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

It has to be REALLY bad for me to wash the bike. Washing is usually just hosing off the mud

Only bother thinking about the HT, the rigid bike gets wheeled into the garage and left to dry there. I pick the worst of the mud off the bike next time round

Drawing up list of who to buy bikes from and who NOT !

I know the magic sheets work wonders for my legs and arms after a night ride. I wonder whether wrapping the bike up in a duvet would help.

Rinse off with cold water hose and a brush. Liberally spray chain to remove fine grit. Towel dry. Leave next to radiator in dining room to fully dry. Lube chain and put away. This after every off road ride, and most long wet road rides. If it’s on a bike i’ll be riding next day, it doesn’t get put away. The only exception is the trike. That doesn’t really get cleaned, just the chain cleaned and lubed. And it’s a long chain!

Using the chain degreaser and a paintbrush every ride really stops the gunk building up on the cassette and chainset, and it barely takes any longer than just hosing the bike off.

If you don’t have a hose, arrange to have one.

Anyone use the Park Tool DH-1 dummy hub (or equivalent)? I like to remove the wheels when cleaning the bike for better access and this would allow me to still clean the chain on the bike. Worth spending £18 quid on or just clean the chain before removing the rear wheel? Or remove the chain and clean off the bike?

I remove chain with quick link and stick in cleaning stuff.

philjunior – Member
Using the chain degreaser and a paintbrush cassette cleaning brush and chain cleaner every ride really stops the gunk building up on the cassette and chainset, and it barely takes any longer than just hosing the bike off.

FTYF

Is engine degreaser safe to use on chains/ cassettes/ cranks?

Or what is the cheapest available?
Edit. obviously after removal

Does it make any odds whether you clean the bike straight after a relatively muddy ride, or do it before the next ride?

Silly me did another post-work ride today, glad I still had the fat wheels installed because the off-road bits by Northam Bridge and Old Cutbush Lane were a bit sloppy in places after Sunday’s downpour. But stupid me left home without the Fatboard mudguard set, so the bike and I got a little mucky. 😳

Tonight I gave it a test run 🙂

Before the ride I got my ‘wash station’ ready 😀
Bucket
Sponges
3 different brushes
screwdriver
lubes
degreaser
Chain cleaner
Rags
Old towel

Good ride, bit dryer tonight but still came back caked in shite, it was dark and cold.
I set the clock and got to work
Warm bucket of soapy water with a stiff brush to clean the big stuff
Thin Flatbladed screwdriver to clean jockeys + anything from the cassette
Sponge down
Sprayed drivetrain with some degreaser
Change sponge to clean chain and cassette, then cassette brush
Chain cleaner device
Fresh bucket of water and sponge down
Towel for quick dry
dry rags on stanchions and quick lube
Put tools away
Hid up the broken flower pots (don’t ask :oops:)
Lube chain
Bike away

42mins 🙁 It was a good’ole clean up though so plenty of room for short cuts/improving. A hose and brush would save quite a bit of my time.

I find I don’t need to degrease hardly at all with r&r and lighter lubes. Just need to lube often.

Stick bike in the dishwasher, or ride through a car wash.

This thread does have me wondering just how much lube folk are using.

iainc – Member
philjunior – Member
Using the chain degreaser and a paintbrush cassette cleaning brush and chain cleaner every ride really stops the gunk building up on the cassette and chainset, and it barely takes any longer than just hosing the bike off.
FTYF

Nope, tried cassette cleaning brushes in the past, not found them much cop, an article on the BC website by one of their mechanics recommended the paintbrush, it really works well (I’ve assumed unused paintbrushes are best!)

Use putoline chain wax on your chain. Once the excess is wiped off the chain remains clean and well lubricated for many rides even in the worst conditions and your chain and cassette does not gum up

42 minutes!!

Get a rigid singlespeed, that’s torture in this weather.

Rigid bike with Rohloff here. Change oil annually and chain and rear sprocket at approximately 3 year intervals. Add gear box oil to chain as and when enough mud has been washed of it by the rain.

water will kill your bike quicker than anything so….

…find a warm dry place and leave it to dry…
…remove persistent dirt by hand/brush…
…relube as necessary

Once a year repeat the above process but USE A VACCUUM CLEANER WITH THE SOFT BRUSH ATTACHMENT WOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I’ll put this on here as well.

I am so evangelical about putoline being so much better than any other lube for longevity and cleanliness that I will offer to treat anyones chain if they want – Edinburgh based

Rohloff and belt drive. Takes the hassle out of things. I find myself riding more as I worry less about maintenance and just get on with riding whatever the weather.

When the weather is dry and my bike is clean, i polish all the paintwork with car wax, then lube the drive train.
When i get back from a muddy ride i just spray it with the garden hose & the mud just flies off due to the car wax.Then i dry the chain + re-lube it.
10 mins tops.

Only wash it when you have to. Keep the chain and stanchions clean and lubed, forget the rest. Water will wreck all the bearings much quicker than mud will.

If you do wash it, ride it the next day. A clean but wet bike is a corroding bike.

Get a mudhugger on the rear, a crud catcher on the downtube and a fork mounted mudguard on the front.

After each ride, clean it straight way (while the mud is still wet) with a Mobi Jet Washer. These are mobile so if your ride ends at the car, it is still not a problem. it does however require the full 17 litres of water if you want to clean everything including the wheels and frame.

The Jet Washer in itself cleans everything, sometimes spray some washing up liquid on the bike to speed things up.

The only thing that requires additional attention is the drive train.

Going 1×10 also seems to help with the gears, gets much less problems, as there is less moving parts for the mud to wreck.

That’s all I ever do and thats with a full suspension bike and it doesn’t usually need much replacing over the Winter. 200-300 miles per month November-March.

So then, anyone brave enough to google

“lube vacuum cleaner attachment rigid torture belt spray quickie”

at work? 😆

Wash, wipe, WD40/Gt?? (avoiding disks) and re-lube after every ride at this time of year

Full brush and deep clean every 2-3 weeks

Crap and tech stuff but good at cleaning!!

My Jetwash is my best friend through the long wet muddy claggy Kentish winters ,used 3 times a week -job done in 5mins makes it almost pleasure not a chore. Quick towel dry and re-lube and bikes ready for another round . 🙂

Tap water and a soft brush.
Spray with Scottoiler FS365 (water-soluble rust-inhibitor).
Kettle on.

Total time – a couple of minutes, max.

Rone, I thought you were using a “clean by air” machine. Is that still in use k has it been retired? I seem to remember Chipps saying the mag was getting one to test. Did anything ever come of that?

My most ecellent washing routine for those who hate washing bikes but like them to look nice and shiney…

Buy a big 5ltr bottle of no nonsense degreaser from screwfix for £5 This dilutes down to 1 capfull per litre.

Buy one of those big garden sprayer things and fill with the diluted soltion. This shouls last a few washes depending on size of sprayer.

When faced with a dirty bike…

Hose bike

Spray bike

Leave 5 mins

Hose again

Leave to dry

Quick re lube.

Minimum effort and you have an “as new” bike waiting for you in the shed every time.

Re. the water in bearings thing, I will sometimes spray some wd40 or GT85 at bits I don’t want staying wet, but tap water is going to corrode a lot less than salty water that you will often end up with this time of year.

speaking from experience that will strip the grease out of your bearings!