We're in the throes of a faor sized extension at home and with it comes a new patio area and a bit of landscaping.
I used to wash my bike up against the old out buildings, but they've gone and theres no way on the planet the wife will let me wash it on the new patio, I can't blame her to be honest.
I was thinking of getting something like a big shallow tray, say 2m square and 20cm deep with a drain hole. That way I could wash the bike in it and then let the plug out over the drain.
Has anyone got any ideas on what would be suitable? Folding would be a bonus too.
It's a garden, and biking is your hobby, you need a space to wash yer bike, man up and tell her this.
mud doesn't permanently mark patio flags iirc. Are you paying for this new patio, if yes you should be able to do as you wish with it.
Won't be doing that, I never washed it on the grass in the past and I'm not about to start washing it on a newly laid and rather pricey patio either.
You could just wash down the patio once you are done cleaning the bike.
Cheap paddling pool?
Where do you wash the car?
how about a border filled with large gravel / stones to wash the bike on - dirty water drops between the stones and bike is clean?
when you plan a build you plan what you want to use it for and incorporate the things you want into the build. You have no one to blame but yourself 😀
Where do you wash the car?
Car? Wash?
[img] 
[/img]
You need a dedicated bike washing area away from the patio. Somewhere with good drainage, a tap, a stand to prop the bike up for washing, small table to put a beer on. Wasn't all this part of the extension and patio plans?
It's times like this when I really love my wife 🙂
Something like this would be good http://www.teamathleticmentors.com/2015/01/03/tech-tips-winter-bike-wash-diy/
We had a brand new 'rather pricey' patio laid at our last house.
After 5 years of washing my bikes on it several times a week I can honestly say the patio lived to tell the tale and still looked as good as new when we moved out.
Obvious isn't it?, you wash it in the bath
Hang on.
Patio?
Wife?
Two birds with one stone spring to mind.
Have you built the patio yet? Two birds, one stone!
Edit: milliseconds, bloody milliseconds.
Car? Wash?
As he's worried about the patio getting a bit muddy, I assumed he would wash his car more often than my car's annual clean!
I don't know what damage you'd do to the patio, which is open to the elements after all. Grass tho- what harm would it do to grass?
stgeorge - Member
Where do you wash the car?
Not in the back garden for sure. Generally at the hand car wash and fire the bill through on expenses like everyone else, non?!?
clunker - Member
It's times like this when I really love my wifeSomething like this would be good http://www.teamathleticmentors.com/2015/01/03/tech-tips-winter-bike-wash-diy/
A remarkably good idea, could also double as a wash the kids before they're let inside thing too.
The pavement and road outside my house are permanently muddy during the winter. I try to brush the mess away, but twice a week, pretty much every week for 5 months of the year, I plaster the tarmac with mud! I can see my wife's point when she moans at me. I've started taking washing equipment to my local trails now. At least get the worst off whilst away from home if you can
I just set a workstand up on the grass.
I always fancied a proper soakaway though - maybe 2m square. Dig down, fill with gravel and a lay slab or two on top to rest the bike on.
scotroutes
I always fancied a proper soakaway though - maybe 2m square. Dig down, fill with gravel and a lay slab or two on top to rest the bike on.
We've had a soakaway put in, so that could be an idea
I'm moving house next week and got the same thoughts, a large gravel soak away with a few Yorkshire slabs on top sounds ideal, my current driveway due to horse Wellies and mtb cleaning is a disgrace.
Surely a pricey patio is far better than a cheapo one for washing bikes on as it's less likely to slump due to the excess water? Last time I checked pavers are generally mud and water proof. You didn't use cork tiles by mistake? 😉
Slight fall on the patio to an Arco drain connected to the rain gutter down pipe. Rinse and brush patio after bike washing. Your patio will stay nicer for longer than doing nothing with it.
Are you riding home from the trails or do you transport your bike? If its the latter then get a simple self-contained bike cleaner unit powered by your cigarette lighted and clean the bike when you're out. They work really well and pretty cheap.
I do mine in the middle of the lawn. Been doing it for years and you would never know. In the summer it has the bonus of keeping the grass green. Given that we are now on a meter that's the only water its going to get.
interesting thread this. looking for similar ideas myself having just moved.
as mentioned above the old house i had a gravel border that was perfect, except that the fence behind it took a battering! ive also recently bought a mobile washer thats good if ive driven, but 90% of the time its from the door...
Amend the patio to have a section of grill with a runoff underneath it...wash bike on that, water and some mud runs to drain, the bigger mud can then be swept up and put in the garden for extra nutrition for the plants!
kitchen. She won't mind you using the patio then 😀
i have a patio with a drain around the edge.
https://goo.gl/photos/TMWkn6PMWTCdtKgQA
Its ok. The problem is it fills up over winter. The amount of mud i bring home on the bike is phenomenal. I often find that im leaving massive sections of muddy water on the patio anyway.
The flip side to this is that every winter its going to get covered in slippery lichen and other things anyway so your going to have to clean it. So what does it matter?
As a side note my patio the gaps are filled in with a dry sand / cenent mix. This doesnt last. Consider proper pointing or something else?
Wash it on the lawn, you'll just rinse soil and water onto, you know, a place where soil and water will do no harm.
Your patio won't mind a bit of mud on it. Just hose it down when finished.
But saying that, I do mine next to the bins - which are on a granite chipping (chuckies) boarder. The chuckies are only a couple of inches deep, with a membrane underneath. Can't be too much effort to do the same on a 2m x 1m area behind your garage or wherever.
But back to my first point.... why not just do it on the patio?
washing it on the lawn in winter will ruin your lawn and stop you getting the bike properly clean
[I]washing it on the lawn in winter will ruin your lawn and stop you getting the bike properly clean [/I]
My lawn and bikes would argue that doesn't have to be the case.
If you're blasting it with a pressure washer, maybe, if you're using hot water and a brush, with a quick rinse from a hosepipe, it's fine.
Depends on how well it drains, how often you do it. What the weathers been like and so on.
FWIW i avoid even walking on our lawn for 3 or 4 months of the year, it gets trashed. So no, i don't clean my bikes on it. Even though they only get cleaned with soapy water and a brush/sponge.
This thread is tragic.
To be fair, our lawn is basically moss, so it's pretty resilient 🙂
scuttler - Member
This thread is tragic.
In what way? Just because I don't want to wash my bike on a new patio it's tragic?
It's tragic because you've spent money without considering what you wanted to use your patio for before you built it and it's tragic because you agree with your wife that you shouldn't wash your bike on the patio. It's like having decorative cushions, look nice but no serve no practical purpose whatsoever. 🙂
Has anyone suggested doing it in the flower bed yet?
In what way? Just because I don't want to wash my bike on a new patio it's tragic?
It's a patio ffs, not the Bayeux tapestry. Clean your bike and hose the patio down afterwards. Job done.
Yeah I washed my bike twice on the lawn in December and it looks like it's been shelled in that spot now, the gardener was incandescent with rage. Seems I'm not allowed to walk on his lawn during winter... I can sense friction ahead when he learns what the kids plans are.
I use the drive now, there's a drain and I don't end up with soaking wet shoes.
It's a patio ffs, not the Bayeux tapestry. Clean your bike and hose the patio down afterwards. Job done.
This. Are you going to cover the patio with some kind of shell when it rains heavily? Is the patio actually inside your house? The pinnacle of First World problems.
I wipe my bike down with our tapestry after I wash it on the patio.
Clean your bike and hose the patio down afterwards. Job done
this.
Assuming by cleaning you don't mean degreasing with petrol, then igniting the mucky stuff on the patio. That would be bad for the pavers/stones.
Seems the OP didn't really mind washing the bike down on the patio but his Mrs does?
Can't blame the guy looking for a work a round?
Some things just aren't worth the hassle with the OH! Particularly when it's new bike time. 😉
In other words I see his point.
Every now and then, when I'm compelled to wash a bike (it really doesn't happen very often) I just hose it down on my decking
I then hose the big gloopy bits of mud off the decking onto the grass or to the edge (the decking is raised a lot above the grass with steps going down, CBA with carrying the bike down the steps
My actual plan is even more cunning. Ride rigid SS in the gloop. No washing needed. Dried on mud falls off next time you ride it, or stays there to protect the bike from the new mud
Some things just aren't worth the hassle with the OH!
And hassle with some things just isn't worth staying with the OH!
Are you real - MTFU !!
I have a hook on a post at the end of one of our fences, out of the way at the side of the house. Bellow it I dug down a bit and chucked in some shingle/gravel to make a sort of rudimentary soak away.
I Hang bike by front wheel, hose and scrub from front (top) to back (bottom) then leave it to drip dry. All the water runs off the back wheel and the soak away Works quite well, beats flooding the patio and I hose off muddy clothes and shoes there too...
following one from the cattle trough , what about a Plastic sheep dip? (not the whiskey). Easy to move / store during the summer.
Happy wife is an easy life 🙂
dood, she won't let him wash his bike; I reckon the hokey-cokey in the border is well out of reachHas anyone suggested doing it in the flower bed yet?
Some viz top tip suggestions on here, all to keep a garden 'clean'.... 😆 😆 😆
One solution is get a Mobi V17 Jet Washer and wash the bike somewhere else outside of the garden. Leave the crud elsewhere.
I wash mine on the pavement and hose the mud into the gutter. Every now and then a nice man from the council comes and cleans it all up.
Get a old bath from the tip or a neighbours front garden and put in on the patio. Will stop the patio getting 'ruined' from all of the mud. Maybe your wife wouldn't think walking directly on the patio would be so bad then. 👿
I wash mine on the pavement
[img]
[/img]
Seriously, if you've put a new patio in that hasn't been designed to drain, you got bigger problem than a moaning missus!
If you're just worrying about staining the patio then wash bike at the edge on a tarp then hose it off, fold up and put it in the shed.
Is that pic above ^^^ the Op's missus? 8)
Onslo's house?
it's a term that's entered the british lexicon. As in 'don't leave that rubbish out the front, we'll look like Onslo's house'
😆
What a bizarre thread.
ads678 - Member
Seriously, if you've put a new patio in that hasn't been designed to drain, you got bigger problem than a moaning missus!
Don't worry about that, it'll drain nicely into the Aco's along the front edge.
Judging by some of the replies I'll just rock up at one of the posters houses and hose it down on the pavement, patio, garden or whatever and walk away 😆
Judging by some of the replies I'll just rock up at one of the posters houses and hose it down on the pavement, patio, garden or whatever and walk away
Other posters are not your issue matey, growing a pair however..... 😆
Seriously, you're welcome to clean your bike in my garden on my drive or outside my house. Mainly on account of them all being outside and subject to weather happening already. A bit of dirt from a bike will make bugger all difference and simply wash away.
Judging by some of the replies I'll just rock up at one of the posters houses and hose it down on the pavement, patio, garden or whatever and walk away
Fine with me, the mud washes away and I'm not on a water meter. You can do it on the patio or the decking, your call.
I'll just rock up at one of the posters houses and hose it down on the pavement, patio, garden or whatever and walk away
I have an isue with that - if you are going to clean your bike then at least ride it afterwards...the walking part of that is where my issue lies! 😉
Just don't wash it and put in away in the house dirty, you'll soon be allowed to use the patio/grass etc for washing it then 😉
I hope you're not going to say now you're not allowed it in the house either 😆
Just because I don't want to wash my bike on a new patio it's tragic?
Nail on the head.
Some people care about things that I don't care so much about. Who'd have thought it !
whatyadoinsucka - Member
...my current driveway due to horse Wellies and mtb cleaning is a disgrace.
Neigh wonder.
This is by far the greatest thread I have seen for many a year, it felt like watching the final episode of some multi season US hit drama when I read the final comment.....sad that it was all over!
So I feel it is my duty to resurrect the phoenix that is 'Man without a real problem, asks wife to invent a problem so he can ask people how he should tackle said problem'
Type away......
I'm having a hot and cold tap installed with a pressure washer. Alongside this is the outdoor shower for me, along from that is the sauna. Not sure why everyone else is going half measures
Man up & wash it on the patio.
That stone has survived a few millennia - I think it'll survive a bike wash or 2!
I'm having a hot and cold tap installed with a pressure washer. Alongside this is the outdoor shower for me, along from that is the sauna.
A bike drying room, I like your style 8)
This HAS to be a troll. WTAF??? Do you eat dinner directly off the patio or something?
So I feel it is my duty to resurrect the phoenix that is 'Man without a real problem, asks wife to invent a problem so he can ask people how he should tackle said problem'
I salute you sir. If ever a thread needed resurrecting it was this one. I've taken to levitating over my patio in order to ensure no earth touches it.
IHN - Member
To be fair, our lawn is basically [s]moss[/s] artisan upcycled synthetic Kentucky bluegrass, so it's pretty resilient
Ftfy 😆
Hermetically sealing mine & putting it into storage form posterity..