Forum menu
The MTB gets washed after every ride. Usually 20 minutes of hose down, quick spray with Ammo Pro products, quick brush and then rinse and dry and chain lube.
If it's particularly horrific (sandy or clay) I'll spend more time.
But that said my bike lives indoors in a store room and has to go through the communal passage ways to get there.
HB160 rarely gets washed unless I need to fettle it, even though it lives in the house.
Chain gets Putoline'd every now and again, and the stanchions get wiped when dry.
After every ride currently.
Most riding is in the evenings, and by the time I get back it's pitch black, I'm wet, cold and CBA to give it a clean.
So have been alternating between the hardtail and the full susser. That way I have one ready to go as I can clean them in the day light.
It is just not possible to ride again without a pretty major clean. The clag is inches deep, even with (decent) mudguards. And the transmission is usually so full of muck at this time of year I often don't have use of the gears when I return.
Plus the tyres are hidden behind several layers of muck on the sidewalls, and stanchions and BB are usually buried, so much so that a 'quick hosing' is pretty much out of the question.
Maybe I need to be rethinking the routes...
Lots!
If your ride involves horrendous levels of mud and grime then you should at least clean the drivetrain after the ride otherwise you’ll easily eat chains, cassettes, jockey wheels within a winter season.
For me it’s a full clean , degrease and then wd40 the chain and mech to remove the water and prevent rust. Then revisit later wipe off the wd40 and apply fresh lube.
Yes it’s a pain in the arse but lengthens the lifespan of the spinny bits !
Chain gets a wipe and another layer of wax lube. Pull any leaves or twigs out of the cassette and mech. Stanchions cleaned, knock the mud off where it collects around the main pivot. Gets a wash a couple of times a year.
I usually get out on 2 or 3 muddy MTB rides a week,bike lives indoors so gets quick jetwash and dry after each .I'm looking forward to first dry and clean rides of spring which seem a long way away at the mo .
With the levels of slop around just now, I can't see how you can avoid cleaning after every ride. It is foul out there just now.
After most rides, but it just gets hosed down and a jet on the chain to get the grit out. I don't need to clean and re-lube the chain because I use Putoline 🙂
If your ride involves horrendous levels of mud and grime then you should at least clean the drivetrain after the ride otherwise you’ll easily eat chains, cassettes, jockey wheels within a winter season.
A hot water and a hose down, then reapply lube is all I do, lasts just fine.
RnR blue Extreme.
never "wash" the simple, knock the mud off as weight saving pre ride, and an occasional brush when it's dry.
I gave the bikes a quick hose after another muddy welsh four hour ride this weekend.
First time I'd bothered since June I think.
I just add a bit more wet lube on top of the muck that's already there if the chain is looking dry.
I've stopped giving any sort of effs about cleaning the bikes since lockdown. It's not made any difference to how they perform. Maybe drivetrains are wearing faster but they're both shifting fine.
I used to clean properly and regularly. It made not much difference either. What's good is that I'm probably saving enough cash on not having to buy cleaning products that I'll be able to buy a whole new drivetrain when I need to.
I need to renovate my house from top to bottom - will happen next year. Until then they live indoors - I don't give a stuff about the carpets (but they're not dying). Maybe it's the fact that they're being stored at room temperature is the thing that's keeping them running.
My mate cleans his and keeps it in his relatively cold garage. It creaks like a bugger 🙂
I power wash it when it's clogged up.
“Anything that moves against something else gets cleaned and lubed once a week. The frame and bits like that wear their mud with pride until it gets dry again.”
This!
Cleaning bikes loads is so wasteful of time and resources.
Hose down after ride since bike stays indoors.
wipe down chain and mech if necessary.
Wipe down suspension components again if necessary.
If bike stayed in garage I would only clean the functional components.
If your lucky and the trails are frozen, then I probably wouldn't even touch the bike.
Cleaning bikes loads is so wasteful of time and resources.
Why ? Whys it a waste if you both enjoy it and have nothing else pressing to do.
I can clean my bike or sit and watch a crappy TV prog.... or i can clean my bike or read 30 pages of a book. It's only a waste of time if you're on time constraints, which i'm not 🙂
It’s still a waste of water and chemicals, whether you enjoy it or not.
Couldn't be a more STW thing to say.
Next you'll be telling me i shouldn't burn trees to warm the room too or only use specific coffee beans 😀
FS XC - after every ride, too grim otherwise and components on it are too expensive to be casual about!
Winter roadie - drivechain gets a wipe and re-lube after any wet ride, proper wash maybe monthly.
SS CX - quick hose to get rid of muck, chain gets a quick wipe from time to time
Fixed - never ever
SS hardtail - as per the CX bike
Sooner you wash it when you get home, the easier it is. Home - wash bike - remove clothing - shower - food. Washing your bike in wet muddy kit encourages you to work efficiently!
A big spotlight above the garage door has made a difference this year, so much better when you can see what you're doing properly.
Every ride. As said above, silicone spray stops the crap sticking. Hose mud off, wash bike, clean and lube drive chain, silicon the frame.
CX bike - every ride, can hose myself off too at the same time so it's win win. I don't often use cleaning products though.
Road bike - every couple of rides at the moment, it's the knowledge that the muck is probably 50% road salt that gnaws away at me, even though there is virtually nothing on the bike to corrode except the chain!
Almost time to wheel the singlespeed out for the winter though, the 105 drivetrain just ends up in a state otherwise, either rusted solid or caked in old lube, Putoline doesn't seem to stop the chain corroding solid so I need to apply a coat of something after each wash/ride so it's ready to roll for the next ride.
The MTB gets washed after every ride this time of year as I live in a flat and don't wish to drag mud inside. The only exception is if I take the HT out for a local spin on tarmac and cycle paths, it just gets wheeled inside then.
I nearly cleaned mine the other day ... turns out chucking a load of 3-in-1 one on the drivechain worked instead. I did poke some of the larger gobbs of mud out of the frame at the same time.
failed again
This time of year after an MTB ride I just wheel it straight into the garden and hose it down + my shoes and lower legs if it's been really claggy.
Then let it air dry and later on a quick wipe down and relube of the chain.
The road/gravel bike gets a hose down every couple of rides in the winter, but it depends how mucky the roads are, or if I took any bridleways, and I do wipe down the drivetrain after every ride.
Until this winter I'd have said "once or twice", depending if it got utterly clagged up. This year I bought a Mobi washer so after a ride that I've driven too I give the bike (and dog, typically) a minute-long rinse and the drive home shakes the water out. It's not properly clean, but there's no lumps of mud.
Definitely after today's road ride through the contents of a dozen fields that a local farmer has redistributed on the tarmac. He's actually a decent bloke and he'll be cleaning the roads as soon as his tractors have finished. Doesnt help now though.🙄
Every ride.
When I get a day off work with time it gets the full monty including a polish.
I like my bikes properly clean.
what the whole bike? weird.
add lube to the chain, drip some 5wt on the fork seals and wipe the stanchions - done.
usually before i ride, as its easier to knock the dry mud off the drivetrain.
I had to jetwash the SS road bike yesterday. Used it quite a bit recently in the Cheshire Lanes and it was absolutely filthy with mud and road grit.
I was cleaning the car at the same time (garage jetwash, car going in for it's MOT and service) so I just took the bike up there too and gave it a 20 second blast each side. The amount of grit that got sprayed out from under the mudguards was both impressive and alarming. Still, I can actually see the colour now, not the uniform brown/grey that it was before!
First winter I since I have invested in a Worx, so the MTB gets a wash before it gets put in the car and then a wipe down and lube once home.
Road bike gets a clean dependant on whether it's wet on the road or not, much quicken than the mtb though!
As little as possible, when it's clean I don't want to get it mucky again.
Clean bike = less riding for me
It gets washed if it comes home really dirty and the mud is still wet.
Or gently pull the mud off when dry.
Or not at all.
More likely to clean the FS than the hardtail.
Drivetrain is now on putoline and that's been ace, mud doesn't seem to stick to it like a winter lube. The crap just seemed to hose off. I did make the mistake of putting a slightly damp chain in the fryer when I was in a rush, won't do that again. 😬
Surely cleaning a bike is quickest / easiest when the crap on it is still fresh/damp? As soon as I’m back, the bike gets hosed down and most of the dirt is gone, then a quick spray with mucoff followed by a ince over with a big soft brush and rinse again. I’ve got a chain cleaner machine thing so the chain gets whizzed through that. I reckon I can get a filthy bike virtually spotless in about 15-20 mins tops. You can double that if it’s left overnight or for a few days to dry.
Thing is, I don’t get out more than once every couple of weeks at the moment; if I was out daily or every few days it’d get hosed off but not properly cleaned until after the last ride of the week I reckon.
In the winter, once a week usually after the Sunday morning ride... Damp down, spray with Muc-Off and let it sit for a few minutes, then bust out the Karcher (I can hear the collective STW gasp of horror already). Wipe down forks, shock and dropper and spray with silicone. Dry off the chain and coat with Scottoiler 365. Job done.
Mine live in a pretty dry but cold garage so they get a quick spray with the hose and then just left in the garage with a fan to help them dry off. As much to stop the garage filling with mud as anything else 🙂 If I'm planning some maintenance then I'll spend a little longer cleaning but usually we're talking just a quick spray, does the job.
I used to just roll them in, in any condition, and dust off when dry but I kinda had to admit this wasn't working when my white Hemlock became permanently brown- it took tcut to get the stains out.
I was out on Tuesday and it was proper wet - hose down and WD-40 for the crucial bits.
Wipe down & lube the running bits before next time.
Job's a job.
Mine normally just get stuffed into the cellar when I get back from a ride but I suspect I should probably be upping my game after pulling this out when getting ready to go out last night.
