What's the best thing to clean brakes if you a bit of a tight arse like me.

I was thinking pure alcohol.

while we are at it what's good for other stuff like chain, and general bike cleaning?

There must be a biking Kim and Aggie out there.

Meths for the brakes

what's cleaning?

my bike is a filth trap

Paraffin for the chain… 5 litre bottle lasts forever. If you want a chemical cleaner for the frame, Tescos Daisy general cleaner costs under a quid for a 1 litre bottle and dilutes 10/1, though it might eat your paint if you leave it on too long- it works but I distrust it. TF2 from Tescos for the frame etc if you want to give it a shine up/stop the mud sticking. Isopropyl alcohol for brakes etc.

Clean brakes? Just don't get oil on them. Then use water if you absolutely have to clean them.

And how many of you have ever seen isopropyl alcohol?

Dirty bike goes in shed, mud dries, knock dusty dry mud off, spray lube chain, ride, repeat.

And how many of you have ever seen isopropyl alcohol?

Me – I have 25ltrs of the stuff in my workshop

Hardly the choice for a tight arse though

As above, just use water and a sponge to clean the brakes. White spirit in an old plastic milk container for the chain (take chain off bike, put in milk container with WS and swoosh around, drain WS into a jam jar for reuse as all the crud settles out at the bottom).

Nice and cheap.

£1 shop brake cleaner

"And how many of you have ever seen isopropyl alcohol?"

Um, they sell it in chemists and Maplins. It's not hard to find. Though Maplins charge a fortune for it, it comes in a nice convenient aerosol and it's still half the price of "proper" brake cleaner.

Proper brake cleaner is £2 a can from toolstation and autofactors, I don't use it every wash only periodically when the brakes look a bit furred up. I use car washing soap for the bike and it works fine.

Fairy liquid. As some-ones pointed out, as long as you don't get oil on them, it'll be good

dunno, ive gone from the "everythign must be spotless" school of thought

to

"the chain gets some new lube before i leave the garrage, and thats about it"

Isopropyl is cheap enough on eBay, just don't forget to screw the top back on the bottle after using it 🙁

fairy up, water, and an old rag.

Tried in vain to buy Isopropyl alcohol from local chemists recently.Pharmacist said they did

s best allies.
Used bike specific cleaners in the past and not convinced by them.
A trawl round the car secion of Halfords will inavriably yield cleaners without the "extra £5 premium because it says bike on the tin" products.

Some car disc brake cleaners contain additives to stop discs rusting, fine on nice hot car discs, but will trash pads on an MTB.

Just use water!

Rain

njee20 I didn't know that, must have just been lucky up until now 😀

njee20 – Member

Some car disc brake cleaners contain additives to stop discs rusting, fine on nice hot car discs, but will trash pads on an MTB.

All the products I have seen or used claim to leave no residue. I currently use Wurth brake cleaner at work and occasionally on my bikes to no ill effect, likewise with other brands in the past. Given that SJS cycles sell Wurth branded cleaner for bike use maybe I just struck lucky. I have heard similar claims before so would be interested to see which products will trash my pads if possible so I can avoid them in the future.
The only difference I found with my one bike specific purchase was a nicer smell which wasn't enough to convince me to pay over the odds.

water and a blowtorch.