Sending the dirty mineral spirits through a coffee filter has always worked pretty well for me, too. It filters out all of the clumps of sludge and grit pretty well.
The only other thing that I have found that works better than mineral spirits is gasoline, but there's a lot of bad stuff involved that makes it not worth using (smell, fumes, disposal, exploding, etc.); I think the main reason it works so well is what you said about the whole evaporation deal. Another not on mineral spirits; it dries out your hands very badly if you have a lot of contact with it. It also breaks down latex, so wearing surgical gloves is no good. The gloves become really saggy and combersome if you try to use them; not sure about non-latex. Just put some bag balm on you hands after using it and you should be good. On Oct 22, 12:06 pm, MichaelH <[email protected]> wrote: > Yes. When I use the parks chain cleaner that I have I always use > mineral spirits. That's what works best. Mineral spirits will > evaporate off of the chain, whereas all other cleaners need to be > washed off, otherwise they will be removing the new lube too. So how > do you wash a chain in soap and water if its on the bike? Secondly > the mineral spirits simply out performs other cleaning agents, which > are fine for all the other jobs on the bike but less than great on > this, the dirtiest part. After using the spirits I pour it off into a > container and cover it tightly. The grit sinks to the bottom and I > can reuse the spirits many times. > > michael > > On Oct 22, 12:05 pm, Bruce <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > The care package from Nashbar came in yesterday and last night after work I > > got > > to work on some bike projects. After trying to convince myself that I > > liked an > > Ultegra 53/39 double on the Ram, I put the original RBW issue BB and Sugino > > triple (along with the 105 triple der) back on the bike. I had mis laid the > > crank bolts and ended up having to buy replacements. So now the lost one s > > will > > surely appear, right? While the Sugino was off the bike, I replaced the ring > > bolts with non rusting (and LIGHTER!) alloy units, and swapped out the > > stock 48 > > for a (heavier, ugh) 50 outer ring. I'll ride this weekend and decide if I > > can > > tell a difference and whether I like it. I'm pretty sure I'll look to > > re-home > > the Ultegra set though, regardless. I have a V-O BB on the shelf, but the > > original Shimano unit spun more smoothly in hand, so it went back in. > > > I also stripped the racks and fenders off the Saluki for the 1st time since > > I've > > owned the bike. Two years of Alabama summer swelter have drenched the > > honjos in > > salty sweat and they need serious cleaning, which is a lot easier to > > accomplish > > when they are off the bike. As it happens, I really like the stripped down > > look > > of the bike. With the Paul Neo-Retro brakes and GB Ourson tires, it has > > quite > > the fire road, almost CX manner to it. I can't wait to go find some > > adventurous > > dirt trail to check it out in. > > > I have a chain cleaner gizmo that has never seen use, and a can of mineral > > spirits that my wife bought for a project, but which has also never seen > > use. > > Anyone ever use the one in the other to clean chains? From what I read > > online, > > it should be workable.- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
