It is a known bike mechanic's happiness to ride his or her bike hard, drink coffee, eat a home-made pasta lunch, and then clean a filthy bike sprocket by dipping it into a bucket of diesel fuel.
Diesel dissolves the layers to grime and leaves an oh-so-lovely lubricating layer on the sprocket or cog. It also makes you pretty sick over time, as do most of the petro chemicals in the usual cleaners. Chain lubes are another way to breath in 8-hours a day of chemicals that are really bad for you.
(If you are one of those bike mechanics who loves the smell of petrol, and all this talk of fumes and grease makes you want to stand by a gas pump; have a cigarette, and crunch on a large plate of deep fried onion rings, easy now. Dig deep and read on.)
As is often the case with cleaners and lubrications, the ones that work the best are often the most toxic. Lisa, at the Pedros booth, explained that Pedros is trying to change that with two new products for 2008, Pro J Professional Strength Citrus Cleaner and Go!, a new clean condition canola oil chain lube.
If you fancy yourself a test rat, stop by the shop on Fridays or Saturdays only in October 2007. We will lube your chain with Go! for free. And you can write a post.
Go! is a low viscosity, dry condition chain lube for those who found Pedros first mixed-to-wet condition canola oil chain lube, Chainj, too thick. Go! is bio-degradable, durable, and waterproof, according to Lisa at the Pedros booth.
ProJ is a stronger version of Pedros Oranj Peelz citrus degreaser. Proj is touted to last longer, and you can see it on a components, since it is a white-ish color. You still don't want to get this stuff all over your skin or in your eyes. But you don't have to feel like you work on a tanker when you are cleaning bike parts.
(Bye the bye, make sure to read the non-aerosol spray bottles of "orange" furniture and other cleaners you are using in closed spaces to be a good earth citizen. If there is list of petroleum distillates in the ingredients, you are not doing yourself or your family any heathly lifestyle favors spraying it into the air.)
