Washing your bike! How do youuuuuu do it?

phal44

Naked? Wearing a Top hat?


In the past I have flipped it upside down to get to awkward bits etc but I found that some of the crap manages to work its way inside the frame etc so I'm guessing this is generally a bad idea?

Do some people use a work stand to make the job easier?

I invested in a new hose nozzle and a wheel washing attachment meant for cars which is basically a brush that has water coming out of it so this should make my life a bit easier and I shouldnt need to get it upside down anymore. Eventually I'll get myself a stand so that should make life easier.

ddraver

Stand, MucOff (well Fenwicks equivalent), brush and hose (we have one from a spring which has naff all pressure so squirty nozzle won't work

spray bike with bottle
clean chain with chain cleaner tool
hose/brush all stuff off
spray lube on stuff wot needs lube
lube chain
clean disks last in case of any aforementioned lube blowback

ilovedirt

Sponge and soapy water to get rid of the mud, spray it off vigorously with a hose, then clean and relube chain and grease anything that needs greasing (seatpost etc)

Radioactiveman

Blast the majority of crap off with a pressure washer both upside down and right side up.

Then take off wheels and soap up it and scrub it with brushes and sponges etc. once cleaned I give it a good rinse off and check for damage,cracks etc.

Then put the bike back together and dry the chain and relube it.

I use car shampoo and muc off. Also have a chain cleaner device.

Kiblams

ilovedirt wrote:

Sponge and soapy water to get rid of the mud, spray it off vigorously with a hose, then clean and relube chain and grease anything that needs greasing (seatpost etc)

This

phal44

So you dont find that bits of grit and mud work their way into the frame? I noticed a bunch of crap when I removed the saddle post and also when I did the BB

stubs

Pressure washers are the work of Satan and you will go to Hell if you point one at a bike.

Bucket full of hot water plus a dash of washing up liquid, sponge, tooth brush and a tub of elbow grease. Use neat washing up liquid and toothbrush to get cack off drivetrain. Wash off using a watering can because despite the near continuous month of rain we have a hosepipe ban. Bang bike on ground a few times to get water off, wipe down with a rag, lube moving bits and go to pub.

Radioactiveman

Kiblams wrote:

ilovedirt wrote:

Sponge and soapy water to get rid of the mud, spray it off vigorously with a hose, then clean and relube chain and grease anything that needs greasing (seatpost etc)

This

Might as well wash it off with grinding paste

ilovedirt

Kiblams wrote:

ilovedirt wrote:

Sponge and soapy water to get rid of the mud, spray it off vigorously with a hose, then clean and relube chain and grease anything that needs greasing (seatpost etc)

This

Oh and douse my brakes in disc brake cleaner after

ilovedirt

Radioactiveman wrote:

Kiblams wrote:

ilovedirt wrote:

Sponge and soapy water to get rid of the mud, spray it off vigorously with a hose, then clean and relube chain and grease anything that needs greasing (seatpost etc)

This

Might as well wash it off with grinding paste

Eh?

Uncle Peter

I used to spend ages with chain cleaning widgets to scrub the chain clean, now I take it off and put it in a jar with some white spirit, shake it up a little, fish it out then rinse it with warm water. It sparkles afterwards.

You can get 1ltr of white spirit for around a quid and it lasts ages - you don't need to throw it away after you use it.

Mr Wu

clean mine here

mobilekat

Simple.....
Get OH to sort my bike out while I cook dinner!!!!!

Or to be honest at this time of year 95% of the time the dirty comes off with a quick wipe with a damp cloth, and then a re-lub. (esp if we go through a river just before we get back to the car- as we did yesterday, just got a tad damp ourselves too!!)

Dick Scruttock

Chuck mine in the garage till its got a good few rides worth of grime on it then give it a rinse off with a hose.

j_l

Carefully pointed jet wash at the local garage on the way home from ride for a £1 to get off the real cloggy stuff and clean the tyres etc.

1 mile ride home to warm / dry rotors and pads, then once home a dry off with clean cloth, re lube chain if required and caress lovingly whilst err indoors looks on with disgust.


every now and then a complete strip down and re build to re grease replace cables, fork leg, etc

Almightydutch

This generally comes on offer at least twice a year with M+P

Fuchs OFF

Same thing as Muc off etc

http://www.mandp.co.uk/productInfo.aspx?catRef=902052

Spray with that and then rinse 5 mins later, blingtastic.

Dunk chain in tub of petrol and scrub thoroughly

Relube as neccersary

Every few months strip whole bike down and grease whats needed.

Stevo_666

Easy.

Put on shorts & flip flops.
Put bike on driveway and aim garden hose at it
Spray with Muc off or something similar.
Use a brush on the tricky bits like cassette and nooks 'n' crannies
Wait a couple of minutes
Aim hose at bike again
Wipe down with a chammy leather to get worst of water off

Job done

projectsome

normally a hose in the garden after every other ride...

if it needs a good clean, hose, hot soapy water, and scrubbing brush/cloth.

Miggins

With toothbrushes. 50p for a pack of 4 in Lidl! Bargain!!

blister pus

p!ss on it.

bails87

blister pus wrote:

p!ss on it.

That's how I clean your bike

But I do mine with soapy water.

blister pus

bails87 wrote:

blister pus wrote:

p!ss on it.

That's how I clean your bike

in your dreams / choking on my dust trail

stubs

Stevo 666 wrote:

Easy.

Put on shorts & flip flops.
Put bike on driveway and aim garden hose at it

How do you get the shorts and flip flops on the bike

Thread8

Put it in the stand, quick squirt with hose, wheels off, spray in muc off or whatever, then scrub with brushes while rinsing with the hose again, take chain off + soak in degreaser, while thats doing scrub wheels, then dry bike +spray with muc off bike spray, wheels on, chain on, the whatever servicing and a general inspection

washing part alone is about 45 mins, then service up to about 5

lm_trek

Mines gets washed in the bath as well, 3rd floor flat, where else to clean it! only snag is i need to find a way to clean the bath

NatoED

brush of dry dirt with a soft brush.
2 caps of finishline echo tech in a gallon of warn water
wipe down with micro fiber cloth.
clean chain with neat finish line and tooth brush

swill off with warm water from bucket .

polish with neat finish line on a micro fiber cloth.

relube chain with dry lube or wax in summer . wet lube in winter.

Mr Wu

lm_trek wrote:

Mines gets washed in the bath as well, 3rd floor flat, where else to clean it! only snag is i need to find a way to clean the bath

I had that problem of how to clean the bath. Then it all fell into place, I got me one of them girlfriend things. Job done. :0)

individual6891

Spit

j_l

Mr Wu wrote:

lm_trek wrote:

Mines gets washed in the bath as well, 3rd floor flat, where else to clean it! only snag is i need to find a way to clean the bath

I had that problem of how to clean the bath. Then it all fell into place, I got me one of them girlfriend things. Job done. :0)

they are also good for knob cleaning too.

t0pc4t

every couple of rides

hose down gently
spray with muc off
use warm soapy water and sponge to clean from the top down
rinse off
dry with rag
re-lube rear damper and forks, wipe off
clean chain if needed, re lube with dry lube
lube mech pivots with wet lube

miss notax

mobilekat wrote:

Simple.....
Get OH to sort my bike out while I cook dinner!!!!!

THIS (yes, really!)

We established a long time ago that I can't wash cars or bikes, and that he can't cook. It's a simple system that works