I want to switch to wax. For preparation, I am cleaning my cassette, the gears in the bicycle derailleur (and the derailleur frame), and the bicycle chainring (I don’t need to clean the chain because I am getting a new one).
For the job, I got white spirit, isopropyl alcohol, and a brush, and I cleaned them as well as I could, but, for example, on the cassette there are still some black dots left and, when touching them, they are still a little greasy. How clean do the components need to be, and how can I get rid of the leftover grease?
For chains and small components we put them in jars with the white spirit first and aceton second and shake.
I was told that the small gears in the derailleur should not be put in white spirit or acetone, because it would also remove the grease in the bearings 🤔.
It depends what you have, the jockey wheels usually have slip bearings/bushings and they don’t mind it that much.
You need to clean the chain really well before the first wax, so that bare metal is exposed for the wax bond. The rest of the stuff you’re talking about (chain ring, cassette, etc) isn’t getting waxed and doesn’t really matter (although now is a fine time to give them a relatively deep clean). The wax lubricates motion among the plates/pins/rollers of the chain, and that’s it.
There is no relative motion to lubricate between the chain components and the sprockets - each time a roller comes into contact with a sprocket for a trip around the gear, it stays fixed in place and the pin rotates inside the roller. This design leads to chain wear (easy and relatively cheap to replace) instead of cassette and chain ring wear (expensive).
Zero Friction Cycling is the place to go to read about waxing details. Here’s their chain prep guide.
Silca now makes a product that promises to make the initial chain cleaning trivially easy, but you need to heat it all to 125°C to work (instead of only 75°C for normal waxing), so to use it you pretty much also need their expensive crock pot with its precise temperature control (normal crock pots don’t get that hot).
How old is your cassette? I ask because another option is to just replace it, if it’s getting up there in miles or kilometers. But some cassettes are ludicrously expensive, so it’s not always a good option.
I’ve used Moto floss to clean between the gears of cassettes. It’s like soft thick rope. Works really well. From Amazon, for example.
This is the hardest part of switching to wax.
I am on a tight budget, therefore I want to save a little money and use the cassette as long as I can. But I also thought about just replacing it…
Yeah, I’m loathe to replace something that still has life in it, and like I said some cassettes are pretty crazily expensive, so I’d be even less inclined to go that route. Just wanted to throw it out there in case you’re trying to save a cassette that has 25,000 miles on it, or something.
Hot water and dawn dish soap. Use one of those green scrubbing pads. Then use alcohol or spirits to get the remainder off.
In the past i took them off the bike, soaked in warm water with a drop of dish detergent (light suds), and scrubbed each piece individually. Then used a microfiber towel to dry them off and get any remaining grease.
This or actual degreaser but in my opinion if the non l other components are pretty well clean then I wouldn’t stress further. You’re waxing the chain, not the other bits, as long as they’re not gunked up massively you should be fine
I used degreaser, but it left a black grease. I removed the small gears in the derailleur and used degreaser, then scrubbed with white spirit and then with isopropanol. But I didn’t soak it, because I heard it can dissolve the grease in the bearings.
Yep, you want to protect internal bearings for sure. What are you using for degreaser? You might just need another few rounds, but I wouldn’t say it needs to be absolutely spotless.
Some photos would help
A powerful pressure washer? That worked for me when cleaning
People in the know say this’ll also clean all the grease from inside your sealed bearings, drastically reducing their life. I wouldn’t recommend.
