Cleaning and Lubricating Your Ebike Chain and derailleur

Thorougly updated on 12/06/2024

A chain is for an ebike what a tendon is for a muscle. It should always be lubricated and clean. A dirty chain can slow you down and require you more effort to ride. Some tips.

The chain transmits the power of your pedals and, if you’ve got a mid-motor ebike, also that of your motor to the rear wheel. The smoother and easier its movement, the more performant your biking altogether.

The chain can quickly become dirty, after a few hundred kilometers. That’s because on one hand, it sits very low, close to the road. This entails that the dirt lifted up by your front wheel literally strikes the chain while you ride. On the other hand, if you bike into city traffic, microparticles (PM 10 and PM 2.5) coming out of exhaust pipes will stick to your chain, what is facilitated by the fact that there is oil on it. If you take a close look at its links, you’ll notice that they are composed by entangled moving parts, separated by very thin spaces. It doesn’t take much dirt to hinder its movement, creating much attrition between each moving part of the links. Look at the pictures below, the black dirt practically coating the chain is a mixture of oil and microparticles. Think about what exhaust pipes can do to your lungs and your blood vessels, and feel proud of being a biker, because you preserve the health of other human beings every time that you leave your car in the garage.

Choosing the correct lubricant

Lubricating the bicycle chain therefore has the task of making the sliding between the links and the pins smooth, reducing friction and therefore the heat generated, which would ruin the surface of the parts. Furthermore, lubrication has the task of protecting the metal of the chain from water and oxygen present in the atmosphere, avoiding corrosion. From this we understand that lubrication must take place on the pins and only on those, trying to make the lubricant penetrate inside them. Therefore, spray lubricant is not only useless, but harmful.

In fact, the aerosol tends to end up everywhere except on the chain (perhaps contaminating the disc brake pads) and causing a huge waste of material, which ends up on the external links and must be removed.

The external links of the chain must not be lubricated, since the greasy coating that would be created would be a trap for dust and dirt, which would accumulate on the derailleur, on the sprockets and on the chainrings, ruining them. Furthermore, lubrication must necessarily take place on a clean chain, since it is unthinkable to add lubricant to a chain that is dripping with old oil and dirt.

Protective waxes

These are products that have the purpose of protecting the chain links from oxidation but also of creating a protective film that will prevent dirt from sticking easily. Furthermore, the protective film forms a sort of barrier between the chain and the dirt, allowing for easier removal during washing.

Wet or dry is the description of the characteristics of the lubricant and not necessarily the conditions of use. You can very well use a wet lubricant on a sunny day and a dry one when it rains. The choice must be made based on your needs: duration of the outing, need for lubrication, cleaning of the chain required. Based on this analysis, you can decide which lubricant to use.

How to effectively and rapidly clean your chain

Like you see in the picture below, you can simply take a rug, better if disposable, because it would be very difficult to wash it. In this case I took an old cotton shirt, because its fabric very well absorbs dirt and oil, without leaving any thread or pinching its fabric in the links. In the first picture, I press the rug upside down, in the second I press it sideways. With the other hand, I push a pedal in order to let the chain run in the rag. Then I do the same with a used toothbrush,  always actioning the pedal. You could also put some chain cleaning and degreasing liquid on the rug, to clean it better. Even some alcohol, for instance what we use to desinfect our hands for Covid protection, would do the job.

If the chain is very encrusted, it would be better to spray the degreaser, leave it to act for five minutes and then rinse with water, then thoroughly remove the dirt with a brush.

How to perfectly clean the bike chain

If you want to totally and soundly clean your chain, you should dip it into a small basin containing a chain cleaning liquid. In order to do so, it’s either you find and open the master link, or you take away the rear wheel to free the chain. The latter is very difficult if you have a derailleur. The master link, —sometimes also called quick-release link—is actually a set that consists of two outer plates, with each plate looking like the outer plate of a chain. Quick-release links allow you to either connect or disconnect a chain even if you don’t have a chain tool. This is the biggest advantage of a master or quick-release link.

Should your chain show some rust, you could apply some Coca-Cola on it, or even let it soak on a Coke bowl for a night. Indeed, Coca-Cola contains orthophosphoric acid, which eliminates rust. You’d better use sugar-free Diet-Coke, sugar is sticky.

A quick link may or may not be reusable, so once you disconnect a chain to replace it, you may end up throwing out the old master link.

How to clean your derailleur

Simply push the pedal with one hand, while sticking a screwdriver onto the chain tensioner roller, while pushing on the pedal with the other hand, in order to make the chain roll. You should also clean your shifter cable, otherwise, since it slides into the sheath, it will sooner or later soil it or even clog it.  See the pictures below:

Lubricating chain and derailleur

You can buy a special oil for bike chains and shifters. Don’t use engine oil:  it is DESIGNED to attract and HOLD grit for the filter to remove. It becomes a grinding paste on your entire drive train. Somebody uses canola oil, but I’m afraid that vegetable oils rot staying in contact with air and dirt, so I’d rather avoid it. I carefully apply the oil onto the chain with an old paintbrush, thus preventing oil droplets from dripping on the floor. I always make the chain roll actioning the pedal, and take care of lubricating the pivots of the shifter.

Lubricating your bicycle chain requires enough patience to follow these steps:

1. Put a drop of lubricant on each pin of the chain. The important thing is that the lubricant penetrates inside the external cylinders and greases the pins;
2. Distribute the lubricant – Place the index finger of your left hand on the upper part of the chain and turn the pedals. In this way you are spreading and distributing the drops of lubricant that have not penetrated inside the chain.
3. Grab the external links of the chain with the rag and turn the pedals. This eliminates the excess lubricant, which can cause dirt and dust to stick to the chain;
4. Apply wax and oil the linkages -Spray a thin layer of protective wax on the chain. Then, with the multifunction oil, lubricate all the transmission levers: rear derailleur spring, pulley rotation axles, rear derailleur cage joint, front derailleur spring;
5. Shifting up – Move the chain from the small sprocket to the large one and then shift down until you return to the small sprocket. In this way, you are “moving” the pins, allowing the lubricant to settle on the entire surface to be lubricated.

Find more ebike tips here.