Cleaning the winter crud off

Having kept up some regular riding through the winter I've found, appart from the cold, that all the winter road crud is difficult to shift off the gears and chain.

I dont seem to be able to find the time to strip the bike down regularly so does any one have any tips for cleaning the gears and chain insitu?

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Permalink Reply by Alex Ek on May 28, 2012 at 21:17

Similar to n carter, I use a sprayer with a heavy fairy liquid concentrate, spray on and work in with a 1" paintbrush and rinse off with a low pressure hose. Chain comes off (SRAM powerlink) and gets the same treatment (different brush), rinsed off and WD40'd to get the water displaced. Rear cassette gets the same minus the WD40. Tyres and rims stiff brushed and rinsed off. And bike back together. Chain wiped down of excess WD and then wet lubed and wiped.

Best brush kit I found for the money was a motorbike set from TK Maxx for a £5er!

Full spray guards also help keep the crap down in the first place too.

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Permalink Reply by Mike Hobbs on December 3, 2012 at 9:52

I see that Fairy Liquid gets a few mentions...I always thought it was a no-no due to a fairly high salt content.

I have found that a normal degreaser solution in a chain bath works best. Then I remove the rear wheel and hold the chain in place with a Molton Blue chain device for final rinsing, drying and relube.

Just my tuppence worth!