How To Get A Perfectly Clean Cassette - GCN Tech's Top Tips For Cleaning Your Drivetrain
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- čas přidán 7. 07. 2024
- Particularly during the colder and wetter seasons, our bikes can get filthy and the back wheel often suffers the most - in particular the cassette and rear hub. Let’s look at how to clean your cassette really well, with the bonus of not having to remove it.
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With the back wheel removed from the bike, grab a length of t-shirt and simply slot it in between two sprockets, and work the t-shirt back and forth. The freehub mechanism should allow the cassette to rotate a whole revolution backwards and make the job really easy.
Something to be aware of here. If your freehub is filthy, bits of oily crud are likely to pop out onto the floor, so pay really close attention to these. I know someone who once upon a time, stood on those bits and then you could trace where they’d been on the carpet of their parents home…
Once you feel its suitably clean, move onto the next gap between the sprockets and repeat. Once that is done, get your pipe-cleaners out repeat the process, you will most likely get some more oil and grime off. The pipe cleaners are great too as you can get them in between the cutouts of these sprockets too and give them a good clean.
Let us know in the comments how you clean your bike's cassette. Do you use any of Jon's techniques? 👇
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How do you clean your cassette? Let us know 👇
GCN Tech A catering sized coffee jar. Petrol. Add cassette. Put lid on. Shake and let sit. Shake again. Fish out cassette. Dry off with rag. Really looks like new
Spray strong degreaser, brush, rinse, dish wash liquid on brush, scrub and rinse
I remove the cassette, place it in a stainless steel bowl, and pour some petrol over it. Let it sit for a couple of minutes, then with an old toothbrush (and wearing kitchen rubber gloves), give it a good brushing. Next, place the sprockets on an old rag to dry. Lastly, spray some WD40 on each sprocket and reassemble. Done. (Note: The used petrol can be used for again for another cassette, otherwise just let it evaporate naturally in a well ventilated & safe area away from pets & kids.)
The degreaser I used for the chain gets stored in a can, until the day my casette needs to be cleaned, so then I used put the casette into the can, and let it be for a few minutes until I just wipe off all the dirt with a worn tshirt / or something. Best thing is that I can reuse the degreaser a few times by using a coffefilter :)
The same way you do! Minus the pipe cleaners.
If I'm feeling luxurious it goes in the ultrasonic with some isopropyl for a few hours.
My cassettes cost around 15 quid. If they cost 400 quid I would carefully polish them using the tears of a French nun.
Why French?
Yeah I can't even fathom how sophisticated a Super Record cassette has to be in order to cost more than ten times as much as a Dura Ace cassette.
Tears off a French nun... Now that's funny! HA HA HA ha ha ha ha..! Are you Canadian?
@@futurez12 France is very secular country.There is a natural scarcity of nuns, which makes their tears extremely rare and precious liquid.
I wouldnt used em, ez
That cassette was cleaner than mine was when I unboxed it
😂😂😂
Lol
hahahaha
For those of you saying this method takes ages etc, I just thought I'd chime in. It doesn't take ages once up to speed. It's most certainly faster than getting the tools out, then removing cassette, then degreasing, then rinsing, then allowing to dry - properly - then refitting the cassette with the spacers correctly lined up so the numbers are staggered (where necessary) and torquing it up correctly, then disposing of the degreaser responsibly.
Its ideal if you don't want to deep clean the cassette as I presented a few months back.
25years I've been doing this and know so many mechanics who use this method as a quick clean without pouring degreaser over a freehub etc. Without the pipe cleaner it's less than a minute to do a cassette. The pipe cleaner just finishes it off nicely.
Cheers and remember a clean bike, is a happy bike!
Jon
Absolutely. I don't bother even taking the wheel off, and if you use a good degreaser (I like original WD-40 but will try other things as it's a little expensive) and do it once or twice a week, you don't even need to floss very often, and even with flossing it takes a couple of minutes.
These cassette-off guys probably wear ankle length socks and use drinking tubes.
Don't worry about the naysayers, JC. We know where our bread is buttered.
@@TheWaxChainFanClub 🥪
Actually, removing cassetes are much quicker and most importantly, cleaner, at least for me. If using the method that the video is using, I would usually get black grease coming out even after three times of cleaning, and taking out the cassette will get rid of every grease you find.
@Harry Baals worth doing it properly
Have just cleaned the cassettes on my four rode bikes as per this video in about 25 minutes. No tools, no degreaser, no mess and cassettes look like new again. Thanks GCN for another helpful video.
Cheers Kevin, top job!
Remember to clean jockey wheels when you clean the cassette/chain. I've seen people skip this - then your drivetrain is grime infested within 3 minutes of your ride.
Top tip!
Q tips are great for that
Yes yes yes yes!!!!
I made this exact mistake after my recent purchase!!
Where have you been all my life? This video finally ended years of frustration attempting to clean my cassette! The pipe-cleaner tip is next level! Many, many thanks.
This is probably THE MOST useful and informative GCN/GMBM Tech vid ever
seems like it would be quicker to just take the casette off and clean it thoroughly?
This
@@pauldamian2988 No, I am pretty sure we don't even have a Bob in our family let alone 1 that is my uncle.
But yes when it's time to deep clean your cassette I'd say taking it off is the best way to go.
That’s what I would do.
Agree
I wonder if it would be a good idea to leave a cassette soaking inside coca cola since cola cleans rust.
Good Evening from 🇦🇺 Jon. Cleaned my cassette this morning using degreaser, soapy water, brushes👍
Evening Bondy! Top job. Does it sparkle tho?
GCN Tech . You bet along with the whole bike really.Love a clean bike👍🇦🇺
It's never easy to to make a fun video about a mundane task. Great job GCN!
I'm not sure if this was more helpful or more entertaining. Love those videos, well done Jon ;-)
Wonderful video and thank you!
I spray soak the cassette with orange degreaser, let it sit for a few minutes, then hose it down with a high water pressure hose nozzle. afterwards do a thorough close up inspection using magnifying eye glass wear to see if I need to do the towelette cleaning. If not, then I use an air pressure hose to dry it completely. redo close up inspection. I also cover my wheel completely in plastic to avoid any grime getting on the wheel. I can post a link of my cleaning if you like. I use to use your method for a very long time. then , a buddy I use to ride with back in Maine was the one who showed me this method and it has worked for me for 16 years. Another option, if you have the tools, is to remove the cassette and drop them in an ultrasonic bath with degreaser. I have seen that done and they come out looking like you just purchased them from the store. 5 minutes in the ultrasonic is all that is needed. CHEERS!
All methods are useful. Quick clean after every ride. Thorough clean before changing chain. Various in between depending on conditions
I thought only the world champion in bike cleaning is allowed to use rainbow coloured pipe cleaner?
Brother, for as much time as you've spent cleaning the cassette and for what I know my employer charges by the hour for me to show up at a job it would be easier to just replace it once a month than it would to spend that amount of time cleaning it. Love your patience and dedication.
My new favourite GCN video
For everyone saying “take it off to clean it”. Not everyone has the tools, nor the mechanical incline to take it off. This method can be done by anyone without any tools.
czcams.com/video/HSeWpO2Zc0Y/video.html It cost me less than $5 at the local hardware shop and I have enough flat steel to make three of them. No reason not to have a chain whip.
ParkTool chain cleaner with Screwfix ‘No Nonsense Heavy Duty Degreaser’. Chain comes up sparking. Same stuff sprayed on the Cassette and use a toothbrush while turning pedals gets it the same.
Used this on a gravel bike for a year and no issues with bearings or metalwork. Super quick!
thats just what i use
Just about to properly clean a cassette for the first time in my life, rear wheel is in the bathtub and ready to go :) thanks!
I clean my front and rear hub by wrapping a rag around it 360-degrees, and pulling the ends up and down. Gets the job done in 3 seconds, and don't need to have holiday decorations hanging off my bike, but I like the trick! Thanks for a great video :)
A GREAT VIDEO. NEVER THOUGHT OF THE PIPE CLEANERS...
rag between the sprockets works a treat. Pipe cleaners... great cheap idea. Thanks!
GREAT advice on hub cleaning from John Cannings.
Hi John. Thanks for the tips. I own an 80's bike with a freewheel which would be a pain to remove. Will try this out on the weekend.
I’ve been doing it this way since I first watched this video 😂👌🏻 great method .
" I was going to eat my dinner off it" 🤣 LOL
So let me get this right... you put it between your legs, grip it nice and tight and move it back and forwards?
This guy wins the internet
Don't encourage him 🙄
Gives "cleaning the girlfriend's pipes" a whole new meaning.
@@gcntech ahahah😂😂
And be careful of the stuff that comes out of it, don’t get it on the floor!
I remember the ‘hub clean trick’ from when I were a lad!.....I seem to remember using leather buckle straps?, chrome hubs would sparkle!......those were the days?!.
Thats satisfying. But I still prefer used toothbrush and soapy water.
Haryder i use this method to dry it off!
@@Ben-db5re that's cool
Would have wanted one of those new tea towels from Doddy, but I just ordered me some pipe cleaners. Good tip, thanks!
Awesome video. Awesome knowledge to know.
I’ve heard of this method too, but for me I just take the painters brush i have and throw some degreaser on the cassette and literally leave that there for about 10 minutes and then rinse it off with some water. Works like a charm and it’s as shiny as the chain
"It's incredibly satisfying, doing this"
Hello James May.
Top tips thanks....I recall that back in the day a small leather strap was fitted to the hubs to keep them shiny..
is incredibly amazing the amount of patient you have to be to do this and then consider to doit again when you hit the next muddy / rainy ride.
I dont think you need to do it every time but just once a month or so will make a big difference
Just get it done if you love your bike
Jon you should put all of these tips and tricks to paper. You could write an epic bike maintenance book!
I know that Park Tool has cleaning brushes for the chain & other components but I really like the pipe cleaner idea.
What about using the Park Tool brush?
As for the debris that falls out of the cassette. That's what newspaper is for.
Excellent!
I can get my cassette silver and shiny by spraying degreaser on it then using a toothbrush for a few seconds. A fine rinse of water clears it all away. I do this with the wheel on and in my back yard though when washing the entire bike.
In far less time you spent w the rag and pipe cleaner tedium, you could reach for the whip and lock nut tool and put it in a bucket of Simple Green. Then brush it clean.
And then you can clean the hub splines and inspect for any issues, grease and reinstall.
Very useful 👍...
by cleaning meticulously tooth by tooth, I started on January 04, 2021 and I just finished yesterday. I lost my wife, my job, my social life but my cassette is like new.
I often use the cloth method, bur find it much easier if I wrap the cloth around a zap strap first. A pipe cleaner would probably work as well. I have also discovered a new product called Gear Floss, a microfiber rope, which is a joy to use not only on the cassette, but on brakes, around the bottom bracket, under the bottle cages, etc. Thank you for the Tech Tips, I have enjoyed watching them.
*buys gear floss instantly*
I like to spray the cassette with degreaser . Attack cassette with a hand broom or meaty brush to remove large debris, apply more degreaser and brush cassette while pouring hot water, taking care to avoid the bearings. Then Polish off with old T shirt or rag. Comes up like new.
Good stuff Jon, but a bit time consuming. I much rather remove the cassette, soak it in a bucket with some warm H2O and simple green for about 3mins and voila, sparkling new ;-)
Top tech Johnny boy! Love the in-ride cleaning tip too..
I just poke a long micro fibre cloth around the hub and pull it left to right to clean the hub. Doing the above process with T-shirt gives better results of you spray a load of gt85 on first as it frees up the grime. Great stuff just don’t breathe it in!
Old ways are the best ways. Reminds me of Andy Verralls bikes with pipe cleaners round the hubs.
James definitely owes you a coffee.
Tq bro..gd idea
Whip the cassette off and dump into some citrus degreaser (eco friendly) in Tupperware tin, leave for 5 minutes submerged, give the Tupperware tin a shake for a couple of minutes and take out the cassette and let it dry. Done correctly your cassette will look like new again unlike leaving it on the bike which takes ages and still will be grubby afterwards.
Good idea for indoor trainers too!
you reminded me i used to keep a strip of velcro in my hub back in the day about 1988.
Thanks JonnyTech, nice vid, but how long does that take? When I clean mine I take it off, slip a ziptie through and shake it up in some white spirit. Give it a quick dry, but it back on the wheel and the jobs done in less than 5 mins.
Good tips, thanks.
Also consider using a medium sized paint brush: dip it in degreaser and hold it against the cassette while you backpedal. Let the degreaser soak for a bit, rinse - all of the dirt gone. Hthh,
INSTEAD OF ALL THAT WORK I JUST SPRAY MINE WITH CAR WHEEL CLEANER LET IT SOAK THEN SPRAY OFF AND BAM ITS FACTORY CLEAN..THEN REOIL.
but you are in danger of degreasing your freehub, which can than break....
@@carly200 only a fool would remove ALL essential grease.
@@ptonfire1 Sure. What I meant to say is that degreaser or break cleaner on the cassette attached to the wheel is likely to flush out some grease every time.
So just use it carefully and keep l that in mind
I wish I could afford this bike in the configuration!! 🤩😍
For a quick clean, spray with GT85 and clean as demonstrated with rag between sprockets, jetting with lots more GT85 for the hard to reach places. Once a month or so, depending on how dirty it is, remove cassette and place in plastic tub with degreaser, soak, scrub with brush and dry with paper towel.
I do it the same way except pipe cleaner. I think that GCN presenters bikes would be in another condition if not Jon worked at GCN :). Do a video when Jon has vacation and the presenters must do the work selfes :)).
As a new rider, I know my cassette and drivetrain is filthy. Have had my bike for two years, But have only began really riding it these last few months. Stacked up 600+ miles in the last few and should probably clean my cassette and drivetrain 😬🙆🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️ That’ll be today’s job.
I don’t have many tools as of yet. Just some dry degreaser and chain lube. Will try and get it as clean as possible
Let us know how you get on! We want to see it sparkle...
Good two-minute video.
I take the cassette off, put it in a zip bag with degreeser then put it into the ultrasonic cleaner then rinse off with water the alcohol. Same for the chain & jockey wheels. Also, I wax the chain to keep everything clean in the first place.
Haven't even watched the video yet, but when I saw pipe cleaners... it was hard to keep a straight face 😂😂😂
Fantastic and helpful video!
A clean cassette guarantees a smooth ride and reduces drivetrain wear! Always keep your cassette clean, folks!
Absolutely - it's easily done too. Cheers Omaris 👍
@@gcntech (^_-)v
You always leave the nicest comments.
@@julianscales1807 I know! (^_-)
we could actually buy little leather straps with a snap on them to put on our 3 speed sturmey-archer hubs back in the 60's at any local bike shop! yup, i'm old! any self-respecting cyclist had them running on their rig or you weren't with it!!
Hub shiners... I remember those.
As a kid I was always wondering what the heck that rubber strip is doing there... Took me some years to know
These days just use a shoestring
I use baby wetwipes. Some I remove from the box and let them dry.
Great for cleaning the entire bike including the chain.
used to use that way for cleaning mine but it takes way to long and was using so many rags, discovered a nail brush & WD40 works better, simply spray the WD40 on the cassette then scrub with your dirty nail brush( one used many many times) then wash my cassette with my portable bike washer then spray once more with WD40 and scrub with a cleaner nail brush and again wash away with warm water in my portable bike washer and to finish spray WD40 into both nail brushes and wash them with the portable bike washer to get them as clean as possible for the next cassette cleaning this method only takes a minute once you have done it a few times and the cassette looks brand new.
Should I spray the clean cassette with any kind of lubricant/protectant? I live in a humid area.
Spray some mineral spirits around brush with an old toothbrush and done. Shiny clean
Not a fan of the pipe cleaners, single use items that just get lobbed into landfill.
Best just take the cassette off, better result too.
That's my method (removal and disassembly, that is). With the proper tools - a 3 minute job. Then I'lI use a degreaser and brush. Best results for me.
When you consider that he didn't use any harsh chemicals, his method may be a net positive for the environment. If you can properly dispose of the chemicals then I assume you would be correct, but it would not take many people washing degreaser or worse down their drains to create a problem bigger than a bunch of buried plastic.
I've got a sliding door track brush, which also has scraping tool for jockey wheels.
www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Plastic-Sliding-Door-Cleaning-Brush-with_929962049.html?spm=a2700.7724857.normalList.9.7f0e32dedDxARG&s=p
Jon, how do you clean the hub between the cassette and the spokes?
You must spend your entire waking life cleaning bikes, as thorough as you are ;-)
As a former professional team mechanic you're making hard work of cleaning a cassette this way.
& what's with a pipe cleaner around the hub body when this takes a minute to clean by other means.
How do you do it?
I cleaned it today exactly this way, then I saw the video. :D
how often do you need to lube the bike from cassette to bottom bracket
Cool tips!….now I hafto figure out how to remove the rear wheel.
I think I've heard every convoluted method under the sun here on YT. My method is to use a car wheel brush and a bottle of cleaning gel from Wilco. I scrub the cassette with neat cleaning gel on the brush, you don't need to remove wheel, I also clean the chain using the same method with a nail brush and then simply take a paint brush and rinse off with clean water just brushing cassette and chain with clean water. Be amazed as all the muck just magically rinses away. Happy cycling.
It is actually easier to just take off the cassette. I put mine in an ultrasonic cleaner. Takes 20 min, most of which I spend wastchng GCN videos. You need a chain whip and a lock ring tool also. Actually less work than Jon's method and gets it a lot cleaner.
"This is his brand new tea-towel"... 😂😂🤣
I found a newish Campagnolo SR 11/25 cassette for about $125. It is on my race wheels now ;)
I would love to see any of my customers watching that video till the end, don't believe they have patience for that, what would say to clean for real.... Lolll
we used to use the strap from our roller skates to keep the hub clean and make a skateboard out of the skates by nailing them to a 2x4
Flossing the cassete!!
I take it off and put it in an ultrasonic cleaner. Good result and very time efficiënt.
Thank you for video. Please type the name of that wire cleaner, it is difficult to understand for not native English speakers. Pipe cleaner, did I hear correctly? Also, do any parts of cassette need oiling/lubing?
Pipe cleaner is correct. Look for them at shops where tobacco products are sold. The purpose for which pipe cleaners were designed is to clean the stem of a pipe for smoking tobacco.
By specifically mentioning to clean up the floor, why does it feel that Jon got in trouble at home? I also vaguely remember him saying this once couple of months ago...
I’m guilty of doing this, a small spray over the affected area and a lot of elbow grease saved the day!
Prasanna Banwat or you can just use a drop cloth.
I use shoelaces, it does job pretty good.
#GCNTech Jon, can I leave my bike hanging around the studio so it gets tuned and cleaned every week like Lasties?
Hold the wheel horizontal against the wall and use you're tummy to hold it in place.Then clean as shown, saves you sitting down and causing back ache.
Remove it from the freehub , seperate all the parts and give them a good wipe with an oily cloth , clean off excess oil and re-assemble , job done.
Hot water and CT 18 truck wash and a paint brush. Just be careful that you don’t pop the seals with the hot water CT18. Dry with the garden blower then WD40 at the end too prevent rust.
i give it a wipe down while on the hub, and the use a gear brush if it's just a quick cleaning. If it needs a deeper clean, i'll then take it off the hub and wipe each cog with a towel after a spray of degreaser. Just seems faster
This dude could be an honorary Parsi!
Must get some pipe cleaners.... unfortunately the last tip won't work if you have a Garmin speed sensor on your rear hub :(
Paintbrush and degreaser work fine for me. Then run an old sock around the hub and it's clean. Job done in half the time of this.
just wondering how much time you spend clean bikes compared to riding 🤣. Great tip on pipe cleaners 👍
I used to cover up the whole wheel aside from the cassette with rags, even covering the lock ring with some electrical tape, then flushed and brush the whole cassette with degreaser..