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recently moved into a 1-bed flat in the inner-city.
No garden, no garage obviously, no obvious place to clean my bike. What do others do? Lug a bucket of water down to the nearest park? I don't do a lot of hardcore MTBing these days but it does get quite muddy on the commute (will probably get a lot worse after summer!)
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^^^ 😛
I have taken my bike to the petrol station and used their DIY carwash stuff. Soapy foam and brush, then jetwash. Not terribly convenient unless you live opposite a petrol station.
good tip! i do live very near a petrol station actually....
i vaguely remember being advised against jetwashing a bike though - something about blasting the seals?
(which, given that my hubs are 94 XT, is probably quite a risk)
Portable pressure washer?
@cfh is that on the directors cut of the Danny Mac vid
Those side of the road handwash car valet places only charge a few £s for a car, a bike's surely got to be a lot less!
I used to follow CFH's post, albeit not quite as nice a sight...
Now it gets done at the end of the ride using a Nomad pressure washer. Low enough in grunt not to damage seals etc if you're careful. That or I do it on the road or in the carpark at home, either way same kit. Bottle of muc off, towel and brush all fit in the storage compartment on the Nomad so it's nice and easy.
I have just cleaned the jizz out of 3 tyres in the bath though...
MucOff, kitchen brush and a pressurised garden sprayer (B&Q) on the path outside my gaff is how I do it. It gets the most off. Technically I have a garden (2x2m) but weird things grew out of it after I washed my bike their and it's my landladys anyway. Not sure why you need a garage to clean a bike though.
When lived in residences used to wash bike on fire escape stairs - old metal style on outside of building with bucket of water. Was on 5th floor.
[url= http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/was-i-doing-something-wrong ]Wash it on the balcony![/url] It worked for Molgrips. 😆
When I was a student I just used to a watering can and brushes in the hedge so I could clean my bike when I got back. I also had one of those big survival bags that I could but it in.
that pressure wash thing is a myth. there are pressure washers at every trail centre in the country, and at the bottom of lifts abroad... firing hot water at 150bar right tup against the seal aint gonna do it any good obvs, but just give yourself a few inches between the hose nozzle and the bike, the more gruff it has the further back you stand.
blast the clumps off, give it a once over with mucoff then a rinse.
Mobi battery powered pressure washer for me. Not hugely high pressure, so kind on your bike.
Fill it up before I go on a ride and leave it inside the flat door, fetch it out and clean when I get back.
Used a bucket of water before, this is much quicker and easier!
Good ol' bucket and brush seemed to work for me. Why complicate things?
When i lived in Brizzle I often used to get the train after a muddy ride, often used to dip it in the fountains at the end of the Watefront before getting on the train. 😛