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Don't ever clean your bike! Seriously! Its just not worth it!
I only meant to give it a bit of a de-mudding, last night. Its a rare enough thing in itself. Its normally hurled back in the shed to wallow in filth until next time, with a mere whif of GT85 in the general direction of the drive chain.
Anyway.... first I noticed the headset was a bit notchy, so I took the forks off. I wish I hadn't. New bearings needed in there, for a start. While the bars were hanging there I thought I'd whip some new cables in, which led me to actually have to look at the drive chain. Hmmmmmmmm. Wish I hadn't done that either. Its not pretty. In fact, its ****ed! No wonder the shifting is a tad free-spirited. And whats that..... the brakes could do with new pads, and they're Avids, so a bleed too.
Basically I ended up sat there in a mountain of filthy nackered parts, persuaded off the frame with the aid of a hammer. I'm going to have a right old bill at the LBS at lunchtime 😥
So... my advice is never clean your bike. EVER! No good can ever come of it!
My dad always said '[i]a clean car is a sign of a sick mind[/i]', I like to apply this to bikes too!
This one of the benefits of having multiple bikes when it comes to one of these impromptu strip downs.
You can ride one of the others whilst you wait for all the new bits you suddenly find you need to arrive.