Cleaning your bike after a ride can feel like a buzz kill merely it doesn't have to have forever. Follow these tips and you'll get the task done quickly without damaging your bike.

i. Become your mount cycle dirty

One of the reasons people end up doing more impairment than adept while washing their mountain bike is because they wash it likewise ofttimes. Just because in that location is a piddling speckling of dirt on the down tube does not mean you demand to bust out the scrub brushes… it's a mountain cycle people. But if your cycle is truly dingy, give it a bath.

Before

2. Find a identify to wash information technology

For many people who own homes, this is easy: just haul out the garden hose and get washing. But for those of united states who alive in an apartment or who alive the nomadic mount biking dream, finding a hose isn't always so piece of cake.

Nowadays, many of the popular purpose-built mount biking trail systems have a bike wash stand right at the trailhead: this is perfect! If your favorite trail doesn't take a launder stand I suggest heading on over to your local wheel store. Near shops are more than than happy to let you wash your cycle for free. (If they aren't, it might be time to observe a new LBS.)

3. Find some brushes and rinse

Purchasing a castor set is relatively inexpensive, and if you are already heading to the LBS to launder your bike, why not buy ane while you're there.

Brushes

Use the hose to rinse the mud off of your bike as best yous can. In social club to avoid ruining your rig, don't spray high pressure water into areas that have bearings. The water tin work its way in and wash the grease out.

Yous will observe 2 things in the photograph below:

a) I am continuing back abroad from the bike and so the pressure isn't too great.

b) This is just a normal hose, not a loftier pressure level arrangement (equally compared to say the money-operated car wash).

Washing

As I motility in closer toward the bike and focus on the components, I reduce the pressure level fifty-fifty more to turn the spray into more of a mist.

4. Scrub

Bust out those brushes pictured above and scrub your cycle downward. I recommend the big brush for the frame, the medium-sized castor with hard bristles for hard-to-reach places, and the pocket-sized brush for components, especially the chain and cassette.

You can choose to use soap if you would like, equally it volition definitely help with greasy, hard to clean areas. All the same, if I'm aiming for a quick wash in under 15 minutes, I'll skip the soap and simply scrub and apply h2o. Information technology still works pretty well.

Make sure to get all of the hard-to-reach areas.

v. Make clean the chain

Having a make clean frame is prissy, only where it actually counts is with your drivetrain and other moving parts. Have special care to clean the chain well.

Chain

6. Clean the cassette and other components

Be sure to get all of the grime out of the cassette, and make clean the chain rings and derailleurs carefully every bit well.

7. Skip the tires

Role of our goal is to get the bike clean in the shortest amount of time possible. Toward that end, skip scrubbing the tires. I will unremarkably spray them down with the hose to knock the muck off, only I won't bother scrubbing and detailing them. Really, what would be the betoken? The tires are the first matter to get dirty over again, and having a piffling ruby stain from the local clay is non going to affect performance at all.

Focus on more important parts like the drivetrain.

After

eight. Dry

Take care to dry your mountain wheel off. If I'1000 going quickly, I usually focus on the chain, components, and other moving parts, and I bump my wheel side-to-side in an effort to knock the water out of the heads of the bolts so that they don't rust.

9. Lube

Immediately later you think your bike is adequately dry out, practice a full lube-job. Brand sure to lube the chain well, in addition to all of the other moving parts such every bit your derailleurs. Exist sure to wipe away the backlog lube after information technology has had a few minutes to soak in.

10. Get your mountain wheel muddy

Mountain bikes aren't meant to exist looked at or ridden on the pavement–they are supposed to be lovingly abused on a dirty singletrack trail! Go ride, go dirty, and go back to pace #2!

Following this method, washing my bike unremarkably takes under 15 minutes, with the lube task taking an additional 5 or so. This is fast, unproblematic, and crucial to keeping your bike in skilful operating status.

How do you get nigh washing your cycle?