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As the title suggests, how many of you pressure wash your bikes and does it really do damage?
I live in a flat so have a Mobi pressure washer, always a bit wary about using it around any bearings/suspension but no other way to clean a filthy bike before putting it in my hallway!
Bucket+Spongey.
Its not the pressure washer that does the damage...its the idiot holding it.
I use pressure washer - just careful where I point my hose 😯
Just don't aim it at any bearings or the forks, should be fine.
Yes, with care.
Yes, as above just taking care around bottom bracket and fork/shock seals. Stand back a couple of metres until the pressure isn't so high. Never had a problem with it myself.
Yes till an inch of its life.(joke) If I had a garage or a house come to think of it I might use a sponge.
But to be honest I ain't got the time
Nah. Bucket and soapy sponge, with a standard hosepipe for rinsing.
I always go to the local garage with the bike on the rack after a run.
£1 gives me 1.5mins on hot shampoo and 1.5 mins of water.
The spray is pretty wide, the dangerous thing about a pressure washer is the narrow jet that can strip pant and get into bearings.
Works well for me. I hate having a dirty bike, i think not cleaning a bike does more harm than a jet wash.
Just add GT 85 when home.
Flip the bike over and aim the jetwash at the tyres, see how fast you can make the wheel spin. Strangely satisfying and fun.
...then spray the other side of the wheel to bring it to a halt 🙂
No, mud is a protective coating. Only time I jet wash is if I'm selling stuff 
nope !!!!!! you will ruin your bike.... 😥
Jet wash it. Save loads of time, keep it spotless and do it in a min or two. You will find it very very difficult to jet wash the grease out of your bearings.
Think about it, unless you actually jetwash the bearings directly for ages you are not going to remove the grease from them.
But spraying the bike generaly will clean the crap off it in seconds.
Ive done it for 10 years and dont find I replace bearings. Using lots of Muc Off will remove grease, not jet washing.
Spray the mud n crap off the bike and go for light spray and brush round the bearings and shock
I personally, never risk it. I've worked on so many bikes that are destroyed due to jet washers.
Destroying a bike with a jet wash, maybe the jetwash from an F-15 Eagle but not a pressure washer.
I remember reading somthing where Santa Cruz ran 2 identical bikes which were ridden at same time in same conditions (when new VPP was released). One was washed after every ride the other just brushed off.
The bike that was washed required it's bearings/linkages replacing ahead of the other.
I still wash mine though (only with a hose mind)
No but then the only thing that gets cleaned on my bike are the drivetrain and the fork stanchions.
New rear gear cable, new bottom bracket, new headset bearings and full rear hub bearings. True story.
Don't do it, no matter what them goons say up there ^ it is no good for your bike.
If it's a mobi i can't seeing it doing any damage - not powerful enough
new bottom bracket,
How does one wash the grease out of sealed cartridge bearings?
Could I do a wee hijack please? How much water does a Dirt Worker hold?
Does the Mobi one hold more?
Thanks. 🙂
Don't use a pressure wash if you're a bit thick or a clumsy oaf, if you have a bit of common sense then you will be fine.
No need in my opinion. Watering can or a garden hose used carefully is all you need.
Hmmm...mixed response so far!
I'd rather use a garden hose but don't have access to one, and a bucket isn't massively practical since I have to put my filthy bike in the back of my car due to having a car that can't take a bike rack.
I imagine the Mobi on a lowinsh setting (it goes from 50-140 psi) would be ok, as long as I stay away from firing straight into the linkage bearings and BB, although ironically that exactly wear the mud all gathers.
And for the person who asked above, mobi holds 15 litres, does 2 bikes when a bit muddy, or 1 when its clogged with dirt.
Thanks for the responses!
I have one of the wee Mobi V15s and the power out of it is no more than I get from mains pressure at home.
c_g - as the man says, you'll get a couple of bikes reasonably clean with one tank full.
normally just use the hose but on occasion I'll break out the pressure washer, only takes a small amount of common sense to to frig the bearings, people can be a bit alarmist, it's only squirty water...
Get to b&q and get a length of hose and tap attachment...you then have a hose that goes on kitchen tap, out a window and to the bike.
Brush off the main mud and wash in bath/shower.
Bucket and sponge.
Jetwash is fine, just be prepared for more frequent maintenance and servicing.
nope - i just use a bit of muc off / degreaser and then the standard garden hose on a tight spray setting followed by a bucket and sponge/brush if needed.
A Mobi or Dirtworker isn't really a jetwash is it...I think you'd struggle to do any damage with it. Almost certainly less pressure a metre from the trigger than you would get from a garden hosepipe.
A 240v home jetwash or garage jetwash (shudders) is another story and aimed in the wrong place, would probably sort out any degreasing issues you have.
(thinking about it, I spent half a day getting filthy repacking 4 trailer wheel bearings before Christmas...should've just used the jetwash!)
MotoX riders have been pressure washing bikes for years. Better a pressure washed clean bike than a dirty one.
I think people are overestimating how powerful the little portable pressure washers are. Proper jet washers are a no-no, but riding through a big puddle will do more damage to your BB than a Mobi etc. They're no more powerful than a garden hose and you can vary the spray speed if you're really worried.
What about the jet washers you see at trail centres?
Given they're put there for that purpose do you think they're ok to use?
Most of the ones that I've used are on a spray setting rather than jet.
As others have said your mobi washer will be fine as it's not a pressure washer, use it as you wish with no worries.
I got a mobi V-15 for christmas and one of my concerns was about the pressure it would pump the water out at. I was plesently suprised to find it is almost exactly the same as get from my mains water.
Living in a flat as well, being able to quickly rince the bike down after riding saves alot of faf droping the hose out the window when I get home.
Inspired by this thread I just tried to wash my bike for the first time in two years without using a jet wash. Pah, how do you get the tyres clean?
Maybe if I had a workshop, garage or even a garden. Jet wash clean is the only way to put it back in an apartment.
tpbiker/druidh - thanks for your replies. I have a Dirt Worker that was rarely used but am now having to drive to ride so it's been going in the car too.
Bike was extremely muddy yesterday and was disappointed with the pressure I was getting with it, used plenty of water too. Hence my question about the Mobi, whether it was an improvement on the Dirt Worker.
Its amazing how diverse opinion is on this, on one hand i have je washed bikes for nearly 30 years since i got my first race bike without any issues.
And on the other people whose bike will fall apart even if you go to halfords and look at pressure washer boxes.
There must be some pretty crappy bikes made these days. Any bike that cant take a few mins with a pressure washer really is not up to much.
Keep up the good work.
I'm sure I'm not the only person to have a water meter to think about!
Pressure washers use a lot less water than garden hose.
Not to mention the time and hassle that is saved by dropping round to the local garage.
The washers at petrol stations and car washes do not have narrow direct sprays but are fanned out and are more than suitable for cleaning a bike of crud.
i used to use one of those garden sprayer to clean my bike when i didn't have an outside tap.
come to think of it i've still not got an outside tap....
but one of those hand pumped pressure bottles works pretty well. you can adjust the spray and a full bottle was enough for two bikes. also used to take it with us in the car and fill it up from a stream or lake.
c_g I a kind of suprised by you saying
[i]Bike was extremely muddy yesterday and was disappointed with the pressure I was getting with it, used plenty of water too. Hence my question about the Mobi,[/i]
One of the guys i ride with has a nomad and it seems as powerfull as the mobi one i have. Have you had a look at video on the [url= http://nomad-direct.co.uk/index.php ]Nomad website[/url] to see how you can adjust the nozel for a more powerfull jet?
Also reading the instructions for my mobi one of the things it mentioned was there is a water filter inside the main water container that may need cleaned every now and then. This may be the same with yours so also worth a look if there are any service guide on the site especially if it has sat arround for a bit.
I find that whilst a jet wash can remove huge clumps of mup and gloop, the only way to get the bikes looking really clean (if that's what you want) is to use a soft brush, sponge and muc-off / soap. Bikes look clean when blasted with a hose, but dry off looking dirty (especially anodised black frames).
I bought a jet wash recently, I think it's going to mainly be used for cleaning the patio and scaring cats.
....but the spinning tyres thing is fun too!
Rusty Mac - apologies for my wrong information! Am a bit paranoid with filling up the Dirt Worker and it leaking in car so use a separate water container. Container holds less than Dirt Worker hence running out of water! What a bimbo I am. 🙄
Pressure washing in my experience will mess up your bearings in pivots, in wheels, in headsets long before washing with bucket and sponge.
I've yet to effectively clean a bike with a jetwash. It looks sparkly for about ten minutes until it dries and reveals a thin layer of caked on mud. Soapy water and a sponge for me.
[i]I'm sure I'm not the only person to have a water meter to think about![/i]
As Dave said, jetwashes certainly use less water. I spent 15 minutes jetwashing the floor and walls of our stable recently, one person with a broom was enough to sweep the water 8 metres across the floor to the barn door before it started pooling under everyones stuff. With a hosepipe the place would have been completely flooded.
Tip for the dirtworker; I used to cover the air holes in the cap with a bit of tape, you just need to loosen the cap when using it so the air can get it. I've since sealed them with a few dollops of inner tube cement.