Bike Washing
Giving your bike a bath on a regular basis keeps your machine running smoothly and extends the life of your pricey components. It’s especially important to properly wash your drivetrain, as the parts that keep you in motion suffer greatest from abuse and neglect. A grimy chain makes for sloppy shifting and chews through expensive cassette cogs. Gunked-up chainrings slow you down. Cruddy rims and pads erode your braking surface. Dirty rotors squeal like stuck pigs. You get the picture.
Yet, take a gander around your next group ride and we’ll wager you’ll see more than your share of tar black chains and junked up jockey wheels. There are plenty of reasons: Bike cleaning takes time, so we skip it; many of us only do a halfway decent job when we finally do break out the bucket, so the grit and grime builds up overtime, or we never really bother because we never learned how.
“The more often you give your bike a proper wash, the easier it will be and less time it will take to keep it clean,” says MM Racing’s Matt Roy, of Arlington, Massachusetts, who should know, as Roy is not only a professional mechanic, but also puts his gear through the wringer in massive mixed terrain ultra cycling brevets and races like the Green Mountain Double Century. Roy recommends washing your bike a minimum of once a month, definitely more frequently if you regularly ride in the rain and crappy conditions.
Here's what most people get wrong when trying to get their bikes pro-level clean.
First things first, do not fear the garden hose—or (gasp) even a handy pressure washer. “I completely disagree with the notion that you can’t hit anything with a hose,” says Roy. “I’ve stood in Belgian pits where someone is power washing the bikes with 1200 psi of water anywhere and everywhere, and the bike comes back totally fine. No, you don’t want to stand there blasting your hub for five minutes. But by and large water and pressure are not an enemy.”
So go ahead and keep your hose handy. It will save you more time and be more efficient than using the bucket and sponge method.
Roy uses a fork-mount bike stand that spins 360 degrees (like the Feedback Sports Sprint Work Stand) to make cleaning a breeze, as he can spin the bike to access every nook and cranny rather than circling the bike with his brushes and cleaners.
Want to make drivetrain degreasing a breeze (or at least breezier)? Invest in natural fiber brushes like horsehair or Tampico plant fiber. (You can get a whole bike-washing set from The Service Course). “Natural fibers hold liquid like degreaser much better than nylon, which immediately drops any fluid you put on it,” says Roy. That allows you to literally paint your whole drivetrain with your citrus degreaser.
“I take a brush to paint the chain with the degreaser,” he says, noting that he is very thorough with this step. “I paint the bottom and the top of the chain. Then I paint the outer-facing plates of the links and turn the bike around and paint the inside-facing plates,” he says.
While the chain is soaking in citrus, he turns to the wheels and paints the cassette, letting that sit while he turns his attention back to the bike, rinsing it off with a hose and repeating the process, working his way around the drivetrain until all the grime is gone.
“The beauty of those brushes is that you can paint the blackest of black chains, rinse the brush off in a bucket of soapy water, and it comes out clean. The natural fibers don’t hold and drag grease the way synthetic fibers do,” says Roy.
Then use those magic brushes to finish up the brakes, rotors, frame, and other parts. Dry it off (or let dry in the air and sun). Lube your chain, and you’re ready to roll in silky clean silence… at least for another few weeks.
Source: www.bicycling.com
