Workshop How to Clean and Lube Your Bike

8/10/2019 Workshop How to Clean and Lube Your Bike

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Workshop: How to clean and lube your bike

If youve let the muck build up on your bike, here's a step -by-step guide that will get it lookinglike new and running much better in less than an hour.

We think this is best avoided: a five-minute hosedown and application of lube straight after yourride will help keep your bike running smoothly, if not showroom shiny. But nobody's perfect -

least of all us - so here's how to shift serious grime. Time: 1 hour Skill rating: Easy Cost: Degreaser, grease, chainlube (approx. 15)

Tools youll need

1.

Bucket2. Very hot water3. Washing-up liquid4. Brushes and sponges5. Old toothbrush6. Narrow flat-blade screwdriver7. Old spoke8. Degreaser


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9. Polish/detailer10. Grease11. Chain lube12. Rags

1] Scrub the chain

The chain is the most important part of the transmission. The first step to cleaning it is to use hotwater wearing rubber gloves will help you use hotter, more effective, water. Add regularwashing-up liquid to your bucket of water and allow it to foam up.

With the chain in the biggest gear, apply the mixture vigorously using a stiff bristle scrubbing brush. Youll see a bright, shining chain emerge.

2] Degrease the chain
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With the chain free from dirt, apply a biodegradable degreaser to the chain and allow it to soakinto all the links. This will remove any debris and sticky residues you cant see, and make for a

free-running chain.

Rotate the cranks backwards a few times to get the degreaser right into the links. Allow to drip-dry, or wash off with clean water.

3 Wipe the chain


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Use a soft rag to wipe the chain completely clean youll be surprised what still comes off aclean- looking chain. Youre trying to massage the links, mo ving them through as wide a range of

movement as possible this helps expose the sections of link normally hidden from view.

4] Lube the chain


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Apply lube only when the chain is clean. We prefer to lube a chain as little as possible, with aslight a lube as we can get away with. Use a dripper bottle, because its easier to apply accurately

and with minimum wastage.

Coat the whole chain, spinning the cranks to force the lube into the links. Thats where lube ismost useful not coating the outside plates, as many believe. Wipe excess lube away with arag.

5] Wipe cables


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Slide the outers to expose previously covered sections of inner cable. Give the entire inner cablea wipe-over with a section of rag soaked in degreaser. If you come across any sections that are

rusty, replace with a new inner cable. Most dry cables can be reinvigorated with a little lightgrease.

6] Lube cables


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The best way to apply grease evenly to a cable is to first apply the grease to a clean (lint-free)rag. Holding the rag in one hand with the greased section between thumb and forefinger, gently

pinch the section of inner cable in the rag and draw it through.

The idea is to allow the grease to get into the fine strands of the cable without creating any blobsof grease.

7] Scrub front mech


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Front mechs always suffers from neglect. Theyre hard to access and are often jammed full ofdry mud, and have pivots drier than a Jacobs Cracker. The first thing you can do to get your

front mech swinging happily again is to apply steaming soapy water. Use a small toothbrush toget right into the parallelogram and underneath the band.

8] Wipe front mech


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Give the mech a good going over with the rag. Use a thin strip of rag to thread though the bodyof the front mech this allows y ou to floss the body. Dont overlook the inside of the front

mech cage, as these get pretty grubby from rubbing the chain all day. A couple of minutes andyou should have a gleaming front mech.

9] Scrape out rear mech


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Theres no point having a free -running chain if the jockey wheels of your rear mech are bungedup. Use an old spoke or the blade of a thin, flat-bladed screwdriver to carefully hook out any old

grass and oily gung e thats trapped between the jockey wheels and the mech arm side plates.

10] Scrub Jockey Wheels
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With the serious grime gone, use a little degreaser and an old toothbrush to scrub the jockeywheels (not forgetting the insides of the mech arm). Its poss ible to unscrew the jockey wheels

from the mech arm, but we dont recommend you do so unless youve got a thread lock to usewhen reinstalling the pivot bolts. Sadly, weve seen too many rides ended by bottom jockeywheels falling out.

11] Lube Jockey Wheels


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Re- lube the jockey wheels. They really only need the very lightest touch of lube, as theyll pickup enough from the chain through use. Remember these little wheels attract a lot of dirt, and withlube being sticky, it doesnt pay to make matters w orse by overdoing it. Wipe the excess awaywith a rag. They should look dry.

12] Unclip cables


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Set the rear gears into the largest rear sprocket and then, without letting the rear wheel spin, shiftinto the smallest rear sprocket. This will free up a bunch of inner cable and allow you to pop the

outers from the slotted cable stops on the frame. With the cables now fully unclipped from theframe you can inspect, clean, re-lube and reinstall everything.

13] Lube Front Mech


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Use the lube dropper bottle to apply drops of lube to all the pivots on the front mech. These takea lot of load, and can use all the help you can give them to remain mobile. Shift the mech into the

smallest chainring and then work the parallelogram with your fingers to get the lube worked in.

14] De-Gunk Rear Sprockets


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The rear sprockets are the final port of call on this bicycle maintenance mystery tour. Theyrefull of technology to help faster shifts, but also full of grease, mud and grass. Pick the worst

lumps out with an old spoke or the blade of a thin, flat screwdriver. Youll be surprised whathides in those tight spaces, even on expensive, open alloy carrier versions.

15] Scrub Rear Sprockets


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Get the hot soapy water on them and get scrubbing with a brush. Really stubborn grot can beshifted with a dose of degreaser and another hit with the scrubbing brush. Getting to the backs of

the sprockets can be tricky, but its really worth persevering, as the cleaner you make it, the lesseasy it is for new mud to stick.

16] Wipe Rear Sprockets


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You can get away with just cleaning the important parts, but a full wash-down should be part ofyour regular post-ride plans. Take the wheels off the bike and wash everything, beginning with

the underside of the saddle and working downwards.

Tip: lube the pivots


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Add a drop of lube to your brake lever pivots they dry out too and work better with someliquid love. Ditto the shifters. For SRAM X.9/X.0 gears, simply unscrew the top caps and drop afew drops on the spring and cable nipple. With Shimano , undo the plastic grub screw and put afew drops inside before replacing the grub screw.

Tip: polish it off

If you love your bike, show it offby taking a soft duster and some nice polish and giving the

paintwork a buffing itll never forget. Apart from making the bike look shiny, it a lso helps makeit harder for dirt to stick to the frame the next time youre out.

Tip: hot water and detergent FTW

The marketplace is rammed with bike cleaning fluids, and theyre mostly pretty good. Most areapplied using a trigger bottle spray, requiring you to leave it on for 30 seconds and then wash offwith a brush.

Thats all well and good, but we have just as much success with car shampoo and hot water. Youcan even use washing up liquid, but remember it contains salt so you want to be sure you get it

all off. For all the marketing hype, the detergent and the grime-busting strength of steaming hotwater are hard to beat. Have a good selection of sponges and brushes available to get into all thenooks and crannies.
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Workshop How to Clean and Lube Your Bike

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