{"id":153350,"date":"2020-03-30T19:31:54","date_gmt":"2020-03-31T02:31:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/?p=153350"},"modified":"2025-11-20T19:08:56","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T03:08:56","slug":"easy-diy-home-bike-maintenance-how-to-clean-your-drivetrain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/cycle\/easy-diy-home-bike-maintenance-how-to-clean-your-drivetrain","title":{"rendered":"Easy DIY Home Bike Maintenance: How to Clean Your Drivetrain"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"cb-itemprop\" itemprop=\"reviewBody\"><p>Looking for new ways to spend time while responsibly sheltering at home? This productive task has the added benefit of helping you prepare for your next fresh-air excursion. Plus, it helps keep important components of your bike\u2014your chain, chainrings and cassette\u2014in good working order. Here\u2019s how.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" \n  width=\"560\" \n  height=\"315\" \n  src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/yQPKbobGDIk\" \n  title=\"YouTube video player\" \n  frameborder=\"0\" \n  allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" \n  referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" \n  allowfullscreen><br \/>\n<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Set up your bike and gather your materials<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Place a drop cloth on a cleared table, flip your bike over and set it on top<\/li>\n<li data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"1\" data-aria-posinset=\"2\" data-aria-level=\"1\">Get rags, an old toothbrush and your favorite <a href=\"\/c\/bike-lubricants\">lube<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Note: Use a bike-specific lube, not a household or automotive product<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Clean the chain<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>First, grasp the chain with a dry rag and crank the pedals backward<\/li>\n<li>Your goal is to remove grit, not all the lube<\/li>\n<li>Add a small amount of lube to the rag and repeat, removing more grit<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Clean the chain rings<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Now take the toothbrush and use it to brush grit off the chainrings<\/li>\n<li>Turn the crank as you work your way around each chainring<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Clean the cassette<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Now take the toothbrush and use it to brush grit off the cassette cogs<\/li>\n<li>Turn the wheel as you work your way around each cog<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Finish by re-lubing everything<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Slowly turn the crank as you apply a small amount of lube to each chain link<\/li>\n<li>Now grasp the chain with a dry rag and crank the pedals backward to remove excess lube that would otherwise glom onto grit on you next ride<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Now go for a ride!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>With more of us not driving to work these days, the roads should have less traffic.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Looking for more bike care tutorials? <\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>See our <a href=\"\/learn\/series\/drivetrain-maintenance\">Drivetrain Maintenance series<\/a> or our entire library of <a href=\"\/learn\/c\/cycling\/t\/care-and-repair\">Bicycle Care and Repair articles and videos<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Looking for new ways to spend time while responsibly sheltering at home? This productive task has the added benefit of helping you prepare for your next fresh-air excursion. Plus, it helps keep important components of your bike\u2014your chain, chainrings and cassette\u2014in good working order. Here\u2019s how. Set up your bike and gather your materials Place [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":158240,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1999,1127,724],"internal-tag":[],"class_list":["post-153350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cycle","tag-covid-19","tag-cycling","tag-gear"],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/rei.com\/blog\/cycle\/easy-diy-home-bike-maintenance-how-to-clean-your-drivetrain","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Easy DIY Home Bike Maintenance: How to Clean Your Drivetrain","url":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/cycle\/easy-diy-home-bike-maintenance-how-to-clean-your-drivetrain","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/cycle\/easy-diy-home-bike-maintenance-how-to-clean-your-drivetrain"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/03\/Van_Dragt_033020_0004_Easy_Drivetrain_Cleaning-1.jpg?resize=150%2C150","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/03\/Van_Dragt_033020_0004_Easy_Drivetrain_Cleaning-1.jpg?fit=2000%2C1000"},"articleSection":"Cycle","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Beckindale"}],"creator":["Beckindale"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Uncommon Path \u2013 An REI Co-op Publication","logo":""},"keywords":["covid-19","cycling","gear"],"dateCreated":"2020-03-31T02:31:54Z","datePublished":"2020-03-31T02:31:54Z","dateModified":"2025-11-21T03:08:56Z"},"rendered":"<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"wp-parsely-metadata\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"headline\":\"Easy DIY Home Bike Maintenance: How to Clean Your Drivetrain\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.rei.com\\\/blog\\\/cycle\\\/easy-diy-home-bike-maintenance-how-to-clean-your-drivetrain\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.rei.com\\\/blog\\\/cycle\\\/easy-diy-home-bike-maintenance-how-to-clean-your-drivetrain\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rei.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/4\\\/2020\\\/03\\\/Van_Dragt_033020_0004_Easy_Drivetrain_Cleaning-1.jpg?resize=150%2C150\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rei.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/4\\\/2020\\\/03\\\/Van_Dragt_033020_0004_Easy_Drivetrain_Cleaning-1.jpg?fit=2000%2C1000\"},\"articleSection\":\"Cycle\",\"author\":[{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"name\":\"Beckindale\"}],\"creator\":[\"Beckindale\"],\"publisher\":{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"name\":\"Uncommon Path \\u2013 An REI Co-op Publication\",\"logo\":\"\"},\"keywords\":[\"covid-19\",\"cycling\",\"gear\"],\"dateCreated\":\"2020-03-31T02:31:54Z\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-03-31T02:31:54Z\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-21T03:08:56Z\"}<\/script>","tracker_url":"https:\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/rei.com\/p.js"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/03\/Van_Dragt_033020_0004_Easy_Drivetrain_Cleaning-1.jpg?fit=2000%2C1000","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153350"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153350\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":201127,"href":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153350\/revisions\/201127"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153350"},{"taxonomy":"internal-tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/internal-tag?post=153350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}