How do people clean their bikes? I live upstairs in a tenement and carrying buckets of water up and down is a real pain. I have considered finding a garage with a pressure hose type car wash but not sure of advisability or indeed if bike would be allowed?
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Bike cleaning
(17 posts)- Started 13 years ago by tammytroot
- Latest reply from wingpig
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Posted 13 years ago #
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Out the back was the only place available when I lived in a flat but I limited myself to one bucket for washing and another for rinsing. Kaputnik mentioned somewhere that he'd used some sort of magic cleaning/polishing product in his hallway using newspapers. When I can't be faffed to go outside I stick a dust sheet under the bike, brush off the dried-on slushgrit with an old dustpan-brush then clean using baby wipes. The Toujours brand sold by Lidl are cheap and powerful enough to remove manky road-gunge.
Posted 13 years ago # -
I'm new to this game and live on the 4th (top floor).
The other night I let it all dry, put newspapers under the bike and wiped everything down with a dry cloth.
A quick wipe with some damp papers towels and bob's yer Uncle.
Last night I used wet paper towels to wipe it down with then drier ones.
Mind you if you've been downhill etc and it's totally covered in crud maybe pop it in the shower and spray it down avoiding drowning the BB hubs etc.Posted 13 years ago # -
Quite like the pop it in the shower idea. The wife on the other hand seems a bit less keen :-)
Posted 13 years ago # -
Lots of flat dwellers do it in the bath....
Garage-type power washers are generally a no-no as they'll push dirt into the bearings and wash out all the grease.
Posted 13 years ago # -
Doesn't help with the top flat issue but some (groups of?) people might like this sort of thing.
http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav.jsp?action=detail&fh_secondid=9956447
Posted 13 years ago # -
I have cleaned a bike in the bath before. Cleaning it afterwards with my degreaser and some fairy liquid seemed to do the trick. Mind you it wasn't my bath.
Posted 13 years ago # -
It's often said on the vehicle forums that fairy contains salt and therefore should be avoided, so I mostly use car shampoo, don't know if it's true though!
Anyone washing bikes in the bath must have *very* understanding significant others lol
Posted 13 years ago # -
I don't clean mine. It just gets dirty again!
Only if the performance is going to be affected, i.e. moving parts, would I wait to brush off dry crud, then oil. I've had mixed success using solvent cleaners and the chain box tools, because although it seems to make everything happy, chains which have been degreased never seem to be the same afterwords, IME. (Could this be to do with applying the wrong sort of lube, perhaps.)
Posted 13 years ago # -
Recommended if you are stuck in the flat and don't mind the place smelling like WD40.You'll need a load of newspaper and old clothes to tear up for disposable rags.
Posted 13 years ago # -
"It's often said on the vehicle forums that fairy contains salt and therefore should be avoided, so I mostly use car shampoo,"
I meant for the bath. :-)
Posted 13 years ago # -
Ahah! That makes sense :-)
Posted 13 years ago # -
not sure of advisability or indeed if bike would be allowed?
Don't squirt any pressure washer thing into any of the areas where there's bearings (bottom bracket, hubs). No problem for blasting away crud off the frame but I'd save your money as a bucket and warm water with detergent will achieve the same.
Posted 13 years ago # -
that photo should go in the next .citycycling!
Posted 13 years ago # -
Great pic! Showed it to wife but she still threatening dire consequences if I try it.
Posted 13 years ago # -
Considering the amount of time it took me to clean away the traces of having cleansed the mudguards in the bath I'd probably still be there now had I cleaned the entire bike in the bath rather than taking it outside after taking the picture. There was a particularly unpleasant yellowish-green substance infesting the drivetrain and rear wheel today.
Posted 13 years ago #
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