How to Clean A Mountain Bike – Part One

After a hard and enjoyable day on the trails it is often tempting to put off cleaning your bike at best, until the next outing, at worst, to defer the matter altogether.  However, if you want your bike to perform at its optimal potential keeping it cleaned and well lubed is essential.  After all, why bother forking a big slice of cash for the latest greatest model you can afford and then failing to look after it?

In this series of articles, we don't know how many yet we'll see how it goes, we are going to provide a detailed breakdown of the steps you can take to ensure a smoother running bike.

Now, there are a million (bit of an exaggeration) products out there to help clean up your bike but in reality the vast majority aren't even needed.  Having tried many I have to say that good old fashioned hot water and washing up detergent/liquid do just as good a job.  So fill up a bucket add some suds and get to work.  Now one thing you will need is a number of sponges, clothes and scrubbing brushes to assist.  There is nothing better than an old toothbrush to access the really awkward places that usually require the most attention e.g. gear mechs.

Start by fixing the bike to your service stand (if you've got one) and remove the wheels and then give it the full soap treatment.  I find it easier to work from top to bottom and this also has the advantage of stopping mud dropping on to the bike and particularly the gear and chain mechanisms if you work from the bottom up.

I'd then give it a quick hose down with clean water before getting into the real nitty gritty but more of that in the next article.

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Until the next time.