.

But I don't bother anymore with the TF2, I just wipe dry and lube. I haven't noticed any deterioration in chain longevity, performance or appearance.