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>

purpleextreme.comcleaning.htmlOpen ↗ 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" <[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
xs4all.nlindex.htmOpen ↗ (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?

....

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

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

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.

Rick Onanian said:

Badger_South 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

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.

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

--
-- Powered by FreeBSD Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

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.

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

Degreaser.... I have a friend that owns a garment manufacturing company. He gets 44 gallon drums of degreaser for the sewing machines. I get a jar of the stuff when I need it. I've no idea what its called but it works REALLY well.

"Dominic Sansom" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Degreaser.... I have a friend that owns a garment
manufacturing company. He gets 44 gallon drums of
degreaser for the sewing machines. I get a jar of the
stuff when I need it. I've no idea what its called but it
works REALLY well.

Just use WD-40 it comes in large cans, soak the chain in it
over night.