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Cleaning your bike, what do you use?
Posted: Sun Jun 23, 2013 10:24 pm
by Pedaling
Hi all,
With this atrocious weather in Sydney ATM, I was wondering what products people clean their bikes with?
My old bikes I have always cleaned with CT-18 truck wash, then lubricated what I needed to.
My motorcycles, with CT-18 and a dash of metho.
Although I have just bought a carbon bike, and was hoping to get some advice as to what other people use.
I "Mister Sheen" my bikes as it makes cleaning them much easier later. Will "Mister Sheen" affect my carbon frame/components?
Cheers,
Darrin.
Re: Cleaning your bike, what do you use?
Posted: Sun Jun 23, 2013 11:15 pm
by Duck!
Muc-Off bike wash. Brilliant stuff. Lightly hose the bike over, spray Muc-Off on, leave for five minutes then hose off. Bike comes up trumps.
Re: Cleaning your bike, what do you use?
Posted: Mon Jun 24, 2013 6:49 am
by MREJ
Car wash or bike wash for the occasional big clean, with chain cleaner and re-lube of chain, cables, dérailleur and brake pivots. In between times it's up on the work stand and baby wipes, with a chain re-lube if needed.
Re: Cleaning your bike, what do you use?
Posted: Mon Jun 24, 2013 9:07 am
by Marty Moose
I use ct18 too its great stuff, also use Mr sheen never had any carbon issues with it. Bike shop I worked years ago also used mr sheen.
Sent from my MB526 using Tapatalk 2
Re: Cleaning your bike, what do you use?
Posted: Mon Jun 24, 2013 9:21 am
by jasonc
baby wipes for the frame. recently use polish on my bike (cut and polish). definitely makes it easier to get the gunk off
kero for the chain and gears.
Re: Cleaning your bike, what do you use?
Posted: Mon Jun 24, 2013 10:57 am
by Saturnstarzz
Kitten wash and wax for the bike, hose off dry with Chamois , every 3 months cut and polish. Drivetrain citrus degreaser rinse with hose relube.
Re: Cleaning your bike, what do you use?
Posted: Mon Jun 24, 2013 9:21 pm
by Pedaling
Thanks for the replies everyone.
Appreciate it.
So after a good clean up, what type of lubricant do you use for your drive train, cables and shifters?
I am using rock'n roll gold for my chain, which I am very happy with. I have used Inox for my drive train previously, although it tends to attract a lot of dirt.
Are there any better options?
Cheers,
Darrin.
Re: Cleaning your bike, what do you use?
Posted: Tue Jun 25, 2013 10:13 am
by MREJ
Pro-link is good. You can also get a really useful Pro-Link syringe which is good for all the little bits
Re: Cleaning your bike, what do you use?
Posted: Tue Jun 25, 2013 10:17 am
by blixpho
Side question:
I 've been cleaning my drive train with a microfiber cloths and they are all full of grease. How do i was them so I can reuse them again? I dont care about the stains, just want to get all the gunk and grease out.
Re: Cleaning your bike, what do you use?
Posted: Tue Jun 25, 2013 3:14 pm
by clackers
blixpho wrote:Side question:
I 've been cleaning my drive train with a microfiber cloths and they are all full of grease. How do i was them so I can reuse them again? I dont care about the stains, just want to get all the gunk and grease out.
I'll use microfibres on my frames with car wash (and launder them occasionally). But the drivetrain cloths are throwaways when they get manky.
Re: Cleaning your bike, what do you use?
Posted: Tue Jun 25, 2013 3:17 pm
by Tim
I have always cleaned bikes with an oily rag.
I can't bring myself to point a garden hose at metal parts or poorly sealed bearings.
Re: Cleaning your bike, what do you use?
Posted: Tue Jun 25, 2013 4:22 pm
by jacks1071
Marty Moose wrote:I use ct18 too its great stuff, also use Mr sheen never had any carbon issues with it. Bike shop I worked years ago also used mr sheen.
Sent from my MB526 using Tapatalk 2
Leave a piece of alloy in it for 15 minutes and tell us if you still think its good stuff.
Unless you are washing a truck, I don't suggest using truck wash.
All you want to use is car wash, some kero and a brush on the chain and oily bits and you are all good.
Re: Cleaning your bike, what do you use?
Posted: Tue Jun 25, 2013 4:26 pm
by toolonglegs
Dishwash liquid bike, diesel drive chain.
Re: Cleaning your bike, what do you use?
Posted: Tue Jun 25, 2013 7:14 pm
by Mulger bill
toolonglegs wrote:Dishwash liquid bike, diesel drive chain.
Rinse it off well, that DWL is full of salt.
Re: Cleaning your bike, what do you use?
Posted: Tue Jun 25, 2013 11:21 pm
by _mike_
Carbon and alloy bikes I use a combo of mr sheen/ silicone spray / soft rags. Save the water for dirt bikes / quads
Re: Cleaning your bike, what do you use?
Posted: Wed Jun 26, 2013 2:16 pm
by FuzzyDropbear
Pedaling wrote:Thanks for the replies everyone.
Appreciate it.
So after a good clean up, what type of lubricant do you use for your drive train, cables and shifters?
I am using rock'n roll gold for my chain, which I am very happy with. I have used Inox for my drive train previously, although it tends to attract a lot of dirt.
Are there any better options?
Cheers,
Darrin.
I used to use rock'n roll blue stuff I think, I'm not sure about the gold, but I gave up with it cause I went through a bottle fairly quickly and I dunno, being able to degrease and lubricate at the same time didn't sit well with me. Now I use a wet lube for my chain for most of the year, I'm currently using a FinishLine bottle, but I did use a bottle of other branded stuff and didn't seem to make much difference to me. The blue RnR stuff didn't seem to last as long as the wet lube either, I was forever applying it compared to the wet lube, but again, I never used the gold stuff so I'm not sure what it's like.
Cheers.
Re: Cleaning your bike, what do you use?
Posted: Wed Jun 26, 2013 2:50 pm
by HappyHumber
Sheesh... Why are people so beguiled with $$ specialist products? A bucket of warm water, cheap laundry soap & a few different shaped brushes. Rinse off with the hose being mindful of not directly spraying any bearings with full pressure (hint : put your thumb over the end and pretend you're a sprinkler nozzle)
A light spritz afterward around "sensitive" areas with water dispersing WD40 or the like.
I won't go into chain lube. it's a personal, spiritual issue for all of us. Dead horse flogged well beyond the blood & bone stage in this forum and many others. Magic verb: Search.
Re: Cleaning your bike, what do you use?
Posted: Thu Jun 27, 2013 4:37 pm
by pjt
For frames I use a basic cleaning product, hold the WD40 though.
For chains I use an orange-based degreaser, in a similar way to how I used to use petrochemical degreasers. The benefit is that by the end of it the bike (and my hands) smell like oranges, rather than a petrol refinery.
For chains I use "Orange Solv" mixed 1:1 with water (250 mL of each), in a container to seal and shake with the chain and leave for a few minutes, before removing the chain and blasting it with high pressure (preferably hot) water. You can leave the solution to settle and decant ~95% of the good stuff for re-use. I bought a 5L jug of the stuff five years ago and still have about 1.5L left!
Re: Cleaning your bike, what do you use?
Posted: Thu Jun 27, 2013 10:36 pm
by ValleyForge
HappyHumber wrote:Sheesh... Why are people so beguiled with $$ specialist products? A bucket of warm water, cheap laundry soap & a few different shaped brushes. Rinse off with the hose being mindful of not directly spraying any bearings with full pressure (hint : put your thumb over the end and pretend you're a sprinkler nozzle).
Yup - $2 can of citrus degreaser from SupaCheap and a bucket of car wash soap. Dishwashing brush and a roll of chux.
Leaves more money to pay for Profide for the leather saddles.
Re: Cleaning your bike, what do you use?
Posted: Thu Jun 27, 2013 11:08 pm
by MarkG
Water, tooth brush , dishwashing liquid.
Re: Cleaning your bike, what do you use?
Posted: Thu Jun 27, 2013 11:24 pm
by jacks1071
I used Citrus degreaser in my chain cleaner, flushed it out with water. When I went to use it the next time it was a melted pile of rubbish.
Anything you put on your bike, you can't hope to wash 100% of it out - some of it is going to make its way into places you can't flush it out.
Keep the citrus for your orange juice.
http://www.finishlineusa.com/frequentquestions/
Citrus Degreaser is our original degreaser. 100% Biodegradable, made from natural ingredients and strong! It’s 100% active, no water dilution – so it cuts thru the junk fast. However, you must be careful around plastic parts – Citrus Degreasers (all brands, not just ours) will craze, warp or melt many types of plastic. Additionally you must be careful not to soak rubber parts in Citrus Degreaser for more than 30 minutes or so, (again any type of citrus degreaser – ours is 100% pure, so it happens faster). Always test first if you are cleaning plastic parts and don’t leave parts containing rubber seals or o-rings to soak for extended periods of time. If you are primarily cleaning the chain, gears, and mostly metal parts – Finish Line Citrus Degreaser is the choice for you.
Re: Cleaning your bike, what do you use?
Posted: Fri Jun 28, 2013 11:03 am
by FuzzyDropbear
jacks1071 wrote:I used Citrus degreaser in my chain cleaner, flushed it out with water. When I went to use it the next time it was a melted pile of rubbish.
Anything you put on your bike, you can't hope to wash 100% of it out - some of it is going to make its way into places you can't flush it out.
Keep the citrus for your orange juice....
Really? What citrus degreaser did you use? I'm using Finish Line degreaser and I once forgot to empty the chain cleaner, came back to do the chain the following weekend and nothing had happened to mine. Now I regularly just leave it in there and nothing's melted. I dunno, maybe difference concentrations of something between brands?
Re: Cleaning your bike, what do you use?
Posted: Fri Jun 28, 2013 1:37 pm
by jacks1071
The one I had was Park Tools brand.
Re: Cleaning your bike, what do you use?
Posted: Sat Jun 29, 2013 6:21 pm
by ValleyForge
jacks1071 wrote:The one I had was Park Tools brand.
Hmm - I buy the FinishLine citrus degreaser in bulk and use it in my ParkTools chain cleaner - never had a problem in the 4 years I've had it (two brush changes from wear & tear though). As well, I've left that degreaser in plastic tubs for weeks and never had an issue.
I reckon you can dilute it 1:10 and it still works brilliantly.
Re: Cleaning your bike, what do you use?
Posted: Sat Jun 29, 2013 6:31 pm
by Nobody
I just wipe my bike down with a bit of metho on a rag.