Bicycle cleaning companies

[topshopper19]

There's a local businesses close to where i work in lONDON, and they are charging £12 - full cleaning including jet wash, chain lube, and wax to polish it up etc.

Just wondered if this is a little bit overpriced? What do you guys usually pay?

Thanks

[Paulatic]

There's a local businesses close to where i work in lONDON, and they are charging £12 - full cleaning including jet wash, chain lube, and wax to polish it up etc.

Just wondered if this is a little bit overpriced? What do you guys usually pay?

Thanks

Pay!! whatever next?
Don’t let them near your bearings with that jet wash.

[chris_suffolk]

Not sure I would trust my bearing races to a jet wash at any price - are they bike specific / experienced?

[gaz]

Welcome to the forum.

I have never seen a bike wash service, I would be most unlikely to use one on the basis of cost alone. I would be certain not to use one that employs a jet wash.

AFAIK the LBS will charge extra for servicing if a bike does not arrive in a clean condition, I'm not sure what the additional charge is.

[reohn2]

There's a local businesses close to where i work in lONDON, and they are charging £12 - full cleaning including jet wash, chain lube, and wax to polish it up etc.

Just wondered if this is a little bit overpriced? What do you guys usually pay?

Thanks

I pay half that to have my car washed

[robgul]

Reiterate comments about a jet wash (unless you are doing it yourself and you know what you are doing!)

As suggested an LBS will expect a reasonably clean bike in for servicing - in the shop I manage a very dirty bike (and there are some horrors) has an extra £10 charge quoted (telling the customer when he brings the bike in) The £10 equates to 15 minutes at the labour rack rate - reality is it's normally a fiver added to the bill. Two of the three service packages include a bike clean, but not when a hammer and chisel are required to move caked on mud and grease - that's when the surcharge is applied.

Rob

[mercalia]

dont use them. owning a m/c one of the things I hear is that people who wash them with jets spray the head bearings/wheels so they fail due to water getting in ( when they should probably never need any attention ). There are so many crevaces on a bike eg the seatpin/frame, headset/forks., wheel bearings. Are you so lazy or the bike so dirty that such extreme measures are needed? how long does it take to clean a bike frame, waxing it? lubing the chain deos take a bit of time but you should learn how any way

[AndyK]

how long does it take to clean a bike frame, waxing it?

*&^%ing HOURS. At least it feels that way to me. I know some people enjoy it but I hate cleaning bikes. Dull, dull, dull. I would rather spend the time riding. If I trusted someone else to do the job properly and I had money to chuck around, I would happily pay a few quid for the luxury of having my bike cleaned.

And yes, reohn2, it should cost more than having your car washed. Cars are easier to wash. (I should know, I've washed my car at least once.)

On the other hand, the good thing about DIY cleaning is that it gives you a chance to spot mechanical/structural problems before they become serious.

Re. the jet washers, many of them now have variable pressure settings. I haven't tried it but it seems to me that one used judiciously on the lowest setting might be a good thing.

[JohnW]

don't use them. Owning a m/c one of the things I hear is that people who wash them with jets spray the head bearings/wheels so they fail due to water getting in ( when they should probably never need any attention ). There are so many crevices on a bike, eg the seatpin/frame, headset/forks, wheel bearings. Are you so lazy or the bike so dirty that such extreme measures are needed? How long does it take to clean a bike frame, waxing it? lubing the chain does take a bit of time but you should learn how any way

My sentiments entirely! - I wouldn't say lazy - although a bit short of love for the bike perhaps.

But good grief - whatever next? - paying someone £12 to ruin your bike!?!?!?!?!?!? - not me.

[robgul]

Just to add a note on jet washers . . . the powered ones are to be avoided but an acceptable alternative is the "garden fertilizer" type of large plastic canister that you pump up to some pressure and it then has a wand with a variable spray ... using a solution of degreaser in it and gentle spray is a time -saver to at least get the grime softened up.

Rob

[AlaninWales]

Agree with the point about jet washes, but objecting to £12 for someone to clean you 'bike is really a bit much. Given that materials will be used and time and (hopefully) some skill, do you really want them paid less than the minimum wage?

As for those who say they pay half this to get their car washed: Think about what that means in terms of the wages of those involved and the infrastructure required to handle the chemicals (on an industrial scale). Personally I never will use such obviously exploitative businesses.

Some links to inform your thoughts:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-43868920

MPs announce hand car-wash 'slavery probe'

The Environment Audit Committee will examine the impact of cleaning agents on water sources, plants and wildlife and how water use can be minimised.

It will look at employment conditions, amid claims of trafficking of workers.

Mary Creagh, who chairs the committee, said though "cheap and convenient", the prices may be "too good to be true".

The Labour MP told the BBC much of their workforce was from Eastern Europe and there were concerns some of them were "bonded labour" - people who had been tricked into travelling abroad by the promise of a job and were now working in low-paid roles with little control over their working hours to pay off debts.

According to the Car Wash Advisory Service, there are between 10,000 and 20,000 hand car washes in the UK. Many are located on petrol-station forecourts or in busy car parks, and most are unregulated.

Ms Creagh said the investigation - prompted by the concerns of one of her fellow committee members - would "shine a light" on environmental and labour issues and claims of links to people trafficking.

https://www.freedomunited.org/news/milton-keynes-car-wash/

Fifteen people have been arrested and thirty-six victims rescued in what the Thames Valley Police says is its biggest ever raid investigating human trafficking and drugs.

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/police-probe-after-car-wash-14332336

Solihill Partnerships tweeted: “Another day, another car wash in #Shirley. This time workers paid £4 an hour with facilities that are dangerous and dirty.

“Are you paying £5 to have your car washed ? Are you sponsoring slave labour ?

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/slaves-on-our-streets-hand-car-wash-exploitation-london-undocumented-workers-a7994151.html

Car wash boss Shaip Nimani, 52, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in January. Nimani wasn’t tried on slavery charges, but Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner Kevin Hyland called the case “one of the worst examples of modern slavery to be seen on the high street”.

Authorities have since struggled to address escalating abuses in car washes across the country and in London.

The Evening Standard visited seven car washes across the city and saw obvious indicators of exploitation.

Hand-cleaning car wash services are offered for as little as £5 – often a sign that something is amiss, according to Dr Alexander Trautrims of Nottingham University, who has carried out extensive research and developed a computer model to help police identify slavery in car washes.

[horizon]

Agree with the point about jet washes, but objecting to £12 for someone to clean you 'bike is really a bit much.

+1
Cleaning a bike properly IMV is a fiddly, filthy and sometimes painful process. And you cannot put it in the equivalent of a dishwasher due to the risk to the bearings. I think £25 would be about right after covering for premises, holiday pay and the like.

[scottg]

There's a local businesses close to where i work in lONDON, and they are charging £12 - full cleaning including jet wash, chain lube, and wax to polish it up etc.

Just wondered if this is a little bit overpriced? What do you guys usually pay?

Thanks

I pay half that to have my car washed

Next time it is about to rain, spray your car with some washing up liquid.
When the rain is over, wipe off the car.
Send me a fiver, you'll be a pound to the good.

[Audax67]

An excellent LBS near here charges 25 €, so £12 is no great surprise. Mind you, our local bod gives you back a bike that looks new.

[simonhill]

Motorbike wash shops are common in SE Asia, where motorbikes are also common.

After a very muddy ride in Cambodia and a very wet and salty ferry crossing in Vietnam I have used their services on my bike. They charge about a $ (50p - £1 ish). Hand washed with a very soapy sponge and then a power wash off. At the power wash stage I stepped in and directed it away from bearings and Brooks.