Jim’s Tech Talk
By Jim Langley
Recently I created two videos that are related. One is on how to wash your bike and keep it clean (today’s Tech Talk topic) and the other one covers some new tools that I ordered from Park Tool to upgrade my workshop (I learned about them after attending an Sea Otter Classic and decided I had to have them).
New Cleaning Kit
One of these new Park Tool must-haves (in my opinion) is their new BCB-5 Professional Bike Cleaning Brush Set (4 brushes and a sponge). The thing that makes this cleaning kit unique is that the bristles on three of the brushes are made of tampico.
I have never heard of tampico so I asked my friend John K at Park about it. He explained that tampico is a grease-resistant natural fiber that holds soap and water well and is an excellent choice for bike cleaning brushes.
In the description on their website they go into a little more detail as follows “tampico is a natural fiber derived from the agave plant that’s extremely durable, resists chemicals, and holds moisture well, making it an ideal material for cleaning brushes.” From using the brushes I can tell you that it does these things quite well – as you’ll see in the bike wash video.
Why I Like Brushes for Cleaning
Basically I like brushes because I find them faster and more efficient. They come in different sizes for getting in between things and they hold enough water and soap to clean well. Also, if a bike has dirt or dried mud on it and you wipe it with rags or a sponge, you will probably make small scratches on paint and bare metal.
Brushes are flexible and aren’t as likely to press any dirt or mud into the surface hard enough to mark the bike. Instead they poke or sweep which is a gentler way to clean than pressing or squeezing or scrubbing.
Just in case you’re wondering what value the sponge adds, it’s ideal for holding water and soap which lets you squeeze it to keep applying more suds to the bike as you work with the brushes.
The Best Philosophy and Practice for Keeping your Bike Clean
Many bike rides ago I spent a fun few days interviewing (and riding with) pro race mechanic and wheelsmith Steve Gravenites https://www.gravywheels.com/ whose nickname is “Gravy.” He said something that made so much sense that I still remember it.
I asked him about cleaning bikes and he said, “Jim, cleaning your bike is like cleaning your bathroom. If you let it go for too long it’s truly a nasty job.”
His point and what I recommend for bike cleaning is to clean your bicycle regularly. What’s regularly? It depends on how much you ride and where you ride, what weather you ride in and even things like what lubes you use on your bike. Wax-based chain lubes, for example, tend to keep a bike cleaner than oil-based ones.
It’s not a difficult thing to figure out though. The basic rule is that if your bike is becoming a nasty filthy mess with dirt and mud, stuck-on energy drink, dried worms, caked grime on the chain, cassette and chainrings, then you definitely need to clean it more often.
Ideally you’ll clean it before it gets too bad. For some riders that might be after every ride where it’s obvious that the bike became dirty. Or you might decide you don’t want to clean it that frequently. In that case you might choose to clean it after every few rides at which point you’d get it nice and clean BEFORE it gets so bad it’s a big job cleaning it.
Supplies for Cleaning
The best way to make it easy to clean a bike frequently like this is to have a kit. I like to use a bucket and in it I keep my cleaning kit which includes: brush kit, sponge (I don’t use it that much but it’s nice for thing like the handlebars, stem and saddle), some absorbent rags for drying and disposable rags for cleaning the greasy parts (chain, chainrings, derailleur pulleys).
I use a hose for wetting and rinsing the bike. If you don’t have one you can use anything that lets you do those things such as a spray bottle, a water bottle off the bike, the bucket and so on.
I also use a repair stand to hold the bike off the ground. This makes it easier to see what you’re doing and allows turning the wheels and drivetrain parts which makes it much more efficient to clean them.
Only Drip, Dribble the Water on the Bike
Also a repair stand holds the bike vertically and upright, which is how you want it. Because you’re going to drip (do not use high pressure water) water from above on the bike. That way you won’t risk getting water inside the components that have grease inside, the hubs, bottom bracket and pedals. The headset has grease inside and the water will flood it from the side. Luckily headsets are pretty well sealed and since you’re dribbling the water not spraying it, it’ll be okay.
Why I Don’t Remove the Wheels
I do not remove the wheels. You can if you want. But, if you’re cleaning a bike regularly you shouldn’t need to because there shouldn’t be too much hard to clean crud between anything since you’ve been keeping after it each time you scrub-a-dub-dubbed your rig.
Note that the ease of taking wheels off and putting them back depends on how they’re attached. By far the easiest wheels to remove and reinstall are quick-release wheels. Thru-axle wheels can be easy to remove too, but if you’re been watching any pro racing and have seen the struggles even pro wrenches sometimes have with them, you’ll know that with some types it can be challenging to get the wheels off and on some it can be challenging to put them back on too.
Then there are bolt-on wheels, which can be even more difficult to take off and put back than thru-axle wheels. So feel free to remove your wheels but it’s not usually needed if you clean your bike often.
The Cleaning Process
In this video I show my procedure for bike washing. You can do a keep-it-clean wash like this much faster than in the video and especially if your bike is already cleaner than mine because you didn’t let it go so long.
Please share your bike washing favorite products, tools, procedure and tips in the comments. In the video I mention my riding buddy who had a plumber install a hot water hose. It’s outside close to where he stores his bike cleaning bucket with supplies. Since he has ready hot water he can wash his bikes super fast and his always look like new.
Drivetrain Cleaning
Drivetrain and especially chain cleaning are among the most discussed and debated topics in all of cycling and always have been. In the video I show a simple wipe-it-clean approach. If that doesn’t satisfy your chain’s needs, a few years ago we did a fairly exhaustive series on the subject that should do the trick
Part 1 is here: https://www.roadbikerider.com/basic-obsessive-chain-care/
Part 2 https://www.roadbikerider.com/bicycle-chain-lube-reader-tips/
Part 3 https://www.roadbikerider.com/more-top-chain-care-tips/
Park’s New Brushes and Other Tools
Last but not least, in this video I show Park’s new cleaning kit in more detail and the other tools I got and am now using in my shop.
Jim Langley is RBR’s Technical Editor. A pro mechanic & cycling writer for more than 40 years, he’s the author of Your Home Bicycle Workshop in the RBR eBookstore. Tune in to Jim’s popular YouTube channel for wheel building & bike repair how-to’s. Jim’s also known for his cycling streak that ended in February 2022 with a total of 10,269 consecutive daily rides (28 years, 1 month and 11 days of never missing a ride). Click to read Jim’s full bio.
Rather than just drizzling water from a hose, I use a 1-gallon garden sprayer to rinse. The spray is light enough that water doesn’t get forced into the bearings, and I think I actually use a lot less water to clean my bike. I also find Silca’s “Gear Wipes” quite handy in keeping the bike clean between more thorough baths.
Thanks for the great tips John, appreciate it!
Jim
Wonderful video. Thank you.
Any thoughts on how long those Park brushes will last? Replacing them on a regular basis could be quite expensive. Maybe I’ll keep an eye out for alternatives, though they may be few and just as expensive if the bristles are made from the same natural material as those Park brushes.
I use a thick (cotton?) yarn to “floss” my rear cassette when I want to get at grime deep between cogs. But, shop towels (or the ready to throw away rag t-shirt) works …
Respectfully,
Michael
Please see my post below regarding alternative brush products.
Thanks for the tip on using yarn to floss your cassette Michael. Re the Park brushes, it’s too early to tell how they’ll hold up.
Thanks!
Jim
I’m a fan of Park Tool and use their tools religiously for wrenching, but there’s no way I would pay $50 for this brush set. I have no doubt it’s a good set and does a good job. My issue is the cost. I use the Finish Line brush set and based on the Park Tool website pic and description there’s nothing the Park Tool set can do that the Finish Line set can’t do – and at half the price! I’ve seen it frequently under $20 with free shipping on eBay. Then to really get into nooks and crannies I use the Tube/Pipe Nylon 9 piece brush set from Harbor Freight (brushes of varying sizes, usually near paint supplies – Item 90631, current cost is $5.49). I LOVE the cone brush in the Harbor Freight set. I love this set so much that I give a set to everyone who’s bike I’ve restored/wrenched so they keep it clean in hard to reach places between tune ups. I use Dawn dish detergent as my primary cleaning solution.
I do a fair number of full restorations so I disassemble the vast majority of the bike for cleaning to get it “like new” to the extent possible. I wash each piece outside with the “soaker” or “gentle misting” setting on the nozzle. I never use the “jet” or other powerful setting. For my own steeds I’m admittedly OCD+++ when it comes to a clean drivetrain so I frequently remove the wheels and use Finish Line Gear Floss for really getting it clean. In fact, I was cleaning my full carbon steed earlier today and had to take the wheels off so I could really get in there. If I’m going to take the time to clean I want every possible nook and cranny addressed and can feel the difference in the ride. I realize that’s not necessarily how everybody thinks and it’s a personal preference. I’m retired and have plenty of time to devote to detail. Others may not have the luxury of time and keep their steeds in the best shape possible with the time they have.
I sound like an ad for Finish Line, but in addition to their brush set and gear floss, I also like their degreaser and adore their Showroom polish. It just makes the bike glisten in the sun, especially if it’s a unique color.
Gratefully, there are a wide variety of quality cleaning products for today’s bicycles. These are my preferences after years of experimenting with product samples and talking with my buddies at my LBS. Truth be told, with a lot of these products it’s “six of one, half dozen of another” as far as price and product quality.
In the end, whatever provides you with the type of cleaning you prefer is a good choice. The fact that you care to clean the bike in the first place demonstrates some thought of available products.
Thanks for sharing all your great tips Katharine, appreciate it!
Jim
I was always a “dry wipe” bike cleaner, but many years ago there were a bunch of articles about how pro mechanics cleaned their bikes with soap and water. So I switched. But I’m a rider who keeps bikes for lots of miles and I noticed that any steel parts were showing rust much sooner than had been the case with dry wiping. So I switched back to using water only to get off specific sticky stuff (typically bugs or road tar). I don’t ride in the rain unless I get caught out, so I really don’t see rust any more. I clean the bike every 350 miles or so,, which is about when the chain needs a clean and wipe anyway. I go through lots of rags but the bike is clean, works well, and doesn’t rust.
I use shoe laces from our discarded athletic and hiking shoes to “floss” my cassette after spraying on Lemon Pledge as a degreaser.
I have a lot of experience with washing cars, and bikes, I use to own a small car collection and would go to car shows with them, and the one thing you DO NOT DO IS USE BRUSHES! Brushes, no matter how soft will put fine scratches and swirls into paint and decals, and even mar decals, maybe a normal person may not notice those scratches for awhile, but to trained eye they can be seen the first time you use a brush. Bicycle paint is more fragile than car paint, and if a brush can put fine scratches into car paint, well, you get the idea, and the darker the paint is, the more readily you can see those scratches, with black being the easiest.
Some might say to just use a scratch removal polish, that’s fine to a very limited use on a car, but on a bike you will thin out the paint quicker.
The best car washes are touchless washes, but those are very difficult to fine, so wash a car, as you would your bike, at home, and washing at home can get your car cleaner. With a car you pressure wash, but you don’t want to do that with a bicycle.
Any high quality car wash supplies will work on a bicycle. First thing you do is hose off the bike get rid of the loose stuff first, then spray the bike down, then use a suds and foaming spray cannon attachment for your hose, fill the bottle with something like Turtle Wax Max Power 3 levels of cleaning car wash. Once you have done that you can use microfiber car wash mitts, those are not brushes, and scrub the bike, then rinse with wash & wax combo, that wax used in those washes are not that great but it does give you a spotless rinse. Once that is done you can wax your bike using a non abrasive wax or even ceramic wax, for a bike you don’t need to get expensive Ceramic wax, just something from the likes of Turtle Wax, or Jay Leno’s stuff which actually his stuff works very well. All this stuff can be found at Walmart. There are a lot of products on the market, but if you stay with the higher end consumer level products like Turtle Wax, Mothers, Chemical guys, Meguiar’s, or Jay Leno’s you’ll be fine. Even with my car collection I never used expensive stuff, and the judges never know what your using as long as it looks good, all I used back then was Meguiar’s products. Those shows I went to I would get free samples from auto detailer companies that would cost $100 or more for the regular size bottle of their stuff, I never could see the difference, and neither could judges. The cheaper car products then the ones I listed you could see a difference.
You will need a two or three, more for a car, microfiber mitts, when you are done using them throw them in the wash on delicate and cold water, then let them dry naturally, do not put them in a dryer, and do not reuse them till they are washed, those mitts will hold fine particles of dirt on the fiber and if you don’t wash the mitt those fine particles will put fine scratches into the paint.
What you use for your car, will work for a bicycle, you don’t need a bike specific system, just don’t use a high pressure wash and rinse on a bike like you would with a car.
Wax. Wax. Wax. After a good wash, wax that puppy. Any decent boat/car wax will do. It will make those in between tidy ups go so much better.
I’ve been using the Silca bike cleaning products-Brake and Drivetrain cleaner, Bike Wash, Spray Graphene Wax, and Ceramic Waterless Wash. I have been most impressed with the Brake and Drivetrain cleaner-I love the stuff-the color change is very satisfying . I think a lot of the Silca products come from the automotive industry. I have also moved to waxing the chains on most of my bikes and find this does wonders to keep the bike clean.
I clean my bike and chain after every ride. I use a clean old rag with a light spray of silicon spray to wipe the frame then the chain is wiped to remove leftover wax and crud and finally a new application of wax on the chain. I do have a Park cassette brush that I have been using for years. So, to recap, my twenty year old Rivendell Atlantis still looks brand new and rides like a dream.
Thanks for sharing your great tips everyone, appreciate it!
Jim
Any tips for those of us who live in the city and don’t have access to a hose and/or driveway? City riding picks up all kinds of nastiness and I’d really like to clean more often. I have a bike stand and clean my bike over a large plastic tarp in my small living room, but a bucket of soapy water is not an option. thanks!
Silca bike wipes. Trust me. You won’t be disappointed.
Thank you so much for the video, very informative. I used most of your techniques to clean my wife’s and my bicycle. I even have some of the tools you used during the video. One thing I normally do and, I am sure you approve of is that I use a shop-vac to blow off excess water.. Here in Florida we get plenty of hot sun, so I leave the bikes sit out in the sun for a while.
I clean my bike after every single ride (usually 50-60 miles), have done so for 30 years. I never use soap, but maybe I shouldn’t feel bad about it. I wipe the frame and wheel rims with a soft cloth damp with hot water. I have tons of rags that I cut up from old clothing, so never need to buy anything.
Then I put a sheet of plastic on the basement floor so I don’t ruin it with grease. I cut dry-cleaning bags in half to get good use out of them, and use them several times with a quick paper-towel wipe in between. I wipe down the chain, chain rings, and pulleys, similar to what you did, but only with a dry clean rag. My pulleys never get all that gunked up as shown in your video because I wipe them after every ride.
It’s nice to see how you’ve shown us how to care about bike cleanliness! About half the guys I ride with are meticulous bike cleaners like me.