got back from a road ride yesterday, too tired to clean the bike. tackled it just now and it took 20mins to clean the grime off the rims with a soft, pan scouring pad and washing up liquid and water.

fingers nearly frozen off.

should have done it yesterday but…what are your secrets for speeding it up?

Wipe it with a solvent, WD40 works, then rinse with soapy water.

muc off pink stuff is great with road dirt and brake rubber.

Even if you’ve only got soapy water –
Lather up, get the rims wet all round, go off do something else, repeat a couple of times, come back and finish the job after the soaking period.

Baby wipes immediately after the ride while still wet. Occasionally take the tyres off and use a cloth with disc brake cleaner or IPA or other solvent. Enamel rubber also works occasionally.

Reason to get a cheap set of winter wheels so it matters less?

I just started using cleaning wipes, does speed up the process a bit.

Used to use a potato brush and bowl of soapy water.

Tar spot remover.

Spray on, wipe, rinse off.
Then wash the rest of the bike.

shimano hydraulics seem to remove the problem 🙂

Quick hose, the spray with cleaner. Quick once round with the brush then rinse. 2 minutes including hubs I reckon. When dry I wipe them over with a WD type stuff covered rag. Makes them easier to clean next time.
Ah, the benefits of disc brakes 😀

Hmmmm, tries to think if i’ve touched my road rims in the last year.

some good tips, thanks. should have said, they’re rim brakes.

shimano hydraulics seem to remove the problem

tempting for a bad weather bike.

But at 1000-1200 to save about 60 seconds per ride, even if I ride daily (ha. Some chance!) Is difficult to justify.

Especially as my rim brakes work well anyway.

I wipe them first when dry using some clean rag, then wash with warm soapy water and they come up spotless. Otherwise I find you chase the crud round and round the wheels smearing it everywhere.

Hmmmm, tries to think if i’ve touched my road rims in the last year. decade.

Degreaser, that ridiculously strong stuff swarfega do ~£8 for 5L, shifts most things even diluted down to sensible levels. But if you just want to do the rims yeah baby wipes, they are good for bike cleaning, I miss having a constant supply to hand.

If you can still buy one, the Mavic Rim Rubber was a great way of cleaning the brake track.

bucket, water, soap, sponge as infrequently as possible.

Muc off and cold water does it for me