How do you give your bike a bath?

[Becky]

Hose nozzles are bad news! They'll blast water past the bearing seals.

I use a plant sprayer hooked to the garden hose when I wash my bike. Very low pressure, and it's got an on/off switch to conserve water.

[Aggie_Ama]

My LBS uses a hose. But they have the same sort of thing I have on my hose, a little gun nozzle. Mine has about 10 settings. We leave it set on "mist" for bike washing. No pressure hitting anything just a gentle mist to aid in cleaning the frame.

Road bikes only get bathed once or twice a year. No sea spray, no winter weather and I don't take her out to play in the rain. My mountain bike has yet to have a bath, she is begging for one though.

[PscyclePath]

I start with a big bucket of warm, soapy water (Mr. Clean, or Dawn dishwashing detergent) and a big sponge. Wet everything down good, and let it soak a few minutes. Then it's scrub-scrub-scrub to get all the goop and road grit of the frame and wheels.

The chain usually doesn't come off, so it gets run through one of the Park chain cleaners with a degreaser solution, wiped down and air dried, then lubed (I like Rock & Roll Gold, or the blue stuff this time of year).

Stubborn spots get scrubbed down with a Scotch-Brite pad, then a light spritz with the water hose to rinse everything down. Rub down and air-dry, then a light coat of Orange Pledge makes it shiny again...

[Aggie_Ama]

After misting my bike she gets a good soaping with a big sponge and lemon dawn. Mmmmm lemon. The chain takes a spin in the park cleaner with diluted simple green, air dried, the cassette tooth brushed until it shines. Rock n' Roll Gold Lube the chain (year round I am a southerner), Pedros Bike Lust the frame and she starts singing "I feel pretty". Sometimes I get OCD and start wiping down the wheels but since I am a fair weather rider they normally look nice. When I have lighter bar tape I use Mr. Clean Magic Eraser on the tape and when I had white accents the saddle.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Likely we all have different types of road dirt because we ride in vastly different circumstances....but I find that by far the worst part of my bike dirt is the NASTY black stuff that develops on the gears and chain, both front and back. We don't have bike trails or clean roads here, ...all my riding is either on irregular asphalt high traffic roads along with the cars and trucks, or on back country dirt roads.

I found if I started out by soaping up my whole bike with a soapy sponge and hot water, the sponge gets some of that greasy black crud on it and just smears it on the other parts of the bike (plus it ruins the sponge for all time).
So my sequence is to use the strong citrus degreaser on the gear rings, cassette, and chain FIRST to get the black crud gone. Plus, I feel the citrus can do a better job of degreasing a DRY chain rather than one filled with water.
I know the citrus is not good to leave on the frame paint for more than a few minutes, so I saturate the chain first with citrus, scrub the front rings with a brush, then rinse the front rings, then do the back cassette with a long bristled brush I save just for that purpose, give the chain some more scrubbing with citrus, then rinse it all well.
Following that I get my hot soapy water and big sponge and start going over the whole bike- no black crud to worry about smearing around, plus the soapy water then removes any trace of citrus degreaser (which is basically strong orange oil) from where it may have splattered on my frame while scrubbing gears.
I wait for the whole bike and chain to dry before lubing the chain. Then i wipe the chain thoroughly with paper towels after lubing, so it won't have an outer film of lube that dust and grit from the road can stick to. Lube should be inside the chain links, not on the outside of the chain.

[SouthernBelle]

I've had a problem on occasion with that road film stuff adhering to my cassette. It's had to be scraped off even with me being a fairly regular bike washer. I found that spray on stuff you use on your car rims cleans that right off. I would only use it on the cassette taking the wheel off and laying it down.

[aicabsolut]

auto soap is really good for the frame. it won't harm the clearcoat (doesn't harm a car's paint, right?), and it is good at getting the bug goo and road grime off. I use one with rain-x in it. sort of like when i use Bike Lust, it helps me just wipe down the bike at other times. I don't use that on the gears though, and I have to re-lube the cables under the BB if too much of any kind of grease cutting soap gets down there.

i only wash it after some gross conditions. the rest of the time, it's just a wipe down with a wet cloth and then polish on the frame. I clean the rims with mild dish soap.