Here at Peaty’s Products we make two brilliant biodegradable degreasers, but what’s the difference between our Foaming Drivetrain Degreaser and XXX Solvent Degreaser? How should you use each degreaser for the safest, best value result?
Foaming Drivetrain Degreaser vs XXX Solvent Degreaser - What's the difference?
Peaty’s Foaming Drivetrain Degreaser is our friendly, non-solvent, grime buster. It’s specially formulated to be tough on chain lubes and grime but, because it’s non-solvent, it won’t sneak into bearings and pivots and strip out your precious waterproof greases without you realising either.
The spray trigger is easy to use too. Simply spray it onto the cassette and chain as you pedal. Shifting up and down the block so the foam is transferred everywhere it needs to be. Spray generously onto crank arms, chainrings, derailleurs and jockey wheels to make sure everything mechanical and mucky is coated. Don’t worry if it gets near any bearings either as it’s specifically designed as a bearing safe drivetrain degreaser.
Now give it a couple of minutes for the foam and secret blend of ingredients to work their way into corners and crevices, loosening any oily, greasy grime. If you think it might be really sticky you can get involved with our Peaty’s Drivetrain Brush to shift stubborn grease too.
Now rinse with a hose and/or brush and bucket to reveal a squeaky clean drivetrain, ready to dry and revive with Peaty’s LinkLube Premium, Dry, Wet or All Weather chain lube.
Our Foaming Degreaser works brilliantly with our entire LinkLube chain lube range - even LinkLube Wet. This is because we’ve not just gone down the easy route with our wet lube formulation and stuck in a ton of marine-grade waterproof grease like other more basic wet lubes. Waterproof grease in wet lubes gives a great first impression because it doesn’t wash off easily. But that’s then their ultimate problem - they don’t wash off! The very nature of waterproof greases means they need solvent degreasers to remove them - and yes, that’s the same solvent degreaser that will strip the waterproof grease from your bearings.
In case you’ve not already put two and two together yourself yet, this means our Foaming Drivetrain Degreaser won’t touch any waterproof grease - not in your bearings and certainly not in any wet lube which contains waterproof grease or that horrible factory grease that's stuck all over brand new chains. Don’t worry though - if you do find yourself in a sticky, black gunky situation because of a waterproof wet lube, and our Foaming Drivetrain Degreaser won’t touch it, you can simply use our XXX Solvent Degreaser to blast that nasty away then simply chuck that lube in the bin and buy some LinkLube Wet instead 😉
Peaty's XXX Solvent Degreaser is as hardcore as it sounds, with incredible penetration everywhere. Its unique formula is readily biodegradable and paint safe but it’s still a powerful solvent blend that will dissolve heavy duty grease super fast. That makes it great for full bearing services and strip downs where you want to get everything completely clean before re-lubing.
It’s also great de gunking factroy grease from brand new chains or filthy greasy chains clogged with cheap lubes or even adhesive residue from frame stickers, tubeless rim tape etc.
The ferocious cleaning power of XXX means you need to be careful how and where you use it though, spraying sparingly around pivots, bottom brackets and hubs so as not to strip bearing greases. Shake the can thoroughly and put a drip tray or plastic sheeting under where you’re squirting to avoid accidental leaks. Once you’ve applied the Degreaser give it a few minutes to reach a cleaning climax while tickling any stubborn spots with your Peaty’s Products Drivetrain Brush (Top Tip: Our Tyre Brush also works brilliantly as a wide-headed cassette brush!)
Now thoroughly rinse and dry the immaculately cleaned parts, checking for any wear that might have happened if you were late with your cleaning or servicing. If it’s all good then re-lubricate with our range of Peaty’s Products Bearing, Suspension and Assembly greases for an even better performance than brand new. And if you’ve had to use it to resurrect a filthy, sticky chain, then re-lube with one of our clean running, quiet and super-efficient LinkLube chain lubes.
Unsure which lube you need? Check out our LinkLube blog post to help you decide!