Righto, I've just come back from a weekend in Wales and my bike was plastered!
It's just taken me two evenings to strip it down, clean, regrease and put back together.
I was wondering how far people go with cleaning after riding on muddy days? I cant be bothered to keep spending more time cleaning than riding and want to know how clean things need to be to run smoothly and not clog up!
are people just cleaning working areas i.e seals/chain/mech?
cheers!
Pete
Once I start i find it hard to stop - so its either let it dry and brush the worst off and lube moving bits- or strip to individual components and scrub with a toothbrush beofer rebuilding in a sterile environmemt
let it dry, bounce it up and down a few times to knock the worst of it off.
I've been known to get into the shower with mine 🙂
the whole reason for me converting the bathroom in to a wet room was so i could clean the bike at the same time 😛
Hose it off after the ride if I can, mud is still wet so gets it 95% clean in a couple of mins, let it dry & lube chain. If I let it dry muddy its usually 20+ minutes mostly down to the drivetrain being covered in hard greasy lubemud
When I know it's going to be muddy I try & take my Dirtworker with me most places and get the bike as clean as possible straight after riding.
It only takes 5 mins and then I just relube the chain and spray a bit of GT85 around the mech pivots and on the pedal springs.
I got some Tesco value microfibre cloths and if I remember to take one of them along, then it gets a bit of a towelling dry too if I can be bothered.
Hose - ideally while still wet / damp.
Muc off on the chain and everything else.
Agitate with a wet brush.
Hose again.
Towel dry.
Lube chain.
Go and get a shower. Or have a beer.
It doesn't take long if you are organised and methodical. Means the bike is ready to go next time and I don't spend two evenings fettling.
Easier with a singlespeed but still quick with gears.
If the bike starts off clean and you clean it regularly you tend to spot issues and fix them swiftly. Rather than having to take it all apart on a regular basis!
what shortcut said ^^^^^^^^ +1
I go as far as cotton wool buds through the links in the chain.
OCD? Me? Never!!!!
As Stumpy said.
Dirtworker straight after ride, GT85 all over, lube chain and spray disc cleaner on the calipers and pads. Sorted. No more than 10mins max.
Probably give it a good clean with Muc-off, brushes and cloths etc after 4-5 rides just to check stuff like pads, cables, mech pivots etc.
if it ain't broke, maintain it till it is
It goes a little like this:
Return from ride
Inspect chain, react with justifiable disgust
Remove chain and soak in spirits
Gentle hose down of bike
Clean between cogs with edge of rag
Drag bike into wet room
Frenzied cleaning of mainframe and mud collecting stay bridges
Apply coat of Mer polish
Apply Autoglym wax
Touch up paint scratches
Remove chain from spirit, dry, WD40 and reapply
Refit chain and oil
Lube stanctions
Admire bike
Get told to remove said bike from lounge and lock in garage or else
Sulk
Put bike in garage
Discover second bike is looking shabby, repeat above procedure until significant other threatens iminent violation with rolling pin.
Everytime
Hose.. Dry.. Polish/degrease.. Done! sometimes bring the tooth brush out if bad haha 🙂
both look and ride like new...
what shortcut said +1, sometimes have a fettling session one night and service joplin/forks/replace gear cables (about twice a month). But i really enjoy the maintenance aspect, it's another part of mountain biking to me. Plus it saves arguments when eastenders is on 8)
Put bike in corner of hall
Wait for mud to dry
Wheel onto laminate floored living room
Brush off mud
Sweep up mud
Chain bath and lube
another as shortcut, also run the chain through Park chain cleaner with muc off first then just water, 20 back pedals each. I reckon from arriving home with bike on roof to having bike tucked away in garage, dried and GT85'd is about 15mins. I lube the chain with Finish Line green the following morning usually once all the moisture is gone. avery 3 or 4 months I strip the headset and regrease etc, but I do ride a lot in the wet !
um. sometimes i lube the chain.
All the way.
My allround bike gets a good go over once a month or when needed otherwise I leave it and just look after the worky parts... My race bike gets stripped and rebuilt completely, everything off, toothbrush and rebuild. mainly due to my ocd about resistance and drag but I guess at least it means shes always in tip top nick..
At this time of year when it's muddy, it would consist of:
Spray largest lumps of mud off bike and spray mud off drivetrain
Clean fork stanchions
Leave somewhere to dry out
Lube drivetrain and spray stanchions with Fork Juice.
That's it. In dry conditions, I wouldn't bother with spraying the bike/drivetrain down.
+1 for cotton buds here but i do have OCD
