Quick Clean

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Hi,
After years of abusing my old clanker of a mountain bike I've just got myself a full set of brushes, cleaning fluid, lube etc in preparation for taking delivery of my new CX and am all prepped to lavish the new machine with a lot more love.
I'll be doing around 20miles a day Mon-Fri in all weathers and the odd long weekend ride in fine weather. I'm planning to clean it thoroughly every Friday on my early finish. Will that be enough to keep it rust and crud free and in good working order?
Also, on the midweek nights when I get back and the bike's wet/mucky but I don't have time to give it a clean and family duties call (esp in winter when it's dark when I get back) is there anything quick I can do to help stave off the worst of the rot? My dad said to give it a quick wipe over with a clean rag and spray the moving parts with WD40 to disperse the water but I'm not so sure with the stuff that's in WD40 that it's wise to go spraying that on all over my nice new 105 chainset. Is a quick wipedown the only thing really or are there some other 5-min routines that can help tide a bike over til it's cleaning day again? Cheers.
 

DCLane

Found in the Yorkshire hills ...
I wipe over with baby wipes if wet but clean the chain and lubricate - the rest will cope. Also the tyres get checked for grit, etc. in them.

My bikes get a weekly proper clean.
 
Personally I use a micro fibre cloth and Mr Sheen for the frame and a sponge for the chain, run the chain through the sponge, slip it over put oil on other side and do same again to oil chain. Done in 10 minutes. You could use a hose pipe as long as you don't pressure wash the grease out of places. WD40 works nice on the frame but is a real expensive way to keep it clean, wouldn't put it near the oily parts as they tend not to be oily afterwards.
 
OP
OP
EasyPeez

EasyPeez

Veteran
I wipe over with baby wipes if wet but clean the chain and lubricate - the rest will cope. Also the tyres get checked for grit, etc. in them.

My bikes get a weekly proper clean.
Do baby wipes offer some advantage over a clean rag? Sounds needlessly expensive otherwise. When you say clean the chain, do you just run it through a cloth and then re-lube, rather than wash down, dry and re-lube?
 

DCLane

Found in the Yorkshire hills ...
Do baby wipes offer some advantage over a clean rag? Sounds needlessly expensive otherwise. When you say clean the chain, do you just run it through a cloth and then re-lube, rather than wash down, dry and re-lube?

I use the cheapest baby wipes going, so cost-wise it's fine. There's probably not much difference.

In terms of chain cleaning; I clean with a baby wipe and re-lube. Search on here for 'Mickling' or 'Mickle method' for thsoe who are a bit more caring than me!
 

chrisuren

Well-Known Member
Give your bike the once over when you get in, if you've got time and there is still light, things that will go first are the moving parts on the bike, it's important to know what too look out for, a new chain is roughly £6-£10 and riding on a new chain is the best feeling in the world, if you let your chain decay over a long period of time/lots of use it will wear out things like the cassette, bike cassettes are relatively in expensive <£100 but if you can always try to keep a chain in good working order.

Cleaning the cassette is also a must, I do my weekly, the chain ring and crank set are also very important to keep clean as they can be very expensive to replace.

Maybe worth checking the tyres after a ride, check for grit, glass etc (Check carefully though) and after about 3/6 months (or whenever you notice) replace the brake/gear cables.

Other than that, a quick wipe down with some baby wipes will be fine for the week, there is however no better feeling that giving your bike a deep clean on a Sunday.

If you're not familiar with any of the terms I've mentioned (I know it can be overwhelming) this photo will explain what everything is, then I would suggest go on youtube to watch how to clean that particular part.
 

slowmotion

Quite dreadful
Location
lost somewhere
Mumsnet recommend Lidl babywipes
Only in the bedroom, I think.:thumbsup:
 

steveindenmark

Legendary Member
I use almost no water on my bike, the bare minimum and only rainwater from the water butt.

I then use auto wax on a rag to clean all the bike and polish it off.

I then use the Mickle method on the drive chain.

It's an easy system, quick, clean and works.
 

cyberknight

As long as I breathe, I attack.
Just make sure you keep the chain clean, put my MTB away over x mas and when i got ti ready for work yesterday evening the chain was solid, took a liberal spray on wd 40 and wriggling each link to get it moving again before i could lube it.
 

Globalti

Legendary Member
In winter, salt is your worst enemy. You ought to rinse the bike off after riding on salted roads but you can wash a bike too often and let's face it, you're not going to wash it off after every ride. So my advice would be to oil and grease everything. Even get some lanoline and spread that on vulnerable bits. Against my usual advice I would say use 3 in 1 oil on the chain to protect it then clean and re-lube the bike whenever possible.
 

wisdom

Guru
Location
Blackpool
This is the method I use for all my bikes.Commuter hybrid, roadies and mtb.
The commuter is used daily in all weathers but does benefit from full mudguards.(Around a 10 mile commute each way).
Every weekend
mickle the chain, simple quick and easy, cost effective too as no solvents or gadgets needed.
Clean between casette sprockets and wipe over front chainrings(folded babywipe for this).
clean rims with a clean cloth or baby wipe if very dirty/gritty.
Give the spokes a wipe as mine are black
wipe all frame down with a cloth and gt85.if very dirty a baby wipe or 2 first.
Drop of lube on all pivot points, literally just a drop as any excess attracts grit, and goes messy.
:pump: Top up tyres to correct pressure check for flints and glass in the tyres and thats it.
Takes about 15-20 mins in total unless anything needs adjusting.
By doing this weekly i keep on top of everything.
After winter i give the chain a go with fenwicks foaming chain cleaner and sponge then just mickle.I also remove the wheels thoroughly clean the frame check everything grease anything that needs it and re assemble.
This works well for me.
My choice of lubes is below( but thats just my preference).
I use wet lube in winter and dry lube in summer.Small bottle lasts ages as only a drop on each chain roller.I use fenwicks wet lube and stealth for the dry lube
TF2 on the pivot points
 
OP
OP
EasyPeez

EasyPeez

Veteran
Search on here for 'Mickling' or 'Mickle method' for thsoe who are a bit more caring than me!
Brilliant, thanks! That's just the kind of thing I was hoping to learn. I can def do the Mickle every evening when I get in, plus a quick wipe down of the bike with wipes/rags. Cheers.

@chrisuren - thanks for the considered advice. A few months ago much of that would have been indecipherable jargon to me but such is the power of Cyclechat that I understand all of that now and intend to act on it as part of my weekly cleans.
and after about 3/6 months (or whenever you notice) replace the brake/gear cables.
This took me by surprise though - is this really a thing, even with disc brakes? I anticipated the cables lasting much longer for brakes and gears and imagined any probs in this area would be picked up in the annual service. Do you change your own cables?

Against my usual advice I would say use 3 in 1 oil on the chain to protect it
Why is this contrary to your normal advice @Globalti? And if so why would you suggest it in this case? I've got some 'muc off' wet lube as part of my cleaning kit so based on advice above was planning on a nightly Mickle with that, and a weekly re-lube of all moving parts after my full Friday wash-down.

@wisdom - thanks, sounds like a good routine and pretty much what I'll be following every Friday.
I use wet lube in winter and dry lube in summer
I didn't realise there were wet and dry lubes. How do they differ? Are there different advantages to each, or is it a purely seasonal thing? If so I guess I'd better get me some dry lube come Springtime.

Cheers all for the advice, feel more confident in the task ahead now.
 
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