Bath and shower with your bike

[north woods gal]

Warm enough, today, to soften the ice on my trails enough for the studded tires to grab, so had a good hour of riding on the Norco Bigfoot. Also warm enough for the clear sections to turn into mud, so finished the day by giving the Norco a sponge bath.
http://i66.tinypic.com/21l5085.jpg

It reminded me of what I sometimes did in my Chicago apartment back in my commuting days when I got home and needed to clean the bike. Real problem in the winter getting all the salt off the bike and no way to hose the bike off outside sooo ... don't laugh ... I squeezed the bike into the shower with me and we both cleaned off. Yup, a girl taking a shower with her bike. How's that for bike love? :)

Anyone else do something a little nutty like this with their bike?

[Crankin]

Not me, but I know others, who have done that.

[Catrin]

A woman has to do what she has to do :cool:

[emily_in_nc]

LOL! Can't say I've ever showered with my bike, but I have certainly taken my helmet in with me to wash. :D

[rebeccaC]

My other bikes would get too jealous if I showered with one of them…..they all occasionally get loving sponge baths on the patio though :) living in year round nice weather ftw!

The beginning of a warm winter ca. salton sea desert day for you nwg
https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3837/33282094480_ab4c2de249_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/SH2rab)
with two aquatic birds too :)

[shootingstar]

No showering with my bike. Neither would he do it: he's a neater person than me and most definitely wouldn't consider hauling a dirty bike into home. Glad some folks do it if nothing else is available. I've seen bike wash, even dog wash at the gas service station here in town

[north woods gal]

Thanks, Rebecca. I feel warmer, already. :)

I actually started by putting the bike in the tub when I got home, then sponging it off, because the tub was the only place I could clean the bike and not worry about getting the floor or, even worse, carpeting, dirty. I then just figured, why not? Jumped in the tub with the bike and turned on the overhead shower. Okay, I didn't make a habit of it, just did it when the bike was a real mess. I'm only a little crazy. :)

[Geonz]

Warm enough, today, to soften the ice on my trails enough for the studded tires to grab, so had a good hour of riding on the Norco Bigfoot. Also warm enough for the clear sections to turn into mud, so finished the day by giving the Norco a sponge bath.
http://i66.tinypic.com/21l5085.jpg

It reminded me of what I sometimes did in my Chicago apartment back in my commuting days when I got home and needed to clean the bike. Real problem in the winter getting all the salt off the bike and no way to hose the bike off outside sooo ... don't laugh ... I squeezed the bike into the shower with me and we both cleaned off. Yup, a girl taking a shower with her bike. How's that for bike love? :)

Anyone else do something a little nutty like this with their bike?

I *should* -- a little harder 'cause it's a cargo bike though... wiht big ol' bags... and it's an Xtracycle so longer.

Last week I heard pinging in the rear spokes... stopped and could not find the source. Turned bike upside down and it was pretty grimy... one loose spoke but not broken... and my hair kept getting in the way (20 mph winds didn't help). Could not find the source... so pulled the wheel part of the way out and put it back in and shook it a bit... turned it back over... and rode slowly and felt the ping change so that it was only happening when the pedals were moving.

So I rode home and turned it over and took the wheel off and gave it a reasonably good cleaning -- found a chunk of denim to use as 'floss' on the chain ringand used a ton of Tri-Flow.

Much, much better now! Especially since I got a haircut :)

[north woods gal]

Yeah, I hate it when a bike starts making an unexpected noise, but I also know to stop and check things out. With all my trail riding, I pick up a lot of leaves and twigs and mud - all sorts of stuff. Interestingly, in all my years of riding in the snow and cold, though, I've never once had a derailleur or shifter freeze on me. That was never the problem on my winter commuting days. It was that darn salt they used on all those Chicago streets and that stuff would eat up everything on a bike. That's where the daily cleaning and sometimes a shower would come in.