How to clean bike during winter

[yayarat]

Hey folks! I have a basic question but this is new to me. I moved from the south where snow and salt was rare. This year, I’m biking daily in the winter and would appreciate recommendations on how you clean your bike of the snow and salt.

I don’t have a lot of space in my home, and unfortunately have a lot of carpet. I appreciate any tips.

[Serdar]

@yayarat 221229 wrote:

Hey folks! I have a basic question but this is new to me. I moved from the south where snow and salt was rare. This year, I’m biking daily in the winter and would appreciate recommendations on how you clean your bike of the snow and salt.

I don’t have a lot of space in my home, and unfortunately have a lot of carpet. I appreciate any tips.

Hi. It sounds like you ask this question because you live in an apartment. In this case, I can’t help you much with an answer because I have a garage. But I would love to share my experience. After a winter ride, I use a Park Tool brush to rinse my bike with tap water at room temperature. For a thorough cleanup, I use soapy water for the frame and tires and degreaser and lubricant for the chain.

[yayarat]

Yeah, I live in a rental. I think I’ll try to dump a bucket of water on my bike while it’s outside to rinse off what I can. I was going to make a joke about washing it in my tub… But it seems that people actually do that. I just don’t want the bike to rust prematurely. I’ll do more research about it. Thank you for sharing your routine!

[Judd]

I’ve thrown it in the tub before. Depending on your tub size, this can be a bit awkward.

Something that a lot of folks do is buy a 1 gallon sprayer which will give you a small amount of water pressure to knock the crud off.

I usually clean my bikes in my apartment on top of the tile floor in the kitchen and Use Muc-Off and a paper towel. Haven’t had any issues with rust in the 6 years that I’ve biked during the winter here.

[peterw_diy]

Before it gets nasty, wash the bike and protect all the ferrous metal nuts & bolts & springs & things with something like Boeshield T-9 so that it’s not as critical to clean the briny water off.

[Hancockbs]

Pump up sprayers like you would use for bug/weed spray in your yard work well when filled with warm water.

[arlcxrider]

@Hancockbs 221472 wrote:

Pump up sprayers like you would use for bug/weed spray in your yard work well when filled with warm water.

Yeah, second that. A 2-gal. sprayer works great. Fill up with warm or hot tap water to wash the bike outside even when it’s below freezing. A little dish-washing liquid and elbow grease for the first pass. Then refill with clean water and rinse.

[Meh]

Thirded. Works great. And the air pressure keeps the foam down.

And, in the summer, you can keep the sprayer in the car for after-ride gravel dust rinsedowns/pseudo showers.

[Boomer Cycles]

Here is my bike wash kit.

1. HDX sprayer was $15 at Home Depot. One of the best investments ever. Warm/hot water works best.
2. Dish wash detergent diluted (25/75) with water in an old sprayer bottle that I Frankensteined
3. Citrus degreaser bottle from Home Depot/Target, for which I make my own solution (25% for general use, 50% for deep clean of greasy drivetrain). I buy the gallon jug of concentrate ($15 on sale?) and it will last me most of the year even with 3 cyclists in my household.
4. Cleaning mini-mop and 2 headed brush from the parts bin at the local Auto Zone store. Maybe $5 each?
5. Terry cloth towel, super absorbent! Buy a bundle on the cheap at Auto Zone. $5?
6. Old rags to wipe down the chain (orphan socks [emoji3453] or unwanted T-shirts work great). Always dry your chain or else surface rust will appear by the morning after.

I often strip down my drive train for a deep clean and lube on a weekly basis if there is road salt or brine present.

In a pinch, I also just squirt my water bottles on the drive train, brakes and bottom bracket to clear off muck and road salt/brine dust (which will eat metal if left on the bike) until I can give my bike a proper bath.

A clean bike makes for a happy cyclist;-)

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk hi

[bikesnick]

@peterw_diy 221253 wrote:

Before it gets nasty, wash the bike and protect all the ferrous metal nuts & bolts & springs & things with something like Boeshield T-9 so that it’s not as critical to clean the briny water off.

Do you use the Boeshield T-9 Bicycle Chain Waterproof Lubricant and Rust Protection on your chain, too?

[peterw_diy]

@bikesnick 221637 wrote:

Do you use the Boeshield T-9 Bicycle Chain Waterproof Lubricant and Rust Protection on your chain, too?

No, I use traditional lubricants there. T-9 is nice in part because it continues to add protection even after it seems to have dried or washed off, leaving the metal looking and feeling completely clean and normal. I don’t care how nasty my chain seems, and since new chains come pre-lubricated and T-9 should go on bare metal, it’d be a real hassle to even try it on a chain.

[Boomer Cycles]

Here’s what the professional mechanic, Calvin, at Park Tool suggests to wash [emoji3475] your bike [emoji605] , FYI

https://youtu.be/B2sKhSDrugE

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[randomduck]

Just to dust this off a tad:

1. I love Boomer’s setup (the sprayer is good for the initial cleanse), tho I mostly use straight-up Dawn Powerwash in the handy sprayer to clean everything on the bike after a wet/salty ride.
2. My chain lube of choice on bikes that see a lot of this kind of action is Boeshield T-9 – especially if a bike is going to be stored someplace where climate control isn’t likely to happen (e.g. outside, in a non-heated shed, et al). I also use T-9 as a cable lubricant and prep, as well as a frame treatment. Note that on my other bikes I’m a waxed chain kind of guy, but the winter months have me going for T-9 due to its protection qualities on metals.
3. If you want a winter chain lube that lubricates more, look toward either Silca Synergetic or NFS, noting that both will pick up more gunk over the long run.
4. If you don’t want to use T-9 as a frame treatment, use good ‘ol furniture polish spray (e.g. Pledge).
5. This is the big key movement: wipe off your bike immediately after any riding through sustained wet, or through salty stuff, or through mud and muck. Not letting the water and corrosive stuff have time to sit around and have that chemical reaction is key. Really wipe down the chain – wipe it well and make sure it’s dry and relatively clean. And be sure to get at places with bearing seals (e.g. bottom bracket, lower headset junction, pedal spindles, hub ends, spoke nipples) and make sure they don’t accumulate gunk. Old t-shirt rags or microfiber cloths work well for this.
6. After the quick post-ride clean, re-apply chain lube, let it set for a couple of hours (if you can), then wipe off the excess. It only needs to be inside the rollers – tho T-9 will also leave a coating on external surfaces and that’s a good thing.
7. At least once a month: pull out the seatpost, clean it, reapply grease/anti-slip/anti-seize, then put back in and tighten back to torque spec (this will prevent galvanic bonding of post to frame).

That’s about it. My typical post-ride clean takes about 5 minutes, the lube another minute. This simple routine will save a lot of money over the long run in terms of having to prematurely replace parts.

Good luck, y’all!

[randomduck]

Yes, T-9 should go on a clean chain without any of the shipping grease or other lubes on it.

Silca’s Chains Stripper works wonders for this. I use it on all my chains before lubing them for initial use, whether the chains will be waxed or treated with a wet lube like T-9, Synergetic, NFS, etc.

The base lube that chains ship with is, to be blunt, nasty and will end up destroying the chain if left on. It’s really meant to prevent corrosion during shipping and storage before being installed on a bike.

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