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I'm awful at washing my bike as we so often end up going for a beer after a ride and then it's home to grab some dinner at 9.00pm so it's the last thing you fancy doing at that time and then the weekend comes and you think I'm riding it today so the there's no point in washing it before I do as it'll instantly get filthy again and then do an exact repeat of the above so am kind of locked in a vicious circle.
If I literally just grabbed a hose and gave it a quick once over (avoiding sensitive areas) just to get rid of the worst and whilst the mud's still wet, is that better than nothing at all if I'm not going to dry it and would you spray the chain as well as it's often already wet if I'm not going to re-oil it that evening.
Quick hose, quick wipe of the chain with a rag, quick re-lube. Job done in 2 minutes. Full wash whenever I feel like it, but the above is what most of my bikes get most of the time.
If nothing else I would run the chain through a rag or some kitchen towel to dry it, then lube it. I used to hose the bike down to get the worst off but have concluded that mtbs are getting ever more sensitive to water so tend to do it with a brush/sponge and a bucket of water.
If I literally just grabbed a hose and gave it a quick once over (avoiding sensitive areas) just to get rid of the worst and whilst the mud’s still wet, is that better than nothing at all
That's more than I do. Mud comes off easiest when dry. No need to re-lube your chain every ride either.
As most of my riding involves a car journey before & after ..I always carry an old towel to wipe off the thick of the mud first ..the chain being the first thing to get a wipe down ( if nothing else ..)
As for washing ..it's mostly cleaning these days with a small brush once the mud has dried on ..(think dish washing ) ..and an old toothbrush for those hard to reach places..
I'm of the same opinion as Squirrel above that bikes are becoming ever more sensitive to water.
Lube where needed to finish ..
I used to regularly hose the bike down after every ride ..but I'm convinced that components have lasted longer cleaning it this way ..each to their own though ..
Dirt is only an issue (beyond cosmetics) if it gets into moving parts or holds water to cause rust.
WD-40 on the chain will disperse water after washing.
IME the people with the filthy bikes are the ones who have the most (preventable) mechanicals.
However after a night ride the bikes won’t get washed, or if we’re home late afternoon at this time of year I’m not washing the bikes in the dark. They get done as soon as possible though.
I have just tried (today) the uberbike bike wash stuff, really quick job. Hosed off the worst of the muck, sprayed on cleaner left it a bit then rinsed. Two bikes, 5 minutes, easy!!
Wiped chain off, may pop a bit of lube on just before the next ride.
This is why rigid bikes and/or singlespeeds are great!
For my commuter, if mud dried on then it gets a good wire brushing, and poking/scraping with a old snapped hacksaw blade. Chain is also wire brushed while pedals turned if possible. Chain then cooked in Putoline for half an hour.
I wash mine after (almost) every ride with a hose - brush + soapy water - hose. Then cover it with silicone spray, apart from the brakes. WD40 the chain. Brake cleaner for the rotors.
Takes me in total just under 10 mins.
The silicone spray actually helps keep it looking new and the mud has a hard time sticking to it. It also keeps the suspension and uppy/downy sweet.
Never oil the chain, never had any bearing issues in the 3 years I've been riding the current bike, still using the original chainset and I ride 3-4 times a week all year.
After race today as with every ride, full clean, chain off, pads out, cranks off, cleaned, dried, lubed. All good.
This time of year, a quick hose down while the mud's still wet takes 2 mins. A wipe down and re-lube adds about another 2 mins. Mine lives inside though, so needs to be at least presentable. Don't wash it nearly as often in the summer though
I only bother with the chain really.
Quick swizz through the chain cleaner gadget, rinse, then lube. Balls to the rest.
Meh. Just done Marin today. Back home in Notts. Bikes came out of car, are in house.
They may get washed in February 🙂
If it's been wet, I rinse off the dirt, and I spray Halfords bike cleaner on the chain then blast it with the hose. That gets the dirt out of the chain. Then WD40 on chain before I put it away.
Otherwise I don't bother.
WD-40 only on chains for 200 rides a year?
Usually just a rinse to get the worst off, then WD40 the chain to push the water out, ready to relube before the next ride. Unless I'm riding it again the next day, in which case I'll just knock the dry mud off it then.
I only properly clean a bike with soap if I'm taking it somewhere far away - helps reduce the spread of tree/plant diseases.
I only properly clean a bike with soap if I’m taking it somewhere far away – helps reduce the spread of tree/plant diseases.
+1
WD-40 only on chains for 200 rides a year?
No, WD40 to stop it going rusty in the garage - I lube it again before going out.
Mud comes off easiest when dry. No need to re-lube your chain every ride either.
This.
benp1
Subscriber
This is why rigid bikes and/or singlespeeds are great!
I'll hold you to that!😋 "Eyes up single speed that is almost finished."
Oh, one of the best methods to clean a bike,imo, it's to use mud guards!Lol Ok, the drive train still cops it but your clothing and the rest of the bike (shock/forks/dropper) definitely benefits I reckon.
"Eyes up almost finished SS with mud guards fitted front and rear."
Always properly wash mine.
Hydroshot - degrease - hot soapy - hydroshot - TOWEL DRY - lube up.
Occasionally a wax or polish.
Get your routine sorted and your amenities set up and it's not really a problem.
My bikes ride well, look well and are easier to maintain.
Don't have any issues with bearings etc other than fairly slow wear and tear.
Can't see any other way I do loads of miles and need my bikes to be prepped all the time.
The whole myth about keeping them dirty is somehow good for them is rollex.
WD-40 only on chains for 200 rides a year?
GT-85 for me for every single application on the chain, never use anything else. Chains last 2000+ miles outdoors, I had a chain Snap about 10+ years ago, but that's it....
Quick hose, quick wipe of the chain with a rag, quick re-lube. Job done in 2 minutes.
Yep, that is all I do. With my current chain, KMC treated anti rust thing, I don't even need to hurry to dry the chain off as it doesn't rust. I find the mud comes off easiest if hosing down immediately after the ride rather than leaving it to dry.
Every month or so I wash it with a big sponge and some car shampoo.
my bike is a cat, doesn't like water but gets an occasional brush.
Does GT85 do the same job as WD40 in keeping chain rust free after a post ride wash?
Does GT85 do the same job as WD40 in keeping chain rust free after a post ride wash?
Yeah, same stuff in many aspects.
Thanks
Low pressure hose, maybe a soft brush for stubborn muck, run chain through 2 or 3 generic wipes and relube. Do this pretty much every ride - every now and again I pop the seatpost out to make sure no water has got in and collected in the BB. It does happen occasionally but I’ve now started greasing around the seatpost (after installation) and that seems to have stopped it.
I've stopped using muc-off chain lube on the enduro, turns the chain a black sticky mess. Using squirt which lasts longer and the chain needs no more than a hose and a brush on the outer links. Need to degrease the chain on the trek.
Midweek rides, if its proper mucky, bike gets a rinse/dry, pivots and chain get a spray of water dispersant.
4 rides last week and haven't cleaned either bike!
I gave up with chain lube years ago. The lube would allow the grit / mud to stick to the chain and act like a grinding paste. Then need a proper clean with some chemicals to remove it only for me to re-lube it again. Seemed daft. I even tried the chain checker thing, but it was still a compromise.
For the last 15 years I have just washed the chain with a hose, then sprayed it with WD40. It removes the water, stops it going rusty and stops it squeaking. The tiny amount of oil may lube it. The chain never gets dirty, mud / grit tends to fall off.
But I found it takes 2 or more years of 3-5 rides a week to kill a drive train. On my current Capra the drive train is all good after 3 years. I don't recall snapping a chain in decades. Plus I only use cheap chains.
Bike chains are not under much stress, unlike a camshaft in some high revving jap engine. So if you ignore the Chain Lube marketing you find you don't die.
To quote from Santa Cruz...
Q: I'm lazy and lack motivation, what can I do to prolong bearing life?
A: Stop washing your bike so much
As for GT-85/WD-40. Never ever anywhere near grease, i.e. bearings. Also chain lubrication counts on the inside. The outer surface doesn't really need much. Stop with thick oils that suck in the dirt and then needs degreasing regularly. Oils on the outside act as a water repellent but for mountain biking it's mainly mud that gets on the chain, sticks with the oil and the dirt gets drawn into the chain rollers and grinds away. GT-85/WD-40 is a water displacer to drive out water on a freshly washed chain which is useful, but doesn't do the job once dry. GT-85 has lubricant also, but it's next to useless on a chain. Additionally it's also a solvent and any decent grease inside the chain (if you haven't degreased the quality factory lube inside) may get stripped out.
Ideal is a wax type lube, spin the chain to get it inside and let dry. Outside the chain doesn't really need anything. Chain wear occurs inside (rollers wear thin, slacken, which causes the apparent "stretch").
IMO - chain lubes are very subjective 😉
If the mud has dried, use a good stiff brush to get it off, for vanity you can then always spot clean it with a damp cloth/sponge. 😉
If the chain gets mucky, give it a clean with one of those gizmos where you back pedal the clean through a cleaner, spot rinse off somewhere around the middle of the chainstay before drying with a towel and then re-lube. Otherwise, if using a wet lube, add some fresh every few weeks or so.
at that time
9.00pm
really?
Just had two fat bikes to clean.
Get both bikes out. Go to greenhouse (opposite side of house) to get bucket and brushes. Clean both bikes down which takes four buckets of water. Put bucket and brushes back in greenhouse. Total of fifteen minutes. OK, I now need to let them dry but I don't have to be there for that. Once dried it's a case of lubing the chains then put bikes away.
30 sec blast with jet wash.
30 sec wipe down with cloth.
30 sec drying chain
60 sec spent on GT85 and chain lube
Genuinely not exaggerating, life it too short so spend time polishing something that will get muddy again during the next ride.
30 sec...
30 sec ...
It really depends on how blimmin dirty they are!
30 sec blast with jet wash.
This used to be my routine at the garage across the road until one particularly filthy ride when i decided to hose off my bare calves too. By jebus that was sore. I decided after that the hype was probably right and it probably wasn't good for bearings so now it just gets a quick gt/wd on the chain and into the garage until next time is ridden. Occasionally all the bikes get taken out of the garage and washed properly but that's maybe a few times a year.
Hose - full sponge down with soapy water - hose again and lube. After every ride on a new bike for first 6 months.
Then after love affair has worn off it just gets put in shed dirty like all the others with a brief clean every 3 or 4 months.
That’s more than I do. Mud comes off easiest when dry. No need to re-lube your chain every ride either.
this
After race today as with every ride, full clean, chain off, pads out, cranks off, cleaned, dried, lubed. All good.
Where did you find enough mud on the Minley course to justify all that??!! 🧐
So basically, lazy people don't bother (and probably moan when their bike breaks), obsessives obsess over it (and probably fix their broken bike when it breaks) and biking is still biking.
I'm obsessive, but lazy, so I pay someone to fix my bike after washing it to death 🙂
at that time
9.00pm
really?
Not sure exactly what was meant by that and if it was just questioning / doubting the time got back but we don't go out to ride until after work which is somewhere between 6 / 6.30pm, 1.5 to 2 hr ride gets us to the pub at 8 / 8.30pm, couple of pints and then a 10 minute ride back from the pub .... if it's a good night I don't get back until 11.00pm and that's not because the rides any longer (how do you insert a smiley in this site).
Interesting to read all the replies .... would love to see a comparison of what you could earn if you worked instead of cleaning your bike vs the saving made by washing it more often and which came out on top.
Any earn / save comparison would fail as its dependent on too many variables. Also if you wash your bike in degreaser, you will end up replacing the bearings fast.
I actually enjoy the 10 min bike washing, but I'm OCD'ish. Also I cant actually start a ride on a dirty bike, so for me Id happily rather wash my bike than spend that time earning money.
would love to see a comparison of what you could earn if you worked instead of cleaning your bike vs the saving made by washing it more often and which came out on top.
I don't work, don't wash my bike frequently and I've no idea of what "saving" you think I'd make by doing so.
Also I cant actually start a ride on a dirty bike
Must be a bugger carrying all that cleaning gear with you on a multi-day ride.
Dry clean the mud, pads out for a caliper clean and piston reset. Once a month soak the chain in a bottle of 2 stroke oil and hang up for a few days between rides, power washers and detergents are bearing killers.
I love cleaning my bike. There seems to be alot of pride taken in treating your rides like garbage here to me, something i'll never understand. Wasn't brought up like that i suppose! I bet almost all of you are riding a MUCH more expensive bike than mine too, so I'm not sure why the 'life is too short' mantra really is the driver. I like the reassurance of knowing the bike is in the best condition it can be - granted i probably should be more care free but still its a weird badge of honour. Seems to be cool to ride it into the ground and pull it out of the garage/shed covered in crap. Its been like that as long as i have been riding too!
I will say though, that there is a relationship between how long you spend cleaning when you don't ride much (two small children..)!
power washers and detergents are bearing killers.
Don't think so. Especially if you use a small lightweight power washer and a bit of common sense i.e. don't stick the thing right up against your fork seals. I don't currently use one but until the last one broke I used one all the time and I got years and years out of bearings. Far more than many on here seem to.
There seems to be alot of pride taken in treating your rides like garbage here to me, something i’ll never understand. Wasn’t brought up like that i suppose!
I don't think it's anything to do with that .... at least not for me anyway .... I just don't fancy cleaning a bike when I get home at 9.00pm and am hungry and there's also the trade off of other things to do with the time.
I'm sure if I ever get round to retiring I'll have a nice clean bike but heaven forbid I leave this earth before then if anyone was reading my eulogy I much rather they quoted me as a fun loving party animal than someone that had a clean bike.
Don’t think so. Especially if you use a small lightweight power washer and a bit of common sense i.e. don’t stick the thing right up against your fork seals. I don’t currently use one but until the last one broke I used one all the time and I got years and years out of bearings. Far more than many on here seem to.
Well good for you! I'll stick to my regime you stick to yours. Good luck with your new small lightweight power washer, hope it lasts for a bit longer than your last one.
I’ll pretty much always wash my bike straight after a wet ride - obviously I don’t on those rare dry days but they’re few and far between.
Although, in Greece, the killer is that talcum powder-like dust - I reckon that’s worse than peaty mud.
I was the same with trials bikes - I hated to turn up to an event with a shitty, dirty bike, in spite of scrutineers frequently taking the piss - “It’ll only get dirty again, lad!”
It’s when you’re cleaning a bike that you spot stuff that’s not quite how it should be, in my experience, and besides, I always liked fettling a bike ready for a comp - old habits die hard, I suppose.
1- Hose rinse to remove excess mud.
2- Hot soapy brush scrub to remove remaining filth. (Car shampoo & wax stuff).
3- Hose rinse to remove remaining soap.
4- Blast dry with compressed air, paying particular attention to bearings, chain and seals.
5- Lube as appropriate.
A year spannering bikes in a shop in my mid twenties was enough to make me hate working on filthy bikes, which customers brought in.
As such, mine gets a quick wash after each ride. I hate having a filthy bike and not letting dirt, grease etc accumulate means it’s easy to keep clean. A really weak solution of Fenwicks, a soft brush and hose - minging bike to sparking in about 10 minutes. I’m in the WD40 then a light lube camp which seems to work for me. No dramas with chain or bearing life and I like to think I’m maintaining the re-sale value of my bike. Each to their own!
There seems to be alot of pride taken in treating your rides like garbage here to me, something i’ll never understand. Wasn’t brought up like that i suppose! I bet almost all of you are riding a MUCH more expensive bike than mine too, so I’m not sure why the ‘life is too short’ mantra really is the driver.
I guess saying that I use a wire brush on my commuter bike could give that impression. That bike was a warranty replacement, it's nearly 7 years old, and it has been ridden 5 days a week year round for the past four years. Did 4 hours of the Brighton Big dog on it. Learnt bike handling skills on it. Killed two pairs of suspension forks on it before fitting rigid forks. I've spent £1325 on it over it's lifetime. Riding it 5 days a week cleaning sometimes goes out the window after an extended cold muddy commute home in the rain.
I've been getting all nostalgic over it today because last night I ordered a new frame and forks to build up a 650b commuter with a spare set of wheels.
I think the lines have become a little blurred on this thread ..
There is a difference between washing and cleaning your bike ..
I always clean my bike..just not with water..
I clean the chain with some lube and an old sock, the fork and shock and dropper stanchions with a kitchen towel, and knock off large bits of mud, especially around the drivetrain. My bikes always look filthy in the winter but ride well and rarely break.
If you want your bike to look new then by all means wash and clean it thoroughly but don’t kid yourself that a shiny frame has any advantage to mechanical lifespan or reliability.
power washers and detergents are bearing killers
Rubbish.
Leaving crap all over your bike to grind around its various parts is likely to cause more issues.
I may not wash my bike that much but I wash it a lot more than my car. My car gets a wash about 3 times a year. The inside is clean though.
I wouldn't use car shampoo and wax on my bike, it has discs, don't think wax and disc brakes are a good match...!
Rode Sunday morning, mildly gloopy, peaty and lots of pine needles.....
Hosed worse off with garden hose, cleaned and lubed fork stanchions, shock and chain, job done.
Moving parts don't work very well with crap stuck in them.
Aluminium tubing doesn't degrade because it has a bit of mud stuck to it.
light shower with the hose, then sponge off the worst with water and a bit of detergent. Clean the chain with a fenwicks sponge and sprockets with a brush if they're bad. Dry with rags, lube chain and slidy bits... 10 minutes maybe? I keep all the washing stuff in one of those flexible tubs so it's ready to go. I will occasionally give the bike a full valet just because it's nice to look at all shiny but not at this time of year.