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Poll: Where do you wash your bike?
April 19th, 2007 by Fritz 
Warren has wrapped up the parking poll, so let’s start a new one. Where do you clean your bike?
Leave a comment and let us know how you keep your bike clean.
Warren has wrapped up the parking poll, so let’s start a new one. Where do you clean your bike?
Leave a comment and let us know how you keep your bike clean.
April 19th, 2007 at 4:30 pm
I guess I’ll go with number 3, though I actually put my bikes on my maint. stand in my garage to clean it.
April 19th, 2007 at 4:31 pm
I wipe it down with a soapy rag and a bucket of water inside my appartment
April 19th, 2007 at 4:46 pm
I sometimes wait until the accumulated weight is sufficient for the dirt to fall off on its own (#8?), but when I do wash the bike, #3 might be closest. Like Ahd Child, I use a bucket of water and a rag to wipe it down inside the back room of my house.
April 19th, 2007 at 10:39 pm
sometimes when a mountain bike gets extremely muddy i wash it at the car wash with the spray nozzle — but without feeding quarters into the machine, which seems to make the nozzle operate at a mellow pressure and not the high pressure paying produces.
otherwise just wipe with a rag and windex or degreseaser. high pressure water is very very bad for your bike. low pressure is okayer
i use sram chains and soak them in a jelly jar filled with simple green when they get nasty. a pot with hot soapy water & a dish brush cleans the cassette and chainrings. a standard bike bottle with plain water rinses them off.
April 19th, 2007 at 11:09 pm
Wash . . .bike . . . I don’t understand these words.
April 20th, 2007 at 6:01 am
For me is #3. I will take my bike(s) that need to be cleaned at wash them in front of the house. My kids get into it and use chalk to create a bike wash area and I help them clean their bikes after I am done with mine.
April 20th, 2007 at 7:47 am
#3 explains it best. Usually find myself using car wash soap which works on all paints/clearcoats. A sponge, bucket, and just the normal water pressure through the garden house works well. Always stay away from pressure washers no matter how muddy the bike gets!
April 20th, 2007 at 8:01 am
I don’t really “wash” any of my bikes. At most I will wipe off the dirt with a damp cloth after it builds up awhile. Dirt provides an excellent protector for the frame against the salt they put on the roads up here.
Also, it rains enough that my bike gets washed on its own!
April 20th, 2007 at 10:49 am
I don’t want to get rid of the crunchy dirt coating by washing.
But I do occasionally wipe off the chain and grease the hell out of it.
April 20th, 2007 at 11:43 am
Washing? Ummmm…I’m supposed to do that?
Seriously, when I do, it’s #3 and is mostly done with a bit a Simple Green on a towel for my road bike. My kids’ bikes get the hose because they like to run through the puddles and mud.
hak
April 20th, 2007 at 1:16 pm
I wash it in my yard/patio/driveway.
-M
April 20th, 2007 at 1:19 pm
I’m with Jose (#5)…it sounds like english, but I can’t make sense out of it…I do try to keep my drive train clean by using wax based lubes and wiping it down occaisionally when lubing, but the cumulative patina adds to the personality and enhances the overall antitheft qualities of my beautiful monster. The only other area I would pay attention to would be the braking surfaces of the rims and brake pads, but since my favorite bike uses drum brakes, even that can be ignored
April 20th, 2007 at 2:07 pm
I feel that dirt, mud and road grime on a bike can be helpful theft deterrants (along with a good lock system) but when I feel the need, #3 is my choice.
April 21st, 2007 at 9:36 am
#5 when it happens, but more often #8. Riding in the rain helps too. I clean my drivetrain and do all repairs/maintenance etc on a work stand in my apartment.
April 23rd, 2007 at 5:48 pm
Bucket of 1:10 Purple Power Degreaser:Water and an old rag. Toothbrush for tight spaces. Out on my front patio or in my linoleum front hallway when it’s too cold outside. When the wheels are really, really grimy, I’ll invert it and run them through the shower.
April 24th, 2007 at 12:16 am
Thanks for the input so far, everybody. When I tally it up I’ll probably simplify and knock the number of categories down into something that makes sense. Keep it coming!
April 24th, 2007 at 1:04 pm
Just wipe down bike with a clean dry rag. Then wipe of chain and lube. Quick ride through all the gears, and I’m good to go.
April 24th, 2007 at 9:48 pm
During cold or wet weather, #7, in the shower. After winter rides through the grimy, slushy, salty muck the bike gets a shower before I do. Is that wrong?
#3 when it’s nice outside.
A clean bike is faster, it’s a scientific fact!
April 26th, 2007 at 4:46 pm
hahaha i wash my bike in the shower… and I’ve washed my bike PARTS in my dishwasher =P
April 27th, 2007 at 9:30 am
Maybe it’s a mountain biker thing…but I NEVER wash my bike. I mean sure…clean the chain and make sure the joints and fork stantions are free from gunk ….but I’ve always maintained the fastest way to rust and squeaks is washing…HIGH POWERED HOSES?! Man …maybe if you like the grating creak of unlubed metal on metal…
April 30th, 2007 at 3:17 am
Sometimes I LOOK at my bike real hard and think about washing it even harder and then I grab a screw-driver and gouge off one or two strips of grease from the sprockets then it’s time to GO damnit! So I dump the tool and jump on the saddle and forget all about washing my bike once again.