Washed my bike today

Looked over my bike carefully this warm afternoon. I've put about 1000 miles on it since July when it was new.
I saw lots of black grime and then realized that there was lumpy crud all over the silver brake parts and a few dried earthworms slung over my brakes and fork. YUK. :eek: :( Also other unidentified UFO slime pieces here and there that might have been bug guts at one time. Never noticed it much until looking closely (except for mummified Mr.Froggie a month ago who was removed separately).

Ok, so I got out a bucket with hot water and SimpleGreen mixed 1 to 1 like the directions said for degreasing....and got to work with sponges and brushes. It actually didn't take long. With sudsy brushing twice over, the worms and the black grease melted away and everything looked bright and new again. I rinsed thoroughly with a gentle hosing (no blasting any water into the hubs, mind you!). So nice! I will be working more intensely on the chain, rings, and cassette etc. next week with bike chain degreaser and totally new lube, but this was nice to get the general heavy cleaning out of the way in the meantime. Even my tires are clean now. A good feeling. :)

Good for you, Lisa. I recently found some squished worms wrapped around a couple of my spokes.

I'm pretty meticulous when it comes to my mountain bikes but I just go merrily along with my road bikes because the pavement is so much cleaner. Right? Eww. Do not look at your bottom bracket without preparation.:eek:

Worms???!?! eyewwww gross!

Yes Mimi, worms. Lots of them.
Seems worms love to cross the paved roads during rainy seasons. Some stretches of road I see hundreds of little wromy smudges on the road - that USED to be worms.
The live worms I try to avoid hitting (last month it was wollie bear caterpillers in droves on the road), I zigzag around considerately dodging the nightcrawlers.
But I thin k some of the already squashed ones wind up on my tires and get flung over my bike as i ride. I agree...GROSS!
It's not like every day, mind you, but I'm putting in about 100 miles a week these days, and worms happen. :eek: Then they dry up on my brakes or my bottom bracet or under my downtube where I don't normally look every day. Like like strings of beef jerky spaghetti.

EEEEWW!!!!!

But my bike is now sparkling CLEAN (for the moment).

That's great! Now that you know its not so hard, you can start to do it more often. I wash our bikes 1-2X per month. It will make your drivetrain last longer and perform better. I like to start with the heavy degreasing first, followed by the type of cleaning you describe, since the degreasing will leave drips that need to cleaned off. I don't take the chain off, just use one of those devises you fill with degreaser and roll your chain through. Enjoy riding your clean bike!

It's dirty again.
I rode in the drizzle today and lots of dirty water got splattered on my bike. But at least it's NEW dirt! And no worms yet. :cool:

Cleaning worms off a bike is better than cleaning chewing gum.
Blech!

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Originally Posted by Triskeliongirl

I like to start with the heavy degreasing first, followed by the type of cleaning you describe, since the degreasing will leave drips that need to cleaned off. I don't take the chain off, just use one of those devises you fill with degreaser and roll your chain through.

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Hey Tri,
The degreaser (with citrus oil) claims it will come off completely with just a thorough gentle hosing of water. Do you think I need to suds it all up as well after degreasing?
Do you mean this sequence?:
Degreaser&brushing///hose rinse///sudsing with Simplegreen///hose rinsing///dry-overnight///lubing

This is how I do it. I first spray simple green on all the the greasy parts of the drivetrain. Then I put citrus degreaser in my roll a ma jig and clean the chain. I pour out the citrus degreaser on a rag, and use it to manually clean the roller things the chain goes around on the rear derailleur. Then I take a bucket of soapy water and a rag and wipe down everything else good, and finally I rinse all with clear water. Then I let it dry, and then I re-lube my chain. I also squirt some thinner lube at pivot points on the deraileurs and brakes (but NOT brake pads). I also protect rims from oil when oiling chain to avoid squeaks later. I also relube my pedals (frogs) but not all pedals require this.

Umm, T-girl? I have Frogs, but I didn't know they required lubing. How often and with what?

hmmm.. now I'm feeling like a neglectful mama cause I don't clean my steed so diligently.

She's at the shop right now getting a winter overhaul but.. geeze.. I guess I should plan to give her a little tlc of my own when I get her home!!

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Originally Posted by Bad JuJu

Umm, T-girl? I have Frogs, but I didn't know they required lubing. How often and with what?

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I put some waxy lube on a q-tip, and run it on the contact points of both the cleat and pedal. I do this after washing, and whenever clipping in/out isn't pefectly smooth. You also have to inject grease into the injector ports, but I've never done that, its an every couple of year kind of thing, although I did buy myself the grease fun for christmas this year. You can read about it at the speedplay website.

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Originally Posted by Triskeliongirl

although I did buy myself the grease fun for christmas this year. You can read about it at the speedplay website.

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Ooo, good typo. For those of us who have fun with grease? A grease fun gun. Fun with a grease gun. Personally, I have more fun when I get my fingers in the grease. A grease gun is so sterile by comparison.

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Originally Posted by DebW

Ooo, good typo. For those of us who have fun with grease? A grease fun gun. Fun with a grease gun. Personally, I have more fun when I get my fingers in the grease. A grease gun is so sterile by comparison.

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Well, we don't take chirstmas very seriously in my house. This year we did a multicultural display with a christmas tree, kwanza display, huge menorah our son made from pipe tubing, festivus pole, and shrine to the parthenogenic lizard. Then we scatter presents around it all, not real expensive stuff, just stuff we really want, and I really wanted a grease gun, so yes it was FUN!

Thanks for reminding me that I need to wash my bike and my truck!. Or I should say me and my dh's truck (we have only one car, it works for us).

I'm super anal about cleaning my bike. The weather has been super cold here for the last several weeks and riding outside is not an option for me when it gets below 30 degrees air temp + windchill factor. No way jose. What the heck are the odds of giving my bike a bath and then riding outside like 2 days later - 40 degrees and no wind. Haha, as I was riding I was getting mad whenever I had to go through a wet, sandy spot or half-melted road salt. All I could think about was the need to whipe down my down tube and the fear of seeing all those little bastard pieces of sand stuck to my once-shiny silver chain and cassette. :mad:

:p