I have just moved to a new house (in the UK) with a small courtyard at the back with no drainage. That means cleaning the bike after rides is going to be tricky now.
I have been looking at ultrasonic cleaners as thought maybe taking the chains/cassettes off mine and my wife’s bike and popping it in one of those could save not having the ability to clean that part of the bike, (plus we have a hosepipe ban where I live).
The last comments I see on TR were in 2018 so wondered if anyone has any longer term experience with these and if they would recommend one?
My brain isn’t mechanically minded but it doesn’t;t look too complicated to use.
Also, can anyone recommend a decent brand (to purchase in the UK) please?
I see Muc-Off do one but not sure if you are just paying for the name. I saw someone bought an unbranded one and it overheated within a month.
I have a DK Sonic and a smaller SRA TruPower. Both work great. I like the smaller SRA TruPower for chains but for bigger parts like cassettes the DK Sonic is better. No performance issues with either.
I’m thinking about getting ultrasonic cleaners, too. I’d like them to fit cassettes, including something like 11–42, 10–46 cassettes.
Another question: do you just use water or do you put degrease into the ultrasonic cleaner? In the past, I have put degreaser and the items into a zip lock bag, but filled the ultrasonic cleaner with water.
I wouldn’t bother, just switch to wax (if you haven’t already) and then use a washing up bowl and boiling water to keep on top of chains/cassettes. This time of year you can also mostly waterless wash the rest of the bike.
I do the latter. And my advice to OP is to get a size larger than you think you need. I have a Vevor with digital controls from eBay (maybe??) and it’s been great. Since I moved to wax it doesn’t get a lot of use, but if you’re commuting in the UK wax may not be a great choice. It was pretty inexpensive I seem to recall, even in Au.
I’m in the process of switching back to wax. I have always found it useful to have an ultrasonic cleaner to get dirt and grime out of all the crevasses.
I was thinking about asking this same question last Sunday when I was doing a round of waxing on all my chains. Normally I’d go through the hassle of using hot water, then mineral spirits and shaking the chains like crazy in a glass jar. I thought using an ultrasonic cleaner would be so much easier, and they aren’t crazy expensive, about $65 us on amazon. What I ended up doing is putting all my chains in a large pot of water and then boiling them and swishing them around for about 15 minutes and the results were great - not sure if it was as good a cleaner but still, the chains were very clean. Would I get a much better result with actual cleaner? I don’t mind saving the space and money if what I’m doing is nearly just as good.
After you remove the grease and all oil based lube , a wipe and boiling water is really all you need to clean them before waxing again. It won’t get everything but it’s good enough to make those chains last a long time.
I use wax here too, boiling pot, and still find the Ultrasonic Cleaner extremely helpful.
I usually do a quick boil of the chain to boil off some of the old wax, drop it in the ultrasonic for 30 minutes, then into the wax pot. Maybe overkill, but gets rid of the old wax and grime every time and I’m dealing with a much cleaner chain to start. Especially if I use drip wax to freshen up between dips, the chain can get pretty dirty.
My ultrasonic will fit a cassette too which is nice from time-to-time, and I’m continuously finding uses for it. Nothing special about it - generic 10L model from ebay with timer/heater although the specific model is no longer available.
I mainly use a small amount Simple Green HD (the purple stuff, not the green) mixed with water in the ultrasounic cleaner. The solution does need to be heated (via the ultrasonic cleaner) to work best. Cold fluid doesn’t clean nearly as well.
Same here. I’ll put in a couple drops of dawn dishwashing liquid alongside the purple simple green too, and I have one other organic degreaser I found that works well too.
I always start with Hot Tap Water, and my cleaner has a heater that heats from there. Probably never gets above 50-60 C though.
I have the second one now and been experimenting with it. I’ve found it doesn’t get a used chain quite clean enough for waxing – but your experience sounds different, so can you share your method/chemicals you use if you have managed that? Also, it seems to do everything else really well except the pully teeth themselves, which i found I still need to brush/wipe thoroughly using degreaser.
Pulley teeth I just wipe off with a rag and mineral spirits if they have oil based lube on them. I’m not waxing them. Remeber if you remove them, the one closest to the cassette has no free play. The bottom one is the wobbly one.
Chains; if they have oil based lube and dirt on them I will wipe them off. Swish them in a mineral spirit bath to get the process started. Then they go in the ultra sonic for 30 min in a fresh mineral spirit bath. If they don’t look clean a fresh round of mineral spirit bath should do the trick. New chains should come clean the first time round. Then 30 min in the ultra sonic with 50/50 water / orange degreaser. Wipe clean. Next put water in the ultra sonic. Place the chain in a container of alcohol. Put that in and run for 30 minutes. Should come out squeaky clean. Let dry before waxing.
