Washing my bike

"Stan Cox" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

So, without spending cash on fancy made-for-bikes cleaner, which would

be

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

better - fairy liquid, Triplewax car shampoo or something else I might
already have lying about the house?

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Quoted message said:

I got caught in an hour long downpour today and had to clean the bike
when I got in. A bit of fairy liquid does the job for me. I just need to
thoroughly dry, clean & relube the chain & I'll be ready to get soaked
again tomorrow 🙂

AIUI, washing up liquids tend to have salt in them to thicken them, which is
why it's supposed to be better to wash a car with car-shampoo rather than
the stuff you do the dishes with. Salt and water tending to have a
corrosive effect... I think I'd go with the car shampoo...

Rich

Stan Cox said:

Paul D said:

No, it doesn't happen very often, but having pedalled the road bike through
some knee-deep floods on tuesday I've the feeling it needs a clean before I
head out tomorrow morning.

So, without spending cash on fancy made-for-bikes cleaner, which would be
better - fairy liquid, Triplewax car shampoo or something else I might
already have lying about the house?

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I got caught in an hour long downpour today and had to clean the bike
when I got in. A bit of fairy liquid does the job for me. I just need to
thoroughly dry, clean & relube the chain &

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Quoted message said:

I'll be ready to get soaked
again tomorrow 🙂

That's what I like Stan, a real dedicated cyclist, good on yer mate!!

Paul D said:

No, it doesn't happen very often, but having pedalled the road bike through
some knee-deep floods on tuesday I've the feeling it needs a clean before I
head out tomorrow morning.

So, without spending cash on fancy made-for-bikes cleaner, which would be
better - fairy liquid, Triplewax car shampoo or something else I might
already have lying about the house?

Ta

Paul

I got caught in an hour long downpour today and had to clean the bike
when I got in. A bit of fairy liquid does the job for me. I just need to
thoroughly dry, clean & relube the chain & I'll be ready to get soaked
again tomorrow 🙂

Stan Cox

Quoted message said:

So, without spending cash on fancy made-for-bikes cleaner, which would be
better - fairy liquid, Triplewax car shampoo or something else I might
already have lying about the house?

I'm not answering your question because I intend to suggest that you spend
money on a cleaner.

I use muc-off. I pay £15.50 for 5 litre of it (Nelsons Abergavenny). Spray
the bike with water, bounce it on its tyres to get rid of excess droplets
and then paint the bike with about 20 ml of muc-off using a 1" brush - rub a
bit harder on very dirty bits. Wait a minute or two, hose it off. The bike
gleams like a new pin; I estimate the cost of 20 ml of my fancy cleaner as
6.2p.

I need about 40 ml for one of my motorbikes. I sometimes use an extra 10 ml
on a particularly dirty MTB after 2 or 3 mucky rides.

Don't buy it in Halfords because they charge about twice as much.

John

Paul D said:

So, without spending cash on fancy made-for-bikes cleaner, which would be
better - fairy liquid, Triplewax car shampoo or something else I might
already have lying about the house?

Paul

It doesn't really matter what cleaner you use but:

* Rinse it off thoroughly
* Dry it fully. Don't leave moisture inside parts that will corrode
* Parts that have been soaked will need to be re-lubricated
especially bearings - don't soak unless you are prepared to strip and lube

Also muc-off will attack your paintwork if you leave it on for more than about a minute. Better to use one of the milder cleaners/degreasers

Ian

"Richard Goodman" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

AIUI, washing up liquids tend to have salt in them to thicken them, which

is

Quoted message said:

why it's supposed to be better to wash a car with car-shampoo rather than
the stuff you do the dishes with. Salt and water tending to have a
corrosive effect... I think I'd go with the car shampoo...

Seconded (To save me typing the same).

Rgds,
Pete

On Fri, 20 Aug 2004 18:08:26 +0100, "Paul D"
<[email hidden]> wrote in message
<[email hidden]>:

Quoted message said:

No, it doesn't happen very often, but having pedalled the road bike through
some knee-deep floods on tuesday I've the feeling it needs a clean before I
head out tomorrow morning.

Didn't you hear about the rabbit who washed his thing and couldn't do
a hare with it?

IGMC...

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at Washington University

in message <[email hidden]>, Paul D

(') said:

No, it doesn't happen very often, but having pedalled the road bike
through some knee-deep floods on tuesday I've the feeling it needs a
clean before I head out tomorrow morning.

So, without spending cash on fancy made-for-bikes cleaner, which would
be better - fairy liquid, Triplewax car shampoo or something else I
might already have lying about the house?

Car shampoo is excellent. Washing up liquid allegedly contains enough
salt to accelerate corrosion. Having said that I used to use washing up
liquid and did not personally notice any problems...

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

Do not sail on uphill water.
- Bill Lee

Simon Brooke said:

Car shampoo is excellent. Washing up liquid allegedly contains enough
salt to accelerate corrosion. Having said that I used to use washing up
liquid and did not personally notice any problems...

I have washed my hair with dishwashing liquid and it came out a fair
bit dryer (in a wet sort of way 😉 than with shampoo. Haven't tried car
shampoo though.

Roos

"Roos Eisma" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Simon Brooke said:

Car shampoo is excellent. Washing up liquid allegedly contains enough
salt to accelerate corrosion. Having said that I used to use washing up
liquid and did not personally notice any problems...

I have washed my hair with dishwashing liquid and it came out a fair
bit dryer (in a wet sort of way 😉 than with shampoo. Haven't tried car
shampoo though.

So you are suggesting that if one washes the bike with dishwashing liquid, it
should be followed up with a moisturising conditioner?
--
Mark South, Super Genius: World Citizen, Net Denizen

In message <[email hidden]>, Mark South
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Car shampoo is excellent. Washing up liquid allegedly contains enough
salt to accelerate corrosion. Having said that I used to use washing up
liquid and did not personally notice any problems...

I have washed my hair with dishwashing liquid and it came out a fair
bit dryer (in a wet sort of way 😉 than with shampoo. Haven't tried car
shampoo though.

So you are suggesting that if one washes the bike with dishwashing liquid, it
should be followed up with a moisturising conditioner?

Or wash it with "Muc-Off" which actually says on the bottle that it
won't leave your bike all dry and dull-looking!

It cleans the bike pretty good even when a hosepipe isn't available.

--
Sue ]8(🙂

MTBs don't need washing if you can tell what colour they are.

Sue said:

In message <[email hidden]>, Mark South
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Car shampoo is excellent. Washing up liquid allegedly contains enough
salt to accelerate corrosion. Having said that I used to use washing up
liquid and did not personally notice any problems...

I have washed my hair with dishwashing liquid and it came out a fair
bit dryer (in a wet sort of way 😉 than with shampoo. Haven't tried car
shampoo though.

So you are suggesting that if one washes the bike with dishwashing liquid, it
should be followed up with a moisturising conditioner?

Or wash it with "Muc-Off" which actually says on the bottle that it
won't leave your bike all dry and dull-looking!

It cleans the bike pretty good even when a hosepipe isn't available.

--
Sue ]8(🙂

MTBs don't need washing if you can tell what colour they are.

Just to add my 2p worth. I personally use my car shampoo. It works great. Once the bike is dried off, I go over it with car wax. Can be a lengthy process, but it really makes the bike look as though its never been used.

However, I would always recommend using a quality chain lube, such as the white lightening stuff which I rate very highly after seeing it perform over last winter.