Bike washing

[bohrsatom]

I had the same problem. Tried many different things and now use baby wipes. You can get 80 for under a quid in any supermarket, plenty for several washes of the bike. I even find them to be good at getting the crud off a chain.

When you’re done take a couple out the pack to wash your hands, then chuck the lot in the bin.

If it’s good enough for baby’s bum then it’s good enough for my pride and joy too

[Audax67]

My bike's old enough now to wash itself.

[Sweep]

IMHO the main benefit of cleaning a bike at this time of year is not to make it all clean and shiny but to get the road salt off the bike, because if it is left on it will eat the bike alive; it is incredibly corrosive stuff.s

Is it really that bad?

I must admit Brucey I haven't noticed any of my steel bikes being eaten alive.

And I haven't washed a bike in years.

Am very much a proponent of wiping dried mud off (admittedly I don't mountain bike), wiping things over with an oily rag.

I am careful about keeping rims and pads clean (no disc brakes for me) and also ensuring that the drive system and all cables are kept clean and functional.

Am I lucky? Or have my years of wielding the oily rag given my bikes their own protective force fields?

[Brucey]

IMHO the main benefit of cleaning a bike at this time of year is not to make it all clean and shiny but to get the road salt off the bike, because if it is left on it will eat the bike alive; it is incredibly corrosive stuff.....

Is it really that bad?

in some places, yes it is. However this winter has been fairly mild thus far and the gritters have not been out strewing the roads with bike-eating salt anywhere near as much as normal. In some places (London being a case in point) it is slightly warmer and it is comparatively rare that the roads are salted so it is less of a problem; an oily sheen over most of the bike will pick up dirt etc but will be less likely to suffer instant corrosion; my hack bike is oily and lives out of doors so it gets rained on; this usually rinses the road salt off but in some winters a single ride at the wrong time can easily turn the chain into a rusty brown streak.

A fatal error would be to take a nice clean road bike out on a sunny winter's day and assume it didn't need a wash afterwards; even a few splashes from an occasional puddle can leave enough salt on a bike that it will cause severe corrosion; I once did this for a local hill-climb event and when I came back to my (fixed gear) bike a couple of weeks later the (new, previously unused) campagnolo record pista hubs had corrosion damage that was so severe it wouldn't polish out. That was literally one pudde I went through, and just a few spots of ''water" on the bike. Never again; underestimate the corrosion inducing effects of road salt at your peril. Anodised aluminium parts can suffer stress-corrosion cracking if they are left with salty deposits on them, chromework dissolves in front of your eyes, and even stainless steel parts can suffer too.

cheers

[Sweep]

Thanks for the advice Brucey.

I soend most of my time in London where as you say there's not a lot of gritting.

Up north a different story - despite complaints every winter these days about cash-strapped councils not gritting enough it is still common.

I have been warned - thanks.

May give some of my bikes (particularly a new one) a wash and a waxing to prepare them for northern duties.

Feel free to recommend anything for the "waxing" - in the past I have just used car stuff.

[mig]

the council here grits at the drop of a hat early in the season then inevitably runs out if january-february are harsh. for years i have seen the gritters running around, lights flashing but nothing coming out of the back at those times. they run them empty to give the impression of gritting.

my commuter is currently covered in salt dust as they've gritted the past three nights but there hasn't been any rain, sleet, snow, mist. nothing. the roads are white with it plus brown streaks in the middle of the alnes and the gutters. horrible stuff. i'll rinse it off tomorrow when i have time but there will be rust on the chain. it'll make it through 'til march though then will be changed.

re. covering a frame. i use waxoyl. i'm 99% sure that it was a brucey top tip of a few years ago. chuck some on and run it in the crannies with a hairdryer. the frame usually comes up sparkly in the spring when the be-crudded layer gets removed.

[Brucey]

….re. covering a frame. i use waxoyl. i'm 99% sure that it was a brucey top tip of a few years ago. chuck some on and run it in the crannies with a hairdryer. the frame usually comes up sparkly in the spring when the be-crudded layer gets removed.

it probably was; I certainly did that to your wheels...

cheers