Cleaning your bike...

gusmeister said:

I take my hybrid on a lot of gravel/dirt roads. What is the best way to
clean the bike? I found hundreds of websites on this topic but each one
seems to have different opinions. Here's what I've gathered so far:

Hah! So you come here and ask? You're about to get deluged with
hundreds of even more different opinions! 😉

Quoted message said:

- spray the gears+drivetrain with a degreaser and let it sit for a while
- hose down the whole bike with low-power waterhose
- with a sponge and brush, use bucket of water+dishwashing liquid to clean
every part of the bike
- apply lube to gears+drivetrain

That's reasonable. I used to do that. Now, I mostly don't clean my
mountain bike; I'll wipe large mud accumulations off of it. I do
wipe down my road bike with a [sometimes damp, sometimes dry] rag.
The drivetrain on the road bike gets cleaned thoroughly by removing
chain and cassette, soaking both in solvent, and using rag with
solvent on chainrings and derailers.

Quoted message said:

Some people say not to use lube but to use grease. Then there's dry grease
and wet grease.

Grease goes in bearings, and semi-static metal contact areas like
seatposts. Never heard of dry grease.

Wet and dry lubes are a personal preference, and there are literally
thousands (probably tens of thousands) of messages in
rec.bicycles.tech about lube every year. Don't add to them if you
can find sufficient opinions via groups.google.com...

Quoted message said:

Some people say not to use WD-40 because it is not a true
degreaser (but a water displacer) while other think it's the best. Some

WD-40 is an okay degreaser, but I find paint thinner more efficient.
WD-40 is generally agreed to be a bad _lube_, though.

Quoted message said:

people say that dishwashing liquid can permanently damage the bike's
coating.

Not sure on that one, but a damp rag takes off nearly anything I
find on my bike.

Quoted message said:

So I thought I'd ask the pros. Any feedback would be welcome.

Oh, you wanted feedback from _pros_. Sorry, I'm a random schlub. <G>

http://www.purpleextreme.com/cleaning.html is a method reportedly
used by pros.
--
Rick Onanian

Rick Onanian said:

On Tue, 29 Jun 2004 20:32:24 -0400, "gusmeister"
<[email hidden]> wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I take my hybrid on a lot of gravel/dirt roads. What is the best
way to clean the bike?

Quoted message said:

Hah! So you come here and ask? You're about to get deluged with
hundreds of even more different opinions! 😉

I disagree with that!

Bill "but you may be right" S.

gusmeister said:

I take my hybrid on a lot of gravel/dirt roads. What is the best way to
clean the bike?

not really an answer to your question, and tangential to be sure, but I
find the best way to keep my bike's drivetrain happy is to use fenders.
Even in the dry, they keep a considerable amount of road "dust" from the
fragile bits.

Grease for bearings, and dry lube for the exposed bits is my mantra.
Grease is underbar as a lube, and unfortunately also a magnet for shmutz
if out in the open. After I lube my chain, even with the "dry" lube, I let
it soak, crank the sucker a few times to let it get at the secret bits,
then scrub the chain completely dry with a rag so it isn't a dirt magnet.

As I've posted before, I'm a Simple Green and toothbrush kinda guy. Scrub
and hose with low pressure. Don't know if it's not good for paint--but my
current ride's finish is not something I take pride in. LOL

😄

"gusmeister" <[email hidden]> schreef in bericht
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I take my hybrid on a lot of gravel/dirt roads. What is the best way to
clean the bike? I found hundreds of websites on this topic but each one
seems to have different opinions. Here's what I've gathered so far:

- spray the gears+drivetrain with a degreaser and let it sit for a while
- hose down the whole bike with low-power waterhose
- with a sponge and brush, use bucket of water+dishwashing liquid to

clean

Quoted message said:

every part of the bike
- apply lube to gears+drivetrain

Some people say not to use lube but to use grease. Then there's dry

grease

Quoted message said:

and wet grease. Some people say not to use WD-40 because it is not a true
degreaser (but a water displacer) while other think it's the best. Some
people say that dishwashing liquid can permanently damage the bike's
coating.

So I thought I'd ask the pros. Any feedback would be welcome.

I guess I'm an expert: see http://www.xs4all.nl/~tolamb/tempo3/index.htm
(I'm the guy in the first and nineth picture)

- I use only water and dishwasher for the bike. Indeed, sponge and warm
water after a treatment with waterhose.Permanent damage to bike coating?
Never noticed it.
- I never have to degrease the drivetrain because I use a dry lube
consisting of graphite and paraffin (www.supremeblack.nl)
- I remove the chain and it goes into a kerosine bath for several days. Then
I re-grease it with supremeblack.

In article <[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] says...

....

Quoted message said:

That's reasonable. I used to do that. Now, I mostly don't clean my
mountain bike; I'll wipe large mud accumulations off of it. I do
wipe down my road bike with a [sometimes damp, sometimes dry] rag.
The drivetrain on the road bike gets cleaned thoroughly by removing
chain and cassette, soaking both in solvent, and using rag with
solvent on chainrings and derailers.

How often do you clean the drivetrain?

.....

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On Wed, 30 Jun 2004 08:18:23 -0400, David Kerber

ns_dkerber@ns_ids.net said:

[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

The drivetrain on the road bike gets cleaned thoroughly by removing

How often do you clean the drivetrain?

Er...umm...when it strikes my fancy, I guess. Last time I did it
because I had hurriedly put the wrong lube on it and the whole thing
turned dark black (from the pretty silver it was with the other
lube).

I like the chain pretty on this bike. The bike hangs at eye level
(directly above my dirty mountain bike), and seeing the abnormally
clean and shiny chain makes me want to ride...although wanting to
ride doesn't seem to translate much into actually riding, this year.
--
Rick Onanian

Rick Onanian said:

On Wed, 30 Jun 2004 08:18:23 -0400, David Kerber

ns_dkerber@ns_ids.net said:

[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

The drivetrain on the road bike gets cleaned thoroughly by removing

How often do you clean the drivetrain?

Er...umm...when it strikes my fancy, I guess. Last time I did it
because I had hurriedly put the wrong lube on it and the whole thing
turned dark black (from the pretty silver it was with the other
lube).

I like the chain pretty on this bike. The bike hangs at eye level
(directly above my dirty mountain bike), and seeing the abnormally
clean and shiny chain makes me want to ride...although wanting to
ride doesn't seem to translate much into actually riding, this year.

Yeah, but somehow, you're still getting in 100 miles a week, though, eh?

-Badger
Well, yeah, that's "not riding -much-"...

On Wed, 30 Jun 2004 12:44:47 -0400, Badger_South <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

clean and shiny chain makes me want to ride...although wanting to
ride doesn't seem to translate much into actually riding, this year.

Yeah, but somehow, you're still getting in 100 miles a week, though, eh?

The week that I said that to you was the last week I got 100 miles
in. It may even have been the week before that. I'm down to a single
tuesday night group ride, we do 20 to 30 miles each week.

I was doing another weekday ride, solo, and a solo Saturday ride,
weekly; but various other obligations have intruded.
--
Rick Onanian

Rick Onanian said:

On Wed, 30 Jun 2004 12:44:47 -0400, Badger_South <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

clean and shiny chain makes me want to ride...although wanting to
ride doesn't seem to translate much into actually riding, this year.

Yeah, but somehow, you're still getting in 100 miles a week, though, eh?

The week that I said that to you was the last week I got 100 miles
in. It may even have been the week before that. I'm down to a single
tuesday night group ride, we do 20 to 30 miles each week.

I was doing another weekday ride, solo, and a solo Saturday ride,
weekly; but various other obligations have intruded.

Well-l-l, OK, I know how you hard-core guys like to downplay impressive
riding stats, just in case someone might inquire. Actually I was teasing
you a bit. <g>

-B

Someone already touched on this -- the mechanic at my LBS said that
WD-40 is petroleum-based and thus degrades plastic parts, such as
derailleur pulley wheels. Said plastic wheels have indeed degraded on
my 8-year-old mountain bike, but I don't know if it's because of WD-40
or just age.

I started using a non petroleum-based lube spray (smells a bit like
butter) on my road bike's drivetrain, but haven't used it long enough
to notice a difference.

Someone already touched on this -- the mechanic at my LBS said that
WD-40 is petroleum-based and thus degrades plastic parts, such as
derailleur pulley wheels. Said plastic wheels have indeed degraded on
my 8-year-old mountain bike, but I don't know if it's because of WD-40
or just age.

I started using a non petroleum-based lube spray (smells a bit like
butter) on my road bike's drivetrain, but haven't used it long enough
to notice a difference.

Quoted message said:

Some people say not to use lube but to use grease. Then there's dry grease
and wet grease. Some people say not to use WD-40 because it is not a true
degreaser (but a water displacer) while other think it's the best.

FWIW, my LBS advised me not to use WD-40 on the drivetrain because it
is petroleum-based and tends to degrade plastic (such as pulley
wheels).

Someone already touched on this -- the mechanic at my LBS said that
WD-40 is petroleum-based and thus degrades plastic parts, such as
derailleur pulley wheels. Said plastic wheels have indeed degraded on
my 8-year-old mountain bike, but I don't know if it's because of WD-40
or just age.

I started using a non petroleum-based lube spray (smells a bit like
butter) on my road bike's drivetrain, but haven't used it long enough
to notice a difference.

Palookabutt said:

Someone already touched on this -- the mechanic at my LBS said that
WD-40 is petroleum-based and thus degrades plastic parts, such as
derailleur pulley wheels. Said plastic wheels have indeed degraded on
my 8-year-old mountain bike, but I don't know if it's because of WD-40
or just age.

That sounds really bogus to me, it's probably just age. A LOT of people
use petroleum based lubricants on their chains--you'd think the bike could
handle it 😄 You can always get new pulley wheels, a new set every 8 years
isn't too hard to absorb. :P

That said I don't use it very often myself--just to soak away the meanest
crud and loosen bolts--I think most of us on these groups consider WD-40 a
solvent, that happens to have a tiny bit of light lubricant in it.

I've got two gas cans in the garage made of plastic.

Hmmm.

Quoted message said:

I started using a non petroleum-based lube spray (smells a

bit like

Quoted message said:

butter) on my road bike's drivetrain, but haven't used it long enough to
notice a difference.

You've set yourself up

Pam as a bike lubricant!?

Why, yes, the eggs slide right off my chain!

LOL

Wow -- sorry for all the repeat postings, folks!

I submitted and my browser went out to lunch, so I tried again and the
same thing happened again. Not being one to give up easily, I
repeated the process until it gave me a confirmation.

(sigh)

In article <[email hidden]>,

David Kerber ns_dkerber@ns_ids.net said:

In article <[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] says...

...

Quoted message said:

That's reasonable. I used to do that. Now, I mostly don't clean my
mountain bike; I'll wipe large mud accumulations off of it. I do
wipe down my road bike with a [sometimes damp, sometimes dry] rag.
The drivetrain on the road bike gets cleaned thoroughly by removing
chain and cassette, soaking both in solvent, and using rag with
solvent on chainrings and derailers.

How often do you clean the drivetrain?

Fairly frequently, when it rains continuously for days or weeks on end.

It's mostly stuff that falls off of evergreen trees -- the type of
matter that becomes duff, that accumulates on my bike during rainy
conditions. It not only gets into the drivetrain, but also sticks
under my fenders, around the canti brake arms, and under the bottom
bracket.

Once the chain is off and soaking in its coal oil bath, might as well
turn the bike upside down and take the wheels off too. This makes
cleaning the undersides of my fenders, BB and brakes much easier.
Section 8a.5 of the FAQ rightfully questions the usefulness of
turning a bike upside down, but cleaning a fendered bike might be one
exception. It also facilitates cleaning the derailers and chainrings.

With the wheels off the bike, it's easy to immerse the rims in a
shallow pan of water + dish detergent, and clean them that way.
That's also a good time to inspect the tires.

cheers,
Tom

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maxo <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Pam as a bike lubricant!?

Why, yes, the eggs slide right off my chain!

I had a wrench recommend Pam (tm) as a lube for SPD pedals. The
problem is that it gets sticky after a while.

Warm Regards,

Claire "sunnyside up" Petersky

Claire Petersky said:

maxo <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Pam as a bike lubricant!?

Why, yes, the eggs slide right off my chain!

I had a wrench recommend Pam (tm) as a lube for SPD pedals.

So? I had a screwdriver tell me to get bent.

Bill "back on meds now" S.

In article <[email hidden]>, chamb1953
@hotmail.com says...

Quoted message said:

Someone already touched on this -- the mechanic at my LBS said that
WD-40 is petroleum-based and thus degrades plastic parts, such as
derailleur pulley wheels. Said plastic wheels have indeed degraded on
my 8-year-old mountain bike, but I don't know if it's because of WD-40
or just age.

Motor oil is also petroleum-based, and I've been using it as a chain
lube for 30 years with NO idler wheel failures in that time.

Quoted message said:

I started using a non petroleum-based lube spray (smells a bit like
butter) on my road bike's drivetrain, but haven't used it long enough
to notice a difference.

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Remove the ns_ from if replying by e-mail (but keep posts in the
newsgroups if possible).