or do you leave it until the next day.although my bike isn't that muddy,am going to leave it till the morning (being lazy 😉 no doubt there are some here who will take the bike apart and meticulously clean/lube everything that needs it (in a super clean/filtered air workshop e.t.c 😉 just wondering 🙂
Usually yeah. At least a quick hose down because it's soooooo much easier whilst the mud is still wet
I have two mtbs sat in the kitchen that have been muddy since... err, since... forever.
yes, cos its kept in the house (one of the family) innit 😉
Yes, because that usually the time I find the broken bits.
If I'm back from round The Peak a quick hose off to remove as much as possible of the grinding paste that sticks to almost everything and a bit of a lube. Anywhere else and its normally dried by the time I get home, so gets stored till next time. If I'm bored in the week then it'll get washed then, but not always.
Always give mine at least a hose down before putting them back in the kitchen.
usually use bike cleaning as an excuse to have a water fight with my kids. It gets brutal but I have the hose. Less fun in winter but they dont seem to mind as much as I do.
SS gets hosed down in winter if it is really muddy but this is not an essential part of my post ride activities.
I noticed some loose mud on mine the other day as I was loading it into the back seat of Mrs Yunki's car..
'oooh I thought.. I bet I get told off for that..'
That's about as close as I get to cleaning my bike although the drive chain usually gets some love once per month.. maybe more in winter..
Yep...'cause it lives in the lounge 😆
Yep...'cause I'm already covered in crap so a bit of soapy water, mud and lube on my clothes doesn't matter.
Nope. As soon as I get home, I have to go to the fridge in my garage. Open a beer and THEN ( and only then ) do I clean my bike.
lives 95% of it's life looking like this, might brush of a bit of the mud when it dries and lube the chain..
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yep its a must straight away...out comes the hosepipe... or if im cream crackered then its defo the next day otherwise you will get rusty chain if left wet n muddy... 😉
Quick hose down
Lube chain
Put in shed
It's a mountain bike ffs not a stradivarius
Always. ALWAYS! Mine gets cleaned before it goes back in the van at the end of every ride. If it's been a dry and dusty ride then I just clean the drivetrain, the rear shock and the stantions.
Don't normally bother apart from fork stanchions and sometimes the chain.
No way! The natural condition of a mountain bike is to be covered in mud.
I wash the mud off mine before races.
Train heavy, race light.
No, they're all SS. I just scrape off the dried mud before a ride.
[i]or do you leave it until the next day.[/i]
Next day!!!????
It's lucky if it's the next year.
yes - just got in from a ride and hosed it down. The mud round this way is heavy clay so if i dont do it now it will never shift and the bike weighs about 10lbs more than it needs to.
No. Clean the chain now and then and add a bit of lube.
The drive train and the fork stanchions after every ride. I just pick off the dried mud. Everything get hosed every few rides. Worth cleaning occasionally to check for damage.
The only reasons to clean mud off that I can think of are to reduce weight, improve looks (debateable) or to prevent the moisture trap that mud is leading to corrosion. With that in mind, and weight not being a big concern for a fatty like me, I just clean off the mechanical bits and lube as needed (mechs, chain, & forks basically).
I might give the bike a proper clean up once or twice a year, other times I might just spray the bike down to get the majority of the mud off.
I clean mine everytime i clean my motorbike, so it gets done twice a week or so...
very rarely as I live in a flat with no access to water outside. I wait until its dry and brush the loose mud off. chain is waxed so only cleaned/ relubed every few hundred miles.
This +1
buzz-lightyear - MemberThe drive train and the fork stanchions after every ride. I just pick off the dried mud. Everything get hosed every few rides. Worth cleaning occasionally to check for damage.
does anybody dry the bike after hosing it down or is that just me with 'new bike OCD syndrome'? 😀
Here in New Mexico/USA I don't usually have the muddy conditions you guys in the UK face (especially this year with no measurable rain since January), but have the dry dust/powdery sand to deal with that gets into every part & crevice. I wash my bike down about once every 2-3 weeks, but lube the chain every other ride as the dust/fine sand eat up a chain pretty quickly otherwise.
I used to waste far too much time cleaning my bike really well..now i just brush off the worse mud when its dry, keep my drive train cleanish & lubed and clean fork stanchions each ride. once a year full strip down and rebuild..
does anybody dry the bike after hosing it down or is that just me with 'new bike OCD syndrome'?
Does bouncing it up and down a couple of times to shake the water off (and spot any new rattles) count?
I have one that I clean although it doesn't get much mud on it as I don't generally use it if it's muddy. I also have a rigid hub geared bike which I clean when the wheels will no longer go round. It only ever gets the chain wiped and a squirt of gt85. I do have to clean the rear hub once a year so I can find the drain plug to change the oil though. All a bit onerous really I think the future may be a belt drive.
Does bouncing it up and down a couple of times to shake the water off (and spot any new rattles) count?
It counts when I do it!!
Nope, wait until mud has dried then give it a quick brush off with a dustpan brush and ride off a curb a couple of times to shake off any loose bits of mud. Then re-lube chain as necessary.
My Turner got it's first spray with a hose in about a year. The DB Alpine... I can't actually remember the last time I washed that one.
why are people prepared to pay £thousands and not clean their bike?
Is it because 'cleaning' bikes essentially messes them up?
This is especially true with multi pivot suspension bikes. They last a lot longer if you can get over the need-a-clean-bike thing, and just make sure the drive train is clean. As for using disc cleaner... don't get me started..
why are people prepared to pay £thousands and not clean their bike?
Why are people prepared to pay thousands on a mountain bike that needs cleaning?
To answer your question for many the only point of a bike is to ride it. They have no interest in cleaning it unless it effects the performance or how it looks and what anyone might think about the way it looks. I can choose to clean my bike can you choose not to clean yours? Or is there a little voice that won't let that happen. 🙂
Seems odd that's all, like wearing dirty clothes
I rode my bike on Sunday, it's still in the car 😳 if I ride Saturday I normally clean it Sunday, if I ride Sunday I normally clean it when I get home. I find I need to clean it to find out which bit's going to fall off next 🙂
why are people prepared to pay £thousands and not clean their bike?
My bikes are not worth [u]that[/u] much and don't impress anyone with their looks. I'm just not respectable or much interested in appearances. Ill dressed and badly groomed is my "look"!