How often should you wash your bike? Much depends on the weather and the terrain where you ride. Brief advice from www.bikerist.com bicycle rental in Portugal.
If it’s raining and slushy and on rough terrain (after a hike, for example) – go straight to the bathroom. If in dry weather and around the city – once every 2-3 months. But in winter, you should wash your bike immediately upon arrival in a warm room until the snow and ice begin to melt. The dirt accumulated on and in the bike does not flow with the resulting water into the mechanisms. If your bike has been through serious trouble, and while riding, it has taken a sip of water and dirty water at that point, when washing, you can not be afraid to pour water on the bushings, carriage, stars, and derailleurs. However, you still shouldn’t overdo it. A strong stream of water is good for washing.
Do not put a freshly washed bike out in the cold under any circumstances in winter. Frozen water, expanding inside the mechanisms, can damage them. You can dry the bike with a hair dryer or wipe it with a cloth. By the way, cloth is the most popular tool for cyclists. Hard-to-reach places (systems, switches, cassettes, shifters) have the disgusting property of accumulating dirt. It is recommended to wipe them with a damp cloth once every two or three trips (or once every 100-150 kilometers in summer and once every 40-80 in winter).
Before washing
Before washing, use a degreaser for the chain (for example, Pedro’s Oranj Peelz). Avoiding direct water jets on any bike’s parts, especially the electronics, is better. To prevent water from getting inside the frame, use an organosilicon compound to treat the bottle cage mounts.
Cleaning agents
Liquid detergent, soap or Fairy, and water. If you are not satisfied with the cleaning liquid, try using car shampoo instead. Car shampoos are gentler and form a wax film on the surface, which will make the bike look more impressive than after bathing in soapy water.
There are many special bike cleaning products now (for example, Pedro’s for cross-country bikes and Pro-Clean for downhill bikes; the latter is used to wash motorcycles and does not damage disc brake pads).Liquid detergent, in combination with a soft/hard sponge, not only washes away basic sand, clay, and other organic dirt but also copes well with oil stains (oil itself, bitumen, stains of unknown origin).
Degreaser
Brushes. You can wash the frame with a sponge, but the dirtier parts of the bike need a brush, especially if you want to clean the bike well.You will need two wheel brushes: one for the chain and gears and one for the rims and hubs.You can use disposable cotton swabs soaked in kerosene to clean the cassette.
Washing
Washing the bike in the bathtub. Remove the wheels from the bike and place it upside down in the bathtub, with the saddle on the bottom and the grips on the sides.Use your hands to scrape off and throw away large lumps of dirt and grass so as not to clog the drain, and then use a fairly strong stream from the shower, using a stiff brush with plastic bristles (Fairy is very appropriate here), to wash off all the dirt. However, this must be done with extreme caution since there is a risk of scratching the surface with dirt particles. Do not direct a stream of water into the grooves of the carriage and headset – if water gets there, it will most likely remain there for a long time, which does not bode well.
It should also be said that if you just came back from a ride in cold weather, you should let the bike warm up, or you will have to wash it with cool water – sudden temperature fluctuations will not do your favorite thing any good.The wheels are washed separately, and there are no subtleties here, but again, they do not direct the stream of water inside the hubs.
Rinse the main components of the bike – rims, wheels, frame. Wait until the water soaks the dried dirt. Otherwise, when cleaning off the sand, you will scratch the varnished coating of the frame. Avoid getting too much water on the following components – hub anthers, cartridge, shifters, but you can not fear getting water on the chain; it is not scared of it. After letting the frame “get wet,” clean the dirt off the bike. Try to rinse, not clean off the dirt – do not spare the water.
Having cleaned the main components, move on to the hubs, rear and front derailleur, and system. They should be washe carefully with a small amount of water. This is especially true for the cartridge since there is no protective boot where it is attache to the hub, and the mechanism of the latter is especially vulnerable to water.
The chain is the most complex mechanism in a bicycle in terms of the number of parts, which is constantly subjecte to heavy loads and surrounded by city dust and dirt. It requires constant care since its wear leads to the grinding of the teeth of the system and cartridge and incorrect operation of the speed switches. Set the switch values so the chain is on the smaller front and rear stars. Put a bucket under it and pull it to the water.
You must try to clean each chain link from dirt and old y grease, so feel free to dip it in water and clean it with a toothbrush. It is more convenient to use a special machine to clean the chain. Pour warm water and Fairy into it. Compared to a toothbrush, the result is much faster and easier (pour – put it on – pedal – pour out the dirt – repeat if necessary).
If areas where drops of dirt and foam remain after washing the bike, they should be remove with a degreaser. An old toothbrush makes it easy to reach hard-to-reach places.
After washing
Wipe the frame, fenders, saddle, and steering wheel with a clean cloth (suede is perfect). Then, a can of lubricant in an aerosol package can be use to lubricate the bushings, switches, etc., mechanisms where water can penetrate.
When drying, the metal frame may seem dull due to the formation of phosphoric acid salts on its surface. To give the surface its initial shine, treat the frame with a polish used to treat the car’s coating. If, after washing, you find dirt that the detergent did not cope with, treat this area with a degreaser, scrub with a brush, and then rinse again.
Helpful tips for washing a bike
To remove the most ingrained dirt and even rust (for example, it helps if the bike was stored in damp conditions all winter, for instance, in a garage, and became very scaly) – the miracle liquid WD-40 is very helpful. This is a penetrating lubricant used as a powerful solvent. WD-40 also helps when you need to separate metal parts stuck to each other, such as threaded connections. To do this, you need to fill them with liquid, say, overnight.
Liqui Moly has similar products—LM40 and LM47—that contain penetrating lubricants, oil, and kerosene (the main components of “VED”). These additives reduce friction and increase the service life of parts (rust dissolution, long-term protection against corrosion, prolongation of the life of plastic and rubber casings, etc.).
When washing your bike, avoid direct sunlight. Hot weather and the sun “dry” the frame, contributing to the appearance of cracks on its surface. You can use a hose, but reduce the pressure to a minimum. Do not direct the stream at the wheel bushings, carriage, gear shifters, and steering column.
Never wash your bike before riding, as water retained in the “jackets” and other components will freeze at low temperatures, disrupting their functionality.
After winter rides, before bringing the bike into a warm room, it is better to leave it in the vestibule for 10 minutes and clean it of snow and dirt with a broom during this time.
If you ride your bike in the forest with no salt or dirt, it will be enough to wipe it dry with a clean rag. Otherwise, it should be washed thoroughly, and best of all, it should be used with car shampoo.
After taking a warm bath with foam and aromatic oils with your favorite bike, it (the bathtub) needs to be washe, and the best way to clean the bathtub from oil dirt is car shampoo!
On a multi-day hike, when there is no fairy and no machine for cleaning the chain addition, a clean chain stays for an hour, then rain or a sandstorm. That is when the chain begins to wear down mercilessly. The only way out is to wipe it with a toothbrush and a rag and generously lubricate it with oil! By the way, here is another observation from a long hike: if the chain was filthy, then in dry weather, after an hour or two of riding, the dirt falls off by itself, and the chain becomes dry and clean (even shiny), then it just needs to be lubricate.
For the lazy, the easiest way is to wash the bike in a car wash. Just lower the compressor pressure and go ahead. You can wash it with shampoo right away and then rinse it with clean water. The procedure takes 2-3 minutes in total.
After this procedure, all that remains is to wipe the bike with a rag and lubricate it.
Then, however, it is a pity to continue riding it – it is spotless.
Remember, a clean bike is the first step to having a working bike.
Dry wash
In the 70s, there were no sealed jackets for bicycles. Everything used in a mountain bike came from road bikes, which were not expose to dirt, unlike mountain bikes. So we started to ruin the bike’s components when we washed them with water because the dirt would get into the bearings – most people don’t realize that when they wash the bike, the water dissolves the dirt, and this beautiful clay liquid gets into the bearings perfectly. Many still believe that dry cleaning is enough and that you shouldn’t wash your bike. Here’s how it happens.
Procedure:
After the ride, let the dirt dry.
Start cleaning the bike’s top with a bottle brush and a narrow liquid solution brush in one hand. These brushes will get into all the nooks and crannies: around the shifters and brake levers, under the seat, under the seat post, seat clamp, brakes, top tube, and front and rear derailleurs.
Take a large nylon brush and brush off large accumulations of dirt everywhere—the bottom of the down tube, the fork crowns, and the fork itself.
After you’ve removed most of the dirt, move on to the chassis. Use a brush to remove paint and rust. Clean the inside and outside of the chain links.
Clean the cassette, clean both sides of the crank gears, and lube the chain—and you’re done.
Please note: Every climate is different. Certain types of soil, such as cement, will harden. In this case, you must resort to water to soften the dirt. The best way is to use warm, soapy water in a basin. Dip the same brushes into the basin and remove the dirt.
