Bicycle Cleaning

mobilis

1) Can I use car shampoo with silicone for cleaning my road bicycle, chain included?
2) How about WD40?

stabilised

Car shampoo for the frame is fine.

Cleaning chains (and other oily bits like chain rings, and jockey wheels) requires de-greaser, really. WD40 can do this, but is a rather expensive way of going about it. There are lots of bicycly de-greasers available, but you do pay for them - too much for me to ever have felt tmpted to try them over cheaper alternatives. These include white spirit (although not especially effective in my view), paraffin based de-greasers sold for cleaning car engine bays like Jizer (which I have used for years) or even paraffin or petrol. At 93p a litre unleaded is much cheaper than MucOff and the like, but is a rather crude solution to the problem.

There are good bike cleaning tips on the Park Tools website (even a video, I think) or the late lamented Sheldon Brown.

pdstsp

My lbs told me not to use any detergent on carbon frame - they suggested Johnsons Baby Wipes and water only for the frame. Anyone know if this is over cautious?

fnegroni

You do realize carbon frames are usually clearcoated? anything safe for clearcoat (like car shampoo) will be fine.

And even if the clearcoat comes off (which you can replace with nail varnish, as advised by carbon manufacturers) you can still clean the exposed carbon with said shampoo.

Muc-off is safe on carbon.

sportbilly1976

warm water with a jiffy cloth for the frame, de-greaser for the chain & cassette....

pdstsp

Cheers fnegroni - I did realise it was coated but just accepted the lbs advice, though it did seem a bit over the top - back to the muc-off for me then .

Headhuunter

Decathlon sells degreaser and chain lubricant together for not much (can't remember the exact cost and they both seem efficient. I use warm water with a bit of Ecover to clean my carbon bike (Focus Cayo) and haven't noticed any problems

Shezzer

I use Fenwicks mixed 1:10 with water for the frame ... just spray it on and leave for 5 minutes before rinsing off with cold water. I use undiluted Fenwicks on the chain / chain ring / cassette and again rinse off with water after a few minutes.

CTML

stabilised wrote:

Car shampoo for the frame is fine.

Cleaning chains (and other oily bits like chain rings, and jockey wheels) requires de-greaser, really. WD40 can do this, but is a rather expensive way of going about it. There are lots of bicycly de-greasers available, but you do pay for them - too much for me to ever have felt tmpted to try them over cheaper alternatives. These include white spirit (although not especially effective in my view), paraffin based de-greasers sold for cleaning car engine bays like Jizer (which I have used for years) or even paraffin or petrol. At 93p a litre unleaded is much cheaper than MucOff and the like, but is a rather crude solution to the problem.

There are good bike cleaning tips on the Park Tools website (even a video, I think) or the late lamented Sheldon Brown.

I have been using wd40 and TF2 for the chain for a while now and although it helps lube the chain it gets the chainrings unbelieably greasy and hard to clean after a first ride. Is this generally what happens? or are the chainrings supposed to be gleaming after a coat of wd40?

Shezzer

My local bike shop once told me that WD40 is not a good chain lubricant and that I should always look to use a lubricant containing PTFE as it repels water. I now use either GT85 (which is cheap as chips and seems to do a decent job) or Finish Line. Once I've applied them, I let them 'soak' into the chain links and then wiped off the excess with a rag, they leave the chain looking clean with no oily black marks. If you don't wipe off the excess then the surface oil just seems to attract dust and crap off the road. Both are easily removed by Fenwicks degreaser.

simmo3801

I used to use a degreaser and chain bath device etc on chain until I tried the Michel Method as described on cycle chat forum. Basically use a rag to cleaner lower run on chain spinning the pedals to draw the chain through the rag. change the rag and repeat until no more gunk comes off the chain. Again on the lower run of chain apply a drop of lube every roller of chain until all lubed then turn pedals a couple of turns to run chain. Repeat using rag and wipe until no more black gunk comes off onto rag. Lube and repeat wiping. The last thing you do should be to wipe. It takes minutes to do and keeps chain clean without using anything too invasive to the chain. I have used this method for a week and it took me longer to type this than do it.

I have since "upgraded" to using baby wipes which is even quicker. I used to use these to clean the screen and headlights on my motorbike as they were excellent at removing squashed flies and tar spots.

The bonus of baby wipes is that they only take a wipe to clean the grease off chain stays and mechs.

giant_man

pdstsp wrote:

My lbs told me not to use any detergent on carbon frame - they suggested Johnsons Baby Wipes and water only for the frame. Anyone know if this is over cautious?

No. It's not being over cautious, it's good advice, baby wipes are your best friend. Any dirt on carbon frames with laquer comes over very easily with wipes or water.

John.T

GT85 is only marginally better than WD40 as a lubricant. Both are good water dispersants. Use a proper chain lub such as Finish Line.