What is absolutely the best way to maintain the shifting performance of your bike? Maintain your chain!
The drive chain on your bike is really doing all the hard work, and in order to do what it has to do requires it to be CLEAN and LUBRICATED. Running a dry chain is like running your car's engine without oil: it won't go very far. Same goes for running a chain that is grimy with a goopy mix of dirt and oil.
IS YOUR CHAIN WORTH CLEANING? OR SHOULD YOU JUST REPLACE IT?
Checking chainwear is easy: Hold up a 12" ruler to the chain and measure a foot of it. The pins on the chain are EXACTLY 1/2" apart center-to-center when new. If the pin at 12" is 1/16" or more beyond the mark, your chain is worn and elongated, and SHOULD BE REPLACED. If worn to 1/8" or more, you will likely have to replace your gear cluster as well as the chain. So, you then have a choice, just clean and reuse the old worn chain (and suffer decreased shifting performance), or be prepared to spend more money. As the chain wears and gets longer, it wears out the teeth of the gears (both front and back) it engages with. A new chain on a worn cogset nearly always results in skipping under hard pedalling pressure. Your gearcluster can last through 5-6 chain replacements, if the chain is replaced at the first sign of wear.
CHAIN REMOVAL
Removing a chain for cleaning used to be a big hassle, but no more! Many new bike chains have masterlink/quick links that come apart easily (but not while riding) using bare hands alone. Below is a list of companies that produce bike chains with quick-disconnect links:
SRAM
Connex-Whipperman
KMC
Derailleur chains pretty much are all 1/2"x3/32" links, but the outer dimensions vary, depending upon whether they are for 7/8-speed, 9-speed, or 10-speed gear clusters. If your current chain does not have a quick-link, one can probably be easily installed. It's best to bring your chain to your LBS (local bike shop) and have them check its width with a micrometer. Then they can recommend the best connector for your chain. KMC makes connectors for
7.3mm, 7.1mm (most common 7/8spd chain), 6.6mm (9spd), and 5.9mm (most 10spd chains.
SRAM makes a silver connector for 7/8spd, and a gold connector for 9spd. Connex-Whipperman makes models specific for their chains.
Only Shimano does not make connectors. They recommend putting their chains back together with a Shimano Hyperglide Connecting pin. These are made for 7/8spd, 9spd, and 10spd, and should be used ONLY on Shimano chains. HG pins can be purchased from your LBS. They are used ONLY ONCE, and once installed, should never be removed. Next time, break your chain in another spot, using of course, your chain tool.
CLEANING YOUR CHAIN: Once off the bike, cleaning your chain is a breeze. Best way is to clean in a solvent that will remove all the grit, grease, old oil, grime, etc. Mineral spirits (paint thinner) or kerosene works well. The new citrus cleaners, such as CitraSolv, Pedro's Orange Peelz, and such, work great as well. When cleaned, put the chain in a container, squirt on some grease-cutting dish soap, run in some very hot water and swish it around. More grime will pour out of the chain. Rinse everything well, dry thoroughly (an air compressor is a blessing), reinstall on the bike and relube with your favorite chain lube.
BEST LUBING PROCEDURE: Hold a rag or paper towl under the chain with one hand, and the bottle of lube in the other. Apply one fat drop of oil across each link of the chain, backpedalling to expose a new dry section until all done. Wrap the rag that's been catching the drips around the chain and backpedal a few times, both getting lube all over the chain, and removing any excess.
A NOTE: When using a quick-link, you will have two inner sections of chain coming together, rather than an inner and an outer. The inner section contains a small roller, which can easily fall out during cleaning. Therefore, I recommend putting the chain back into a circle and connecting the two halves together with the quck-link, thereby not risking the loss of an inner roller when cleaning in solvent and final rinsing in dish soap.
HOW LONG WITH A CHAIN LAST? With even the best of maintenance, you should replace your chain every 3,000 miles, twice as often if subjected to extremely heavy duty/dirty use.
WHAT ARE THE BEST CHAINLUBES? Well....this gets personal. I like a lube that will last for several hundred miles of hard riding, doesn't make an oily mess of my drivetrain, and is easy to apply. So-called "dry lubes," such as WhiteLightning, work well in very dry conditions, but don't last. So-called "wet lubes," like Pedro's ATB Synlube, DuMond Tech, and PhilWood oil, are great for extremely wet/muddy conditions, but due to their goopy nature, will make your drivetrain a mess. TriFlow is lighter-weight, but will also be messy with over-application. Our shop favorites are: ProLink Chainlube, Purple Extreme Chainlube, and BoeShield, These fall under the catagory of "semi-dry," in that they go on wet, then evaporate, leaving a semi-dry greasy finish. They seem to last for about 200 or so miles, and don't mess up everything they touch. A good compromise. I'm currently giving Rock&Roll Gold chainlube a try. So far I'm impressed. It leaves a super-slippery yet dry finish, and the drivetrain stays clean.
A QUICK AND DIRTY CHAIN CLEANING: This works great on mountain bikes that get their drivetrains totally mudded-up with each ride.
1. Shift your chain to the big gear (high) in front and the smallest gear (high) in back. This gets the chain as far from the rest of the bike as possible.
2. Using a garden hose with a squirt nozzle, blast the chain with water while backpedalling.
If goopy, squirt on some liquid dish soap while pedalling. Scrub the links with an old toothbrush, then blast with water.
3. Immediately wipe the chain dry.
4. Then, immediately lube with your favorite flavor of chain lube. Wipe down to remove excess oil.
5. You're done and ready for the next ride.