stupid question

dgz69er

i have a bit of a stupid question, but being as i am fairly new to cleaning and actually maintaing my bike, the only way to find out is by asking.

I sold my buddie my old mountain bike a few months ago, I never cleaned it or took care of it, and unfortunately it was in dire need of a cleaning so last night I took over all my cleaning supplies and we started cleaning on it. About an hour or so later he brought out the carborator cleaner and sprayed down the cassette and derailers, and pretty much ever other part on the bike that was dirty. It cleaned it up really nicely and quickly. We let everything dry and put it all back together and relubricated everything on the bike.

I guess my question is. Is it alright to use carborator cleaner to get the grime off of your componants. Will it hurt anything on the bike?

Scotty_Dog

It could harm the paint finish, assuming you have a painted frame. Check the particular can for warnings. Also, don't spray it on or around anything with greased bearings (wheel hubs, bottom bracket, headset, suspension points, etc.) as it will wash out the much needed grease from those areas as well.

Something like Simple Green or an orange based cleaner would be much safer to use and are usually biodegradable, but still follow the "not on or around greased bearings" rule.

Hope this helps.

dgz69er

i appreciate you taking the time to reply to my thread it does help.


thank you

cydewaze

My preferred method is to remove the parts that need cleaning (usually the chain and cassette) and stick them in a dedicated tupperware container that I have, along with a bit of degreaser and shake the crap out of them. I usually use water soluble degreaser so I can rinse the excess off afterwards.

For cleaning the bike finish itself, there are numerous products on the market for that.

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IronDonut

Use Simple Green. I won't hurt you, your paint or the environment.

IronDonut

I spray my entire driveline after every ride. I douse the entire freewheel, chain, and drive chainwheels. No problems.

dgz69er

do you mean you douse everything with simple green? or carb cleaner?


i went and bought some simple green today, i must say i am very impressed, i sprayed it on my cassette and it cleaned that thing right up.

i'm guessing that you relubricate your chain after you use the simple green too?

the good thing about cleaning my bike up today i realized that my rear brake wasn't releasing the way it was supposed to so i adjusted that and now its working great.

the downside i also realized my back tire is getting quite worn down. i'm a bit pissed cause i only have about 200 miles on the tire, and i've not been skidding the tire unless i've had to stop. so i think i'm going to go and find a stiffer tire.

anyhow thank you for your input everybody

IronDonut

Here is my post ride drill. I'm in Florida so it's often wet and the soil has a high sand content. I end up cleaning my mountain bike driveline after every ride. Just can't stand the thought of grinding $500 worth of XTR drivetrain down to nothing. Here is the drill;

1. Douse the entire driveline in Simple Green. Spray it into the chain while spinning the cranks.

2. While still spinning the cranks; I run a bristle brush over the chain a cogs just to loosen up anything that is really stuck on there.

3. Spray out with a garden hose.

4. Blow dry with an air compressor

5. Lube

I have it down to about 10 minutes or less and it keeps the driveline flawless. Keep an eye on the Simple Green penetrating the bottom bracket, axle bearings and freehub.

Also don't forget to lube the derailleur pivots every once in a while. And if you have a lower end component set without a lot of really good sealing, grease up the pulley bearings with some white lithium grease.

Same process on the road bike about every 100 miles.

good luck

cyclewvu

Where exactly on the drivetrain do you apply lube? I heard there are about 4-5 spots on the rear deraillure that definately need it, but I'm not sure where. What about the front dreaillure? I usually use tri-flo but dripping that into the rear deraillure can be difficult and I never know if it is actually WORKING. Any advice? My bike definately needs a deep cleansing!

Also just wanna say that you should never use anything more powerful than a garden hose to clean off your bike because the water can be forced into the bearings and wash out the grease.