Do you remember the good ol’ days of childhood biking when the chain was something you didn’t want to touch cuz it was a greasy mess? Me too. Life was simpler back then.
I have 350 miles on my “new” Masi Giramondo bike. I’m a smart guy and I’ve been washing my bike and cleaning and lubricating the chain. I want to keep this bike nice and I like how it shifts better when the drivetrain is clean. On this morning’s ride to the Bike Stop Cafe for a delicious Juarez Wrap I rolled through a construction zone on the Katy Trail, complete with inch deep mud. Ugh! When I got home, it was back to the hose to get rid of the mud. When I got done with the wash-up, I was proud to have my chain looking spiffy like this.
Well… no… neither spiffy nor clean. Not even a little bit.
I decided that it was time to get the right tool for the job, since screwing around with an old fingernail brush and spray degreaser was just making a mess and not really cleaning the chain. I bought a Muc-Off X-3 Dirty Chain Machine. After just three (yes, three) cleanings, I got my chain looking like this.
Not bad for 30 minutes of work. ? I’ll be using this tool a lot, I can tell.
