Clean getaway

Throw away your rags, oily toothbrushes and hot water – it’s time to embrace the effort-free route to a shiny drivetrain

hatever bike you’ve been riding this winter, you can bet your final pound it needs a clean... and unfortunately that doesn’t just mean a quick spit and polish of the head badge.

‘Winter road riding, especially on roads treated for ice and snow, has a habit of covering your drivetrain in grit, grime and debris,’ says Park Tools' wrench guru, Calvin Jones. ‘That can cause grinding both externally at the roller-tocog contact, and internally at the chain rivet.’

In other words the long-term prognosis for dirty drivetrains isn’t good. Cassettes, jockey wheels and chainring teeth will wear, while chains ‘stretch’ as the pivot points slowly abrade themselves from the inside out. But there is a solution: the plethora of ingenious, selfcontained chain scrubbers now on offer.

‘Today’s chain-cleaning devices, like the Park Tool CM-5.2, let you concentrate the cleaning solvent right around the chain rollers and side plates, meaning you use a lot less cleaning solvent, and create a lot less mess. It makes cleaning just good, old-fashioned fun!’

We’d stop short of describing cleaning as fun, but just as hoovering up pine needles after Christmas is a strangely satisfying chore, there is a certain smug fascination to be had from watching all those tiny bristles inside your chaincleaning device whizz around like a miniature carwash. And an even smugger feeling when everything comes out looking like new, and deep down you know you’ve helped prolong the life of another endangered drivetrain. See p216 for stockists