What do you do when your bike gets wet ?

[RedBike]

It all depends upon which bike we're on about. My commuter was never cleaned and my MTB was only ever cleaned so that I didn't get the car too dirty. My best road bike however is towel dried and cleaned before being put away

 

[al78]

Just get a couple of sheets of kitchen towel, get the worst off, give the chain a quick wipe (making sure to remove the water, not the lubricant) then hang it up in the living room to dry properly.

Funnily enough, riding the bike daily seems to help prevent the chain getting rusty. I find the chain only gets rusty if I hang the bike up wet and then don't ride it for a few days.

 

[martyp]

I run my air compressor up to about 120 psi, then blow the heck out of the bike.......gets into all the nooks and crannies and bikes is bone dry.

 

[Dunbar]

Wipe off the worst of it, then hang it in the garage to let it dry. Then lube and polish every Saturday or Sunday, depending on if I was at work on either of those days. But having not ridden for 15 or so years, it could do now with a good spruce-up. There's no rust though!

 

[Sheffield_Tiger]

I'll let you know in due course...

Since the right to take my bike in and store it in the dry warehouse is being removed and a cycle stand located as out of the way and attractive to thieves as possible ("it's chained up isn't it?") is on the cards at work

 

[Mark82]

carry on riding till it dries ...

 

[Bay Runner]

Wash the salt water off and let it dry

 

[NormanD]

Pretty much the same thing as ColinJ does, pick the bike up and bang it down on the tyres to remove the surplus water, I then park it on an old bathroom towel and let it dry.  Since I turtle wax the bike (often) I don't have to worry about wiping it down as the water simply drops off   

The bike gets checked over and lubed up (if needed) before each ride 

 

[Globalti]

It's pretty muddy and gritty in the Ribble Valley so I wash down with car shampoo, dry then remove the wheels and clean the brake blocks carefully to remove grit. Remove the seatpost and poke a cane with a wad of cloth around it down the tube, leaving the seatpost out overnight. Finally wipe the chain dry and the following day apply a little Finish Line.

The mountain bike just gets hosed down though.

 

[ColinJ]

 It isn't convenient for me to use a hose to clean my bikes. A couple of years ago I spotted a 5 litre garden spray in the local hardware shop so I bought that and it has turned out to be really useful. It's hand pressurised, about 40 strokes to get to full working pressure. I can get a bike pretty clean using about 2 litres of water. If I go beyond that, I need to re-pressurise. I suppose I could add a detergent to the water to cut through oily stains but I'm mainly interested in getting muddy muck off the bike and plain H[sub]2[/sub]O works for that.

 

[Globalti]

Bizarre confession time: Do you know, when I was about 14 I used to do gardening and general stuff at a friend's house (now an architectural award-winner, I'm proud to say) about 7 miles away from home, which I cycled twice a day. For some reason I got an idea that I wanted to leave a trail of water all the way so I strapped a garden spray full of water to my luggage rack and set up the nozzle to leave a 7 mile wet line all the way from our house to his. 40 years later I've no idea why I did this.

 

[fossyant]

Wet / damp rides, bike given quick wash with car shampoo and sponge - 10 mins.

Drip dry's in garage. Chain lubed and wiped if it's been a wet (rather than damp) ride. Sorted.

So if it's a wet week, the commuter will be washed each day.

 

[gbb]

Normal 'wet'..i just paper towel it down or use compressed air in the workshop.

Seriously wet, like when you've cycled through a downpour with no mudguards....this is what can happen (twice to me this year)..

Didnt even realise it . The bike actually fell over while i was working around it (it stays in the workshop at work with me). Muttered to myself at my carelessness, picked it up a few minutes later and notticed all the water on the floor. It seemed to collect in the cassette area, you could see it dripping continuously. Now i always lay the bike cassette down if ive cycled in serious water.
Also, upturn the bike...i had a ride once in a downpour, upturned the bike after (for another reason) and couldnt believe the water in the seat tube. Suppose it gets down the seatpost.

 

[ferret fur]

Just wondered what everyone does when there pride and joy gets a good soaking

I normally get a bloke in to fix the garage roof.

 

[Fab Foodie]

Just wondered what everyone does when there pride and joy gets a good soaking. Is it leave it to dry ? quick wipe over with a towel and that's it ? or the full works drying lubing etc etc,if so how long do you spend drying / cleaning ? Just curious really how riders differ in caring for there bikes.

Geo

Err, I just stand it up on it's rear wheel to drain the water out of the rear stays and then a quick colinj wheel bounce and put it in the garage.

The butler will take care of it later...