washing the bike and thinking............

[mr Mag00]

There i was washing down a very muddy mountain bike and gosh it gets everywhere. the more i washed the more i noticed the nooks and crannies that the crud was difficult to get to with the sponge.

It got me thinking....bikes never used to be this hard to wash no suspension, not such a cluttered handlebar setup, levers, grips, quick release. it all seems built to quite fine tolerances, not much room to get a sponge or a cloth in.

is it a deliberate attempt by the manufacturers to get you to buy more componentry? i bet most people dont wash their bike this well so the crud builds up and wears out the parts and hey ho new parts required

KERCHING! money in the bank.


not for much for it i thought i need a small brush, so a toothbrush is by far the best thing to get in around the suspension, rear and front mech, the screws on the calipers, the handlebar levers and grips, lockout mech. it all needs a good clean i thought, the wheel hubs , jockey wheels, still musing over the conspiracy theory.








whats the best way to sterilise her toothbrush?

 

[Globalti]

Gawd that was hard to read. Don't you do punctuation and paragraphs at all?

Agreed, they could make bikes much more mud proof if they really wanted. Exposed fork stanchions are a joke, they ought to be inside a gaiter. Disc brakes are a huge improvement but are still affected by wet conditions, they could also be shielded like on motocross bikes. The blokes in my MTB club who ride full-suspension are always shelling out money for new bearings, bushes etc.

 

[Lisa21]

and gosh it gets everywhere. the more i washed the more i noticed the nooks and crannies that the crud was difficult to get to with the sponge.

I have just got in from a VERY muddy day on the bike and was thinking the exact same thing but when I was in the shower


+1 for the toothbrush making life easier tho (on the bike, not myself I hasten to add!!!)

 

[Sam Kennedy]

I have just got in from a VERY muddy day on the bike and was thinking the exact same thing but when I was in the shower


+1 for the toothbrush making life easier tho (on the bike, not myself I hasten to add!!!)

You don't brush your teeth?

 

[Lisa21]

D'OH.............you know what I meant

 

[Mr Pig]

Your memory is wonky, they were just as bad. I had a Chopper and it had loads of places that were hard to clean, like the springs on the seatposts and between the frame and mud guards. It's just that I used to enjoy cleaning it! Many a sunny afternoon was spent with a duster and a tin of Pledge. These days I have too many other things to do, the bike can stay dirty.

 

[Cubist]

Gawd that was hard to read. Don't you do punctuation and paragraphs at all?

Agreed, they could make bikes much more mud proof if they really wanted. Exposed fork stanchions are a joke, they ought to be inside a gaiter. Disc brakes are a huge improvement but are still affected by wet conditions, they could also be shielded like on motocross bikes. The blokes in my MTB club who ride full-suspension are always shelling out money for new bearings, bushes etc.

I think shrouding everything would be worse. Gaitered fork stanchions are notorious for keeping water and rust out of sight and out of mind. Shrouded discs would not only be heavy, but would also suffer from a build up of mud and shite that you could only clean off by removing the shrouding!

Jetwashing bearings and bushes will never prolong their life-expectancy!

 

[lady_rider]

Shoelaces are the way forward... they can get into all sorts of weird nooks and crannies to make life easier (erm, I AM talking about bike washing. or keeping shoes on. Nothing else).

 

[fossyant]

Get a rigid old skool MTB...no problems......until you get your ass whooped descending.... make the time up going up hill.....