Hi all
What is your bike cleaning process?
What really gets that greasy grime looking new again?
What are the best products out there to do this ?

Cheers

ride through only clean puddles one evening a week

Wait for it to dry
Flail at it with a brush and knock some of the mud off
Clean and lube chain if it needs it
Spray silicon stuff at forks

Mind you, when I had my white hemlock it ended up stained permanently brown so there are possibly downsides.

Give bike “proper good clean” with all the solvents/magic brushes/foamy sprays etc
apply UBS
then just rinse with water for perpetual everlasting gleamingness

Knock clumps of mud and worst of shit off with a rag/brush/gentle hosepipe after ride, if it’s been particularly muddy.

Leave to dry, brush off any remaining mud, brush out mechs, oil chain and mech pivots, put some muc off shiny stuff on a rag and do the frame and finishing kit, job done, less water the better.

Mucoff,jetwash,soapy wash,hose down,towell dry,then air line int bearing areas,chain etc, re-grease & lube,etc,etc..

Pretty much exactly what Northwind says. Although if I am at GT I give it a good clean with the bikewash, get those hubs good and rooted.

Let it dry, knock the thick of it off, clean and lube the chain if needed, ride, repeat 😀 I haven’t killed a BB since I stopped looking after the bike so much 😆

NW+1 and this

less water the better

Leave it to dry
Bounce bike/spin cranks/pump suspension to dislodge loose dirt
Wipe fork stanchions
Polish chain + lube if req’d

Rinse mud off with hosepipe (not blasting though)
Wash with soapy water
Rinse that off
Dry with towel
UBS on drivetrain
Fork Juice on forks and dropper

I quite like cleaning it, or perhaps it’s more that I like putting it away clean and ready to go next time.

Leave it to dry
Wipe fork stanchions and oil
Occasional brush down.
poke stubborn mud with a bamboo skewer.
three chain rotation every 100 miles or so.

Rocketman +1
If I cleaned it fully after every ride I wouldn’t have time to do anything else.

If dry or slightly mucky then as per Northwind.
If filthy/wet, then rinse the mud off with a mobi/bucket/watering can/ hose first.

Occasionally use some car shampoo.

similar to a lot above

– wait for it to dry (if possible)
– poke big clumps off with stick or finger
– brush the whirly bits
– wipe the bouncy slidy bits if present

Ride!

Every once in a while I’ll do a fork service, which then results in a gleaming fork on a crap covered bike, it’s a good look, and I’m a firm believer in a protective layer of mud 🙂

Usually I wash it with a hose when I get it home then quickly dry with a towel and lube the chain, GTB85 other bits.

If I’ve got time then it goes into my stand, wheels out

Wash off worst with a hose only
Muc Off frame
Muc off wheels
Back to the frame and sponge wash
Clean the jockey wheels using a brush and then the chain
Whilst that sits I’ll go back to the wheels and use a brush to clean the rims and tyres then focus on the cassette
Swill everything down with the hose again
Back to the frame and dry using a towel and the chain with an old cloth
GT85 chain, stanchions etc
dry the wheels and cassette, gt85 the cassette
Get the wheels back and then lube the chain properly

It takes no more than 15 minutes but I find it pretty therapeutic
I may be a bit sad 😉

I let it dry then knock the mud off. If I want it really clean I’ll give it a quick run over with some baby wipes (they’re magic, really) – means I’m not throwing water at it and faffing about with dirty rags and brushes. Fork juice every couple of rides to keep it smooth and bring up gunk from the seals.

Only thing I don’t bother with is the wheels. Sparkly bike, bogging tyres.

I like cleaning my bike. It’s an effort in futility but I enjoy it all the same.

Well I recently tried out the wait for it to dry option and ended up with the rear derailleur completely gummed up. Solid. Had to remove the cage and jockey wheels to get it moving again.

Must find more puddles.

Persoanlly I think the greatest aid to cleaning is the workstand. That makes life so much easier.

i sued to doe what Northwind does but nowadays mine has to get cleaned before it goes into storage in the house.
so i hose it down and use the brushes to get all the gunk off. then i use some bike wash and then hose it down again then wipe everything down. once everything is dry then the lubing and greasing (if needed) process begins.

Wait until the mud dries. Bounce, bounce, squish forks a couple of times, wipe stanchions, squish forks a couple of times, wipe stanchions, GT85 on a rag, run chain through rag, lube chain.

It gets cleaned properly when bits break and parts have to be taken off to work on.

Bucket of pathetically lukewarm water straight from the tap.
Brush.

Apply to muddy areas.

Dry off with a towel.

Lube chain, lube forks.

Once a month or so i’ll blast the chain with the foaming chain cleaner stuff and rinse off with the water. Really good that.

I use the same method as Northwind. If it’s really, truly awful then I stop at a petrol station on the way home and throw some water over it with the watering-can they usually keep outside for refilling radiators, etc. Plus plenty of puddles, of course.

Pretty much as Northwind, bare minimum of cleaning focuing on the moving parts, so the chain gets wiped and lubed most rides, but only degreased if it’s been wet/muddy enough to completely overwhelm it.

I do tend to give it a really thorough wash every couple of months. take the mech off, replace the inner cable and the last bit of outer*, degrease the chainrings properly. Then wash the rest of the bike, and give it a wipe with T-cut to remove stains.

Just got some Scotoiler UBS so will be trialing that over the summer.

*Yes yes I could spend £30 on Gore cables, but IME just replacing cheap teflon coated cables regualry works perfectly.

Hose pipe off most of the mud – muck off – brush everything with a soft nylon brush – rinse with hose pipe – leave to dry – lube chain and stanchions.

If its really muddy I’ll clean the chain before the final rinse too.

If it’s been a muddy ride, I hose it down when I get home. Then spray silicon on the forks, shock and dropper. Then when I get time I give it a proper clean, lube etc and if I’m really bored I’ll give the frame a wax with some Autoglym

What do you all use on fork stanchions out of interest, and do you find any benefits?

Out of interest, has anyone found a chain cleaning / lubing product or regime which repeatably increases chain life by a significant amount? I’ve tried several, but they all seem much of a muchness.