Cleaning and Lubricating Your Ebike Chain and Shifter

Your chain should be lubricated and clean. A dirty chain can slow you down and require you more effort to ride.

The chain transmits the power of your pedals and, if you’ve got a mid-motor Ebike, 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.

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.

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 sshow 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 shifter

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 shifter

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.

Find more ebike tips here.