Washing Your Bike

As crazy as it might sound, the most important key to washing your bike is how not to do it. Don’t go and put the super high pressure nozzle on your hose and blast all the grime off your bike, and please don’t ever take it down to the local coin wash and power blast your two wheeled love until its spotless. You might get the cleaning done faster with that type of washing but you don’t want to rid all of your beautiful components of their lube that is necessary for them to function properly. Your headset, bottom bracket, hubs, cassette, and pedals all need the lube that you may have just blown away. If you decide to ride your now spotless bike without the grease in this crucial parts you will surely ruin them very quickly, then you be looking at purchasing new or getting them repaired which both can be very expensive. Plus, if you treasure your paint job or any decals on your bike, don’t use a high pressure sprayer—it can very easily remove these right off your frame. So stay on the safe side and please just wash your bike with a bucket of soapy water, a couple of sponges, and a few brushes. You won’t even have to dig into your pockets or break the piggy back to get all those quarters out. If you are an avid biker and tend to come home all muddy you can set up a station to clean your bike right at home, so after your dirty ride you just come home and get your bike all cleaned up before you put it away.

1. Keep It Clean

Some encouraging information—Clean bikes are easier to work on, maintain, and catch problems on than a dirty, unwashed bike. When your bike is dirty you have to literally wipe away gunge and then you might see a problem that could cause an issue with your next ride. Another point to keeping your bike clean would be if your bike is a mess, then a normal easy on the road maintenance task like changing a flat tire would turn into a frustrating task, and then if you had to put that messy thing in your car it would get your upholstery just filthy. Maybe the best reason to keep your bike clean is it’s just so easy. As long as you are taking care of it, keeping it clean, it will look better, stay clean, and maintain better.

The few items you need to wash your best two wheeled buddy is a bucket, warm water(cold is okay but it doesn’t soap up as well), hand dishwashing detergent (pick one that cuts grease), two sponges, and a few brushes. Now, if you already cleaned your drivetrain then you can use just one sponge. Otherwise you’ll need one for the grungy chain and crankset, and keep the other sponge for the rest of the bike. We are assuming that you are taking care of the drivetrain on your bike so you shouldn’t ever have to spend too much time on it, just enough to remove the dirt.

Now you can change up the brushes you use to wash your bike to find the right ones for cleaning all of those tight little places, like the front derailleur, crankset, and hubs.

2. Preparation

While you can definitely clean a bike with it leaning against a wall, it is much easier on your lower back if you suspend it, that way there’s no need to lean over. A repair stand is ideal for washing a bike but, if you don’t have a repair stand, you can use your hitch-mount car rack to support the bike or you could suspend your bike from some bungee cords that are attached to an overhang. Whatever you choose to do just don’t turn the bike upside down or lay it on its side to work on it this just increases the risk that water will reach those bearings that you want to keep dry.

You don’t need to remove your wheels, but it’s a good idea to remove your accessories, like the bike pump, seat bag and computer. Just remember to reinstall them after you’re done cleaning.
Fill up your bucket with warm water and add enough detergent to make lots of suds, they make cleaning easier

3. The Bath

Start by getting the bike all wet by trickling water from above with a hose or by dribbling the wet sponge over the bike to wet it down, you could also pour warm soapy water over it from the bucket. The basic idea is to wet the entire bike to loosen any grunge, dirt, or mud before you touch the bike with the sponge. This way, you won’t be scratching the paint by just rubbing a dry dirty bike.

Allow the water to sit on the bike a bit and then take the wet sponge and get it loaded up with suds and start cleaning the bike. It’s easier to work from the front of the bike to the back or from the top of the bike to the bottom, this helps you remember what you’ve already cleaned in case you get interrupted or distracted. Remember you only need to use the second sponge on the grimy drivetrain parts. If you don’t then, the grime will spread to the frame, handlebar tape, hubs, etc. making even more of a mess for you to work on.

The variety of brushes comes in handy, you can use them for behind the crankset; around the brakes, fork; hubs; and more. If you have a build up of dirt or grime in the drivetrain, like between the chainring, cogs, or on the derailleur pulleys, you can use a thin screwdriver to remove it and then clean it again with the drivetrain sponge.

With standard brakes be sure to scrub the rims well, especially the sidewalls because they’re responsible for helping you get a grip of the braking surfaces. When you have clean rims it ensures good braking. When rubber deposits or sticky messes like tar won’t come off with the soapy water try using rubbing alcohol or lighter fluid—and no smoking while doing this(very dangerous).

It’s always a smart idea to check your bike over as you clean. One example is, while you are washing the tires you can check for sidewall cuts or tread wear, key signs that it’s time for new tires. When you work around the brakes and derailleurs, be sure to check the cables to make sure that they are not fraying or rusting out. Also it is important to look at the cable housing for any cracks, this is a sign that it might need to be replaced.

Once you’ve managed to wash all of the dirt off your bike, you can finish the job by rinsing and drying your beautiful bike. Trickle water from above to remove any remaining soap, you can also fill the bucket with clean warm water and gently pour it over the top of the bike. Dry the bike with a soft towel or a chamois cloth then and spray a bit of lube on the chain, derailleur, and brake pivots. Now you are ready to roll.

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