Cleaning Bike

[Spartan]

Hi,
Finally bought a Cube Ltd Team 2010 for a measley £630 with discounts. First day out ever and lets just say with the bad weather everything was very slippery, wet and muddy all the way. Probably a little too advenurous for a first try and managed to loose the front wheel on a steep downhill that I should have walked down

Anyhow the bike was absolutely filthy with muck so I was faced with cleaning it when I got back as my wife refused! My initial thought was to take a power hose to it but someone told me not to because the water would get into the wheele bearings and bottom bracket. Is this really true? If not what do people normally do?

Many thanks,

Mike

 

[Cubist]

Cool bike!
Don't use a power hose. Full stop. You'll get water into the Shimano hubs and kill them.

Buy a sponge or soft brush and use a garden hose to squirt the big lumps of mud off the bike. Don't point the hose at the hubs.

Use car shampoo and the brush/sponge to cleanse the bike gently and lovingly. Remove the wheels so you can get to the awkward bits such as chainstays. Sponge the grit out of the chain, brush the grit out of the cassette, and leave the bike to drip dry.

Turn the wheel onto its side so it's angled, and use the sponge on the hubs, spokes and rims. Keep the hubs angled so that water cannot run into them. Your shimano rims will be killed by water ingress, and tehy don't seal well.

Dry the whole thing with a chamois or tea towel (here's where your wife CAN contribute )

Once the bike's dry use GT 85 on a rag to wipe over the whole thing (except the brakes!)

Use teh Mickle method to clean and lube your chain.

 

[ianrauk]

+1 To Mr Cubist above re cleaning.
Bucket of (not too) soapy water and a brush. Plenty of elbow grease and rinse off with a hose that is set to spray.
Rag dry and my preferable method of making nice and shiny is Mr Sheen.

 

[potsy]

Or just leave it dirty as it will only get messed up again tomorrow

 

[ianrauk]

oh Pots mate, that is shameful.

 

[potsy]

oh Pots mate, that is shameful.

HA HA,I gave mine it's weekly clean yesterday,not a drop of water in sight,dry rags,bit of a rub,little bit of some WD look-a-like stuff,jobs a good 'un.
Oiled the chain,pumped up the tyres,charged the batteries on the lights.

Mr Sheen????

 

[ColinJ]

For those of you (like me) who don't have easy access to a garden hose - try a pressurised garden sprayer. I bought a 5 litre one from my local hardware shop and find it great for cleaning my bikes. It has a shoulder strap so it is easy to carry about. 40 strokes of the built-in pump gets it up to pressure and 1.5 litres of water is enough to clean a very dirty bike.

The water pressure probably isn't high enough to purge bearings of their grease, but I don't take any chances. I watch where I point the spray and I also set it to produce a heavy mist rather than a concentrated jet of water.

 

[Spartan]

Thanks guys,

So as long as its a spray its pretty much ok anywhere and if its a single jet from a garden hose keep it away from the wheel hubs. Im assuming then the chain set isn't so sensitive or the bottom bracket?

Mike

 

[ianrauk]

Thanks guys,

So as long as its a spray its pretty much ok anywhere and if its a single jet from a garden hose keep it away from the wheel hubs. Im assuming then the chain set isn't so sensitive or the bottom bracket?

Mike

As long as the hubs and BB have been greased up, a spray from a hose will be fine.
I usually take off the chain before giving the bike a good clean.

 

[sleekitcollie]

+1 To Mr Cubist above re cleaning.
Bucket of (not too) soapy water and a brush. Plenty of elbow grease and rinse off with a hose that is set to spray.
Rag dry and my preferable method of making nice and shiny is Mr Sheen.

I used to use mr sheen ( with bee's wax ) on my motorbike . Amazing shine on both paintwork & chrome .use it on push bike as well

 

[I like Skol]

Hmmmm.... Let me think. I reckon the last time I cleaned my mountain bike was about 2 years ago and before that probably 2-3 years again.......

I'll get my coat........

 

[xpc316e]

Or just leave it dirty as it will only get messed up again tomorrow

Crusty dirt is always a real pain to remove, so you have a choice: either clean your bike when the crud is still soft and fresh, or don't bother ever cleaning it. If you go for the second option, you can then watch your expensive machine get wrecked in no time at all.

 

[I like Skol]

Crusty dirt is always a real pain to remove, so you have a choice: either clean your bike when the crud is still soft and fresh, or don't bother ever cleaning it. If you go for the second option, you can then watch your expensive machine get wrecked in no time at all.

??? My expensive crusty wreck is 16 years old and is still working great. Ok it has had 3 or 4 cassettes and chains over the years as well as a couple of chain rings and I lost a derailiur to crash damage but other than that it is still on original hubs, shifters and front mech. Minimal maintenance really, occasionally lube the cables and replaced them a few times, one headset, but still on the original unserviced hubs (Shimano XT)

In my opinion, cleaning the bike might make you feel better, but once dried the mud drops off any moving parts and as soon as you get one splash of fresh mud on a component you are back to square one and no better off. Also, washing a bike risks driving water into components just before you put the bike away to fester!!!

 

[potsy]

Careful I like Skol,the OCD squad will have you removed from the forum with thinking like that

Even I give the bike a little TLC every now and again,don't wash it mid-ride like some though

 

[Campfire]

I wait until mud is dry and then use one of those round brushes. Then, if I'm so inclined, I might wash it with Muc off. There is a car polish now that you can use without water but I've not tried it. I have some bike polish. What is GT85 please?