Using a steam cleaner on my bike

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gbb

Legendary Member
Location
Peterborough
Decals may be a problem but I used to use a steam cleaner to clean machinery at work, never once did it damage paint,plastics or rubber...or anything for that matter.
Personally I couldn't be bothered to steam clean my bike unless I was seeking an occasional showroom clean on say my chainset, which is usually a mare to clean.
 

Banjo

Fuelled with Jelly Babies
Location
South Wales
In my shed I've got an old worn out bike chain thats caked in oil and crud ,and through curiosity I gave it a blast with the steam cleaner ,just to see how effective it could be at removing all the grime. Apart from some strange looks off the neighbours thinking that I had converted the shed into a Swedish sauna judging by all the steam coming out, it did a really good job of cleaning it. On the section I did there was no trace of gunky oil left and it looked squeaky clean..I,m not going to try it on my road bike though just in case it may cause me problems all ready mentioned here in the previous posts. (P.s
the cats still alive :-) :-)
I think it would be fine for deep cleaning a chain or cassette off the bike provided you dry and then relubricate them. No way would I put it near the bike though .Firstly you could strip grease and lube away also localised heat on metal can do strange things.Carbon Fibre would of course instantly dissolve.....
 

postman

Legendary Member
Location
,Leeds
In a similar vein.I noticed this morning how grubby and smelly my stainless steel watch strap was looking.Dark grey grease,body fluids and skin and dust no doubt.So in to an old cup with hot water and lashings of bleach.I tied the dial out of the cup with string.Hey presto fifteen mins later a brush and a rinse ,clean and sparkly.
 
Location
London
Sounds like a thoroughly bad idea. I fear you have fallen in love with this device. Praps you could offer to use it on your partner. If they decline, ask the neighbours if they need anything steam cleaning. Then the next road, town. There's very probably a book/blog of "1001 things to do with a steam cleaner for pleasure and profit and more pleasure".

Or you could always keep it primed for the politics/current affairs forum bit.
 
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