Simple Green?

[Clancy]

Over on the PBMA website a member stated to never use Simple Green, it's been shown to cause "hydrogen embrittlement". First I've heard anything negative about SG. I've been using it for years in my Parks chain cleaner as well as general cleaning of the bike. Easy to source and inexpensive.

Anyone have specific info or data on the dangers of Simple Green.

Any good alternatives that are equally as inexpensive?

[thirdgenbird]

I use green works all purpose cleaner for general bike use. Ive never tried cleaning a chain with it, but it does a fine job at giving a dirty bike a bath.

I got hooked on the stuff when I saw a well regarded auto detailer use it to clean a dirty dash board and then turn right around and use it to clean windows without leaving a streak.

[Mikej]

Originally Posted by Clancy

Over on the PBMA website a member stated to never use Simple Green, it's been shown to cause "hydrogen embrittlement". First I've heard anything negative about SG. I've been using it for years in my Parks chain cleaner as well as general cleaning of the bike. Easy to source and inexpensive.

Anyone have specific info or data on the dangers of Simple Green.

Any good alternatives that are equally as inexpensive?

It's true and a pretty well known excepted fact. SG actually makes a bike version formulated to be more gentle on the composition of various alloys, mainly the chain. Diesel fuel or kerosene- otherwise I like the new wd40 bike specific foam cleaner. I'm not worried about 7$ though 😀

[William]

I've been using SG to clean chains and other bits for years and never had an issue that I can tell. No broken chains (knock on wood!) etc... Works well for cleaning purposes.

Show me some good evidence and I might reconsider, but at this point I'm not going to worry about.








William

[eddief]

It might be fine for you chain, but some of those products eat nice shiny anodized bike parts. Watch were it goes.

[Mikej]

[QUOTE=William;2130412]I've been using SG to clean chains and other bits for years and never had an issue that I can tell. No broken chains (knock on wood!) etc... Works well for cleaning purposes.

Show me some good evidence and I might reconsider, but at this point I'm not going to worry about.





Zinn went through it over on Velo news in 2005 - yes eat eats chains

[YesNdeed]

My mechanic advises not to use it for general cleaning as it breaks down and cracks anything with rubber, o-rings and the like. I like to use it on chains/cassettes, but I had used a lot of it to help seat tubeless tires and can attest that dry rotting seems to happen a lot faster with use of SG, so out it goes. For on the bike cleaning of drivetrain parts, I'll look into the bike specific version.

[dgauthier]

The generic Simple Green can mar aluminum. From the FAQ's section of the Simple Green web site (http://simplegreen.com/faqs/):

"(...) aluminum is a soft metal that easily corrodes with unprotected exposure to water. The aqueous-base and alkalinity of Simple Green All-Purpose Cleaner can accelerate the corrosion process. Therefore, contact times for unprotected or unpainted aluminum surfaces should be kept as brief as the job will allow - never for more than 10 minutes. Large cleaning jobs should be conducted in smaller-area stages to achieve lower contact time. Rinsing after cleaning should always be extremely thorough - paying special attention to flush out cracks and crevices (...)"

[William]

[QUOTE=Mikej;2130416]

Originally Posted by William

I've been using SG to clean chains and other bits for years and never had an issue that I can tell. No broken chains (knock on wood!) etc... Works well for cleaning purposes.

Show me some good evidence and I might reconsider, but at this point I'm not going to worry about.





Zinn went through it over on Velo news in 2005 - yes eat eats chains

...Over the last couple of weeks I have received a good deal of e-mail about the potential problems people encounter when they soak chains in Simple Green for an extended period.

http://www.velonews.com/2005/11/bike...e-green-2_9216

Well, I see what they are saying, but I never have soaked my chain for "long periods" of time. Spritz/work in a bit/rinse/dry/lube is my MO so I doubt it's really doing much at all to the metal.








William

[benb]

There are even cheaper options so I'd never use SG just cause it can theoretically cause issues. I do use some Park chain cleaner in my chain machine, which I don't use very often so the chain cleaner goes a long way.

But I mostly just use Isopropyl alcohol and water. That stuff is REALLY cheap and works fine.

If you use the right lube you can go a really really long time before you have to use something like a chain machine + chain cleaner chemicals, at least on a road bike.

[54ny77]

very simple: just thin it out. the stuff is very concentrated to begin with.

i've been using it for 20+ years. never an issue.

[FriarQuade]

It can cause issues with extremely long exposure times, talking months of soaking parts in the stuff. In practice it's a complete non-issue. The US Air Force tested it for use on aircraft at one point and it didn't pass due to their concerns of being able to completely rinse the solvent out of all the tight spots inside the aircraft. When it sat there for months/years it would accelerate corrosion. Anybody that is saying Simple Green is bad for typical bike use is just fear mongering.

[54ny77]

Yep.

A gallon jug, properly diluted, lasts a loooooooooooong time for the average user.

If i'm hunkering down for an afternoon of serious cleaning of bikes (or car/engine) I'll pour a small amount into a clean sprayer and fill the bottle with hot tap water. That works even better to loosen grime.

Scrub as needed with various brushes, then rinse with hose. Presto, clean & even more diluted.

Originally Posted by FriarQuade

Anybody that is saying Simple Green is bad for typical bike use is just fear mongering.

[Lewis Moon]

Simple Green was too dangerous so I switched to 18 molar H2SO4. Really satisfied with the results.

YMMV.

[Johnny P]

I don't like the smell of simple green so I use citrisolv instead. I would never use H2SO4.