Winter bike cleaning :0) Any top tips for a quickie?

What’s you post ride clean down routine through the winter?

Any time saving tips?
I’m spending longer cleaning the bloody thing than riding these last few weeks.

Quick rinse once a month…

Reminds me actually. I need to oil the chain. It wouldn’t even back pedal before.

Acf-50 onto a clean bike, then just worry about the moving parts until the summer.

Was delighted when I learned about this stuff from the motorbike people. Works just as well on mountain bikes.

Rachel

Old towel on the chain, then oil. Wait till mud dries then poke big lumps off with a stick.

Other than that, wait till April.

Buy a cheap bike for winter then just ride it. Re-lube chain if it needs it. Clean in the spring and determine what repairs are needed ready to be abused the next winter.

Bucket of hot soapy water once a week, GT85 to decrease. Deep clean once a month which is chain off, cassette off and crank off. Roughly once every six months they get completely stripped to the bare frame, re-cabled and re-built.

Two tips.

Rigid singlespeed. Clean in September and again in April.

And an actual tip;

I bought a soft brush from Halfords that attaches to the hose, very long soft bristles with a constant jet of water. Does the trick on all the fiddly bits of the bike with minimal need to spray the bearing areas. I’m very impressed with it. I assume it’s for cars but who cleans those with a brush?

Putoline on the chain ( it lasts hundreds of miles even in winter). Don’t bother washing it every ride, just a hose down every now and then with plain water and a soft brush

Let it dry. Brush most of it off with a stiff brush. Apart from drivetrain and suspension maintenance this will actually cover most needs. Chain machine for chain, stiff washing up brush for the cassette and jockeys and a soft cloth for the stanchions and a little fork lube if doing a proper job.

If wanting properly clean from that point, then as usual some hot soapy water, a sponge and a gentle hose are the way forward.

AllTheGear, just been googling ACF50 as it was a new one on me, what does it actually do for you? Keep corrosion at bay or do you get some sort of muck-rejecting finish from it, too? I’ve heard roadies talking about hosing bikes in GT85 for similar purposes before – I just discounted it as the same roadies were happily telling me GT85 was the best bike washing and chain lubing product ever and discussing where to buy 12 packs…

lol, i have also met some roadies who like GT85 so much i almost expected them to spray themselves with it too.

We get lots of “i spray gt85/wd40 on it” riders in the shop, their next sentence is usually, the brakes squeal/aren’t as good as they were”

Careful where you spray it kids

Let it dry

Nooooo … quick wash down with the hose, dry the chain, apply Scottoiler UBS

Pretty much a daily routine for me … takes all of 5 – 10 mins

I’ve got the big muc-off soft brush with a hose put on a gentle spray, just a quick brush down.

Then dry chain and lube, in the shed.

Hose down if really awful. Dustpan brush to help shift the big bits.

If proper filthy soak the chain etc in MucOff and scrub round a few times with the brush. Rinse off.

About every tenth ride replace Shimano HT II bottom bracket because deapite being careful not to aim hoses or degreaser anywhere near the bb shell, I’m clearly still getting something wrong and they’re indexed / seized after not many rides . I think it’s because there’s no heating and i sometimes go a couple of weeks without riding so water is sitting around the seals in the shed. Something thats sealed properly needs to be ordered on payday!

I tend to ride fully rigid this time of year, saves the FS from the worst. Hosedown after ride, leave to stand for an hour if possible, spray chain & pedals with WD40, put away.

It’s winter. If I was to hose the bike down each ride I’d have an ice rink for a few weeks.

Let it dry, brush the worst off.

I’m using Mucky Off wetlube so there’s no yucky residue and the chain will likely get another minimal application before the next ride.

Get the Mrs/Child/Mother to do it for you.

Let it dry, brush it off, oil chain

@bikebuoy – don’t you have a valet to do such things?

Can’t find a link, but i have a rotating brush thing that attaches to a hose that you can fill with detergent – it’s effective, but not the greenest solution.
Also lucky to have an outside hot water tap to attach the hose to, so it means little effort but sparkling results!

I’ve got to do 2 bikes almost every time i go out at the moment, both mine and Jnrs bike…. his doesn’t take quite as long though, but it’s still a good 90mins between the 2 bikes ….

quick job here, sub 10 mins – bike off car, lean against steps, quick spray with muc off (not stanchions or seal), hose on a sprinkle setting, set of muc off brushes, work top down, rinse off. That bit takes about 5 mins all in. Dry with old towel, put hose away. Some fork juice on stanchions and reverb, some silicon 3 in 1 on levers/shifters, some gt 85 on mechs and a little on chain to stop surface rust. Bike back in garage. That takes another 5 mins.

The following day, apply chain lube of choice. Much of winter that, for me, is rock n roll blue, but even that has been defeated last few weeks, so muc off C3 ceramic wet currently in use. That takes maybe 2 minutes.

I’ve got to do 2 bikes almost every time i go out at the moment, both mine and Jnrs bike…. his doesn’t take quite as long though, but it’s still a good 90mins between the 2 bikes …

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I feel your pain.

Hose down every ride. Hot soapy water. Rinse off. Microfibre towel dry – important. Sopping wet bike is not a nice sight or great to put away.

Quick TF2 or RnR.

Every few rides a bit of a wax on the frame, wheels off and clean and wax inbetween awkward bits.

Find it easier to do it constantly than leave it. Looks after bikes better too, less muck equals less scratches and easy to maintain .

I assume it’s for cars but who cleans those?

FTFY 😀

One thing I’ve noticed with using hot water is that it causes frame protection tape to peel so cold or cool soapy water with either a j-cloth or sponge.

The acf-50 looks interesting – how long between applications?

I have found that it depends on the type of mud.

Sandy mud (swinley etc) can be left to dry and then brushed off the frame etc. Clean the chain with a baby wipe then re-oil.

Mud with a high clay content (ridgeway etc) needs to be washed off after each ride………….

Jet wash here!!!
and I know what someone is going to say but the cross bikes get jet washed at least once a weak sometimes a lot more and they are still working well.

Makes it a 5 min job 🙂

Have a watch of this, as it’s an MTB you may need to add a touch more time, but I reckon 10 minutes tops.

Straight out of car/back from ride – wheels out, frame in workstand.

Gentle hose off, poke big/sticky bits with muc off brushes, rinse wheels and cassette off.

Back wheel in, old rag on chain while cycling pedals by hand, then oil, then oily rag to take excess off.

Dry(ish) cloth, maybe with some product or other on and wipe over the rest quickly.

10-15 mins.

Chain cleaner aerosol used, then a bit of spray and agitate with paint brush on the sprockets/chainwheels.

Hose down, wipe stanchions with clean rag, dropper post if you’ve got an exposed bit, dab of oil on the seals, run chain through a rag, possibly dry off mech pivots, lube mechs and chain, run through all the gears, wipe off excess lube from everywhere on drivetrain, bounce forks/cycle dropper post a couple of times, wipe off excess lube from these, dry any brake pivots etc. that might corrode and seize up/wear out.

That takes me about 15 mins. Quicker version just doing chain/sprockets/chainwheels is more like 10 including lubing.

If I need it super clean, I’ll do that then take out wheels and cover brakes to use a silicone spray all over. Don’t do that often as it tends to tempt the weather to get absolutely horrendous so that it’d need a total full clean again in no time.

that it’d need a total full clean again in no time

Full clean… every ride… every every ride…

Top tip, if possible, is to have a bike-washing workstation to make the whole process more efficient. I find that the actually washing of the bike doesn’t take that long and I’m (usually) happy to do it. What annoys me is the muddy tip-toeing inside to turn the outside tap isolator on, getting all the bike wash stuff out, filling the bucket, rinsing the mud off the back yard afterwards, putting everything away again (usually wet!)….

For the cleaning itself:

1. Hose for big chunks of mud and debris
2. Hot, soapy water and a selection of brushes* for the more awkward bits
3. Chain cleaner
4. Spray lube on fork and Reverb stanchions, cycling the travel a few times to get dirt out from the seal, then wipe down (I read somewhere not to do this with rear suspension; don’t ask me why)
5. Towel down if the weather means the bike won’t dry naturally
6. GT85 to displace water from chains etc

*this type of brush is superb for getting in between suspension linkages and on hubs

….and this type of soft brush is a God-send for quick cleaning of the cassette

Only ride a hard tail during the winter which reduces the time around complicated suspension sections. If I do ride the full suss it’s no big deal to clean it thoroughly as it may go another month before its ridden.

Ideally with hard tail rinse it off when the mud is still wet and then leave it to dry. Depending on the drivetrain, dry it off with a rag and then apply slathering of wet lube. Once a month of so when it gets really bad, use chain cleaner and degreaser and then reapply lube. Maybe once every two months give it a proper clean all over.

I’m sure someone has already said it, but it does depend on where you ride as to how often you need to clean. A wet Dark Peak ride, for example, can leave grit and water in all manner of moving parts on a bike. This “grinding paste” can destroy components. A few miles away in the White Peak you’ll probably return home with a lot more sticky mud on your bike, but it’s arguably less damaging due to not being so abrasive.

Get yourself one of these bike washes..Even a child can operate it 😀

The quicker the better, gonna try a combo of a few of those I fink.

It’s the gritty paste on my cassette and chain that is the killer and obviously it sleeps in my bed so needs to be clean you jokers

Hose the bike in the dark, hang up to dry indoors. Next day, spot the bits you missed, wipe chain and relube. Maybe 10 minutes all in

I’m a recent convert to the hose brush after years of hot water and soap.

It’s quicker, less faffy and comes pretty close to the soap approach. OCD types won’t be happy with the finish, but it terms of functional cleanliness to see damage, wear and not drop shit every where, it’s perfectly fine.

Another +1 to the singlespeed here. Quick douse with the dirtworker as soon as back to the car or house and done. If you can be in the habit of doing it as soon as you finish, before you’re clean and dry and warm it’s less hardship than getting clean yourself and then covering your feet in mud again.

I’ve also got a cheap as chips rustproof BMX chain on it, so don’t need to worry about that either, just add lube to it once it starts to really squeak. Occasionally i might take it off to clean the swinley / pirbright sandy grit out to reduce wear on the drivetrain – but as per another thread, the whole drivetrain can be replaced for about £12.50 – it laughs at your fancy chamfered plate chains in this weather.

I’m often out on a ride pondering whether to have another 20 minutes riding or go home earlier to clean the bike. The former often wins 🙂

Oh for a life where my MTB ride is not sandwiched tightly between other commitments.