No matter how much of a routine you make it, cleaning your bike is a chore. It’s time-consuming, mucky, and in the winter it’s cold and wet and all you want to do is get inside and warm up.
The more often you do it, too, the more you have to spend on cleaning products. Let us help you save some money and time too with the following tips and tricks to get things sparkly clean on a budget.
Does your bike actually need cleaning?
This is a controversial opinion, but much of your bike doesn’t really need to be clean to work properly. Your frame and most other static components won’t suffer if caked in crud. Of course, if your bike gets wet and mucky, it’s always best to clean it straight away. However, if you leave it until things have dried, washing can actually force muck into areas you don’t want. Instead, ignore aesthetics and focus on thoroughly stripping and cleaning critical areas like the drivetrain. Doing this as often as you can is better than giving your whole machine a daily spray with a hose.
If you’ve never washed your bike before (no shame, there’s a first time for everything) be sure to have a read of our guide on how to clean your bike so you don’t accidently do any damage.
Bike specific products are expensive
Many bicycle-specific products vary little from generic alternatives. White spirit from any hardware shop will do a great job of degreasing components like cassettes and chains, while Isopropyl alcohol can be used to clean your disc brake rotors.
WD40 is also great for breaking down unwanted grease and oil, and washing up liquid will do for general cleaning. If you must have branded products, you’ll often find lower prices and larger serving sizes if you look for those aimed at the automotive market. This is equally true of brushes, cloths, and sponges used for cleaning.
Help your cleaning products go further
It’s not true that the salts in washing-up liquid will damage your bike. This means there’s no reason not to use it for general cleaning.
At the same time, dedicated cleaners like Muc-Off do make life easier. If you decide to invest in some, using it properly will help it go further.
Start any cleaning by removing loose dirt from the bike. Now wet the whole bike with plain water. Let this soak in for a minute or two. Next, spray your bike with cleaner and leave it to sit for a further couple of minutes. This…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at CyclingNews RSS Feed…