Cleaning The Bike

[Chuckles1981]

Is there and good tip u guys have for cleaning my roadies???

Should i follow a certain steps ???

And what kind of degraser & the best way to apply and clean the transmission??

and tip advice would be great..

[Kalgrm]

Is there and good tip u guys have for cleaning my roadies???

Not that I've found. They're all dirty rotten scoundrels, right down to the core.

Oh! You meant bikes?!?!?



To clean the drive train, remove the chain and scrub it with a good degreaser (citrus?) and toothbrush. Remove the cassette from the rear wheel and do the same. Scrub the chain rings on the bike.

A wipe with a damp rag (dampened with degreaser) is all the frame needs.

Cheers,
Graeme

[vitualis]

I find it much easier to give the bike a quick clean after a ride...

I use a paper towel to quickly wipe down the chain. Windex to wipe any obviously dirty parts of the frame (e.g., mud). I have a few brushes that I got off CRC that I run over the tubes of the frame that tends to quickly dislodge any light dirt.

The result? The bike is basically clean all the time and never becomes some dirty that it is difficult or a chore to clean. It doesn't take more more than 5 minutes at the end of each ride. I use Rock n Roll Gold as a lube so that chain stays mostly clean anyway.

Regards.

[lisanne]

I take the chain off and put it in an old mt franklin water bottle with turps or kero and shake shake shake, repeat a few times and then rinse under water and lay on the ground to dry. I then use a spray bottle of citrus degreaser and spray the runnung gear and using a toothbrush and/or old paintbrush clean it all.

For the frame and wheels I use warm soapy water and then get a dry cloth and some mr sheen for some extra shine I also find that the mr sheen gets even more dirt off and then also helps to make the frame easier to clean next time... just don't use it on the rims or on your saddle... lycra and mr sheen = slippery saddle

I then put the chain back on, put prolink (lube) on the chain and jockey wheels, run the chain through a rag to remove the excess lube and all is good

[Mot]

Some good advice here.
A question, when making contact with the chain, should there be any excess grease or oil on your fingers, or should it be relatively dry and leave no residue on your fingers/rag?

[Chuckles1981]

Is there and good tip u guys have for cleaning my roadies???

Not that I've found. They're all dirty rotten scoundrels, right down to the core.

Oh! You meant bikes?!?!?

LOL...

But do u guys clean the front and rear mechs???
and if so any good tricks/tips???

[familyguy]

But do u guys clean the front and rear mechs???
and if so any good tricks/tips???

Depends how far you want to go. Wipe them down with a rag usually. I wipe mine down every month or so, re-lube the chain and pivot points front and rear, take the back wheel off and clean the cassette.

Once in a while, take the chain off, thread a rag through the front derailleur cage and clean the inside faces of the cage. Clean the pulley wheels on the rear and the plate faces. Even further, you can take them off the bike and give them a degrease, then wash, dry, and RE-LUBE (I learnt that the hard way once). Change cables while you're at it, and you'll rarely break one. A good time to whip the cassette off if you can/want and give it a proper clean.

Other than that I just wipe it down every other ride, or after its been wet (puddles or rain). Nobody has ridden past and said "clean your bike ya grub!"

Jim

[hoon]

when you clean your deraileurs.... do you need to re lube them when you throw them back on?

[Caelum]

absolutely.

[thomas_cho]

With cleaning rear derailleurs, I noticed that there is green grease on the spring. That tends to collect gunk, my fingers are too thick (ok stubbby) to get in there.

What is the grease on the spring for? Any tips for cleaning out crap in there?

[m@]

> What is the grease on the spring for?

Lubrication. The spring is a moving part...

You should re-lube the springs on both derailleurs after cleaning. I believe that whatever you use to lube your chain is fine though - doesn't need to be grease. Happy to be corrected on that point though!

> Any tips for cleaning out crap in there?

Toothbrush does an ok job, I'm sure there are custom-made bike brushes that would be better. A small bottle brush would do a very nice job...

I generally tear a narrow (~5cm wide), triangular strip off a cleaning rag each time I clean the bike, and use it as a pull-through to clean hard-to-reach parts of the derailleurs, the cassette, between the chain rings and frame, etc.