Ideally I would prefer to wash my bike in the back garden. I don’t have an outside tap but that could be installed. What I am struggling with is drainage.

I have a patio but no drain that the debris could be swept into. Is it feasible to lift a manhole cover or would it create a blockage?

Any suggestions would be welcomed! Thanks. 🙂

You’ll surely not need so much water that it won’t drain away the same as rain water does? Is there a gravel section betwixt patio and house?

Where does rainwater go ?

Thanks for the replies. There’s a narrow belt of stones but my bike is getting very dirty in this new area!

If I wash by the garage then I can sweep debris into road gutter. I am however in a rather prominent position so would prefer to keep bike out of sight.

wash it on a non waterproof object (sheet, opened up double duvet case etc) then take sheet round front and shake it out to get rid of muck (*assumming you’ve got a patio/stone garden) – and there must be some form of drainage/soakaway to deal with rain

Where does the nearest gutter downpipe go/ where do bog/kitchen/tap outlets go ?

as above

CG – I used to do thiswhen I couldnt access the rainwater gulleys. Just make sure you don’t have massive clump of mud and rinse the manhole down after. Be wary of using rainwater gulleys as you don’t know if they go to a soak way or combined system. You don’t want to add more crap than necessary to a soak away

You may want to rethink this. Washing dirt etc down the drain will lead to blockages/restricted flow eventually. Using the public road drain can lead to heavy rainfall not getting away and running off into your property or a neighbours.
Putting it in a soakaway will eventually stop it working as you fill the gaps in the soakaway with mud and sand.

3 buckets of water filled from your water butt before you leave. lob ’em over the bike when you get back in the road. stand bike in garden for 15 mins while you have a cuppa, then put it away.
come back tomorrow and brush anything that’s left on there off, lube, and put it away again.

get a field drain dug in & (if posh) install a submersible pump in the reservoir

wash bike over drain – soil goes on the garden, water back into drain

I wash mine on the patio, let the residual water dry up then sweep up all the debris/mud…….simples

you could build in a silt/grit trap to keep the solid back (water weirs over) and then dig it out once in a while and put in garden…

you could also lift one of the patio slabs – sweep water and mud in this space, let it soak away – the space will eventually fill up but you could dig out when required and use for gardening

also if possible get a water butt to provide wash water rather than an outside tap..

Getting a bit technical now… It’s only washing a bike and a bit of mud to sweep up!

Are you driving to your ride destination then driving home? If so, give bike a wash on way home…if not, give it a wipe down to get excess mank off then give it a wash in your back garden.

Personally, I’d be washing it out front, water will run off to the drains and mud, once dried, can be sweeped away.

Assuming you take suitable security precautions on securing your bike, then will it matter how ‘prominent’ your house is? I’m guessing the washdown will take about 10 minutes so isn’t like you’ll have the bike on show for an afternoon…you wash off the mank then do the finishing stuff out of sight in the back garden…

Doing that will also reduce the amount of mank that is left in your back garden.

Assuming you take suitable security precautions on securing your bike, then will it matter how ‘prominent’ your house is?

Yes it will, if they know you have A 3k bike they will do whatever to steal it!

I have a Santa Cruzt that’s worth 3.5k, when I get home I drive round the back of my house quickly get it out the back of car and Ito my garden without anybody seeing, saying that my bike is kept in the house now as I live on my own so no one has to watch the tv with the bike!!

Have you considered installing a soakaway? You can make one yourself by digging a pit and then filling it with large gravel.

sbrock every mans dream ,

CG – Get an old sheet. Wash the bike with a sheet over the patio. The water drains through and most of the mud doesn’t. Pick up the sheet and shake off the mud occasionally.

Oooh, thanks again for lots of suggestions.

Yes, I am rather concerned about blocking drains etc. Ideally I prefer to use a hose for bike cleaning so perhaps I will need to give it a go in the back garden and see what happens. Obviously using a bucket means less water to be concerned about.

Do have a portable bike washer so really need to get myself organised when riding away from home.

As regards security, all bikes are well locked up but, in any case, who would want a girlie bike? 😉

I just use a shovel and clean the patio of debris in to the dustbin every few weeks. Water drains away fine but the soil etc is cleared manually. Works fine for me.

STW thread on changing a lightbulb, coming soon. 🙂

Ah, good and easy suggestion from WCA so that’s gotta be worth a try. After all, what’s the worst that could possibly happen? 😉

STW thread on changing a lightbulb, coming soon

And a lesson in reading a thread properly! 🙄

CG, similar problem here. I use a bike cover from poundland that I have put a few holes in and it collects the bulk of the mud. No external tap here either, only got a kitchen tap and bathroom tap. Brought a hazelock converter (£5 at garden centre) to attach a hose to the kitchen tap, it usually works itself loose so I have a bucket with a slot and hole cut in to fit over the tap. When it does come loose it don’t end up with a soaked kitchen and a peeved off girlfriend. If it was my own house I would put an enternal tap in and a gravel area for bike washing.