Tango Shopping!

A shopping list for everything you need to make degrease your chain and to convert your tyre to tubeless!  There are two things that I would highly recommend you to do, both of these are a bit of a hack, BUT both of them are tasks that makes you feel you have accomplished something and you will reap the benefits for months after you have done them. 1. De-grease your chain 2. Convert your tyres to tubeless Both of these are straight forward, but can potentially turn into a major faff, below are all the products you need to make your life easier to complete these tasks! Happy Shopping! TC Fenwicks Foaming Chain Cleaner - £4.49 This chain cleaner can be sprayed directly onto the chain making it a whole lot easier than any other degreaser to work with. Squirt Long Lasting Dry Lube - Is best applied on a clean de-greased chain. Many people have asked me how I keep my chain so clean, the answer is Squirt lube, I can not recommend it enough! Happy chain, happy bike. Read a review from a Tango Cycling member here.  The need for easy and quick access to our smartphones has increased a lot, making these gloves a must have item! North Wave Etip Women's Glove North Wave Etip Mens Glove Tubeless Valves are needed to replace your current valves and to complete seal the valve hole.  Airwave Tubeless Tyre Track Pump - this is only one of the pumps on the market that now acts as a compressor. In order for your tyre to seat onto the rim you need a fair amount of compressed air, this is a great gift for anyone who has been through the paces and frustration to convert their tyres.  Bio-Bike Wash is a concentrated & biodegradable bike cleaner. The concentrate can be diluted to 1:25 and still produce a heavy-duty cleaning solution. It is water based and does not contain any organic solvents.Can be used on any surface of the bike. Park tool chain cleaner at 50% off from Chain Reaction, for those who would rather not get there hands dirty.  Park tool cleaning brushes gets into all the nooks and crannies to clean your bike.  SEAL, tubeless sealant from Squirtlube is the last ingredient you need to complete your tubeless conversion. I find the more generous you are with the sealant, the better is your success to 'pop' your tyre quickly.  Tubeless Rim Tape - To convert your wheels to tubeless, you need a few essentials of which rim tape is one, the rim tape helps seal the rim so that the spoke holes are completely blocked which prevents any air or liquid from escaping.  The Sahmurai Sword was developed by ex-pro mountain biker, Stephan Sahm, use this kit to fix your tubeless tyres in no time.

REVIEW: Squirt Chain lube

The Winner: Pierre Le Roux

In November 2013 I ran the first Tango Cycling Competition via Strava. The aim of the competition was to see who can ride the most kilometers over a period of 2 weeks. 

Pierre le Roux was the worthy winner with more than 700km on the clock beating the nearest competitor with over 300km. 

The generous first prize was a year's worth of Squirt products from Carl at Squirtlube UK. Pierre has put Squirt to the test over the past 6 months and has written this very useful and honest review for us. 

"Squirt lube is a very good lube ideal for about 95% of trail conditions you will experience.

Squirt lube in all shapes & sizes



It works at its best in dry to damp conditions. Squirt is wax-based, this means it is a very clean lube.

You don't really get much build-up of gunk on jockey wheels and cassettes as with most other lubes, dirt just doesn't stick to it easily.

The lube dries into a semi-transparent waxy coating on the chain. This layer tends to make muck slide off rather than stick.

A typical Squirt application lasts quite a while.
In dry conditions I got about 120km of riding before needing to apply some more. 

In wet conditions I tend to re-lube after each ride, regardless of what the chain looks like. (This is more a personal preference than the chain actually needing it.)

That said, Squirt lube doesn't like getting too wet - it doesn't like overly muddy and wet conditions. Nor do I, actually. This is true of just about all lubes - against lots of mud and water no lube will last very long. 

Squirt has a very big advantage here though - over any wet-lube.

While using Squirt, when you want to clean your drive train after a messy ride, cleaning will simply consist of rinsing off the mud.

You don't need to degrease anything. There won't be any build-up of muck or gunk or nasties.

You only need to rinse off the mud. Thats it! 

With most other lubes you'll spend ages trying to degrease the chain - which will probably look like somebody coated it in tar.

Next, you'll spend ages cleaning your carpet...I mean clean the rest of the bike...where this tar-like substance will have mysteriously appeared.

With Squirt, cleaning your bike takes all of 5 minutes.

There are a couple of things which are important, to get the best out of Squirt:

1. Squirt should be applied to a clean chain. Clean as in all other lubes should be completely removed.
2. Squirt should be allowed to dry completely before going riding. It works best when dried completely, so apply it the evening before. Yep, it will still work if you apply it right before the ride but it won't be nearly as effective as when you allow it to dry.
3. Apply generously. There is no such thing as too much Squirt.

Also, Squirt lube doesn't make stains on carpets or floors. Which is a rather important feature, in my opinion.

On a completely unrelated note - the guys that make Squirt makes a very good degreaser as well, which is rather good at getting tar-like stains out of carpets..." Pierre le Roux

Squirtlube can be purchased via http://in2dust.co.uk/