Sometimes your bike just needs a really thorough clean,
particularly if you've got a big event coming up like a sportif or a race.
First of all run a bucket of hot soapy water. I always washing up liquid because
there's always some in my house.
If you've been more organized you can use a specific bike or a car soap. I've
never had a problem with that though
so it's up to you. It is important that it's hot though, it gets the grease and oil
much much better. Before your bike gets wet though, first of all, decant some
degreaser into an old pot. Half an old water bottle works particularly well
pro mechanics tip, amazing
Now with old brush I just paint the degreaser liberally onto the chain.
Some people swear they need to take the chain off to clean it thoroughly
I don't agree with that and more than that i'm quite superstitious about how
many times a break it and then rejoin it even the power link, so i try to avoid it
and just paint, paint it on.
After that chain is thoroughly coated in degreaser take a flat head screwdriver
and just run around the jockey wheels just to scrape all that gunk off, and then
sparingly
I get a bit more degreaser on here too - then finally on the chain rings as well
Now while that decreaser is actually working
it's time to actually clean the rest of the bike using an old car sponge
I start the front of the bike and then work backwards and downwards getting
loads of soapy water on it.
When you get to the area of the drivetrain I swap my clean car sponge for a
greasy old one, I find having the chain on the big ring is much much easier to clean
the outside of the chain
But to get onto the inside, you need to get your sponge involved elsewhere
Now this has come up pretty clean
if it needs a bit more going over just apply some more degreaser and again just
leave it to sit. Now when I come back to again I'll use my clean sponge and it
should come up pretty spotless.
Now it's time to move on to the derailleur and the chainrings. This
little brush was an excellent buy as it gets right in there.
Make sure that when you've cleaned it satisfactorily, that you get the
degreaser off really thoroughly. Any degreaser left on there is going to
basically ruin any lubricant that you put on afterwards so make sure it's
thoroughly thoroughly rinsed off.
Now I'm going to turn my attention to the wheels
drop the front one out and then start by cleaning the frame and the front forks
that you can get to us the wheel was in. Pay particular attention as well to the
brake calipers
Now I turn my attention to the front wheel I make sure, I'm a through cleaner,
so I am particularly careful about cleaning the side walls
Blackwall tires not so much of a problem but if you've got skin wall tires, your
bike is never going to look clean
if you've got dirty sidewalls, so give it a proper going over. Clean the spokes
next and then finish off with the hub. Now drop the back wheel out as well. If
you've not got a work stand, then whatever you do don't put the bike upside down on its
seat and it's STI's. Instead you rest it on the tip of the fork blades and the
brakes and then lean it against something else. Just to keep the bike a
little bit more pristine. Approach the back wheel in pretty much the same way
that you did with the front
the only difference is the cassette
now this has already got some degreaser on but I'm going to paint some more on
because we need that to come up. Now unlike the chain this probably would
benefit from being cleaned. The more expensive your cassette the more difficult
it is to actually get it clean, but in this instance I'm just going to try with
degreaser and then a rag as well, you can just fit between the sprockets and clean
it like so.
Just pop the wheels back in, the bike should be pretty much spotless now so all we're going
to do is replace our bucket of dirty soapy water with clean water and rinse
the bike off
you can use a hose at this point as well. Some people do use power washes
but if you do that just be a little bit careful, particular around delicate
bearings that you don't actually blast all the grease out and strip the
components completely
It's not necessarily a problem but it's going to give you more maintenance in
the long run.
The bike is pretty much spotless except for one jarring thing.
Now you've noticed Tom Last riding around on filthy bar tape
now there isn't much you can do to get it clean particularly if you're running white
bartape, and that's why most people probably use black, but you do want to give it a
try
soap isn't going to work so try something like wd-40 and then elbow
grease.
So the bike's clean but your job's not finished yet.
Because this is a tune up there is a few little bits we're going to take a look at it
so drop the front wheel again we're going to check the tire for anything sharp that's
wedged in the carcass. If there is something you can just take either that
or a pic and lever the object out. If it creates a hole that's too big and you
are concerned about it, you can always just take a dab of glue from your puncture
repair kit and just glue the tire back together.
If it's too bad you're gonna need to replace it hole like that it's gonna be
absolutely fine
now you can repeat the process obviously on your back wheel and while the wheels are out
just go and take a look at your brake pads often they can get, if you've got alloy rims
they'll get little bits of metal wedged in them and then you can also lever
out any gunk from inside
It's really really important if you're using carbon rims as well because that's an
expensive mistake if you leave any bits of grit or anything in your pads. Now for
re-lubing. Use whichever lube takes your fancy. I know that my five-minute bike
cleaning tips with my WD40 isn't going to work because we've used
degreaser on the chain so that just won't last, so I tend to use a wet lube
that's just because of where i live and the kind of riding I tend to do, but if
you're lucky enough to live in somewhere dry then use dry lube. Take
your rag and just wipe off any excess
and that will take an air so and give the derailers a bit we going over the
brake calipers
While the bike's in this position you can always check things like the indexing or
the brakes, just so that it's properly tuned up for your sportif or your
race
otherwise it's good to go with the exception of that grotty bar tape which
I'm going to have to change for Tom Last. For a more in-depth clean and
service click here, or for a quicker faster routine
watch my five minutes cheats guide over there.