Tips for washing and maintenance of your bike

Regular bicycle maintenance not only saves us from unnecessary trouble, such as malfunctioning or broken parts due to uncontrolled wear, but it also helps save money, prevents accidents, and ensures greater efficiency by keeping the equipment in optimal condition for sports and competition. Here are some tips that we hope you’ll find useful.

Cleaning

To clean your bike, use household products. Water, soap, and a basin or bucket. With a sponge (be careful it doesn’t scratch), scrub it well with water and soap. If you’ve been riding off-road and there’s a lot of mud, a good hose down first to remove or soften the mud won’t hurt.

How do we leave the chain grease-free? We have several options:

• Before starting to clean, apply a degreaser like Kh7 to the drivetrain to let it work (be careful with some degreasers as they can damage the paintwork).

• Once the bike has been scrubbed well with the sponge, use the same soapy water with a small, medium-bristled brush to scrub the chain (this will remove the degreaser residue, and you can use the soapy water to brush it off, the last step before discarding the now-black water). Then hose it down, and the first part is done.

Drying

• A tip: if it’s summer, leave the bike out in the sun, and if you want to do it better, use a cloth and dry it as much as possible.

Lubricating the chain

• Before lubricating the chain, there are specific products on the market to remove grease in spray form. Any car degreaser or even disc brake cleaner will do. Don’t apply it directly to the chain; spray it on a cloth and then run the cloth along the chain to make it shine.
• Apply oil or chain wax to the inside of the chain, as shown in the picture above.

Final tightening

• The proper tightening of bolts is crucial. Each bolt has a recommended torque, so there’s no need to tighten until it “creaks.” Just make sure they’re not loose.

A good method to ensure you don’t miss any is to use the M-check, from the rear derailleur to the front wheel. If you always use the same method, you’ll have everything under control.

Luis Sánchez from Bikeclinic.