The chain and drivetrain of your bike are the parts most exposed to moisture, dirt, dust, debris, grit, grime, and several other nasty things that can significantly shorten their lifespan and performance. If you don't clean and lubricate your bike chain regularly, you will be facing problems such as increased wear, chain links becoming inflexible, and problems with the shifting performance. Of course, you can avoid all that with proper maintenance using a bike chain cleaner.
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Top 5 Best Bicycle Chain Cleaner Comparisons
Brand | Details |
|---|---|
 HUELE Bike Chain Washer | |
 Cycle With Style Motorcycle & Bike Chain Cleaning Tool | |
 Park Tool Cyclone Chain Scrubber | |
 Bike Chain Cleaning Tool by Ozzy Outdoors | |
 Oumers Bike Cleaning Kit |
When to Clean & Lubricate the Chain
Short answer: regularly. Thoroughly inspect each bike chain link to ensure there's no dust build-up or visible rust and corrosion. Whenever you ride an unlubricated and dirty bike, the chain will start squeaking, which is the first sign you need to clean. If you want to clean your chain while it's still mounted on the bike, you will need to use a firm brush to eliminate the excess dirt (if you don't have one, an old toothbrush should do the trick).
However, once every 3 months, you should completely remove the chain from the bike and perform an even deeper cleaning. Special chain removal tools should aid you in the process and usually come in any good bike repair kit. After having brushed the chain from one end to another, submerge it into chain solvent to make sure that you remove the excess grime that can't be removed with a brush. Leave the chain in solvent long enough for it to soak all the dirt. Then, remove it from the solution and use a clean rag to wipe it dry. The solvent needs to be completely evaporated before you add lubricant to your bike parts.
Cleaning the Bike’s Chain
Normally, cleaning a bike chain is a two-step process. First, you have to scrub the chain clean, and then you need to apply a fresh coat of bike chain lube.
While you usually don't have to remove the chain from the bike, you should flip it upside-down so that you can get easy access to the drivetrain. On a general note, you will need some old newspapers, a bunch of rags, a cleaning brush or a chain scrubbing tool, and the actual cleaning product (could be anything from solvent, isopropyl alcohol, or anything similar). For lubricating the chain, you will need to know which type of lubricant to purchase.
The newspapers are there to make sure that you won't leave a mess behind. Spread the newspapers on the floor and place your bike on them upside down. If you can, lean your bike on a sturdy object. Do whatever it takes to make sure the bike stays in place so that both of your hands are free to work on cleaning the chain. Next, apply the solvent you've chosen to the chain. You can slowly turn the pedals to move the chain while keeping the solvent in the same position with your other hand, applying it to the chain.
After applying the formula, use a dry rag to wipe it clean. This makes sure both the dirt and grease that have accumulated on the chain will come off. You will need to make sure that you have cleaned the entire length of the chain. While it's ideal to completely remove your chain from the bike and soak it in solvent every once in a while, you will also have to use a brush or a scrubbing tool to thoroughly clean the chain. In the next following paragraphs, we're going to show you some excellent chain brushes and scrubbers that will facilitate this particular cleaning step. The role of these tools is to reach chain parts that can't normally be reached.
If you're using a scrubbing tool, the process is more automated and will require less force and focus from you. However, if you're using a regular bike chain brush, you will need to pay attention to all the nooks and crannies where dirt or grease may hide. And when you've finished with the chain, it would also be wise to clean the other parts of your drivetrain as well. There are kits with special brush designs for cleaning these parts. You will also need solvent and a brush/a clean rag to wipe these parts clean. Some experts recommend you then give the chain one more dry rag wipe to ensure there isn't any tiny bit of grease left that may have been flung away while you've finished cleaning the other components.
When your chain is finally clean and free of all the dirt and other nasty deposits, it's time to apply a fresh coat of bike lube, as per the given instructions. Depending on the type of lubricant that you use, you might have to wipe up any excess bike lube after leaving it to dry.
It's important to remember never to apply lubricant right before riding. The lubricant needs to let the formula settle and penetrate the hidden spots of your bike chain. Applying bike chain lube right before hitting the road will result in splattering the liquid all over your bike and attracting a lot of dust and dirt in the process.
Top 5 Best Bicycle Chain Cleaner Reviews
HUELE Bike Chain Washer
We'll start our series of bicycle chain cleaning tools with a simple but useful set made by HUELE. Suitable for both bikes and motorcycles, this set comes with 2 brushes, one with a red handle and the other one with a blue one. These tools have a convenient U-shaped brush that should help facilitate bike chain cleaning. The length of each brush is 10 inches, which should be more than enough to allow smooth maneuvering.
The long bristle at the other end gets harder-to-reach places, such as brakes, sprockets, or derailleurs.
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Cycle With Style Motorcycle & Bike Chain Cleaning Tool
Available in black, blue, and red, the Cycle With Style chain cleaning tool is a great companion for bike and motorcycle owners that like to keep their chains nice and clean. Since this is a multipurpose brush, it can clean other components, such as gears. Thanks to the 3-sided bristle end, you should easily clean all 4 chain sides, while the other end is suitable for cleaning other components.
While this particular brush can work on a bike chain, remember that it was designed for a motorcycle one, which is generally thicker.
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Park Tool Cyclone Chain Scrubber
If you read expert advice from bikers and mechanics, many of them will mention the Park Tool Cyclone chain scrubber. While it costs a little more than the average chain cleaning brush, it is a lot fancier and makes chain maintenance a lot less complicated. But how does this gizmo work? By taking the plastic body apart, you can install the scrubber onto the chain directly without taking it off the bike. There is a container inside the scrubber which can be filled with cleaning fluid. There is a mark showing you the maximum level of fluid that needs to be added.
After installing the device on the chain, hold the handle while turning the cranks. A roller brush will start scrubbing the chain's side plates. After that, you can see the links as they pass through a set of vertical brushes, deeply cleaning the inside of the chain. In the final phase, you will notice the chain passing through a gap where it is degreased thanks to a foam element. It's similar to a car passing through the car wash. The manufacturer recommends repeating the process, using fresh bike chain degreaser the second time.
Many things place this scrubber above other bike chain cleaning tools. This tool only takes about 5 minutes to thoroughly scrub the chain once. And it makes little mess compared to the average chain brush. Not to mention that it does a very good job of actually leaving the bike chain clean.
Another thing we liked is the fact that you can use almost any type of cleaning product, including a combination between liquid detergent and water. It also helps you avoid the manual labor that often comes along with scrubbing the chain and making sure you've left no link unturned. When it comes to having to clean the Park Tool scrubber, the process is almost insignificant. Since most bike chain cleaners are based on water, you will have nothing left to do but rinse it with more water.
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Bike Chain Cleaning Tool by Ozzy Outdoors
Here's a similar cleaning kit to the Park Tool, though perhaps not as efficient. This particular kit was put together by Ozzy Gear, in an attempt to automate a process that makes a mess and leaves you wondering why you needed a bike in the first place. Even if it may look similar to the product presented above, the Ozzy Outdoors chain cleaner tool has a different scrubbing mechanism.
Inside the blue plastic case lies a single clamp that keeps the device together when you're cleaning the chain. Compared to its competition, the Ozzy cleaner doesn't just work with specific types of bikes, but promises to be compatible with all the different chain sizes. All you have to do is attach the cleaner to the chain and rotate the pedals so that the chain can move through the scrubber. If your bike has coaster brakes, it's recommended to either flip it over or elevate it so that you can easily have the chain pass through the chain cleaner tool.
In most cases, you will never have to remove the chain from the bike, thanks to the clipping mechanism that attaches the scrubber to the chain. The reservoir inside the scrubber can be filled with your favorite chain cleaning product. The casing itself is made from heavy-duty transparent plastic, so you can see how well it cleans your chain. It doesn't come with any metallic pieces, which is a plus considering that many cleaning products are water-based and water and metal have a way of not getting along. The manufacturer has also thrown in a notched scraper and a bristle brush for a limited time, in case you need them to make any finishing touches to your bike chain.
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Oumers Bike Cleaning Kit
Time to go back from scrubbers to old-fashioned brushes. But this isn't just your average brush: it is a 6-piece set of excellent products that, working together, will make sure your bike chain and drivetrain are clean and functional. Since these tools feature an ergonomically designed handle, they are perfect for reaching difficult areas that are normally a hassle to clean. The variety of brushes should make it easy for you to properly clean the bike, as the set contains:
- A cleaning brush.
- A tire scrubber.
- A tapered detail brush.
- A brush for cleaning the gears.
- A scraper for the gear and a bike cleaning mitt.
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The Bottom Line
Ladies and gents, there you have it: a round-up of some of the most common and customer-preferred bike cleaning tools. It's hard to give you a specific piece of advice on which one of these would work best for you and, since none of these products are expensive, you might want to experiment and see which type of cleaning method suits you best.
Scrubbers like the one sold by Park Tool make chain cleaning easy, since you don't need the same brute force as when you're scrubbing the chain with a regular brush. With scrubbers, the chain passes through a set of brushes backed up by cleaning liquid used to fill the designated container, and they diminish the time it takes for a full chain sweep significantly. However, some people argue that these scrubbers don't do the job and should and still prefer to use their hands to clean the chain manually.
That's why we've included brushes: from simple and inexpensive units to 6-piece, multipurpose sets. In the end, you will have to create your own cleaning process. From what we've seen so far, people that love fiddling with their bikes will often prefer manual cleaning over using a scrubber.