Bike cleaning

After being called a weirdo in a recent thread for saying I was going to go bike cleaning, it set me wondering. Is it weird to enjoy cleaning your bike? I'm like the rest of you guys in so much as I love to ride my bike, but I really do enjoy the cleaning, polishing, tightening and tweaking that keeps my old bike running well and looking good. I can easily hide out in the garage for a couple of hours listening to an Eagles cd and doing the aforementioned bike molesting. Anyone else enjoy their bike fettling? The Eagles thing isn't a crucial part of it, that's just me being an old git and trying to recall the seventies when I was doing the same things with bikes that are worth more today than I paid for them then. Come on own up, is bike cleaning more of a toil than a pleasure?

I love giving my bikes what I call the deep clean - that means all the plastics off, wheels out and really go to town on the whole bike right under the bits that cover everything up. I even take fasteners off and polish them individually before putting them back in.

This happens about twice a year, the rest of the time it gets a bucket of soapy water and a chamois before polishing.

[Bibio]

i must be weird to.... i find it therapeutic ... but i do prefer riding it...

I'll wash the bike if it's not too cold outside, but then it just gets a hosepipe over it (low pressure before anyone says anything), with a bit of soap, then a quick polish.

When it's cold outside I don't bother.

If it's a sunny day, I won't wash the bike either, mains as I'll be riding it.

I like cleaning my bike. I don't like giving it a quick rinse though. I like to do it properly...get all the swingarm clean, rear shock, polish the downpipes, clean the wheels, get eh fiarings clean, polish them, clear grease and crap from the footpegs and around the sprocket areas and clean the engine itself. I dont have alot of time for that though, so I sort of d half-way between a quick wipe-down and a more full clean. I make sure my bike gets a good wash once a week now its winter, and if there is crap left on the bike fron riding in the rain, I'll at least rinse it off before it gets tucked away for the night before the next day's use.

The good thing about being thourough whencleaning is you can spot the little things that are wrong, or about to go wrong. Loose footpegs, corrosion, little oil leak, worn pads, worn sprockets, that sort of thing.

I also like to clean my chain well, and do that once a fortnight. parrafin, then dry, then some silkolene chain lube - a thin layer, its greasy messy stuff but I found it gives a good surface for the wurth stuff I apply a few times a week.

Nothing wrong with cleaning your bike

Originally Posted by Bibio

i must be weird to.... i find it therapeutic ... but i do prefer riding it...

Absolutely, the riding is the major fun part, but I find the cleaning has shown up potential problems in the past and it leaves me with a clear conscience when I put it away clean and looking good for the next ride.

I really quite enjoying cleaning my bike aswell.

Take my iPod + dock into the garage, crank it up and chill out. Depending on time of day and what I have planned I will also enjoy a beer or two whilst doing it. Nice way to underwind!

I hate doing it in the winter. But on a nice sunny day I love taking all the bits off and having a good clean. Nothing like getting it back to showroom condition!

[Shellywoozle]

I love cleaning Zuky, spraying the FS365 on after and starting her up and watching her smoke LOL.

Clean and protected = Shell smiling = sad Shell

very therapeutic. spent most of the day washing and pollishing mine. did the cage aswell for her indoors. blooming disgrace, why women cant keep cars clean and tidy i'll never know.