One of the things most cyclists and gravel riders hate: cleaning your road or gravel bike. Especially when it is cold outside, or when it is raining outside, cleaning your bike sometimes gets in the way. In the winter and in autumn, when it is wet, or when there is a lot of dirt or road salt on the road, it is disastrous for your bike. Dirt on (especially) the rotating parts causes your bike to wear out faster than it should. That is why it is important to clean your bike properly. Cleaning your bike in six steps!
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1. Prepare
Good preparation is half the battle. Even when cleaning and hosing down your bike. Make sure you have a good towel or drying towel handy. It is also handy to have the right cleaning products at home. That means the following for cleaning your bike:
- specific degreaser for the chain and cassette
- detergent for your frame and wheels
- chain wax or chain oil for lubrication
- Preferably a garden hose and (possibly) a pressure washer
If your bike is very dirty, make sure you get the big lumps or pieces off beforehand. Otherwise, you will spend the whole time spraying and soaking in the mess. Especially if you have gone into the mud on the gravel bike and it has dried up for a while, this will come in handy.
Another tip is to clean it on a bike stand, also taking your wheel out for a while. Then you can clean your cassette and chain even better. For that, though, you do need a bike stand and a chain tensioner.
2. Spray off
When you are ready to start cleaning your bike, start by rinsing it off. Just a simple squirt with the garden hose. Then you will have got rid of the main dirt. Note: when you get going with the pressure washer, avoid the areas where your bearings are. Such as near the steering head, near your bottom bracket (there by the pedals) and near the wheels. The pressure washer sprays grease away and that grease is exactly what is needed to make those parts turn properly. So keep a bit of distance and do not spray too long in one place.
3. Apply detergent
If you are going to polish your bike, the right cleaning product is very important. There are many brands on the market, almost all of which offer a separate bike cleaner and a separate 'drivetrain cleaner'. The exact difference is mainly that the drivetrain cleaner, so for the chain and cassette is a bit more aggressive with dirt and grease. It's a real degreaser, which ensures that your chain and cassette can get shiny clean again. When cleaning your chain, take care. Do not apply the chain cleaner to the rest of the frame.
General detergent these days almost always comes in a pre-mixed bottle that you can spray right onto your frame. Very handy and that way you don't have to fiddle with 'so many parts water and a cup of detergent'. If you are going to clean your bike, spray the cleaning stuff on the frame and possibly on the rims of your wheels. That way, your bike will get very clean.
4. Polishing
Now comes the real work. Polishing your bike. Start with the chain and cassette. To clean your chain and cassette, a number of handy tools are available to make cleaning them easy. First of all, you have the specific chain cleaner 'boxes. You put the cleaner in there, attach it around the chain and then with a few turns you can get your chain pretty much clean. You can order these chain cleaners from any major bike shop.
In addition, you have the dedicated chain brushes. They look a bit crazy, but are super handy. With long brushes to get to the tricky spots and the curved hook with teeth to get rid of dirt between your cassette on the one hand as well as the dirt that got on your little derailleur wheels.
For your frame, you have larger, softer brushes in different shapes and sizes. Make sure you have a separate brush for your frame and one for your chain. If you start cleaning your bike, the chain brush will get greasy and black. Then when you go to clean your frame you will get black smudges. This is not only unsightly, but also bad for your frame. So polish with a separate brush or just with a soft sponge. That is what the professionals do.
It is important to thoroughly scrub all spots on your bike. A tip from a mechanic friend: also spray with a compressor.
Rinse and dry
Have you rinsed your bike completely and cleaned the chain and cassette as well? Then make sure you rinse the bike completely clean. Preferably with a garden hose, or a bucket of water that you slowly pour over it. If you have a pressure washer, be careful not to spray in one spot for too long. Once you have cleaned the entire bike, chain and cassette from the detergent and dirt, you should then start drying it. This is really important because moisture remains everywhere and as everyone knows: moisture -> rust. Certainly the chain and cassette need to be wiped ten times. So it is better to take the cassette off the bike and dry it per cog. It also makes it cleaner.
TIP OF THE BIKEMAKER:
Put your bike inside overnight, especially if it's wet and cold outside. Not dripping with moisture, but if you have taken it all the way down
Grease
After cleaning and drying off, you need to grease the chain. You can choose wax or oil, whichever suits your preference. These days, more often wax used, but an oil for dry or wet weather can work just as well. Oil has the only real disadvantage of attracting dirt. In turn, the advantage of oil is that you can still lubricate the chain even with a little dirt. When using Wax, you need to have the chain completely spotless.
How much oil or wax to use? Easy rule of thumb: one drop per chain link and then make a lap along your chain. Then leave the bike for a while (preferably 24h) and then wipe off the excess wax or oil with a polishing cloth.
Key tip:
If you are going to clean your bike in these six steps, do so as soon as possible after your bike ride. In summer, you can still get away with just a quick wipe along your chain, but especially in autumn and winter, cleaning is important.
