A few years ago, someone who should have known better (IMO) who was just beginning to think about doing some of his own bike maintenance asked me about using gasoline to soak/clean his chain.
Ignoring the fact that he had never removed/installed a chain before, I told him:
"If you don't mind blowing up your house, then go ahead."
He looked at me quizically.
I explained that a main problem with gasoline as a solvent is that it is very volatile ...
Paint thinner is "okay."
Kerosene is "okay."
Al Feng Albuquerque, NM
On Thu, 07 Dec 2006 20:36:24 +0000 Hilary Stone
<hilary.stone@blueyonder.co.uk> writes:
> Gasoline is extremely dangerous to you leadless petrol contains
> substantial quantities of Benzene which you will inhale and which
> will
> be absorbed through your skin. Benzene is one of the most
> carcinogenic
> substances known to man.
>
> Hilary Stone, Bristol, England
>
>
>
> John Betmanis wrote:
> > At 07:31 AM 12/7/06 -0000, Peter Brown wrote:
> >
> >> How do people who overhaul a lot of SA hubs deal with "varnish"
> on
> >>
> >> the internals?
> >
> > I'm disappointed that Hilary categorizes ordinary paint thinner
> (mineral
> > spirits, varsol, turpentine substitute) as environmentaly
> unfriendly, but
> > then I still use gasoline to wash chains. However, the way our
> > environmental awareness is heading, I suppose the day will come
> when water
> > is the only solvent allowed and probably only the commercially
> bottled
> > stuff at that. Anyway, my suggestion would have been any of the
> number of
> > varnish strippers available at the local paint store. There may
> even be
> > products now that are water soluble and can be flushed down the
> drain
> > without losing sleep over hurting the environment. However, in my
> > experience, most newer, safer products are not nearly as effective
> as the
> > old nasty ones.
> >
> > John Betmanis
> > Woodstock, Ontario
> > Canada