Hi,
I've a couple of basic admin questions that hopefully some of you more experienced peeps will be able to help with.
1. I want to get a bike rack that will take a max of 2 bikes (mine and my 6 year olds mainly and the odd time a mate who fancies coming along on a ride). It will mainly be used for just the one bike though and will be for driving out to places, doing a route, and then driving back home again. I've sort of got the fetish of looking at other peoples routes and deciding yeah, I like the look of that one. I have a VW Passat and a tow bar (that's not fitted at the moment but appears to be removable type that just requires 3 bolts putting in). I have no electrics but when I got the car 14 months ago it had the electrics fitted with the towbar but I asked for the towbar to be removed and when I checked the electrics weren't there. I phoned them at the time and they said they had them but I never bothered to go round and get them. Its probably too late now but I'll give them a phone). Anyway, I digress. I've heard Thule mentioned a few times on here while others seem to think basic Halfords ones are good enough. Any recommendations with some pros and cons would be much appreciated.
2. I also want to get a bike stand to be able to do my own cleaning and some maintenance. Just cleaning the drive train last night had me cursing and swearing. And the laminated floor looked great with half a litre of degreaser spread over it - Not!!! So any good experiences with a decent stand would be appreciated.
3. The biggest pain I have!!! I rent a flat, and have no access to a hosepipe for general cleaning. I can't really do it outside the flat as the people here would have a fit if they saw someone doing something as degrading as washing a bike in public in THEIR secluded area. Also travelling in and out getting top ups of soapy water and rinsing water wouldn't really be practicable. So I'm wondering is there any solution I could use indoors that would be decent. I don't mind throwing a couple of sheets down to soak up a bit of spray etc. But flooding the gaff is not really on. I'm not really sure how much soap and water is needed really.
An alternative I thought of was is it possible to clean the bike while its attached to a tow bar bike rack so I could take it down the garage and use the hoses there. I obviously wouldn't use high pressure but I could certainly get a fair bit of gumf off before giving it a good soaping and rinsing off again.
If that's not possible then I thought about maybe getting a bike stand that is collapsible - and I can take it and the bike to the garage and mount and clean it there.
Any advice gratefully received
Ta
Billy
I've a couple of basic admin questions that hopefully some of you more experienced peeps will be able to help with.
1. I want to get a bike rack that will take a max of 2 bikes (mine and my 6 year olds mainly and the odd time a mate who fancies coming along on a ride). It will mainly be used for just the one bike though and will be for driving out to places, doing a route, and then driving back home again. I've sort of got the fetish of looking at other peoples routes and deciding yeah, I like the look of that one. I have a VW Passat and a tow bar (that's not fitted at the moment but appears to be removable type that just requires 3 bolts putting in). I have no electrics but when I got the car 14 months ago it had the electrics fitted with the towbar but I asked for the towbar to be removed and when I checked the electrics weren't there. I phoned them at the time and they said they had them but I never bothered to go round and get them. Its probably too late now but I'll give them a phone). Anyway, I digress. I've heard Thule mentioned a few times on here while others seem to think basic Halfords ones are good enough. Any recommendations with some pros and cons would be much appreciated.
2. I also want to get a bike stand to be able to do my own cleaning and some maintenance. Just cleaning the drive train last night had me cursing and swearing. And the laminated floor looked great with half a litre of degreaser spread over it - Not!!! So any good experiences with a decent stand would be appreciated.
3. The biggest pain I have!!! I rent a flat, and have no access to a hosepipe for general cleaning. I can't really do it outside the flat as the people here would have a fit if they saw someone doing something as degrading as washing a bike in public in THEIR secluded area. Also travelling in and out getting top ups of soapy water and rinsing water wouldn't really be practicable. So I'm wondering is there any solution I could use indoors that would be decent. I don't mind throwing a couple of sheets down to soak up a bit of spray etc. But flooding the gaff is not really on. I'm not really sure how much soap and water is needed really.
An alternative I thought of was is it possible to clean the bike while its attached to a tow bar bike rack so I could take it down the garage and use the hoses there. I obviously wouldn't use high pressure but I could certainly get a fair bit of gumf off before giving it a good soaping and rinsing off again.
If that's not possible then I thought about maybe getting a bike stand that is collapsible - and I can take it and the bike to the garage and mount and clean it there.
Any advice gratefully received
Ta
Billy
)
