[Closed] What do you use to clean your bike ?

I use Swarfega degreaser. You can get it from Halfords in 1L concentrate for a fiver, once diluted it does exactly the same as Muc Off and you get 100L for the same price.

I use Swarfega degreaser. You can get it from Halfords in 1L concentrate for a fiver, once diluted it does exactly the same as Muc Off and you get 100L for the same price.

You use de-greaser to clean your bike or just the drivechain?

I've got some of that citrus degreaser stuff i use for cleaning the chain and cassette - where you have to dilute it.

Could i water that down and use that ?

I use Turtle wax to wash off the bike, but I don't soak it in water; just lots of soapy suds 8)

I then just dry it off with a microfibre cloth and use Mr Sheen to shine it up.

I do also use a bit of GT85 as well to clean the drivetrain, then once dry, lube it up with 'purple extreme.'

I did use Fenwicks once after a mate lent me some and that was really good, brought all the dirt off in what seemed like seconds.

It was that good though, I was a bit worried about using it all the time and if there would be any issues with it affecting the finish etc.

Fairy Liquid and warm water and a brush, mostly. Diesel to degrease the chain if it needs it.

Do not use de-greaser diluted or otherwise to clean anything other than the drive chain, just use water on its own or with a dash of washing up liquid and rinse.

Without wishing to sound rude, it isn't rocket science.

I then just dry it off with a microfibre cloth and use Mr Sheen to shine it up.

Holy crap, really?

just water.

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just degreaser and soapy water on the chain then lube it, throw into garage until next time

KINGTUT - Member

I then just dry it off with a microfibre cloth and use Mr Sheen to shine it up.

Holy crap, really?

I daren't go overboard then and tell you that I only use the flowery Mr Sheen so I'm at one with nature when I'm out 8) lol

quick blast off with water if really icky if not i just leave it . if its really lucky i might take give it a warm brush with fairy but only if its been good 😉

fenwicks is great stuff... cleans bikes very well, better than muc off anyway, and cheaper.

Cheap Halfords Car shampoo, diluted in a hot bucket of water. And then just use car wash sponges and some unused paintbrushes for cleaning. Does a good job and got it down to about 30 mins per bike tops for a back to newish looking bike. Will use muc-off every 5th ride or so, and mainly just on the drive chain. I dont like using degreasers too often.
Clean the chain with an older sponge with loads of soap and hot water and run the chain through it. Its seems to be how the pro road mechanics do it after the tour de france stages when I went to watch. I run the chain through a chain cleaning device with a proper de-greaser every other ride or whenever required.

+1 for washing up liquid. Apple fresh bike! Citrus degreaser for drivetrain.

30 mins per bike

😯

The juices of a thousand virgins and monkey spit.

Spray of Muc-off degreaser on the drivetrain, run the chain through a chain bath with degreaser in it (depending on how grimy it is, which seems to mean more or less every ride for MTB, maybe every 5 or 6 rides for the road bike unless it's been really filthy)

Bowl of water and a cloth for everything else, then rinse it all down with a hose. Usually 20 mins tops with a longer one every so often.

Usually I'm on the train and when I get home I'm still in my riding gear, so I try and do this as soon as I get in and before cleaning myself.

I like the look of that Fenwicks stuff you just spray on the chain and brush off- was on the front page a while ago but I haven't seen it in the shops yet.

When at uni...a bucket of water, a sponge then it gets a lube. At home a hose down, ad the drivetrain is degreased with fenwicks pink foamy stuff every once it and while... and then it gets a lube. Sometimes give the frame a wipe with tf2 / gt85 as well to give it a shine. Depends if I can be bothered or not!

Washing up liquid contains loads of salt, as a water softner, not good at all for your bike.

Car Shampoo, the wash and wax variety, will leave a residue that will affect the performance of your disc brakes.

You paid hundreds, or more likely thousands of pounds for your bike, why on earth would you scrimp on looking after it?

I find Fenwicks FS1, diluted 1:10 works great, and is safe on anodized frames, brakes, shocks etc. Spray on, brush to loosen the dirt, hose down. I find one of those brushes that fits onto the end of the hose really useful.

FS1 is also great for cleaning/degreasing the chain/cassette etc if used neat, so you only have to buy one product, not two.

Just spray it down with a hose if really mucky. If it still looks dirty after it's dried, it gets a wipe down with an oily rag (old t-shirt with some WD40/GT85 on it).

After almost every ride:

Quick hose off, spray most working parts (NOT the chain) and bike with Muc Off Bike Spray (repels dirts and lubricates) then wipe the chain with a rag.

About once a month I use a chain cleaner (ahem - Muc Off chain Doc) with a built in degreaser spray then I oil it with Green oil and wipe the excess off.

About once every two months I do a full on clean with Muc Off, brushes and everything.

Occasionally GT85 the moving parts too and regrease the pedal bodies.

If you have nice shiney paint that you'd like to keep shiney, don't use washing up liquid or laundry detergent. They'll clean the shine right off it.
I use CT20 car wash and wax, quick and easy and cheap.
I use Rock n Roll blue on the chain, so It doesn't get dirty enough to need degreasing very often.

[i]Washing up liquid contains loads of salt, as a water softner, not good at all for your bike.[/i]

Good job it's hosed off after... 🙄

Like PP, chain off, soapy water, hose off, rinse chain in white spirits if it needs it, re-lube, back on bike, bike in shed...tea

Fenwicks is really good stuff. It seriously reduces the amount of effort needed to clean a bike. Even when diluted it cleans the chain and cassette very easily.

Pressure washer when i get home. When its dry i wipe it all down with a dose of GT85/wd40 & Lube the drivetrain and forks with wet lube

Washing up liquid contains loads of salt, as a water softner, not good at all for your bike.

BS pedalled by those wishing to sell overpriced cleaning products. SO what if it has salt in? It gets rinsed off.

If it's reeeeaally mucky, it gets hosed a bit and GT85/WD40'd on the mechs to shift the water.

Drivetrain is cleaned with an old washing up brush and an oily rag. Dry. Chain then gets re-lubed. Occasionally the chain gets bunged in an ultrasonic cleaner (a cheap one from LIDL) and relubed.

Do you really rinse all traces of it away from all the crevices etc?

Like I said, you spend four grand on a bike, then will only send 59p on cleaning it.

Each to their own.

Like I said, you spend four grand on a bike, then will only send 59p on cleaning it.

Each to their own.

My bikes are cost about £150, £1100 and £1400. And Fairy Liquid is on offer at 2 for £2 at Tesco. So there! (Diesel I get for free from work)

And using that logic, why would you drag them through mud, water, rocks, cowpats and other crap in the first place?
It's an MTB to be used in all weathers, not a scalpel to be used in an operating theatre you know!!!!!!

And you're talking to someone who can replace an entire drivetrain including rear mech and rear hub for £45, so you're pissing into the wind matey!
🙂

I used to use one of those pump spray bottle things with some ecover washing up liquid in- it did a great job.
These days a hose with a bucket and sponge.

On a cautionary note [b]never evere ever[/b] believe some old BS you find online that watered down turps is exactley the same as Muc off, it isn't and it messes up everything from the stickers through to the bearings. 😳

Car shampoo and a sponge.

But have been told baby tissue wipes?

Mine is washed by hand, as in no sponge, and subsequently massaged in all the right places. A brush is used for the hard to reach spots. The chain similarly gets a good going over with fingers and a toothbrush. Only then is the bike lubed.

de-greaser and washing up liquid is designed to do the same thing (combine grease with water). personally i wouldn't use washing-up liquid as it is corrosive whereas de-greaser has been formulated to be kind to engines (aluminium and steel)and not to damage paintwork in-case of spillages. i don't use it full strength though except for on the drive-train.

Can someone from Singltrack do a poll thingy on 'don you use washing up liquid when cleaning your bike ?'

I wait for it all to dry and use the hoover, once in a blue moon I use whitespirit and soapy water on the chain and cassette.

Sometimes I get my eldest to wash it with water and washing up liquid.

Seems pretty mad to do the whole spotless, polish, OCD thing - It's a mountain bike!!

On a cautionary note never evere ever believe some old BS you find online that watered down turps is exactley the same as Muc off

Please tell me that's a wind up? Please...? 😯

Washing up liquid contains loads of salt, as a water softner, not good at all for your bike.

Hang on - I've got a bike outside that's been cleaned with washing up liquid pretty much every week for the last 20 years

..........back in a minute

I'm in luck - it hasn't corroded into a pile of dust .... phew 😉

After every ride just good lube where needed.

Then when it really needs it, it gets hosed down, wheels off, everything washed with hot soapy water and a sponge and brush, wheels back on, drivetrain degreased and cleaned up, everything dried off, grease up seatpost and pedal threads etc, then everything properly lubed up with finish line ceramic lube which has proved to be quite good so far and GT85.

Just what I do of course - i used to use carplan triplewax but have loads of AutoGlym car shampoo so using that now and its pretty bloomin good 😀

+1 Fenwicks 1:10, leave and rinse. Then hot soapy water, normally turtle wax car shampoo. Dry with a rag and buff with GT85.

Peterpoddy- if only, if only....

It seemd almost plausable and I was very new to this MTB thing.

it's in my top ten list of stupid things I have done along with throwing a valuable guitar up in the air at the end of a gig in an art gallery with a stone floor.

I use some stuff a mate makes! , he works in a chemical factory and one of the lab tech guys stole his Muck-Off and reverse engineered it. Guess what only an inch and a half in the bottom of the bottle is chemicals the rest is water.
I get 10L for £5

i dont like washing up liquid- it makes the skin peel off my hands and i have to walk around for weeks looking like ive got leprosy everytime i have to shake someones hand.

You mean bikes aren't self-cleaning??

I don't wash mine, I bathe them.
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What is this 'washing of bikes' of which you all speak??

(Wanders off confused,shaking head)

😉

The member of my riding group who cracks first and offers to clean it for me "because you should be ashamed of yourself" 😀

water. warm water if it's cold outside.

ermm.... that's about it plus a bit of oil or grease where it's needed.

some of you take this maintenance malarky far too seriously.

My wife.

Most of the time, hose down after ride if really covered in crap, put in shed

Recently bikes have been suffering (prob down to above cleaning rota over winrer) so as the evenings are longer, remove chain, scrub, GT85 then fenwicks lube. Washing up liquid & spongue for the the rest of the bike. job done.

Oi Hairy! Nice duck! 😆
Cleaning bikes..........what ever, when ever i really have to with ever's to hand.

soak in 'Dirt Juice'
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and a bit of fork juice for the shocks
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+1 for the Juice Lubes stuff above, I'm really impressed with it.
If you give the frame a quick wazz with the fork juice it helps stop mud sticking to it.

Life is pointless without a little duck, innit?

Bucket of soapy water, sponge and toothbrush for the hard to get areas.
rinse with a bucket of plain H20 afterwards.
Petrol for the chain when it's really mucky (which is hasn't been since I started using squirt!).

[url= http://googlefight.com/index.php?lang=en_GB&word1=Washing+Up+Liquid&word2=Overpriced+Bicycle+Specific+Cleaning+Solutions ]Google prefers washing up liquid[/url] 😉

Halfords car shampoo and car brush, then rinse before finishing with GT85 on rag. Halfords citrus degreaser on chain when needed.
I only clean after really muddy rides and loving the dusty trail that we've had for the last month which has meant chain lubes only.