Degreasing wheels

[RMcC]

What products and techniques do people find the best to use to get oil/ grease removed from wheels, especially rear ones. Im finding it diffficult to get my rear wheel spotlessly clean after using wet lube which is now all over the rim.

I currently use muc-off bike cleaner with a brush and then soapy water and a sponge. While it takes most of the stuff off there are always spots that just smear and stay on the wheels. Having silver rims as well its easy to spot.

I also have a set of older wheels that I must admit I did not care for very much as I got them second hand with a bike and didnt have decent cleaning facilities at my old house, but now after moving and having a bike cleaning session this morning im looking to try and regenerate them a bit.

Hope someone can help.

Thanks

[sleepingmenace]

sounds a bit simplistic, but for getting oil/grease off anything on the bike, I simply use plain water and dish soap -- works every time and leaves no residue nor staining.

[gmitt98]

I use simple green spay bottles for everything.

[sawyer]

Citrus degreaser and kitchen towel.

[Rick]

Simple Green is amazing stuff.

But be careful about getting into the bearings. It will was the grease right out of there too.

[Gregorio]

How is the lube getting all over the wheel? Sounds like you are applying too much to the chain.
You should in general....apply, wait 15 min or over night, take a clean rag and wipe the chain.
Your goal should be to get all the lube off of the outside of the chain with the rag. Obviously you won't but your chain will not fling the lube all over.

[RMcC]

I normally don't wipe the outside of the chain but then I didn't think I was putting any lube on there. I normally just put a drop on every link using the applicator on the top of the bottle.

Sometimes I do it just before a ride though so maybe this is the problem.

[Camilo]

I normally don't wipe the outside of the chain but then I didn't think I was putting any lube on there. I normally just put a drop on every link using the applicator on the top of the bottle.

Sometimes I do it just before a ride though so maybe this is the problem.

Yes, that will cause a lot of oil slop. Like he said, after letting it sit for at least 15 minutes wipe the outside of the chain as clean as you can get it. I actually use a rag dampened with mineral spirits (not soaked - just an aid in wiping). Then I do it again after the first ride or two. I rarely get appreciable oiliness on the chainstays or wheels.

As for cleaning the wheels, like others have said, there's a lot of household products that clean oiliness. Dish soap is the old generic hand cleaner used by mechanics when they run out of GoJo. I have a pump bottle on my bench of a "gritty" type of citrus based hand cleaner. It's not gritty in the sense it has abrasives in it, just a "scrubby" type of hand cleaner. I've found that works extremely well for cleaning dirt, caked/long term grime and oily grime from the bike and does not affect the finish. Squirt a little of it - a thick pasty type of stuff - on a rag, and scrub away. Maybe follow with a wet rag to wipe away residue. That said, I've only used normal household cleaners (409 type of stuff) on my rims and they get perfectly clean.

[notsoswift]

Just don't use a pressure cleaner or anything like that, the pro's may do it but they will swapout the gear train in no time... while you will just stuff your geartrain in no time!

[RMcC]

Then I do it again after the first ride or two.

I lube the chain before or after every ride ready to go out again?

[Gregorio]

My guess is you have way too much lube. Unless riding in rain....meaning normal riding conditions, I lube 1x a week (350-400miles)

[Camilo]

I use Chain-L and lube about every 750 miles or 1200 km, maybe more. After lubing, I wipe thoroughly, ride a couple of times, wipe it thoroughly again and it's pretty much maintenance free from then on (I might clean the outside of the chain from time to time, but I don't demand a sparkly clean chain). This method keeps it pretty clean and running smoothly and I never notice any mess other than the derailleur wheels and the cassette get about as dirty as the chain (meaning not much, periodic cleaning). When I used regular chain oil, I re-lubed about every 300 miles or 500 km, but same routine.

If you're oiling your chain every ride it's probably too much. If you're oiling your chain without cleaning off the excess, it's not surprising that it's making a mess.

[kman]

Waaaaaaaaay too much lube mate. I lube once every few hundred km and probably remove and clean properly every 1000km or so (or after rain).
My method for lubing = put bike on stand, drop to the 12 or 11 cog at the bottom, hold lube over rear cogs and back pedal for ~30sec or so until the chain is well covered. Keep back pedalling for another minute or so to make sure its worked into the links. Leave bike for 15min, come back with a clean, dry rag and wipe off as much as you can - seriously, as much as you can. Anylube you're wiping off isn't on the inside of the links where you need it to be. Get rid of it, it will just attract dirt or fling all over the place.

I've never ever had lube flinging over my wheels, even on a winter commuter bike where the drivetrain is abused and left dirty with extra lube on it.

I'm sure others have other methods but this works for me. I change my chain every ~3000km and get at least 3 chains to every cassette. I use a thin teflon style lube - used to be tri-flow, currently rock'n'roll gold (tried the red, it is rubbish).