Recently I bought a cleaner called
Multi Care Wash from Wako's.
But before that.
LOOK's Kéo cleats—
the standard cleats have been discontinued.
There's still stock in distribution, but.
Now they only offer the Grip Cleats,
which came later and have better grip when walking.
From what I know, people who hate Grip Cleats
take issue with two things:
"The pedal engagement feels mushy and stiff"
and "even though you try not to walk much,
when the cleats wear down from walking,
the rubber anti-slip part sometimes peels back like a flap."
Personally I use the black fixed cleats,
so I don't care much about the pedal feel,
but the rubber peeling issue does bother me.
Well, I've stocked up on plenty of the old black Kéo cleats,
so there's no problem for now.
Anyway, at our shop, the Grip Cleats are
"non-slip"
and we expect exam students to buy them as good-luck charms too.
On another note, I personally purchased a Wishbone pulley.
The image above is one I took on November 18th last year.
I've used Wishbone pulleys before (→here),
but at that time there was only one pulley model,
so "Wishbone pulley" was a fine name,
but now that another model has come out,
the one in the linked post is called an "Aero Pulley,"
and the one in the image above is called a "Power Pulley"
with their respective model names.
The Power Pulley seems designed for Shimano's single-tension rear derailleurs
from the R9100 series onward,
but even with the current R9200 series,
Shimano road bike components still use an 11T pulley,
so I thought it should work fine
with my Campagnolo double-tension rear derailleur,
which also has an 11T pulley as standard.
So I bought one.
The upper pulley has tall teeth,
and the back side has an oddly rounded bulge—that's the distinctive feature.
Now to the main topic.
I bought a cleaner called
Multi Care Wash from Wako's.
It's product code V433 and comes in a 10-liter container.
The box and plastic straps protect the bag with a spout.
This quantity isn't intended for general retail,
but a 1-liter version called V430 Multi Care Wash
was recently released. When I asked the Wako's people,
they said the contents are the same.
By the way, the 1-liter version
has a list price of ¥3,600 (before tax) / ¥3,960 (after tax).
I'm sure many people thought "That's expensive!"
But it's a fairly strong neutral detergent,
and if you use it as a car shampoo to wash frames and such,
you dilute it 50–100 times,
so if you think of it as dozens of liters' worth of car shampoo,
maybe it's not so pricey after all.
It can be used as a car shampoo, degreaser,
and oil treatment agent. For car shampoo use,
as I mentioned, you dilute it 50–100 times.
For degreasing, you use it straight to 2x dilution.
For oil treatment, after wiping up spilled oil from the floor
with oil sheets or cloth as much as you can,
you dilute it 50 times.
Regarding this degreasing part,
there's mention that it can also be used as a chain cleaner,
and I even asked the Wako's people about this.
They said it was possible (past tense).
But Multi Care Wash is a neutral detergent.
I don't see how it could actually degrease a chain based on its mechanism.
This is the rear derailleur area of my personal bike,
which has gotten gunked up with oil
because I've only been applying chain oil even after riding in the rain.
The chain oil is Wako's water-displacement chain lube.
I didn't apply any special chain oil for this test—
these are normal conditions.
A Park Tool chain cleaner, the CM5.2
(the current model is CM5.3)
filled with straight V433 solution.
Two brushes from below and one from above
shaped like gear teeth squeeze the chain
and wash it while it soaks in the cleaner,
moving up and down in a serpentine motion.
You shift into a combination where the chain line is nearly straight
so it won't jam even when you pedal backwards,
then crank in reverse.
Not forward because the rear wheel would spin and spray.
The case even has an illustration instructing you to pedal backwards.
I cranked it quite a bit.
In reverse at about 20 cadence.
There's some foaming, but
there's no sign of the chain oil breaking down.
I rinsed it with water to remove the cleaner.
The chain sides are slightly cleaner,
but that's because one of the three brushes
scrubs the sides of the chain—
with this level of cleaning, I suspect the CM5.2 would get
almost the same result if filled with plain water.
I opened the CM5.2 and dumped its contents on the floor.
Since the chain oil hasn't broken down,
the boundary between the clear cleaner and the oily areas is hard to see.
Some clumps of oily gunk have fallen off,
but that's almost entirely due to the brush performance.
As I said, if the CM5.2 were filled with water,
you'd get basically the same result.
Our shop has a Filter Cleaner that Wako's made in the past
and discontinued. It's a powerful degreaser
designed for soaking wet-type air filters—that is, sponges with oil buildup—
to degrease them. As an unofficial workaround,
people got into the habit of using it to degrease
cranks, sprockets, and chains on road bikes,
but since this wasn't the intended use,
I often saw amateurs throw fits saying
"My chain and sprocket steel rusted!"
without properly handling the post-degreasing care.
People might ask, "What's this post-degreasing care thing?"
so I'll explain: since Filter Cleaner washes off easily with water,
after rinsing it off, you dry-wipe it,
then apply oil. But even with dry-wiping,
it's hard to completely remove moisture from inside the chain rollers,
so the easy method is to wrap the chain application area with a rag
and spray it with Wako's water-displacement chain oil
while gently wiping.
So instead of using the discontinued product,
I'll put Wako's Parts Degreaser in the CM5.2.
Someone using this for the first time might think "Oil dirt comes right off!",
but if you know Filter Cleaner's performance,
you'd think, "Parts Degreaser cleans almost as well as Filter Cleaner,
just a bit less powerful due to additives."
Those additives are rust inhibitors, and the third point
in the press release's five features says exactly:
"Even when rinsed with water, the rust inhibitor remains on metal surfaces
and prevents rust formation."
By the way, Filter Cleaner was discontinued not because of
unwarranted whiny complaints about rust—
but because the waste liquid has high environmental impact.
With Parts Degreaser,
at about 5 cadence it looks like this.
↑ When you spray water on the chain, it looks like this—
the oil gunk has broken down
to a point where it rinses away easily with water.
Same as before, I opened the CM5.2
and dumped it on the floor.
This black dirt is broken down, so
it rinses away easily with shower water.
Based on the above results, the claim that V433 or V430 Multi Care Wash
can be used as a chain cleaner is hard to swallow.
I filled a foam gun (foam sprayer)
with V433 diluted several tens of times
and when you spray it, it looks like this.
For car shampoo use, being able to control concentration
and the cost aspect might be favorable.
There's something similar looking called
Wako's Foaming Multi Cleaner (product code A402)—
a mousse-type cleaner for situations where you can't rinse with water
or where rinsing isn't practical, used with a rag for dry-wiping.
We sell it at our shop too, but
I'm concerned about it being weakly alkaline.
The pulley area came out sparkling clean.
Besides the CM5.2, I also scrubbed with a brush
soaked in Parts Degreaser.
After that, I dry-wiped and applied water-displacement chain lube.
When I told the Wako's people that
V433 didn't clean the chain oil gunk at all,
the confident tone they'd had initially about using it as a chain cleaner
gradually weakened.
However, I wonder if there's a path forward where
"It doesn't work even straight! (geneki)"
becomes a selling point, the same as the Kéo Grip Cleats at the beginning,
and it gets bought as a good-luck charm by exam students.
When I told the Wako's people I'd be writing an article like this,
they said, "Please go easy on us."
I think I did.
Multi Care Wash from Wako's.
But before that.
LOOK's Kéo cleats—
the standard cleats have been discontinued.
There's still stock in distribution, but.
Now they only offer the Grip Cleats,
which came later and have better grip when walking.
From what I know, people who hate Grip Cleats
take issue with two things:
"The pedal engagement feels mushy and stiff"
and "even though you try not to walk much,
when the cleats wear down from walking,
the rubber anti-slip part sometimes peels back like a flap."
Personally I use the black fixed cleats,
so I don't care much about the pedal feel,
but the rubber peeling issue does bother me.
Well, I've stocked up on plenty of the old black Kéo cleats,
so there's no problem for now.
Anyway, at our shop, the Grip Cleats are
"non-slip"
and we expect exam students to buy them as good-luck charms too.
On another note, I personally purchased a Wishbone pulley.
The image above is one I took on November 18th last year.
I've used Wishbone pulleys before (→here),
but at that time there was only one pulley model,
so "Wishbone pulley" was a fine name,
but now that another model has come out,
the one in the linked post is called an "Aero Pulley,"
and the one in the image above is called a "Power Pulley"
with their respective model names.
The Power Pulley seems designed for Shimano's single-tension rear derailleurs
from the R9100 series onward,
but even with the current R9200 series,
Shimano road bike components still use an 11T pulley,
so I thought it should work fine
with my Campagnolo double-tension rear derailleur,
which also has an 11T pulley as standard.
So I bought one.
The upper pulley has tall teeth,
and the back side has an oddly rounded bulge—that's the distinctive feature.
Now to the main topic.
I bought a cleaner called
Multi Care Wash from Wako's.
It's product code V433 and comes in a 10-liter container.
The box and plastic straps protect the bag with a spout.
This quantity isn't intended for general retail,
but a 1-liter version called V430 Multi Care Wash
was recently released. When I asked the Wako's people,
they said the contents are the same.
By the way, the 1-liter version
has a list price of ¥3,600 (before tax) / ¥3,960 (after tax).
I'm sure many people thought "That's expensive!"
But it's a fairly strong neutral detergent,
and if you use it as a car shampoo to wash frames and such,
you dilute it 50–100 times,
so if you think of it as dozens of liters' worth of car shampoo,
maybe it's not so pricey after all.
It can be used as a car shampoo, degreaser,
and oil treatment agent. For car shampoo use,
as I mentioned, you dilute it 50–100 times.
For degreasing, you use it straight to 2x dilution.
For oil treatment, after wiping up spilled oil from the floor
with oil sheets or cloth as much as you can,
you dilute it 50 times.
Regarding this degreasing part,
there's mention that it can also be used as a chain cleaner,
and I even asked the Wako's people about this.
They said it was possible (past tense).
But Multi Care Wash is a neutral detergent.
I don't see how it could actually degrease a chain based on its mechanism.
This is the rear derailleur area of my personal bike,
which has gotten gunked up with oil
because I've only been applying chain oil even after riding in the rain.
The chain oil is Wako's water-displacement chain lube.
I didn't apply any special chain oil for this test—
these are normal conditions.
A Park Tool chain cleaner, the CM5.2
(the current model is CM5.3)
filled with straight V433 solution.
Two brushes from below and one from above
shaped like gear teeth squeeze the chain
and wash it while it soaks in the cleaner,
moving up and down in a serpentine motion.
You shift into a combination where the chain line is nearly straight
so it won't jam even when you pedal backwards,
then crank in reverse.
Not forward because the rear wheel would spin and spray.
The case even has an illustration instructing you to pedal backwards.
I cranked it quite a bit.
In reverse at about 20 cadence.
There's some foaming, but
there's no sign of the chain oil breaking down.
I rinsed it with water to remove the cleaner.
The chain sides are slightly cleaner,
but that's because one of the three brushes
scrubs the sides of the chain—
with this level of cleaning, I suspect the CM5.2 would get
almost the same result if filled with plain water.
I opened the CM5.2 and dumped its contents on the floor.
Since the chain oil hasn't broken down,
the boundary between the clear cleaner and the oily areas is hard to see.
Some clumps of oily gunk have fallen off,
but that's almost entirely due to the brush performance.
As I said, if the CM5.2 were filled with water,
you'd get basically the same result.
Our shop has a Filter Cleaner that Wako's made in the past
and discontinued. It's a powerful degreaser
designed for soaking wet-type air filters—that is, sponges with oil buildup—
to degrease them. As an unofficial workaround,
people got into the habit of using it to degrease
cranks, sprockets, and chains on road bikes,
but since this wasn't the intended use,
I often saw amateurs throw fits saying
"My chain and sprocket steel rusted!"
without properly handling the post-degreasing care.
People might ask, "What's this post-degreasing care thing?"
so I'll explain: since Filter Cleaner washes off easily with water,
after rinsing it off, you dry-wipe it,
then apply oil. But even with dry-wiping,
it's hard to completely remove moisture from inside the chain rollers,
so the easy method is to wrap the chain application area with a rag
and spray it with Wako's water-displacement chain oil
while gently wiping.
So instead of using the discontinued product,
I'll put Wako's Parts Degreaser in the CM5.2.
Someone using this for the first time might think "Oil dirt comes right off!",
but if you know Filter Cleaner's performance,
you'd think, "Parts Degreaser cleans almost as well as Filter Cleaner,
just a bit less powerful due to additives."
Those additives are rust inhibitors, and the third point
in the press release's five features says exactly:
"Even when rinsed with water, the rust inhibitor remains on metal surfaces
and prevents rust formation."
By the way, Filter Cleaner was discontinued not because of
unwarranted whiny complaints about rust—
but because the waste liquid has high environmental impact.
With Parts Degreaser,
at about 5 cadence it looks like this.
↑ When you spray water on the chain, it looks like this—
the oil gunk has broken down
to a point where it rinses away easily with water.
Same as before, I opened the CM5.2
and dumped it on the floor.
This black dirt is broken down, so
it rinses away easily with shower water.
Based on the above results, the claim that V433 or V430 Multi Care Wash
can be used as a chain cleaner is hard to swallow.
I filled a foam gun (foam sprayer)
with V433 diluted several tens of times
and when you spray it, it looks like this.
For car shampoo use, being able to control concentration
and the cost aspect might be favorable.
There's something similar looking called
Wako's Foaming Multi Cleaner (product code A402)—
a mousse-type cleaner for situations where you can't rinse with water
or where rinsing isn't practical, used with a rag for dry-wiping.
We sell it at our shop too, but
I'm concerned about it being weakly alkaline.
The pulley area came out sparkling clean.
Besides the CM5.2, I also scrubbed with a brush
soaked in Parts Degreaser.
After that, I dry-wiped and applied water-displacement chain lube.
When I told the Wako's people that
V433 didn't clean the chain oil gunk at all,
the confident tone they'd had initially about using it as a chain cleaner
gradually weakened.
However, I wonder if there's a path forward where
"It doesn't work even straight! (geneki)"
becomes a selling point, the same as the Kéo Grip Cleats at the beginning,
and it gets bought as a good-luck charm by exam students.
When I told the Wako's people I'd be writing an article like this,
they said, "Please go easy on us."
I think I did.