Cleaing your carbon bikes

thegreatdivide

The best bike gets warm water and a soft cloth followed by Mr Sheen. Baby wipes for the white saddle and bar tape - although if that’s got mitt muck on it I’ll give it a once over with some cream cleaner.

Bike number two is carbon too, but it gets Muc Off and a fine spray from a hose.

Bike number 3 is steel and it gets dusted – it never sees the rain...ever ;-)

markwb79

blackpoolkev wrote:

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

Pledge and Mr Sheen are brilliant, these clean up any oily bits that are missed. Brilliant!

diy

I would have thought t-cut would remove any lacquer. But I guess if you are going for a dull matte finish it might be good. quality car polish is normally full or resin filler to fill scratches, so you could scratching and filling all in on go.

I read somewhere that a shiny polished bike can take 40s an hour of your times if you are riding 20mph+

pippi_langsamer-2

Fenwicks to get the beastly mud and oomska off
Juice "Frame Juice", to make it all shiny n slippery

(Although Pledge is just as good)

bikeit65

Is fenwicks any good?

Flubsterunited

Tcut is a cutting compound, read a few car detailing web site and use there products (they have more money to develop them) autosmart have a product called G101 which is excellent and cheap far better than muckoff

bikeit65

just found this http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... PDPz1#tab3

anyone tried it?

pippi_langsamer-2

Bikeit65 wrote:

Is fenwicks any good?

Fenwicks is v good

http://www.merlincycles.com/bike-shop/w ... easer.html

Use it neat in your chain bath, dilute 1:10 for general cleaning.

Neale1978

Baby wipes and Mr sheen.. OMG

Warm water with a small amount of fairy does everything every time

bikeit65

Dont use fairy its full of salt.

Neale1978

Full? Ive been using it for a long time with no issues whatsoever

bikeit65

IMO you are better to use a good quality car shampoo, my choice is Autoglym.

Neale1978

Because you're worth it :!:

smidsy

Bikeit65 wrote:

Dont use fairy its full of salt.

Really _ we covered this on page 1! Keep up ffs!!

bikeit65

smidsy wrote:

Bikeit65 wrote:

Dont use fairy its full of salt.

Really _ we covered this on page 1! Keep up ffs!!

smidsy some people need a wee reminder

john1967

Neale1978 wrote:

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

No.he's asking for advice and tips on how to keep an expensive carbon bike looking its best.Are you suggesting Jesus as some sort of cleaning agent?

thegreatdivide

john1967 wrote:

Neale1978 wrote:

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

No.he's asking for advice and tips on how to keep an expensive carbon bike looking its best.Are you suggesting Jesus as some sort of cleaning agent?

This made me LOL

DarrenGTi

Everyone seems to be missing the point. The OP states his new Felt is matte finish.

If you polish a matte surface it will become shiney. I have a 2012 Cube which has a matte balck finish and I want to keep it that way.

I, like the OP, am unsure of what to use. I come from a car background and I know that BMW state matte finish on the M3 should not be polished or it will become shiney.

What none abbrasive (car polish is abbrasive) cleaning do you recommend?

thegreatdivide

Muc Off pink wash stuff and then make sure you rinse it all off using a hose with the mist setting on. No need to polish - that's for us non matte folk (who will slip through the air faster on out Mr Sheen treated gloss machines ).

Your main concern should be the groupset, cables and the flint in your tyres.

teisetrotter

leave it dirty +1

bazzer2

DarrenGTi wrote:

Everyone seems to be missing the point. The OP states his new Felt is matte finish.

If you polish a matte surface it will become shiney. I have a 2012 Cube which has a matte balck finish and I want to keep it that way.

I, like the OP, am unsure of what to use. I come from a car background and I know that BMW state matte finish on the M3 should not be polished or it will become shiney.

What none abbrasive (car polish is abbrasive) cleaning do you recommend?

Baby wipes are amazing. I cleaned my matte finished bike with it yesterday, took very little time and didn't create any puddles of gooey crud. I'm converted.

D4RK1

Baby wipes will scratch your bike to bits if its muddy.
Fairy liquid is a degreaser..... Fine if you re grease everything afterwards. It will also strip any paint protection you may have previously applied.

If your serious about keeping your bike clean and scratch free you should use a wash mitt with car wash. I use meguairs gold class or nxt as I use it for the van and car.

cheaterkiller

Gazspurs wrote:

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

I just give mine a wash with car shampoo and water with a rag when its dirty. Will occasionaly use a can of chain cleaner and use a rag to wipe down the chain and relube. Nothing pedantic tho.