How To Clean Your E-Bike Chain
When you’ve been riding your e-bike for a while, you may start to notice that your chain is getting noisy or not shifting as well as it used to.
These are signs that it’s time to clean and lubricate your chain.
If you ride consistently, you'll want to clean your chain at least once a month — maybe more, if you ride in really dirty conditions.
Here’s how to take care of your e-bike chain in a few easy steps:
Degrease The Chain
While cleaning your chain, you can use a bike stand, lean it up against a wall, or have a friend hold the e-bike up for you.
Choose a rag that won’t shed. Any fibers that get left behind in your chain will wear down the chain more quickly.
Now grab a bicycle drive train degreaser. If you don't have this around, a diluted mixture of dish soap and water will work too.
Wet your cloth with the degreaser, wrap the wet cloth around the chain, and start moving your pedals backward. Make sure to maintain contact with the chain between your thumb and index finger.
Move slowly and make sure you clean every link on your chain while cleaning.
Pedal through a few cycles, making sure to wipe every single link in your chain as you go.
If your chain still seems dirty, just add more degreaser and continue backpedaling with your cloth until your chain is clean.
Apply Lubricant
Choose a lubricant that fits your climate. Any lube will protect and elongate the life of your drive chain, but the right lube will do the job better.
At Magnum Bikes HQ in Utah, we have very dry and dusty summers, so we tend to use a dry lubricant.
If you're in a more humid or wet location or riding after rainstorms, you may want to use a wet lube.
When you’re cleaning, you clean all surfaces of your chain. But when applying lubricant, you’ll focus on the rollers, rather than the exterior — so apply from the top down, not the side.
Apply the lubricant directly to your chain — no rag is needed yet.
Make sure to get every link! Go around more than once if you need to.
Apply lubricant directly to the rollers in the center of your chain
Once you’ve lubricated every link, let the lube sit for a few minutes.
Then, wipe off excess lubricant with a clean, non-shedding cloth.
If you leave too much lube on there, it will start to pick up tons of dust and grime, so your chain will get dirty faster and wear out more quickly.
Conclusion
And there we have it: the very simple maintenance steps to clean and lube your chain. Remember to do this at least once a month if you ride regularly.
This process will help you protect your components and make it so you don't have to replace your chain, cassette, or gears as often as you would otherwise.
If you have any more questions, feel free to reach out to our customer support team!
