Park Tool CG-2.3 Chain Gang Chain Cleaning System Blue, One Size
This is a must have tool to clean your chain. This is simple to use and easy to clean after use.
How To Use This Tool
1. Move chain to the smallest cog on the cassette (the cassette is the series of connected cogs on the rear wheel).
2. Attach the cleaning tool to the bottom section of chain; ensuring the chain is seated in the cleaning wheel apparatus.
3. Pour cleaning solution into the top fill hole of the cleaning tool. The fill line is labeled on the side of the tool.
4. Run your crank in reverse while holding the tool, about 30 revolutions. Once done, remove the cleaning tool and dispose of cleaning solution.
5. With a clean rag or towel wipe the excess from your chain, front chainring, and cassette. Use the brush on the cassette to clean the individual cogs, and the hard curved side to clean heavy grime between the cogs.
6. Rinse the cleaning tool and fill with warm soapy water, affix to the chain again and run your crank in reverse, about 30 revolutions. Once done, remove cleaning tool and dispose of dirty soapy water.
7. Again, with a clean rag or towel wipe the excess from your chain, front chainring, and cassette.
8. If you have a compressor blow any excess water from the drivetrain; be careful not to blow directly in your bottom bracket or other location that have seals because this could push water into places you don’t want water...
9. Add you favorite lube for the condition you ride, and of course follow the lube directions...
I know this seems like a bunch of stuff to do, but once you do it, you will learn there is very quick and there is less mess to clean up. Also, this tool can be taken apart and cleaned and should be after each use; taking care of your tools ensures they will last.
Tips:
1. Put a towel or some cardboard on the floor under your drivetrain because there will be some dripping, not a massive amount, but enough that this will also make clean up faster, and definitely quicker than cleaning up after manually cleaning your drivetrain without this tool.
2. Where surgical gloves when working on greasy parts. This ensures a good grip and clean hands and fingernails when done.
Easy to use, effective and glad I purchased this tool. Degreaser almost immediately turned black. NOT pleased that after I used it I noticed a small label on the box's side that says Used Like New. What's up with that, Amazon? I checked again and saw no such detail mentioned in product description. The contents appeared to have never been used but that's not the point. I won't return but wanted to share this detail with prospective buyers. I purchase many things on Amazon and have never encountered this little surprise before.
Pros:
Gets your chain really clean, much better than you can do with a rag in my personal experience.
Bristle attachment is a start for cleaning cogs and getting little bits of gunk out.
Magnet catches a lot of grime.
Cons:
The degreaser provided won't get you very far.
Bristle attachment is a bit too wide to fit for my Shimano 105 set. I can fit it in but its hard to move it to clean the gunk out.
You still need to use at least a few paper towels to catch the grease that flies out.
The handle doesn't stay as secure as I'd like, and based on how it mounts it frequently dislodges when you place the tool on the ground.
The biggest one: Because it only has the sponge on one side, it basically requires you to do the cleaning with the bike right-side up or on a stand. If you move the chain towards the sponge with the bike upside down, the derailleur will move around and make you flail around quite a bit.
If it had a sponge on the other side, I could do it upside down (like most people I know do who don't have money or space for a professional stand) without getting grease everywhere.
Worth it, and I rate it 4 because I think it is nicer than some of the alternatives that don't have a handle at all or don't have a magnet, but could be better.
What a handy, well-made (even in plastic) tool!
I have a 1990 Schwinn Worldsport, which I bought new. I have never (until today) cleaned the chain. Oh, yes, I've lubed the chain, but never cleaned it. Well...
The brush works amazingly well. Even dry, I was able to get it into my 7-speed cassette and get the loose stuff out of there. It worked wonders on my Shimano Exage 300EX derailleur, as well.
The instructions are clear and easy to follow. Affix the handle by sliding it into the tracks on the side of the tool, pop the clips on either end to open the top, fill to the line with cleaner, put in place under the chain, replace the top and the clips, and crank backwards 30 times. Like shampoo, rinse (the tool) and repeat. Wow!
A word to the wise: put some newspaper down under the bike and drape a couple rags over the rear wheel under the derailleur and chain. There is some splatter, and if you have gumwall tires, you know what a pain it is to keep them clean (getting dirty chain oil on them doesn't help) - not to mention that petroleum products and rubber don't do very well together. So, protect your bike and tires (I have alloy rims; I have no idea how carbon fares with this stuff).
Anyway, this is a handy addition to the seasonal tool collection. I'll be cleaning my chain more often. Excellent value for the job it does, and even though it is constructed of plastic, it is molded well and thick enough that it doesn't feel like a cheap plastic tool. Apparently, the sponge is replaceable, as well, so that's another plus. Oh, and once clean, I used the Park Tool CL-1 Synthetic Blend Chain Lube Bottle (4 oz) chain lube on it. Very nice.
This kit is exactly what you need if you ride a bicycle. Crazy enthusiast, biker as means of transportation to casual occasional rider, this will make caring for your bike much easier. I NEVER cleaned my chain growing up, so I never cleaned it when I started biking instead of driving. Clean your chains, people! It makes a ridiculous difference when riding! It was SO much easier to ride with a clean chain! With this device, cleaning your chain is fairly simple. You don't have to worry about getting 80000 rags greasy, and filling up buckets and blah blah bla. Just put the soap and water in the little thing, attach to your chain (after you turn your bike over so it's resting on the handlebars and seat) and start pedaling. The best part is that when the mysterious cleaning fluid is gone, you can just use regular soap instead! I have a natural dish soap that I use with just as much success and less worry about chemicals. Do clean the device out after use though, including the removable foam and wire gear things, and set out to dry. Also note, that while it's actually pretty fun to use, the water on the chain will drip on the floor as you're cleaning. In short, this is the most convenient and thorough way I've found to clean my bike chain, and quite frankly, the most fun and satisfying at that. ;)
Feature Product
- The CG-2.3 works on all derailleur bikes and many 3-speed and coaster brake bikes.
- The Chain Gang includes: CM-5.2 Chain Scrubber GSC-1 GearClean Brush and 8 oz. bottle of ChainBrite.
Description
Whether your cogs fly the flag of flashy titanium or redoubtable, nickel-plated steel, you owe it to them, the chainrings, and the chain itself to maintain a tidy ship of state. Park Tool's CG-2. 3 Chain Gang Cleaning System comprises all the materials you'll need to ensure a presentable drivetrain. The set includes Park's CM-5. 2 Cyclone Chain Scrubber, eight ounces of ChainBrite cleaner, and the indispensable GSC-1 Gear Clean Brush. The brush is narrow enough to fit between your cassette's cogs and the cleaner is biodegradable, plant-based, and safe on alloy, plastic, and rubber.
I had to move to a rental home without a garage for a few month and had to leave my mountain bike under deck in rainy wintry weather for 3 months. The chains on the bike obviously went crusty rusty during that time. This kit took litterly 1 minute to clean the chain back into a shine I haven't seen for years, and the cleaner is biodegradeable and environmentally friendly and easy to clean off your hands. Highly recommended. Just FYI, the cleaning fluid will probably do 3-4 cleaning sessions. The gear brush is highly effective as well, put some cleaning agent on it and took the grime off the gears in about 1 min as well. Great product, highly recommended. If I knew chain cleaning is this easy, I would done this a lot more often and a lot earlier!!
I was about to buy the cheaper knockoffs offered here and read those reviews, They seemed to be good but missing some features of this Park Tool Chain cleaner, first is the foam catcher, which does a great job keeping the area from being to messy, you will get drips but they do tell you to put down newspaper. I am glad I went with this than the others, it did a amazing job on two of my kids bikes. BTW, a touch of laundry detergent seemed to work just as well as the citrus degreaser they include. Did one chain with it and the other with laundry detergent, they appeared to look the same. Remember, a LITTLE goes a long way, don't use more than a few drops especially for HE rated Laundry detergent.
This tool does a great job cleaning the chain. I've had it sitting on my workbench until after ridding a very muddy MTB race two weekends ago. As many reviews have mentioned this process is a little messy - however that is just the nature of a chain moving at speed through and around gears wet with cleaner or soap etc..so just know you are going to put an old beach towel down below your work area and no problem. Also as many reviewers have said a bike stand is very helpful to have to use this tool.
I really liked the gear cleaning brush ( I used it with soapy water) to clean out the cassette's cogs. Note however, the plastic pick side of the brush will not fit between the rear cogs if you have a newer 10+ speed rear cassette (mine is an 8 speed and it worked fine).Once I mounted the Cleaning tool on my chain and filled it to the fill line with the provided bottle of the ChainBrite cleaning solution - I started running the cranks backwards and the chain cleaning began. The after photo is what the tools results were. Afterwards cleaning the tool itself was very easy - just take the top off as well as the sponge and brushes assembly and rinse everything out.
There are many very good YouTube "How To" videos on using this tool. If you are considering buying this watch a couple of them and you'll know if this tool and cleaning process is for you. For me riding mostly single track trails on my MTB - I'm very glad I purchased it and can keep the drivetrain in good shape.
I like that the cleaner is biodegradable, however you quickly realize that the 8 oz bottle will allow you to basically clean your chain only 3 or 4 times unless after use you let the sediment settle and pour off the cleaner at the top back in the bottle. I've looked at the replacement bottle of ChainBrite and it's $13.77 for a 16 oz bottle .... I'm going to try Crystal Simple Green cleaner / degreaser its $13.26 for a gallon.
Bottom Line: I like the tool it does a good job - I will try other other biodegradable cleaning solutions that are more cost effective. But I am going to add this to my regular chain and drivetrain maintenance routine.
I thought that this might be a gimmick type tool since I have cleaned chains with brushes or spray in the past. Once I started using this tool to clean my chains, I have found that it is much quicker than other methods and it does a great job of cleaning the chains!
It takes 2 hands to operate; one to hold the cleaning tool and one to turn the bike pedals. You can fill the cleaner before snapping the two halves together or you can fill once it is installed on the chain through a small fill area built into the top section of the cleaner. There is a small magnet at the bottom of the lower section to trap any floating metal particles when cleaning your chain.
This tool really cleans the chain well, I was impressed. I wish that there was a way to keep it from dripping better. There is a sponge on the exit end that wipes the chain off as it exits the cleaner. This sponge is roughly an inch and a half long and is three sided as the chain sits in a channel in the sponge. I don't know if a larger sponge or 4 sided that surrounds the chain completely would keep it from dripping. For the mean time, I'll keep a rag handy when using this tool.
My wife and I went to the Cape and biked. There was sand on the trail we took to the paved bike path. I could hear the crunching of the sand grains on the chain. The minute we got home I researched chain cleaners and ordered this one. I chose this one since it's a name brand and the other one I was looking at had customer complaints about it opening up during the cleaning cycle. The clips on this cleaner hold it closed tightly. I also used the brush to clean the sprockets and gearset by pedaling the bike (upside down, resting on the seat and hand grips). It did an amazing job. Check out the pictures (before and after). The tool was easy to clean and it dried in less than a day. Once the chain and gears were dried, I applied dry chain lube. The chain is nice and quiet and above all, clean. I would also suggest using nitrile gloves while cleaning, have a rag handy to dry and clean the cleaned chain and to protect the floor and bottom of the seat from dripping cleaner.
