Best method for cleaning

sumguyhavingfun

I have a dual suspension MTB (Nrs3 2003). And i wanted to know what is the best way to clean it?
Is a good hose down ok/enough?
Whats the best way to clean the shocks front/rear?
The best way to clean the chain (whilst still on the bike)?
What cleaning agents (washing detergent etc) does everybody use?

Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance

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Twisties

i usualy use the hose to wash all the mud etc off, then i let it dry in the sun. then i get engine oil on a rag and polish it so ts shiny .

What u need to do is buy a can of WD40 or RP7. the bueauty of
this is that u can put newspaper down and spray ur jain, cassette, suspenison etc and it takes off most of the junk around it.

the other day i took my back suspension bit off and sparyed it with WD40 to clean it up, the stuff that came off was black my bad.

its also good to occaisionally take out the wheel bearings etc and cassete and clean it too. just make sure u remeber how to put it back together!

hope i have helped

sumguyhavingfun

Thanks for your info mate. I'm about to go and and get some WD-40, and i'll do as you suggested.

I'll assume your joking about the engine oil . And i don't think ill be taking the bearings or cassete off, yet. Have never done it before. Might leave that to my LBS for the moment. Due to go in for its 6 week service soon anyway.

edit - Will the WD-40 do any damage to the paint or stickers if left on for any period of time? Or do i need to make sure every last drop is wiped off the painted surfaces?

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Duckwah

here is what i did yesterday to clean up after a pretty muddy ride

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Duckwah

and again

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Twisties

what i do with the engine oil is dampen a rag with it. its good because it rustproofs any parts of the frame where the paint is chipped.

WD-40 should be fine on the original paint that the bike came with if that is what ur talking about. but if your worried maybe you should just wipe the stickers but they sould be fine. nuthing has happened to mine...so far but ive had mine for 3yrs.

if you wanted, you could get an old bike or pick one up form one of those council clean-ups and take out the bearings so that way u no what ur doin when u do it on your own bike.

the most fun about cleaning your bike is whe you get home and find that you *apparently* rode through mud, sand, melted tar that is now glued to your bike, etc etc.

if you couldnt be bothered to clean your bike this way you could always use duckwah's method.

sumguyhavingfun

i think ill pass on ducks method for the moment. And when u say engine oil do you mean like Castrol etc? or are you talking some other kind of oil? And aslo does'nt this attract more dirt to your bike? (making it stick easier etc)

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Twisties

a general purpose lubrication oil. car engine oil...its not like the black thick stuff its quite thin. i use that because its cheap and works.

yes if you put it on too thick dirt will stick a lot better but it usualy dosnt when i leave it overnight.

sounds weird but it works.

Colonel

Duckwah

Impressed! Did you end up with barnuts??

rek

re oiling the frame to prevent rust; A Giant NRS frame is made out of aluminium, and won't rust

I have a feeling my cleaning procedure is a bit of overkill, but I am a bit obsessive about my bikes and their cleanliness/state of repair (I love the feeling and crisp shifting of a bike that is cleaned and adjusted to perfection.) Of course the MTB gets filthy dirty after 5 minutes, I try not to think of that when I'm cleaning it That being said, I've done this since day dot on my road bike, and after 3500+km the drivetrain hasn't worn one bit.

What I do is give the frame a little wash down with water at low pressure, and then use one rag to carefully clean off dirt etc, and then use another to finally dry the frame properly. I've never seen the need to use soap.

Then the drivetrain cleaning; I use a chain cleaner thingy (I use simple turpentine as a degreaser fluid) once, then (controversial but effective step) blast the chain AND CHAIN ONLY with water while backpedalling, to get rid of all of the junk inside the chain that is now suspended in the turps. Basically I keep the water nozzle directly above the lower path of the chain, pointing down at it, mid-distance between the cassette and bottom bracket (to reduce as much as possible the amount of water blown around those areas.) Then wipe the chain dry with a rag, and give it another couple of runs with the chain cleaner to remove any leftover water and gunk.

Since I like the way a shiny, gleaming cassette looks, I also clean the chainrings and cassette with a toothbrush dipped in turps, and then wash it off with water spray (being very careful to hit only the tip of the cassette with the spray (just enough to wash off the turps) and not the hub/BB.

Leave it for a while for any remaining water/turps/etc. to evaporate off, and then lube the chain with your oil of choice. I have found the Chain & Cutterbar Lube you can get at K-mart to be fine; it does attract dirt a bit more than the more exotic bike lubes, but I end up cleaning so often it doesn't make that much of a difference. I usually also dab a bit of oil (and wipe off any excess) on derailleur and brake pivot points.

I don't touch the shock on the MTB, the rubber boot is zip-tied down and I leave it for the LBS to deal with every 50 hours or whatever the maintenance interval is.

It sounds like a bugger of a job, but with practice it takes about 15 minutes, and afterwards the bike looks like it just came off the shop floor. Duckwah's cleaning regime looks to be a lot less of a pain in the arse, though

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Peter
Cannondale Synapse Carbon Scalpel Cyclocross Ultra

steve

HAHAHA good move man I take it your bikes now clean?

cheers

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Steve

CyclingForums.com

Duckwah

i had to do that about 5 times to get good photos!!

the bike is sorta clean now but i didnt get to the chain in time and it got a bit rusty

DVD Plaza

Maybe next time you should ride into a laser car wash?

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Chris
www.dvdplaza.com.au

Duckwah

That was suggested but the cost of skin grafts is a bit high