I’ve been doing a bit of lazy maintenance lately and going against conventional wisdom, my two biggest sins of late have been:

1- I put the cassette from my trail HT in the Dishwasher the other day – It’s a Cheap cassette and was covered in crap, TBH I just couldn’t be arsed to clean it up properly so as an experiment I thought I’d rinse it off under the hose and then see what effect finish tablets and rinse aid had on it. It came out clean as a whistle and is working very nicely again now.

2- I’ve taken to simply rinsing the worst of the shite off of my SS bike’s Drivetrain with a hose and rather than using expensive chain lube I’ve been liberally applying old suspension oil with a paint brush, again a low cost experiment that seems to be working out well in the current shitty weather.

So is anyone else cutting corners in such a manner? and what other “Incorrect” maintenance activities are people indulging in? Give me your own cowboy tips!

Oh and do feel free to tell me that my bikes will explode and kill me and/or passing strangers.

I regularly use WD40 as chain lube on my road bike, and I spray it liberally on fork stanchions. I’ve been doing this for years and none of my bikes have ever exploded.

I rarely clean my bike. I just wait for it to dry (it lives in the conservatory) and hoover the mud off it. The only bits I wipe clean are the sanctions, shock shaft and chain. Been doing that for years with no ill effects.

Jetwash FTW…..

DrP

I once used olive oil on a chain when I was touring and a long way from a bike shop. Worked ok as a short term emergency measure but I wouldn’t recommend it for regular use.

Steel in the dishwasher is okay, aluminium not… at least not with most dishwasher tablets. You could try something else I suppose.

Tyres on a rinse cycle in the washing machine is also said to work quite well.

I used WD40 a rag and a jet wash to clean 7 years of muck of my Father in laws rims and drivetrain the other day. It has v brakes 😆

In my defense muck off and a brush wasn’t even touching it, I could have done with using hot water for the jet wash for better effect.

I also put 3 patches on his rear tube and put some stans juice in it as he is prone to punctures.

I used WD40 a rag and a jet wash to clean 7 years of muck of my Father in laws rims

Falls off office chair laughing!!

What is this ‘maintenance’ of which you speak?

The OP has got a long way to go in terms of maintenance. My mate Dave cleans the frame on his bike but doesn’t touch the rest 🙂

The OP has got a long way to go in terms of maintenance. My mate Dave cleans the frame on his bike but doesn’t touch the rest

You are right, I’m the opposite I clean up the drivetrain parts and leave the frame covered in shite, well I maybe know the big lumps off, but generally so long as the chain can move I’m happy.

There may be wisdom to daves approach,

I did once use frylite as an emergency chain lube, it did the job and got me to work.

My singlespeed only gets cleaned when it goes through a puddle.
Sits in the garage in various stages from this:

to filthier.
Not sure if the mini-pump works or not.

There may be wisdom to daves approach

No, there isn’t 🙂

Lovely bloke but also a Premier League cockrotter

Poor Dave.

The only thing we had to hand when my brother hadn’t lubed his chain, as I had told him to the night before, was wee.

We got to lee quarry (from Birmingham) and he couldn’t even pedal as the chain was so rusty it has seized. Luckily we both needed a pee so we did so all over his chain. He kept moaning that it was spraying off onto his legs when peddling, he still didn’t learn to lube his chain.

I used to use Mr Muscle Kitchen Cleaner (other brands of kitchen cleaner are no doubt available) on the oily bits or as a degreaser when cleaning bearings and the like. Cuts through grease like nothing else on earth.

Brings rims up sparkling also.

Not sure it would do paint jobs or fork stanchions a great deal of good though…

Cheers

Danny B

I personally try to avoid wd40 etc on chains as it basically degreases them. Don’t go near bearings with it either, it drives out grease.
I recently used Vaseline as a chain lube when I had nothing else. Seemed to work OK.
No mucoff for me, fairy liquid seems to work OK.

My singlespeed only gets cleaned when it goes through a puddle.

My hub geared bike gets similar treatment although I’m a little more diligent and ride mine in the rain for that as new look. I just plaster the chain with gearbox oil. The last chain and sprocket lasted 4 years.

I service stuff when I think it might need it, rather than ignoring it completely until the bit of paper says it needs done.

Slightly offthread, but I cleaned our car the other day for the frst time on the 4 years we’ve had it. It was blue! And it does have carpety stuff under where all the bits of mud and clag from the bikes were.

If I showed this thread to one of the guys I ride with he’d literally have a break down. Wash immediately after every ride, rhino goo, clean off excess wash again, toothbrush cassette and rest of drive chain, clean seals on forks and shock, scrub all bearing joints, wash, dry off with micro fibre cloth, rhino shine, lube every moving part, lub chain and wipe of excess…. put to bed. Follow this or get an earful.