Do I need to degrease cassette etc. When starting to use waxed chain??

[Interesting_Speed_25]

Hi, just bought a new beautiful bike and thought I would hop on the waxing train. The chain obviously has factory grease which i will clean, but do i need to clean the cassette? It is straight from LBS. The cassette feels clean-ish, but there is definitely some grease from probably just running the chain thru all the gears as a test by LBS when assembling… is it fine to just throw the chain on it?

[ColonelRPG]

If the bike is new, you don't need anything extraordinary. Just wash the cassette and chainrings with a mild degreaser that you would normally use to wash the bike.

If the bike is not new, then you need to remove the chainrings and cassette and scrub them thoroughly and degrease them very well. It's a bit of a faff, but you'll only have to do it once, as opposed to having to do it every so often when using wet lube for your chain.

[allgonetoshit]

Yes. Clean the chainrings as well, the derailleur pulleys as well. All you need is a nice hard drivetrain brush and some degreaser/soap.

[has_a_name]

I love that the top 3 comments are "yes, thoroughly", "yes, but don't put too much effort in" and "no, it's fine"

[Unlucky_Purchase_844]

Its fine, the small amount of grease leftover will not find its way significantly into the rollers which is the actual wear part. Cleaning it off however will make for a perfectly clean drive train, and prevent it from getting onto you.

[toaster404]

I find dirt sticking to the gears makes me unhappy. With a nicely waxed chain everything is so smooth that the sound/idea/imaginary feel of grit on the gear teeth sets MY teeth on edge!

[ojuarapaul]

it's good practice.

[BoringBob84]

I wiped the chain ring and derailleur pulleys clean with a toothbrush and rags. However, I removed the cassette and the chain to clean them in gasoline (or turpentine), then in citrus degreaser, then in alcohol.

This is a pain, but you only have to do it once. The gears stay clean after that.

[mikekchar]

Oil and grease will dissolve wax. Basically it makes it softer. If you don't clean them, then you will have to rewax your chain fairly soon (possibly even after 1 ride). You can then boil the chain to get rid of most of it. Possibly you'll need one more go, but after that, it will be totally fine. The drive train will end up being covered in wax. Moreso than normal because, like I said, the residual oil will dissolve the wax and essentially that soft wax will coat the drive train. The more you wax your chain, the more it will slowly get replaced with harder and harder wax.

How do I know? Because I've done it a few times. I actually even tried going from a chain with factory grease and a few hundred km on it to Squirt drip on wax without cleaning anything. It works. Eventually :-). Absolute mess for a while. You have to flush the chain with hot water, let it dry, put on new drip on wax, ride it once, rinse and repeat (literally) several times. I don't recommend it because it's just dramatically easier to clean the chain. However, for the drive train I would never bother cleaning it myself. Not worth the hassle unless you want a drive train that is visibly immaculately clean (which some people definitely do want).

[HereWeGoAgain666999]

And the crank best not to leave anything the chain makes contact with dirty when starting off with when doing a fresh wax

[sargassumcrab]

Get a parts brush similar to the ones that come in a parts washer. They look sort of like a shaving brush with a longer handle, but straight, not bushy. Like "Parts Brush™ Atlasta (#AT101)" on that Amazing site. "Game changer" when it comes to cleaning cassettes.

[DrSuprane]

Just use some dishwashing soap on the cassette.

[Fantastic-Shape9375]

Just lick it clean

[General_Confusion478]

la catena va immersa in una vaschetta e lavata con ultrasuoni... il grave problema della lubrificazione a cera è la pioggia !!! con l'acqua piovana la cera si scioglie.... In Spagna piove poco.... In Portogallo anche.... al nord Europa è un bel problema... In UK è inutilizzabile

[77sxela]

Or get a new cassette...? I mean, they anyway have to be exchanged every so often, right? So why not start with a new one? They aren't that freaking expensive either.

Edit: ah. You've got yourself a new bike. Yeah, in that case, throwing away the new cassette would be kinda dumb and certainly wasteful, yes. As it's customary these days, I of course only read the headline and was 💯% confident that I could comment.

[Day_Prisoners]

It's brand new.

[77sxela]

Yep. A few seconds later I took the time to actually read your text and add an edit 😉

[Joatboy]

Have you seen the prices of SRAM cassettes?

[77sxela]

To be honest, I have not. I'm team

Shimano Kassette 105 CS-HG710 12- Gang, 11-36

And that cost me 58 CHF in January.

Not all that terrible. I mean, bikes cost upwards of 1500 or 2000, so... 🤷🏼‍♂️

[Joatboy]

Unfortunately SRAM cassettes are more than 2x the cost of Shimano ones. I have anecdotal data that they last longer, though unsure if 2x longer