42 Bikes

Last night while fitting my new lights (see Schmidt SON Delux & Edelux, perfect on Bullitt « 42 Bikes) I actually did some maintenance on my Bullitt Cargo bike. I have been riding my Bullitt Clockwork daily since mid September and I guess I have probably averaged around 10 miles per day.

So it was time to do some maintenance. Nothing was broken and nothing was causing any problems. However, after all the snow and ice of the last couple of weeks I decided to take the opportunity to clean the chain.

I have been using Green Oil products for a while now and think the idea of “oil” that does not cause damage to the environment when it gets washed off is a great one.  So when I saw they were bringing out a new wax for chains that would be dry I thought I would try some. I had also ordered some of their new chain degreaser.

So last night I cleaned the chain (no point in putting a clean wax based chain lube on a dirty chain). I was quite impressed with the performance of the chain degreaser. I gave it a clean on the bike and the decided to finish it off “properly” by taking the chain off and using the degreaser with an old scrubbing brush. It came out very nice and clean.

With the chain back on the bike I applied the wax (very easy to do and not messy) and as per the instructions left it to dry. All seemed well on a very short test ride.

Today I have done about 15 miles, the chain has been smooth and silent. I’ll report back when I have done a few more miles.

One day, if I find the right product, I still would like to have a full chainguard on my Bullitt (or at least as full as possible) to keep the chain (and me) clean. But for the moment this will hopefully mean the chain is cleaner (not that I have had any problems so far, the Shimano Alfine chainring guard is quite effective).