[Closed] How clean?

I'm pretty lazy. I clean, but I don't polish. And I only clean when it's really dirty or I feel like it. 🙂

went on a couple of STW ride a few years back and there was one lad on both whose bike was impressively clean (though he obviously used it), I really don't have the interest to cleaning my spokes or polish the bike in anyway... my bikes get a good clean now and again but the toothbrush does not come out.

MTB get's muddy shocker... 8)

Mine is immaculate right now and it will be immaculate on Monday even after riding at CyB this weekend. I didn't spend a shed load of cash on a decent bike to have it looking shabby.

OCD clean bike = big belly 😉

I didn't spend a shed load of cash on a decent bike to have it looking shabby.

My thoughts exactly. My bikes are kept spotless, but also get ridden and dirty. Cleaning your bike well keeps everything running sweeter, keeps components in better condition longer and helps you spot any small mechanicals before they develop.

Even if it's just for the 1st few metres from the car park, it's nice to at least start with a clean bike. When you spend so much on something, I just can't bear to leave it covered in s**t.

i don't polish the mtb, that is what road bikes are for, but it is kept clean. Lets you spot minor problems before they get serious, normally*

*unless it is a hope bottom bracket unscrewing and trashing the threads on the frame!

Bikes rarely get cleaned at mine.

Where is Justa these days anyway?

My just gets a good brush over with soapy water & hosed down
Can't be doing with with all the anal spoke nipple cleaning etc

I didn't spend a shed load of cash on a decent bike to spend time polishing it

I cleaned mine today. Tyres and mudguard still a bit muddy though.

Mine gets ridden every day to work and back off road all year round. I wipe and lube the chain as required and that's about it. I didn't spend a shed load of cash on a nice bike so I could clean it.

Any more alternative endings to the sentence "I didn't spend a shed load of cash on my bike to......."?

This has suddenly turned into a hole new thread!

I didn't spend a shed load of cash on my bike to talk about cleaning it on some internet forum!

Good, keep 'em coming!

I didn't spend a shed load of cash on my bike-lock and it got nicked.

I didn't spend a shed load of cash on a decent bike to have it looking shabby.

I can understand this, and also the opposing argument. With the motorbike, I was on a hiding to nothing with the cleaning. You'd innocently clean a small bit, making the part beside look shabby. A beer or two (and maybe a little class B) later and your evening was gone. Don't really get the same urgency with the playbikes though. Probably because they don't take long too get all beaten up and shabby.

I didn't spend a shed load of cash on my bike to talk about cleaning it on some internet forum!

A 12 hour shift with little to do can do strange things to a man. 😳

Once in a blue moon I'll have the chain off, do some stone chips etc. and make it all look nice again.

Most of the time it gets a hose down and some oil.

Stone chips? Are they like space cakes only chip shaped?

During the winter I clean my bike after most rides and in the summer once every 3 or 4 rides.

One benefit is you get to look at the bike and components and I have in the past found stuff that needs attention under the grime.

I had a mate who wouldn't ride if it was wet or muddy which always struck me as odd, some of my best rides in the last year have involved uncontrollable sliding in mud followed by uncontrollable laughter while I lie in the mud!

I didn't spend a shed load of cash on my bike to cover it in mud 😀
.
I don't bother unless I'm stripping and rebuilding or fixing
the mud falls off on the way to the next ride anyway

Love em cleaned after any dirty rides, right down to the jockey wheels. See I can't see why you would want to leave it dirty.
Damn it I even change my pants every day.

I love my bikes but do like to see a bit of mud on them as looks better i think lol
But i do clean transmission throughly 🙂

i defo have OCD for cars and bikes i just like them looking shiny.I have had a load of comments after i admited using a cotton bud to clean my front and rear mechs too any other ocd`s that is a top tip.I even clean the engine bay of my car much to peoples amazement. Zymol car polish on bikes gives them a good shine!

I only thought 'detailing' and 'concors' stuff was for car OCDers.

Mine gets a wash down only once the weight of all the mud and clag on it becomes noticable. I don't want to be shifting all that extra weight up every hill.

My bikes all live indoors, in a specially air conditioned, inert gas, climate controlled vault in ones batcave, so need to be spotlessly clean before I hand them over to my butler, Alfred, to be stored. 😉

My wife won't let me bring dirty bikes in the house. From experience, they get nicked if I leave them outside. Hense they get cleaned after every dirty ride.

I didn't spend a shed load of money on bikes only to have to leave them outside to get nicked...

So I guess this isn't the thread to 'fess that I once cleaned my chain with cotton buds between every link 😳

Hilldodger good work on the chain.
J.

In winter I clean bike thoroughly after every ride. Takes me a good hour, which on a cold winters evening after a long ride is a pita.
When dry and dusty in summer then I don't bother and just put away as it is and maybe clean after 2 or 3 rides.
Today it was dry so had my first ride in ages without having to clean it..felt great!! 😀

Actually I quite like the look of a bike that's really covered in mud but has a sparkling clean transmission. Which is kind of how my bikes are when I do bother cleaning them 🙂

quick hose down and a lube here, did use ot use the garage jeth a lot a few years backe best trip was a white car with 2 very dirty bikes on the roof. Jetwashed the bikes while still on the roofand drove off, all the bike crap was then on teh white car, wish i'd take a pic, the bikes were pritine the car looked like it had spent a day offroading

I have to keep mine spotless or the missus doesn't let me keep it in the bedroom.

I actually quite like cleaning my bike, and have been known to be cleaning it until 1am after a night ride, (on a school night too)

keep mine very clean 😉

borderline OCD....

OCD here too... 😆

+1 OCD and all the 'cool folk' who just 'quickly hose down and lube every once in a while' are blowing out their rusty chained a-hole! Hell-yeah!!!

I only ride SS cos I am OCD and it is easier to clean 😆

Although I am slightly twitchy because I didn't get to clean it after a ride earlier this week for the first time in ages...

Face it, your bikes not clean unless you do this.

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/chainclean.html

Until then, its filthy.

mojo5pro - Member
In winter I clean bike thoroughly after every ride. Takes me a good hour, which on a cold winters evening after a long ride is a pita.
When dry and dusty in summer then I don't bother and just put away as it is and maybe clean after 2 or 3 rides.
Today it was dry so had my first ride in ages without having to clean it..felt great!!

In winter I go to the pub and have some beer, junk food and banter with my mates after every ride - spring, summer and autumn too.

Different priorities I suppose.

TheArtistFormerlyKnownAsSTR - You are just too cool...

If relaxing with a pint in front of a roaring fire whilst you freeze your tits off being anally retentive about your bike makes me cool, then **** yeah, I'm cool.......

TheArtistFormerlyKnownAsSTR - I relax with beer n chips and still manage to keep my bike clean so how cool must I be...

How much do you enjoy your beer & chips though, with the nagging feeling in the back of your mind that without fail you have to go and meticulously clean your bike to within an inch of it's life - something that you've already proclaimed to be a PITA?

YAWN...

mrmo ....
*unless it is a hope bottom bracket unscrewing and trashing the threads on the frame! *
Drive side?? me too.. them ****in plastic spacers for 68 shells/10mm thread engagement.. tw@s!
fortunate there was enough meat left to install an isis bb!!
and yeah why the f*ck isn`t the drive side a self tightening L/H thread eh???
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!

I didn't spend a shed load of cash on my bike... Hence it can stay dirty besides I don't have any facilities to clean it at uni anyway.

Iain

Gets used every day and gets cleaned once a week, usually after having fun On the weekend rides before it turns into the commuter again. Quite often though I just clean the important bits (drivetrain and forks) and leave the rest - just so those bits function better and last longer.

I lurve cleaning the bikes!
Agree with the view that a clean bike is much more reliable in the long run, and a sparkly bike is just eye candy!

DrP

Bikes are like cars. They're designed to live outside therefore they don't need cleaning, apart from the mechanical bits.
Anything else is unnatural.

I usually clean mine after each ride,only hose the worst of the mud off.Every 3/4 weeks give it a good clean.
This frame is anodized so cant polish it.
Used to polish my specialized when i had it,few coats of Collinite 476 wax after a good polish with some Menzerna final finish seems to last well.

I allways clean my bike after a ride then coat it with silicon spray(none round the discs though :D)Polishes up realy well and muck does't stick to it the next time i'm out on it.

nicolaisam - Member
I usually clean mine after each ride,only hose the worst of the mud off.Every 3/4 weeks give it a good clean.
This frame is anodized so cant polish it.

My '06 Enduro had a lovely deep metallic green anodized finish - it came up a treat after it had been washed and dried with a few squirts and a quick wipe of silicone spray. You know the stuff for fork stanchions, or a cheaper option - car dashboard shine.

i leave it for a couple of days until the mud dries,,, then wait until the dogs knock the bike over,,, and all the mud falls off and it's ready for the next weekend

When I build a bike everything gets a good polishing with whatever car wax I have handy.

Less muck sticks, and when it's hosed the rest just slides off.

I didn't spend a shed load of cash on my bike... to be carting around 2lbs of dried mud

This drives me mental! Working in a bike shop, I daily get people in with bikes that are held together with muck. Seized front mechs, stiff chain links, brakes that don't release, worn rims, seized headsets, seized nipples and shot drivetrains. Then they go berserk at ME for telling them it's humped? People that don't bother cleaning their bikes deserve everything they get!

People always comment on how clean my bike is, but I think its just an easy colour to keep clean. It does get washed after every ride, but I just hose it down, cover it in loads of fenwicks then hose it off again. Costs me a fortune in Fenwicks but its relatively hassle free 😀

I just cleaned my bike.

Will do it again next month as well.

My bikes are spotless, but then all I have been able to do for the last 6 months is look at them and clean them due to surgery.

Normall I hose um down and wipe the thick stuff off, and wipe the suspension seals, and thats it. I give um a good clean before each race and serivce the shocks but thats about it. Spoke never get cleaned.

I keep mine cleanish but have no interest in "detailling" the bike. If it's clean and the stuff that needs to be lubed and running smoothly is, that's about as far as I care to go.

I look after mine and clean after every ride in the winter, first time yesterday that I have got away without a clean 8)

Mine only really gets cleaned if it's caked with mud. If its just a bit dusty or whatever there's no point other than cleaning/re-lubing the chain.

Cleaned mine like 4 times this week.

Post ride I wash the mud off. The drivetrain and forks get special attention but that's it. The biked only get prperly cleaned during their annual dismantling and rebuilding. I have neither time orinclination to worship them.

Hope Bottom Bracket stripped thread

mrmo - Member
i don't polish the mtb, that is what road bikes are for, but it is kept clean. Lets you spot minor problems before they get serious, normally*

*unless it is a hope bottom bracket unscrewing and trashing the threads on the frame!

bighendo - Member
mrmo ....
*unless it is a hope bottom bracket unscrewing and trashing the threads on the frame! *
Drive side?? me too.. them ****in plastic spacers for 68 shells/10mm thread engagement.. tw@s!
fortunate there was enough meat left to install an isis bb!!
and yeah why the f*ck isn`t the drive side a self tightening L/H thread eh???
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!

I am one unhappy bunny - cleaning bike earlier this evening for HONC tomorrow (nervous about being surrounded by spangly clean bikes) and discovered that the drive side threaded collar was loose and stripped of thread - so I'll have to bail - but 3 mentions in one day suggests to me a design fault ??? I'll be asking the LBS to bend Hope's ears on Tuesday ....

My bikes are generally kept reasonably clean but I'll often leave them with mud/dust on them for a while before getting round to doing anything about it though.

The problem is that when I start cleaning it I think "Oh yeah, I'll just do that bit" and "Oh, while I'm at it I may as well take the chain off" and before I know it the thing is in bits being polished...