Cleaing your carbon bikes

Gazspurs

Hey Guys,

As you may know I take delivery of my Felt AR5 on Thursday, of which I can not wait!

This is my 1st carbon bike & after the money spent recently the bike I will keep for a good 3/4 years.

Without wanting to sound to simple I wanted to know how you guys clean your carbon bikes & any hints/tips to keep them looking good, working well.

My current bike is shiny black/aluminium but the Felt is matte/carbon.

At present as soon as I get in from a ride I hose my bike down & apply Muc-off, leave that to settle & clean my shoes. I then comeback to it, wash down with warm water & fairy liquid, give it a good clean & then spray again with hose.

Bounce bike to get the water off & go over with a couple of T-towels, lube the chain with either summer/winter lube (pending on season) & put in garage to dry.

The next day I will spray the frame, saddle, bars with Muc-off bikespray to give it some extra protection.

Am I ok to keep doing this process with my new carbon/matte frame?

Any tips or no, no's I should avoid would be much appreciated.

Cheers

CiB

Do what you do, after a quick RTFM in case your own carbon is susceptible to some cleaning agents. It's a hard surface; it won't dissolve. Probably.

danlikesbikes

You seem to be doing the right thing, though not sure about needing to fairy liquid after you have applied Muc-off to clean the bike but each to their own I guess.

Last year I got bought these 2 for keeping my bikes clean & I use on my summer, winter & MTB's and it keeps them clean. Plus once applied it seems to make the cleaning of the bikes a lot easier, not different from waxing a car would.

http://muc-off.com/en/stage-2-protect/2 ... ry=bicycle
http://muc-off.com/en/bicycle/24-premiu ... ry=bicycle

Finish line also do something similar too and have used that in the past too.

smidsy

Use proper car shampoo, Fairy Liquid (and all other washing up liquids) has salt in it.

teisetrotter

Just asking .......... but could you do my bike as well?

Hose, wipe, maybe oil, away ....... every couple of weeks. Expensive carbon bike.

navrig

smidsy wrote:

Use proper car shampoo, Fairy Liquid (and all other washing up liquids) has salt in it.

Quite a lot of salt I understand.

Car shampoo is better however after muc off I wouldn't bother with more detergent.

Gazspurs

Cool cheers guys, I'll keep doing what I'm doing minus the fairy liquid.

Bring your bike over for a clean no worries, the OCD in me actually enjoys doing it & there's no way I could leave my bike dirty, its gotta be cleaned as soon as I get in & fresh for the next ride!

Pumpkin Positive

Most car shampoo has wax in it to leave a shine on your car. Is this OK on braking surfaces? I normally use Fairy on wheels and car shampoo on everything else.

chrisaonabike

smidsy wrote:

Use proper car shampoo, Fairy Liquid (and all other washing up liquids) has salt in it.

Sure, but if you rinse it off, can it do any more harm than the salt it would get on it from a wet road in the winter?

smidsy

ChrisAOnABike wrote:

smidsy wrote:

Use proper car shampoo, Fairy Liquid (and all other washing up liquids) has salt in it.

Sure, but if you rinse it off, can it do any more harm than the salt it would get on it from a wet road in the winter?

I do not have a definitive answer to that but why risk adding more salt if you do not need to?

captain_kirk

The salt will scratch the finish if you use a sponge or similar to wash the bike whilst using fairy liquid. Small scratches but will dull the finish over time and make the bike look worse.

tiredofwhiners

Monster wipes from B&Q - get the 120 packs and use them like a cleaning cloth. The soap on them is really good and effective.

chrisaonabike

Captain_Kirk wrote:

The salt will scratch the finish if you use a sponge or similar to wash the bike whilst using fairy liquid. Small scratches but will dull the finish over time and make the bike look worse.

If you used neat FL, that might conceivably be true. However, salt is very soluble in water, and given that you'd basically use a little FL diluted with quite a bit of water, any solid salt in the neat FL (if there was any - and I doubt even that, tbh) would be completely dissolved and therefore not at all abrasive.

Much more likely that any scratches you observed were caused by fine particles of grit that happened to be in the sponge.

Personally, I use a little ZipWax for the frame and forks, and a bit of Fairy Liquid (in hot water, in the chain cleaner) for the chain. Then I hose down and allow to dry before relubing the chain.

smidsy

ChrisAOnABike wrote:

Captain_Kirk wrote:

The salt will scratch the finish if you use a sponge or similar to wash the bike whilst using fairy liquid. Small scratches but will dull the finish over time and make the bike look worse.

If you used neat FL, that might conceivably be true. However, salt is very soluble in water, and given that you'd basically use a little FL diluted with quite a bit of water, any solid salt in the neat FL (if there was any - and I doubt even that, tbh) would be completely dissolved and therefore not at all abrasive.

Much more likely that any scratches you observed were caused by fine particles of grit that happened to be in the sponge.

Personally, I use a little ZipWax for the frame and forks, and a bit of Fairy Liquid (in hot water, in the chain cleaner) for the chain. Then I hose down and allow to dry before relubing the chain.

I bet you wash your hair in body wash too.

Use products for their intended purpose. Shampoo for hair, body wash for body. Fairy Liquid for washing up, car shampoo for washing vehicles. Simples!!!!

chrisaonabike

smidsy wrote:

I bet you wash your hair in body wash too.

Use products for their intended purpose. Shampoo for hair, body wash for body. Fairy Liquid for washing up, car shampoo for washing vehicles. Simples!!!!

That's an original thought, but far too simple

Actually I did try the degreaser stuff that came with the chain cleaner (not on my hair, I might add). It was shite. No wonder the instructions said 'rinse and repeat' (or something like it).

One quick application of FL and hot water in the chain cleaner and the chain was cleaner than at any time since about a week after I got the bike.

The ZipWax I use just because I have some in the cupboard, and the frame does come up nice and shiny.

blackpoolkev

For that finishing touch use furniture polish.(Pledge,Mr. Sheen etc. multi-surface)

A trusted LBS owner refused to sell me "something to polish my frame with",he told me he uses furniture polish to keep the display bikes looking sharp.
Spray it onto the cloth then apply to the painted/lacquered surfaces in small dose for a smear-free finish.

Chrissz

In addition to washing with car shampoo - my carbon pride and joy gets an annual strip-down, thorough clean and then several layers of decent car polish (after a light going over with T-Cut) for a wet-look finish

johnny25

I use this - http://www.evanscycles.com/products/wel ... t-ec038145

No problems so far after a year or so.

Pross

Turtle Wax car shampoo for me. It does the job and I've always got loads as people keep buying me it at Christmas (probably a comment on the state I keep my car in!).

rob21

i clean the whole bike with Muc Off then wipe the frame and components with GT 85 job done

diy

spray with muc off or similar and then jet wash on a fine spray, dry well and lube everything.

Neale1978

You are seriously asking on here how to wash your bike? JESUS CHRIST

xscreamsuk

baby wipes, very rarely need anything else, ridden all year round.

p1tse

Chrissz wrote:

In addition to washing with car shampoo - my carbon pride and joy gets an annual strip-down, thorough clean and then several layers of decent car polish (after a light going over with T-Cut) for a wet-look finish

Polish is abrasive!
You need wax for locking in the shine

Jauncarlos67

I use Proshine for my carbon bike and my car, if used with micro fibre clothes it does not scratch the paint work.
I have used this for years, on my cars before I got into cycling.

http://www.netparts.co.uk/store/index.p ... ucts_id=56

bikeit65

After a mate destroyed his bike with Muc Off i dont use it any more,
so after a ride in the winter i spray the whole bike with some Valet Pro Citrus Prewash diluted 10/1 let it work for about five minutes and spray lightly with a hose, job done, dry off with a good quality microfiber cloth, spray all moving parts with some Muc Off bike spray. any stubborn grease left behind remove with some baby wipes, then twice a year i remove all bits and pieces remove all the old wax with some IPA diluted 8/1 apply a few coats of Autoglym HD wax, job done.
I would not use T-Cut or the like on a bike as it is too abrasive, if you are looking to remove some light scratches use a light cutting compound.

Scozz76

+1 for baby wipes. Tesco Value packs are cheap as chips and work a treat.

strongman

+2 for baby wipes.

itboffin

yep to the baby wipes those things are voodoo magic esp after a quick low pressure plain old warm water from a hand pumped garden sprayer.

I do take the chain off these days and shake it about in white spirits, dry and relube this method has doubled my annual mileage between changes.

bazzer2

Bikeit65 wrote:

After a mate destroyed his bike with Muc Off i dont use it any more,

Ah, so a product designed to work on a bike to clean it has destroyed it how? Good that you decided not to use it any more though...

Bikeit65 wrote:

so after a ride in the winter i spray the whole bike with some Valet Pro Citrus Prewash diluted 10/1 let it work for about five minutes and spray lightly with a hose, job done, dry off with a good quality microfiber cloth, spray all moving parts with some Muc Off bike spray.

Uh - oh! Someone forgot already!

Bikeit65 wrote:

I would not use T-Cut or the like on a bike as it is too abrasive, if you are looking to remove some light scratches use a light cutting compound.

I strongly suspect that T-Cut is waaaaay less abrasive than even the lightest of cutting compounds. What you're missing is that you're using T-Cut on paint, not a bike, or a car, or a fridge. So the quality, chemistry and depth of the finish is what you should be thinking about.

il_principe

Muc-Off took some paint off one of my bikes - I was rubbing pretty hard to get rid off some very sticky Welsh sheep sh!t. Have not used it since.

Fenwicks or Motorex both do excellent cleaning solutions.

http://motorexbicycle.com/mb/prod_detail.asp

Then a polish helps keep things clean for longer - Pedros Bike Lust is good.