Quick unclog of mudguards?

[reohn2]

Step 1 clogged mudguards.

Step 2 hospitalisation ( or worse ) due to clogged mudguards, causing a big ‘off’.

Take them off, whilst you still can, throw them away, fit an ass saver.

OK if you don't ride in cold wet weather,last winter I came across an MTB rider wet and muddy head to foot and shivering uncontrollably outside a cafe trying to get warm with a cup of coffee and a cake,because he'd no mudguards save one of those poor excuses that attach to the seatpost andnthe cafe owner had asked him to eat outside as he'd make a mess of the seating for other customers.
Now the MTBer could've carried a couple of bin bags to sit on but he didn't.
Another point,a few winters back I punctured on a swept and exposed bridleway with he temp at around 4C with a vey cold wind chill factor and fading light,I had mudguards fitted and was dressed for the weather,nevertheless I got very cold whilst changing the tube and could barely speak when I got to a cafe I frequent with had a sympathetic owner,who saw my predicament and let me warm up even though she was read for closing.
The thing is if it had been raining or even if I'd ridden through a large puddle or two I would've been even colder possibly hypothermic.

Decent mudguards aren't just for guarding against mud and wet,and if correctly fitted with enough clearance and with decent mud flaps can be a lifesaver in some cirmustances and keep you clean in all others,also IME a ride through a big enough puddle cleans off the crud under them as well as cleaning any mud out of tyre treads without getting the rider wet at all.

[yostumpy]

Hosepipe.

Unlike a hosepipe, a tyre lever also works when you get off that muddy bridleway back on to the road, and realise your wheels aren't going round as freely as they ought to.

I was up on Dartmoor some years ago and Mercian was caked in mud.
I found a few puddles on the roads home to ride through.

Had a thread about it back in 2008.
viewtopic.php?f=16&t=18562&start=0

WP_20180202_16_30_13_Pro by mark tilley, on Flickr
I regularly ruff stuff on my Olive. (the pretty one at the back) and the secrit is , as said above , to ride thro' all the puddles, slowly, not to try to ride around them in the sticky goo. Note, the state of the MTB in the fore ground, and the svelte, clean lines of Olive. After all, the water in the puddles is the same stuff that comes out of the hose pipe.

[Debs]

there are various stands which are compact, yet hold the rear wheel off the ground for display/cleaning etc

for example


this is another



this one hooks onto the down tube and cradles the bottom bracket

cheers

I have an old chain/seat stay stand very much like the 'Minoura' stand, bought it years ago, works okay on rim brake bikes but doesn't fit disc brake bikes.

The other stand that hooks the down-tube and cradles the BB looks interesting. Can't find where they sell or how much..?

<>

I'm considering this ingenious but very simple bike stand (slots into hollow bottom bracket) which looks ideal for my bike:
But the 'Cyclog Hobo' stand is dear; available from Wiggle for £49.90

[Brucey]

I'm thinking of buying one of these for the use of giving the filthy bike a quick once over after getting home from a dirty ride

Twice this week i've been passed and showered by a council rock-salt truck, i'm lucky like that...



Hand pump so no need for electric, no need for outdoor tap,
Very handy to grab and use for a quick 5 minute clean-up. Just leave ready for when you return home.

At £20 it seems a bit cheap tho', i wonder about quality and if they last (?)

for the longest time one of my MTBing chums carried an 'ASL Killaspray' (or similar, anyway you pumped it up and it was meant for spraying plants) in the back of his car when we went further afield than normal and would use it to give the bike the once-over after every ride. The bike got a 'proper clean' when he got home, but was already clean enough that the back of his car stayed pretty clean whereas mine soon resembled a mobile compost heap. The killaspray only held about a gallon of water, and the spray was a bit feeble but it was enough to shift most types of freshly applied dirt. At home, something with a bigger reservoir and a more powerful spray could be pretty handy. However an issue with any sprayer (or pressure washer come to that) is that it needs to be stored bone-dry empty or somewhere where frost can't get at it.

Dunno where to get the BB cradle type stand right now; at one time they were popular in bike shops, so if you see some you could ask. The last time I bought any myself they were old ones at a bike jumble, in need of new rubber parts and a refinish.

[edit https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/bicycle-storage/ topeak flash stand appears to be built this way. No idea if it is any good though.]

[edit; BTW if the spindle doesn't turn in the Cyclog Hobo I'd expect it to rub (and perhaps mark or damage) the inside of the BB spindle when you turn the pedals. Some HT-II BB spindles are aluminium too, so I wouldn't fancy that much.]

cheers

[Debs]

After all, the water in the puddles is the same stuff that comes out of the hose pipe.

If the puddle water is on a road where the rock-salt gritter has been, then the puddle water will be salt water

[mattsccm]

20 quid for a garden sprayer!
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pressure-Spr ... Sw6kxd0sYP

[yostumpy]

After all, the water in the puddles is the same stuff that comes out of the hose pipe.

If the puddle water is on a road where the rock-salt gritter has been, then the puddle water will be salt water

'' I'm not talking about getting out the pressure washer or leaving things spotlessly clean - if it requires significant effort it won't get done''


yeahbbut! we are not talking 'cleaning the bike' here, we are talking about keeping it free moving when the bridleway / track gets claggy, and preventing the mudguards clogging up with leaves'n [FFE] .Nowt wrong with a wash when you get home.

[Debs]

this one hooks onto the down tube and cradles the bottom bracket

cheers

<>

I'm considering this ingenious but very simple bike stand (slots into hollow bottom bracket) which looks ideal for my bike:
But the 'Cyclog Hobo' stand is dear; available from Wiggle for £49.90

Well, my Shimano chainset uses a plastic cap thing in the left-side BB hollow recess which prevents the use of the Cyclog Hobo - so scratch that idea
A bit of a shame that, looks like a very useful thing - if it fits your bike!

<>

I've just ordered one of these for 12 quid (which includes delivery).

[mattheus]

There are several good pointers in this thread. A Christmas miracle

I used a hosepipe yesterday as the whole bike was filthy. I also have had success with a washing up sponge jammed between tyre and guard and moved around using the wheel.

That's a neat cheap trick.

I'm thinking of buying one of these.......

At £20 it seems a bit cheap tho', i wonder about quality and if they last (?)

A relative is a geologist and he mentioned to me recently that people in his interest group find it great that there are cheap secondhand portable pressure washers sold by cyclists who find them inadequate. Apparently ideal for cleaning rock samples out in the field, but not bikes.

Useful info - I wondered about those weed sprayers, nice to know they're not much use.

I keep two curved sticks at certain places on my commute. Either end of a mile of gravel covered in Larch needles. Always stop for a clear out (of different sorts !) there. Not the most useful tip for many of you I suspect.

This will only work for commuters and the like, but a handy tip nevertheless!

[reohn2]

I'm thinking of buying one of these for the use of giving the filthy bike a quick once over after getting home from a dirty ride

Twice this week i've been passed and showered by a council rock-salt truck, i'm lucky like that...



Hand pump so no need for electric, no need for outdoor tap,
Very handy to grab and use for a quick 5 minute clean-up. Just leave ready for when you return home.

At £20 it seems a bit cheap tho', i wonder about quality and if they last (?)

I ordered one and can say for a quick wash down after mucky rides on dirty muddy lanes with the odd bridle way thrown in it does the job pretty well.The pressure is quite low which initially I was a little disappointed by but found it's actually a help as with the lance you get into all nooks and crannies without the fear of breaching seals and easily gets under mudguards and washes off the drivetrain and disc calipers.Total wash time is about 5minutes followed by a drying off with an old towel and spraying mechs and cassette with GT85 total time 10minutes max
A good but of kit for it's intended use I'm happy

[Debs]

I ordered one and can say for a quick wash down after mucky rides on dirty muddy lanes with the odd bridle way thrown in it does the job pretty well.The pressure is quite low which initially I was a little disappointed by but found it's actually a help as with the lance you get into all nooks and crannies without the fear of breaching seals and easily gets under mudguards and washes off the drivetrain and disc calipers.Total wash time is about 5minutes followed by a drying off with an old towel and spraying mechs and cassette with GT85 total time 10minutes max
A good but of kit for it's intended use I'm happy

Yes a plastic fantastic spray pump-washer is still tempting me.

At the moment tho' i'm getting very clean results using a garden hose with one of these hozelock brushes:



But i'm having a lot of difficulty keeping the bike still while i wash it,
i scrub with one hand while fighting a wobbly bike to stay upright with the other!

I'm washing the bike out on the road [ a quiet cul-de-sac ] near a drain so the water can drain away.
The stand i bought last week doesn't keep the bike anywhere near steady enough while washing the bike, (although it has come in handy to use as a bike stand.)



It's very tempting to simply plonk the bike upside-down on the ground but i don't want to scuff the saddle or brake hoods.
Thinking about screwing a large hook under the wood jetting of my house, and hanging the bike by the front wheel, but being so close to my house it would most probably spray dirty water all over the wall and window, and not to mention the water will puddle up with no drain nearby.

I could do with a helpful servant to hold my bike still while i wash it, any volunteers?

[reohn2]

I just lean the bike on the fence,spray one side then turn it around and do the other.

[Debs]

I just lean the bike on the fence, spray one side then turn it around and do the other.

That's wot i'd like to do but i don't have a fence,
although i have thought about sticking a post in the ground and with some kind of fasten to hold the bike steady.

Or perhaps not...



But then again it would keep the hawkers away

[niggle]

I ordered one and can say for a quick wash down after mucky rides on dirty muddy lanes with the odd bridle way thrown in it does the job pretty well.The pressure is quite low which initially I was a little disappointed by but found it's actually a help as with the lance you get into all nooks and crannies without the fear of breaching seals and easily gets under mudguards and washes off the drivetrain and disc calipers.Total wash time is about 5minutes followed by a drying off with an old towel and spraying mechs and cassette with GT85 total time 10minutes max
A good but of kit for it's intended use I'm happy

You missed out the five minutes pumping the thing up I used one for a little while, but eventually the experience motivated me to fit the outside tap that my wife had been demanding for her gardening activities.

[reohn2]

You missed out the five minutes pumping the thing up I used one for a little while, but eventually the experience motivated me to fit the outside tap that my wife had been demanding for her gardening activities.

I included the pumping in the 5minutes,which is more when it's getting empty,the one I bought holds 8litres and I've been using between 2 and 3 litres per wash so I could have bought a smaller unit and filled it after each use.
I've been using the hosepipe for years to rinse off the bike after a mucky ride but I have to reel out about 7m of hose and back in again everytime so thought a sprayer could work.
I was right it does,and the plus is I can take with me ready filled when drive/ride withnthe MTB,wash the bike down after the ride and it can blow dry on the rear bike rack whilst driving home

EDIT:- there are other plusses to a sprayer such as for people who live in rent homes and apartments without access to outside water source/hosepipes,I'm also considing using mine to wash windows with the tank filled with water and a squirt of washing up liquid using the brush provided then squeege the window off after and a wipe with a cloth.

The sprayer isn't as messy as a hosepipe either with less chance of squirting yourself with it,c'mon we've all done it with a hosepipe .