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Any good techniques for properly cleaning bike of sticky wet sand following trip to Swinley. New bike totally gnarled up by sand, everything that moves is making horrible grinding noises.
rinse with a hose
wd40 the chain
lube the chain
Should rinse off easily, low pressure hose not pressure washer. Swinley sand is easy to clean off, just rinses away. Lube chain afterwards. Job jobbed 🙂
Much easier if you clean bike down before anything has had the chance to dry.
If not then get hold of some Ducksmart bike cleaner, helps getting in and freeing up the dirt.
Low pressure hose off, cover moving parts in wd40 or gt85 (not discs or pads....), put in shed & do a proper job on weekend......
WD40 & GT85 😯
Do people really fall for Halfords guff? 😉
If you care about keeping things lubed and grease inside the bearings and chain... don't for the love of god use degreasers and solvents! I learnt the hard way in the early days thanks to the likes of Halfords who push GT85 with every purchase and wondered why my chain, headset and bearings were wearing out and grinding even worse after using the stuff.
Wash, low pressure - wipe dry - apply chain lube* to chain. Job done.
*- wax or oil based - never anything in a solvent based can.
If you want the muck/water repelling claimed features of GT85, polish your bike with furniture polish. Seriously. Pledge, Mr Sheen etc. It's great for keeping it sparkling and does add a bit of a repellent layer. It's especially good on carbon. Plus smells nice 😀
p.s. for gritty sand/mud conditions, consider a wax lube in future, like Squirt.
If you care about keeping things lubed and grease inside the bearings and chain... don't for the love of god blast them indiscrimately everywhere, show some common sense and restraint in application!
FTFY.
WD40 and GT85 are like any other tool, effective for their intended use, likely to cause damage if used incorrectly.
wd and gt are effective degreasers. the only function they perform on my bikes is on a rag wiping the frame down. or degreasing parts when I strip them down.