- One things about riding mountain bikes in the winter
is they're inevitably going to get muddy at some point.
Now if like me, you have to drive somewhere to go riding,
you don't really wanna put a muddy bike back in the car.
Of course, it's quite easy just to get it home and clean it
when you get to the other end but really
by the time I get home tonight, it's gonna be pitch black
and I really not gonna bother washing a bike.
The best thing to do is give it a
quick rinse down in the car park before you pack it away.
That also means your bike's ready to ride
next time you wanna head out, and this is how you do it.
(soft techno music)
(wheels kicking up dirt)
The sorts of kit you're gonna need to do this
are ideally some kind of mobile pressure washer.
Now these are quite pricey so you might not want to do this.
You might want to do the sorta cheap option
I'm gonna show you here.
It's simple, a bucket and a brush
from your local hardware store.
I always carry two or three five litre bottles of water.
They are good to refill, and it gives you,
I find 15-liters of water is more than enough
to give your bike a decent clean down.
You're favourite sort of bike cleaners
and solvents and stuff, and some lube.
I actually find that these sort of
really cheap garden pressure washers are quite good,
so they're not actually that good,
and don't have that much pressure for cleaning the bike,
but they're quite sparing with the amount of water you use
so once you've given your bike a good clean down,
they're really good for rinsing it off.
You can also use this as another vessel
to carry water in the back of your car.
Notice that I'm still in my bike kit.
You know, I'm pretty dirty and so the point is,
I want to get this clean as quick as I can,
and then while it's drip-drying,
then I can get changed into some nice, warm clothes.
Bike'll be a bit dry, sling it into the back of the car,
and get out of here.
Of course, at the moment, it's got loads of
big lumps of mud on this so,
I'm dirty anyway so I'm gonna use my hands
to take some of these lumps off before
I give the bike a rinse over, then I'm gonna
start using some bike cleaner on it.
You might wanna be quite sparing with it 'cause
it's expensive stuff.
Just getting some of these big clods out because
those little garden sprayers like I use are not
the most powerful things.
This is good just to make it a bit easier.
Clear that out.
Ooh, and my kit is gonna go straight in the washing machine
when I get home anyways so it makes
no difference how dirty it is now.
Give it a quick spray
with the old sprayer.
(water pumps and sprays)
These mobile washers you can get from
Kaerchar, and Mobi, and various other brands.
They're definitely worth looking at
if you ride in wet conditions quite a lot.
Get to work with the bucket and brush.
I always like to position the bike between my legs here,
getting straight involved.
And if there's enough water left,
it's worth giving your legs a wipe down.
Your riding shoes, as well, anything you can
just to make your job easier
when you get home to the other end 'cause
no one likes to spend excessive time out being cold and wet.
Just gonna run the brush
past the cassette just to take off any major lumps.
And the idear is you don't want it sounding too gritty.
Now work my way up to the front of the bike.
It's possible to do this sorta washing
in five or six minutes, put it back in the car afterwards.
And then we're gonna attack it with some bike cleaner.
I do most of the cleaning
and use the spray afterwards 'cause it is quite sparing
using a bucket and brush and water.
It's time to give the transmission a bit of a rinse.
Using the can of degreaser here with the little nozzle
so I can drive out any crap that's in there.
Obviously if you're using a degreaser,
you gotta make sure you don't get this
anywhere near the disc rotors.
Give it a good ol' dousing.
This particular stuff isn't bad for the environment.
That's why I like to choose this one.
And carefully gonna spray a bit down here.
Notice the wind's going this way so it's actually okay,
it's not gonna get anywhere near my rotor.
And that's gonna get that pretty clean.
Now the remainder water in the bucket is pretty grim stuff
but you may as well use this up on the bike.
And then I'm just gonna use the remainder of my water
that's in the pressure washer
just to hose her off before leaving this to drip dry.
Again, emphasising the point, this is really
just to make your life easier later but
you can do a pretty good job with up to 15-liters of water,
bucket, brush, and a few simple bits
in the boot of your car.
Which at this time of year, it's a pretty good idea,
and you can almost use the bucket afterwards to
lightly stash the gear in.
Put your dirty riding kit in, as well.
Okay, bike's been given a quick clean now
I'm just gonna put some water displacer on the chain,
just to keep off the surface rust and drive the water out.
I like to use it a bit of spray lube just to
make sure everything's in order for the next ride.
So there you go, that is the essential carpark wash.
Two bottles of five-liter water, little sprayer,
bucket and a brush, job done.
Bike's clean enough to go in the boot of the car
and not mess anything up.
More importantly, it's ready to ride next time.
All I gotta do now is sling in my dirty clothes,
change of clothes, and get out of here.
If you want a couple more maintenance videos,
click down here to find out how
to stop your brakes squeaking.
That's a pretty cool, informative video
on what to do with your brake pads when it happens.
And click up here for adjusting your
rear derailleur and your gears.
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