Last week, I noticed that every time I attempted to switch gears, my chain clunked around in my cassette. I took a closer look, and — lo and behold! — my cassette was crammed with mud and (impressively) dead leaves. No wonder.
I’m no bike mechanic, but I trusted myself with this one. Give me half an hour, an old toothbrush and a bucket of soapy water, and that mud’s no match for me. Plus, unlike most bike maintenance projects, there was little potential that I’d make matters worse.
I’m guessing that my gears get neglected more than most. But I’m also guessing that your chain and cassette could use a good scrub-down, too. I promise you, this is something that anyone can handle, and it will make your life a whole lot easier during Bike Month (because you’ll be riding every day, right?).
How often to clean? According to various sources all over the internet, you really should spray down your bike every time it gets dirty. Trouble being that, if you’re anything like me, the last thing you feel like doing when you get in from the rain is hosing down your bike. Once a week seems like plenty to me; if you’re fastidious, more is better.
What to use? There are a number of commercial products out there designed for cleaning the grease off your chain, but I found that a bucket of warm water with dish soap worked just fine. An old tooth brush will help you get into hard-to-reach places, and an old rag comes in handy. Spray it with the hose first to remove loose dirt.
Where to clean? You’ll want to clean your cassette, chain, the rims of your wheels and your brakes — really, anywhere you see dirt. The added friction from the grime causes all your components to wear down faster, so keeping things clean will keep you out of the repair shop.
How to clean? This is mostly self-explanatory, but it bears mentioning that cleaning a chain is best accomplished by turning your bike upside down and rotating the pedals backwards so that the chain moves through your soapy rag. Make sure you rinse things thoroughly and oil your chain when you’re done.
What are your sources? I’m no expert — so don’t take it from me. There’s a thorough blog post on Cycle and Style from back in 2010 that will tell you everything you need to know. If you like visual aids, Youtube videos abound.
Have bike-cleaning wisdom to share? Feel free to share!
You need to be careful with spraying water on to the bike, as it can squirt grease out of the bearings. Direct the jet away from any area where there are bearings: the hubs, the headset, and the bottom bracket. If squirted directly, the water can penetrate the housing where the bearings sit, rust them out and damage the housing (depending on the bearings), which can be costly. Everywhere else is fine.
I’m wondering how to do this without getting the stuff I wash off onto the driveway where it will eventually wash into the lake/ocean/river. It would only be a little bit, compared to a car, but still–it’s the same grime, and they say to take your car to a carwash where that stuff is taken care of somehow. I don’t imagine they’d be keen to have me scrubbing my bike in their carwash, but…? Any ideas?
Question for Kris. Your advice is to not to hose on the hubs, the headset and the bottom bracket. But they get very dirty. How should we clean them?
@ Janet,
If you’re worried about runoff, here’s a few thoughts. First, the stuff you wash off was mostly picked up from the road. It was headed to the storm sewer anyway. But if you want to limit its progress, wash the bike off over a grassy area or on a patio that drains to the grass, where the gunk will be ‘treated’ naturally on its way to the river/sea. And that brings up choice of cleaners. Pick something that won’t harm your grass. Avoid harsh petrochemical cleaners for routine cleaning. Something like Dawn (diluted, of course) would work. You’re not going to use a lot, and you’re going to dilute it before use and dilute it further with the rinse water you use while cleaning over that grassy spot. As long as you don’t do this daily, your grass probably won’t suffer. A mechanic recently recommended rubbing alcohol (in a spray bottle) for cleaning the chain. (Spray a rag with alcohol, turn the crank backwards while holding rag around the chain and letting the chain slide through the rag. Although the alcohol is a petrochemical, it evaporates quickly. This means it doesn’t have to be rinsed off, and it doesn’t hang around and dilute the oil you use on your chain (as some less volatile chain cleaners might).
And as Kris said, be careful about ‘spraying’ down the bike. Don’t try to use water pressure to remove the caked dirt, grime and road film. Wet the bike gently, and wipe or brush it down to loosen the dirt. Then you can use a hose end sprayer, but on a low pressure hose using the ‘shower’ nozzle setting on the sprayer – the one with a pattern like a watering can. Better yet, use a watering can. The shower is just to rinse off soap & loosened dirt. Avoid pointing that shower at the sides of the hubs or bottom bracket or headset.
I think the carwash is a bad idea. Way too much water pressure.
Doing this cleaning on a lawn or gravel, rather than a paved driveway or parking lot, will let the ground soil filter the grime rather than having it flow down the storm drain. But yes, we are talking here about a minimal amount of grime and oil than is washing directly off the street itself or from cars & trucks, so no need to feel guilty about keeping your petrol-free ride clean & easy.
Also, getting an inexpensive chain cleaning tool that you can clamp onto the chain to run it through a series of small rotary brushes & cleaning solution can make this task much faster and a lot less messy…so you might do it more often! — Like a mini-car-wash for your chain.