Cleaning your bike

[jmullen0401]

Don't use a water hose unless there is heavy mud or sand on your bike. The water will enter cables, shifters, derailleurs, hubs, bottom brackets, and cassettes. The only way to dry these components is with compressed air, and not all of have access to an air compressor. Remove all dirt easily with pre soaked wipes. Use a separate wipe to clean the chain. Cleaning ropes are extremely useful to clean between the cogs of your cassette.

Lubricate the chain and components. PRO LINK chain lube is the best on the market. Afer cleaning your chain with pre soaked wipes. Apply chain lube sparingly while rotating the crank counter clockwise. Lubricate cables and derailleur pivot point with a high quality lubricant with injector.

Next polish your bike. This will protect the finish of the frame and components. Use any type of bike shine. This will help your bike shine and look great for many years.

Get more cleaning tips at: http://www.doityourselfbicyclerepair.com/onlinebikeshop/ ‎

[cny-man]

1. Nothing at all wrong with a water hose used gently on a well lubricated bike or even more strongly away from bearings and chain.
2. Compressed air has far more potential than water for causing contaminents to get where they should not be.
3. Pre-soaked wipes may have water in them - not a good thing to add to a chain or for cleaning a chain. Best just to lube.
4. There is no "best on the market" lube. People have different preferences as to convenience, resistance to weather, dry/wet, etc. and for each category of lube there are multiple good choices.
5. There's no need for an injector at pivot points - spray or drip on and wipe off excess.

I'll agree with the polish comment.

[jmullen0401]

(10-01-2014, 11:43 AM)cny-man Wrote:  1. Nothing at all wrong with a water hose used gently on a well lubricated bike or even more strongly away from bearings and chain.
2. Compressed air has far more potential than water for causing contaminents to get where they should not be.
3. Pre-soaked wipes may have water in them - not a good thing to add to a chain or for cleaning a chain. Best just to lube.
4. There is no "best on the market" lube. People have different preferences as to convenience, resistance to weather, dry/wet, etc. and for each category of lube there are multiple good choices.
5. There's no need for an injector at pivot points - spray or drip on and wipe off excess.

I'll agree with the polish comment.

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It is hard on a chain to just keep adding lubricant. The road dirt and excess lube needs to be cleaned off. How do you suggest this?

[cny-man]

(10-01-2014, 07:21 PM)jmullen0401 Wrote:  

(10-01-2014, 11:43 AM)cny-man Wrote:  1. Nothing at all wrong with a water hose used gently on a well lubricated bike or even more strongly away from bearings and chain.
2. Compressed air has far more potential than water for causing contaminents to get where they should not be.
3. Pre-soaked wipes may have water in them - not a good thing to add to a chain or for cleaning a chain. Best just to lube.
4. There is no "best on the market" lube. People have different preferences as to convenience, resistance to weather, dry/wet, etc. and for each category of lube there are multiple good choices.
5. There's no need for an injector at pivot points - spray or drip on and wipe off excess.

I'll agree with the polish comment.

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It is hard on a chain to just keep adding lubricant. The road dirt and excess lube needs to be cleaned off. How do you suggest this?

Depends again on the usage. With a road bike and a reasonably clean chain there's nothing wrong with adding some lube and wiping off the excess (along with dirt) with a dry rag - can be done quite a few times before needing to clean. Even in harsher conditions it's not very harmful. Nothing will clean out a chain completely other than removal and complete flushing. Wiping mostly only makes the outside look better.

[eastman]

Clean your Drivetrain. Spray your chain with a cleaner/degreaser, and work on it with a rag. There are various chain cleaning gadgets that enable you to wash a chain without removing it from the bike, but a good wipe down with a rag and some solvent does a pretty good job, too. Wipe down the derailleur, and remove any gummy deposits from the pulleys on the derailleur cage.

Wet your Bike. Give your bike an initial rinse; either with rags or a hose, to loosen caked on dirt.

Wash your Bike Frame and Wheels. Go from top to bottom, front to back, using a diluted soap or a dedicated product and the soft bristled brush. Use the brush to scrub the braking surfaces of your rims.

Rinse your Bike, being careful not to shoot high pressure water at bearing packs or shock seals.

Dry the Bike. Bounce the bike on the ground a couple of times, and then hand wipe the bike dry, starting with removing any excess water near shock seals. Apply a bike polish occasionally if you like.

Lubricate. Lubricate your chain and other components as needed.