@@MilanSmore I live in an apartment so I don't clean as often as I would want to, but when I do I also use the hand-pumped garden sprayer thingy! I just put my work stand on the side walk in front of the building, it's large enough and no one minds :o
This is really a 15 min bike clean, but still, glad I started doing this last summer - boy howdy was my drivetrain in terrible shape, so after a marathon cleaning session, then it was only "5 for Francis, 15 for me" cleanings that kept my bike in much better shape. :)
Keep a kit ready by the door, squeezy bottle with the detergent rather than bucket and then a hose or hand pump bottle thing will save some more time. You can get it to five minutes if you keep it prepped and practice.
I use a paintbrush for the drive train and keep the other brush for everything else so as not to put grease onto the matt paint next time. If you don’t have a hose then a water bottle filled a couple of times rinses all soap off too. I’d love to hear why i should buy bike specific degreaser too (the price is mental) because I might’ve bought 5L of degreaser from screwfix which cost a fraction and works perfectly!
You can use any degreaser for a bicycle chain, diesel, paraffin etc - they are just made of riveted metal plates so whatever removes the grease and grime is fine. Motorbike chains have rubber seals which hold packed grease in the chain links so need a bit more thought on degreasing as you don't want to destroy the seals.
The muc off pink stuff works better than fairy liquid but it is crazy expensive for a marginal improvement (muc off you can get away without any brushing, fairy liquid works better if you use warm water and brush it)
I looked around on forums for this same question, and the general consensus was that any degreaser should work fine as long as you keep it away from bearings and rinse it off really well. Many people suggested a product called Simple Green, that's what I used with good results (it helped loosen the grime but wasn't as effective as a pure degreaser spray)
I use a nylon bristle wheel that goes into a pistol drill for cleaning my cassette, work a bit of degreaser in first with a small paintbrush and then use the wheel to work it out. comes out spotless (do it outside though or the gunk will be over the walls)
I wash my bike after almost every ride. Even when it is dry and sunny outside. And I live in Rome so most rides are in dry weather. So most times I wash it quite fast similar to how you did here. And i also use something like the MucOff Bike Protection on a microfiber cloth after drying off the bike every now and then. Makes it so much easier to wash the bike.
Thanks! It seems so simple now, but before I watched this video, I was worried about doing something wrong and hurting my bike. Now I feel I can clean my bike with confidence. I will watch your other video too. Just cleaned one of my bikes after watching this in the way you suggested, and it does look like a much better job than I have been doing. I need to clean it more because my bikes are my transport since I have no car. I sold the car and got a bike. Never regretted it. 🙂
A pump up foam sprayer is an excellent bike cleaning tool. I use an IK Foam 2 but have also used a foam cannon on a small electric pressure washer. There is nothing wrong with using a pressure washer to wash your bike but you have to understand the tool. If it is held at a distance that’s safe enough for you to spray it into your hand without hurting, you can use it on the bicycle at that same distance or greater distance. It’s when you go close and get into the high-pressure zone that it becomes dangerous for your bicycle. Plus if you choose the right nozzle, such as one with a wide fan spray, it is much safer than a narrow, pinpoint or rotary turbo nozzle. By using a foam sprayer to soap the bike and a pressure washer at a safe distance with a wide nozzle to rinse the bike, you can greatly reduce the amount of water necessary to wash your bike. Never use a cotton towel or paper towel to dry your bike as it will scratch or damage the finish especially if it is a matte finish. Always use a bicycle detergent or car shampoo as anything else can dull or damage the paint. When drying, use a microfiber cloth to get the bulk of the water off the easy to reach areas. Then follow up with a small blower. I use an 18v Ryobi but I started with a small electric blower. If you have put a ceramic coating or polymer coating on the paint finish, be sure and use the right type of soap as you can damage these coatings by messing with the pH. Traditional automotive wax is even more fragile but as it’s SO much less expensive, it is more of a sacrificial coating than either the poly or ceramic coatings. Soft paint brushes are excellent to reach into those hard to reach areas like cleaning the bottom bracket in the area between the front derailer and chain rings. If you’re going to use an aerosol degreaser that contains any petroleum, distillates or any other type of oil to include citrus based degreasers on any part of the bike, take the wheels off and remove the brake pads (disc or rim) before spraying it. Keep those parts far away from the spray and overspray. Always use pH neutral cleaners or you can damage the finish on anodized parts.
Wonder Wipes. Amazingly good job at de-flossing your cassette, and final step in cleaning the chain. Also, methylated spirit for cleaning disc rotors - cheap from your local hardware shop.
I upgraded to the muc off pink stuff - dunno what they have in it but the degreaser works better than fairy liquid and don't really need to brush anything, just hose it down after a couple of minutes. Even if you are using fairy liquid one of those squeezey bottles with a mix of fairy liquid and warm water is more efficient than buckets. Park tool chain cleaning tool to clean the drive train with some of the muc off stuff in it (diluted seems to work fine even though they say use it undiluted for chain). Hose the bike down afterwards and dry and lube the important bits, WD40 a few things, SRAM butter on stanchions and shock and do some bouncing to get that butter into the seals. Back to doing this every ride until the sun is back in about 9 months, yay mud and rain! 😢
Ditch the muc off drivetrain cleaner, wash, and degreaser. They have a high saline content and will lead to rust and galvanic corrosion. I used to work for a shop with a rental fleet and we used all the muc off products. I was always shocked by how quickly the parts corroded compared to my bikes with the same environment and relative maintenance. Made sense when I heard about the saline content of the products I was using in the shop. Auto wash is cheaper, more effective, and won’t corrode anything. On your drivetrain parts a light foaming degreaser like simple green is great. Just avoid getting it in your bearings
Top tip. After washing/degreasing the drive train. Get a kettle with boiling water and while pedalling backwards, pour the boiling water onto you chain. Washes more oily stuff out and helps it dry more quickly.
Cheers Francis and Jimmy, great tips. I ride on the road, and some very light gravel. I prefer Aldi baby wipes. No hose necessary. Just wipe down every couple of rides. I've been using drip wax lube, which also cleans with baby wipes. Again my riding is road and in the dry, mostly.
Use a different brush on your drive train than on the frame. I use a toothbrush on the drive train, the firmest I can find. Never brush oil grime into your frame. He showed a rag with oil on it. You are putting that on the frame you use the same brush. Truth be told this video is nice and gets me pumped. Who knew I would love cleaning my bike.
I prefer a micro fibre cloth as my weapon of choice for the initial wetting and soaping. Instead of a brush. No matter how soft your brush is, I can't imagine it's very good over time for your paint finish. But yeah, definitely a bathroom stiff bristle brush for the cassette and chainrings. And yes, moo up the excess water and dry off the bike before taking it indoors to dry out fully. And then buff (with or without some wax polish) with another clean micro fiber (to remove any watermarks).
Yes i remember riding from one citie to another 5 days a week.. And with heavy rain my cdhain got "cleaned" in the mornig ride, and already was rusting when i went back in the evening.. So i took some oil in the beginning but that wasn't enough in the Dutch winter climat, so i had to use grease wich became a real mess to clean in the weekends.. High pressure water was great for cleaning but bad for the bearings and also the chain..
Actually you want to degrease/clean your drivetrain FIRST (with a different brush), not last. Your frame will also thank you if you use a gentler microfiber glove instead of a brush. And if you are cleaning a MTB/gravel bike, a second firmer brush for tires might be a good idea to clean all the mud off and not contaminate the rubber with your drivetrain brush.
Fairy & a little bit of morgan blue....... Ta Dah! You have a clean bike then a GT 85 into a microfibre cloth AFTER the bike has air dried. Lube chain. Good to go. 👍. Nice one gents we're on the same lines ! 👏
I clean my bike just like shown here in this video. As commented already I use a paintbrush for the hard to reach parts. And a watering can to rinse off
This is a "nice to have" suggestion, but if you have one of those rechargeable keyboard duster things, they work brilliantly for helping get water out of important, but tight finicky areas like the rear derailleur and the gear cassettes.
If you have access to a hose, it's much easier to rinse the bike with it. Than dampen the brush, apply soap and scrub, reapeat. When you finished, rinse with the hose. Greasy drivetrain. Don't use that much of oil. "Half a drop" per roller is much more than enought. Spin back, wipe dry the outside. Hower if you wax your chain you get rid of all of the mess.
To get more water off quickly after rinsing, I bounce the bike on the tyres a few times to shake water off, then spin the wheels and cranks around to flick water off (don't stand behind the bike or you'll get wet). That leaves less water to dry off with the towel.
Loved your video! Basic and sensible approach!!! This gal loves a clean bike. Time to clean my new 2024 Creo 2. Never had disc brakes before so I was wondering are covers worth buying for added protection when cleaning if using aerosol spray degreasers or should I stop using them on this bike and all my bikes? 😊
Waiting for the cheap v expensive carbon wheel comparison with the Ryet wheels you unboxed a few months back. Thinking of getting them as a beater winter wheel.
Tip for this method: When rinsing the soaped up bike, instead of pouring your bucket over the bike, use a water bottle and spray the water on. A little more tedious but uses a lot less water so you don't have to fill up your bucket:)
Get both wheels the hell away from chucking all that soapy water on them.get the bike onto a stand and remove both wheels. Remove your rear cassette and put a chain keeper on. That way you can clean the cassette much better, clean the wheels using minimal water and avoid any degreaser, water, getting into the hubs. Seen so many hubs knackered cos of excess water getting into them.
Many cyclists need useful vids such as this. It won’t get a million views maybe but more valuable. Or you watch this million view vids every day but then you still don’t now jack shit when the need arises, can’t change a tire even. Yeah, more such content please; how to adjust a front derailer once it starts rubbing the plate, how to fix a tubeless puncture, how to do detail cleaning taking things off etc.
And don’t forget. When using GT85 etc, hold a rag behind what you are spraying, to avoid overspray onto your discs, pads and brake blocks. Right, Mr Cade?
Not a fan of waiting for the chain to fully dry before oiling the chain. I recommend wiping down the chain with an absorbent cloth and then immediately oiling. The oil helps displace the water inside the links of the chain and prevents corrosion as the water evaporates.
I dry running it through a cloth and spin the drive train a bit, but it's not gonna get properly dry in winter - assumed lube would displace the water if there is still some moisture but is that the case for all chain lubes?
Why was the GT85 lubricant shown in the part about de-greasing your bike, between the WD40 and Muc-Off de-greasers? I assume you don't use a lubricant for de-greasing, or am I missing something? Also, make sure to use car brake cleaner without additives. Some specific ones have additives for brake conditioning that don't affect car brakes after the first stop (because of the much higher forces involved), but wreak havoc with bike brakes. The simple additive-free ones work fine though.
I'm thinking of using a commercial car hand sprayer for the greasy sprocket. I'm thinking the soap + pressure should do the job. Anything I'm missing? Thanks
Off topic, but your decking planks are on upside-down. The ribbed side is not for grip. It is supposed to be on the bottom to improve airflow and prevent moisture buildup where the decking is in contact with the bearers.
I was amazed that there was a possibility for cleaning my bike with no tools. I was wondering how you clean you bike with no hose or bucket. Didn't get very far as in the first few seconds we hear a whole list of tools, so no different than my current process!
To dry the bike use a pet blower, they cost around £50 on eBay, a heated powerful jet of air blasts the bike dry, you’ll thank me for this tip if you get one 🙂👍
My drivetrain used to be the indicator I used to determine when to thoroughly clean my bike. Since switching to wax, however, I find I can get away with less cleaning. I just re-wax the chain every few hundred miles and I can do a thirty-minute cleaning every month or so.
thing is, some most if not a lot of people can't have 1. a place out side because small buildings and no garden garage patio or any outside area that allow the mess and dirt... 2. soap water sometimes or most times anoy those gardener out there ... gardens can get ruined... and well thats one thing of the down sides of gravel bikes... but then I use some new products to clean on 'dry' especially on the drive train chain cassette cranks ... and try some wet or little wet stuff to the frame... is there a chance you can reach or tell us about some alternative (expensive or not) products to hack or short cut the cleaning ... saludos.
One thing I always never know what to do: should we spin the chain round after applying lube so it coats the cassette too? Recently did a clean and found I didn't have any lube left. When I was waiting for it to be delivered, the cassette developed some slight rust (it was under cover but there was some rain so maybe some moisture in the air) I've always thought the chain lube is to coat the chain/cassette to stop rust aswell as lubricate.
