Guest Author - Kaye Barnett

Of course a bike is designed for riding through all sorts and so it’s going to get a bit messy! But getting a good cleaning regime going means that you ensure the longevity of your bike, helping to keep your bike riding safe, and keep your bicycle performing at it’s maximum. So cleaning your bike and is essential, and this article looks into how to keep a good general cleaning routine going, that you can implement after every ride to ensure your bike keeps working at its best!

Grab a Bucket and Brush

The cheapest, safest, and most effective way to clean your bicycle is to use a bucket and brush. All you need is a bucket of warm soapy water and a hard bristle brush. First thing you’ll want to do is to get off the majority of all that mud and dirt at this point, so your first target is the areas that are the least dirty, such as the handlebars, saddle and upper part of the frame and then to work down, toward the dirtier parts. Cleaning off dirt and debris from the tyres and brakes, and then (best to get another fresh batch of warm soapy water) and move onto the chainset and drive chain mechanisms. So once you’ve been able to get off the superficial amount of dirt from your bike you can then concentrate on cleaning up the individual parts more thoroughly.

Cleaning with a Degreaser

Now you’ve taken off the worst of the dirt from your bike next it’s time to concentrate your attention to the mechanisms. I’ve found that simple washing up liquid is the best to use sort of degreaser to use, but make sure any bike cleaning solvent you choose to use are also biodegradable. Also make sure you have a old toothbrush and an old small paintbrush handy as these will be need to get into all the fiddly parts of your bike.

Cleaning the Chain, Sprockets, and Gears

You probably won’t need to dismantle any parts of your bike for a cleaning job like this; all you’ll need to do is to work with a toothbrush and small paintbrush to clean off the dirt on the mechanisms. When you’re working on the sprockets be careful not to use too much solution as this can seep into the hub and freewheel bearings robbing them of lubricant, the paintbrush and some strips of rag run across the sprockets are the most effective to use here.

Clean the chain whilst still on the bike, rather than removing it for routine cleaning like this. And using the toothbrush is very effective at getting all the dirt off here. If you’re just getting started with cleaning up your bike, or the chain is a real mess, it may be best to take off the chain and soak it in cleaning solution, scrub clean, and then lubricate and re-fit back onto your bicycle. But there is no need to do this after every ride, as chains don’t like to be dismantled off the bike too much.

Don’t Forget to Oil!

Once you’ve given your bike a good clean up, and dried it off with a piece of rag now and very importantly you’ll need to oil all the moving parts back up again.

Pay careful attention to the moving parts as you oil them up. You want enough lubricant on them to do the job, but you don’t want the parts swamped in oil as that will cause more dirt and debris to get suck to them.

Looking after your bike and getting into a routine cleaning habit like this after every ride will serve you dividends! By simply regularly maintaining your bike this way above all ensures that you are helping to keep yourself safe whilst enjoying your cycling.