Oh so dirty...

By epicmike on 1/18/2008 on epicmike's blog
Groups: Tulsa OK Area Mountain Bikers

Yeah, my bike is pretty dirty right now. Oh, and now, I didn't get to ride yesterday, I'm sorry...

But how do you guys/gals clean your bike? For my chain, I use the Park Tool Chain Gang chain cleaner. I think it's a pretty nice way to clean my chain and it looks so smooth afterwards! For the degreaser, I've been using some Pedro's citrus degreaser and it works really well. Plus I love the smell of oranges! To lube my chain up after it's all clean, I got some White Lightning Lube but it's actually more waxy I've noticed. It works well to repel the water and mud or dirt. I'm happy with it. It gets the chain flowing nicely. Now, for cleaning the bike itself, I don't have a really special process, but I did buy one of those pesticide sprayer things, you know, the one you pump and then spray the wand around? Well, I fill it with water, then soft spray all the chunks of dirt or mud off the big, then use this really soft brush I got for a car at Walmart and brush away the rest of the dirt and spray again, then air dry and dry with a towel. It gets a decent shine out of it. Since I need to clean it, maybe I'll post some pics, but it's getting cold now and it's dark when I get off work... we'll see!

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BrandonST says:

Great topic Mike. I have to say, I'm really, really bad at cleaning my bike after a ride. I'm usually stopped at the pub, and lose track of things after a few post-ride pints.

But, when I do get around to cleaning it, I usually just hose it down, towel dry, then if I'm feeling really ambitious, or if it's extra filthy, I get out the brushes, chain cleaner, and wipe it down with soapy water, then hand dry again, and lube it up good.

I don't do anything too special, but maybe I should be.

I really like the idea of the pesticide sprayer, I will have to pick one of those up. Nice to take with me so I'm not loading the bike up full of mud!

After the cleaning, I make sure all the cables are good, adjust the drive-train if needed, tighten any loose bolts, and leave it locked up until the next ride.

I leave all the internal parts to the bike shop, until I get more experience with that sort of stuff.

by BrandonST on January 18, 2008 - 7:21pm reply Email this comment report misconduct

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