Cleaning your cycle, how far do you go?

[De Sisti]

Put it this way last week a did a full clean on the commuter so it was pristine and after one day the chain was so caked in muddy water that the lube had been stripped from the chain , the joys of country lane commuting.

Use mudguards with long mudflaps. That way your chain will not attract as much muck in less-than-ideal conditons.

 

[Vantage]

It used to be a case of polishing the bike to within an inch of its life.
These days it'll go months and then get a quick hose down.

 

[Big John]

In answer to the thread title, the garage. Sometimes a little further to the shed at the bottom of the garden 😉

 

[wafter]

Usually when a bike is new / new to me it gets stripped and cleaned to the extent that I can (carbauba) wax the frame and major components.

The chain also gets waxed which as others have pointed out largely removes the need to use degreaser on the bike - certainly not to the extent necessary with oiled chains to get all the caked on shite off the rest of the drivetrain and adjacent components.

Once the honeymoon period's over it gets a lot more slack. Washing seems like a waste of time in the winter given how quickly everything gets covered in crap; and while I don't mind dirt on stuff it's good to keep rims, derailleurs etc fairly clean to reduce wear.

Once the weather improves in the spring the bike usually gets chucked on the stand, wheels off and given a good going over with a soft-bristled brush and car-shampoo in a bucket of warm water before being rinsed (ideally with distilled water out of the condenser drier).

A decent set of mudguards will go a long way towards keeping the worst of the crap off, although good luck with that on a Brompton as the standard ones offer limited coverage and nothing on the aftermarket seems any better. I found extending the front flap with a bit of pop bottle made a massive difference to what was being thrown all over my feet / more importantly up into the bottom of the seatpost tube to then get ground into everything as the post is repeatedly deployed and collapsed.

Bromptons are especially bad generally both for keeping clean and preventing from eating themselves..

 

[fossyant]

Another here who says life is too short to wax a chain. @mickle method is all you need to keep a chain nice, clean and working well.

I like to keep all my bikes nice and clean as a matter of course. Not only do they run/ride better. When you are cleaning bikes regularly you do become a little more aware of any impending problems or issues.