Totally £££overhauled££& my EMTB. New cleaning regime?…

[edruid]

Motor and linkage and bearings and hubs and shock and forks all done. Bike serviced. Over a grand spent

Up till now I’ve been a hose and muc-off man.

But now thinking of swapping to the dry and brush off method.

EMTBs been around a decade now, what have people found works best?

I think we can all agree pressure washers are a risk.

But what are the downsides of not using water, just brushing and drying?…

Cheers

Edruid

 

[steve_sordy]

I have been known to dislodge dry muck with a 2" paintbrush from time to time, but only in the dry season, because the mud never really dries enough between rides in the wet season
Brushing will scratch the surface, so unless you have a framewrap, don't do it too often.

Anyway, a bike always goes faster and breaks down less when it's clean, FACT!

 

[edruid]

I have been known to dislodge dry muck with a 2" paintbrush from time to time, but only in the dry season, because the mud never really dries enough between rides in the wet season
Brushing will scratch the surface, so unless you have a framewrap, don't do it too often.

Anyway, a bike always goes faster and breaks down less when it's clean, FACT!

I do have a frame wrap but thanks for the pointer re scrarching

 

[The EMF]

Ride, sleep repeat.
You’re doing all the right things. Look how much coin you’ve saved servicing the bike over taking it to the bike shop. Just enjoy and don’t overthink things. Just ride to the MAX and enjoy.
The bike needs regular attention to serviceable parts as these bikes are ridden hard and you need to keep on top of things as you are doing. As for cleaning regimes It’s just common sence realy.

 

[edruid]

Ok more experimental data is here . It’s just not realistic to get all the muck off by brushing IMO (at least with my bike). I think a shower nozzle rinse to cover off at least these type of crannies at the end of the ride is going to stay in my regime.

 

[edruid]

Reckon I need to upgrade my leaky HOSE to a neat coil with a bike friendly non-leaky always-ready specimen - recommendations welcome

 

[ctcampbell]

I can highly recommend a hose on a reduced power, but enough to get the dirt off, and the Peaty's brush set. The bog brush in particular is superb. I use their Loam Foam but Muc-off's equivalent is fine too.

 

[Polar]

My favorite product is Muc-off Silicon spray, I use it everywhere except on rotors. It's very easy to wash the bike afterwards the dirt just drains off when carefully using a hose.

 

[MeatBike]

I use one of these...

It says "Power" on the bottle, but I've honestly done more powerful farts, so it's not going to flush grease out of bearings or force water into places it shouldn't be. Still, it's good enough to shift dirt after a good soak in shampoo foam followed by a scrub.

For brushes, I use this cheapo Amazon set which has different sizes for getting into all the nooks and crannies:

I was using Peaty's Loam Foam, but when that ran out I bought some Autoglym concentrated car shampoo which is a fraction of the price and just as effective. Still using the Peaty's foaming spray bottle.

Once it's clean I give it a quick towel dry and then go over it with one of these to blast the water out of the hard to reach places. It's also very good for speed-drying your chain after a washing and degreasing it.

 

[edruid]

My favorite product is Muc-off Silicon spray, I use it everywhere except on rotors. It's very easy to wash the bike afterwards the dirt just drains off when carefully using a hose.

yes was wonderting about using something in the crevices around the pivots to help the dirt to drop off will look into that thanks

 

[The EMF]

I use one of these...

View attachment 175368

It says "Power" on the bottle, but I've honestly done more powerful farts, so it's not going to flush grease out of bearings or force water into places it shouldn't be. Still, it's good enough to shift dirt after a good soak in shampoo foam followed by a scrub.

For brushes, I use this cheapo Amazon set which has different sizes for getting into all the nooks and crannies:

View attachment 175370

I was using Peaty's Loam Foam, but when that ran out I bought some Autoglym concentrated car shampoo which is a fraction of the price and just as effective. Still using the Peaty's foaming spray bottle.

View attachment 175371

Once it's clean I give it a quick towel dry and then go over it with one of these to blast the water out of the hard to reach places. It's also very good for speed-drying your chain after a washing and degreasing it.

View attachment 175369

Good grief……..post your address and I’ll send you my anorak

 

[MeatBike]

Good grief……..post your address and I’ll send you my anorak

To paraphrase @steve_sordy, a clean bike is a fast bike... and also one that doesn't make a mess of my hallway

 

[The EMF]

My bike is sooo fast that mud doesn’t stick to it ……….and it lives in its own bespoke shed.

 

[The EMF]

Going off in a slight tangent here but interesting just the same my, Trail buddy @The Hodge keeps his bike in the house as you do, we both ride Whyte bikes of near as damm it the same age and mileage ( almost 6 years old) and as I’ve mentioned my bike is in a shed. His battery range now is about 3 miles to the better than mine so I think there is a definite case of where the bike is stored in relation to battery performance.
There you are I’ve been serious for a change

 

[Bndit]

Muc off and brush/hose

 

[Eliadn]

I use one of these...

View attachment 175368

It says "Power" on the bottle, but I've honestly done more powerful farts, so it's not going to flush grease out of bearings or force water into places it shouldn't be. Still, it's good enough to shift dirt after a good soak in shampoo foam followed by a scrub.

For brushes, I use this cheapo Amazon set which has different sizes for getting into all the nooks and crannies:

View attachment 175370

I was using Peaty's Loam Foam, but when that ran out I bought some Autoglym concentrated car shampoo which is a fraction of the price and just as effective. Still using the Peaty's foaming spray bottle.

View attachment 175371

Once it's clean I give it a quick towel dry and then go over it with one of these to blast the water out of the hard to reach places. It's also very good for speed-drying your chain after a washing and degreasing it.

View attachment 175369

I wonder if the blaster would be a better choice than just wiping the frame and dropping the bike on it's wheels several times...

 

[MeatBike]

I wonder if the blaster would be a better choice than just wiping the frame and dropping the bike on it's wheels several times...

It's pretty powerful, but still worth a quick wipe or drop first I reckon.

 

[OffitThatM8]

Going off in a slight tangent here but interesting just the same my, Trail buddy @The Hodge keeps his bike in the house as you do, we both ride Whyte bikes of near as damm it the same age and mileage ( almost 6 years old) and as I’ve mentioned my bike is in a shed. His battery range now is about 3 miles to the better than mine so I think there is a definite case of where the bike is stored in relation to battery performance.
There you are I’ve been serious for a change

Storage is one aspect of it, but wholly, it's battery handling. Ebike batteries like to be charged at a battery temperature above 10 degrees celsius to prevent lithium plating so it's recommended to pull the battery out of the bike and bring it indoors for 6-8hr or so before plugging it in (hence why irremovable batteries are stupid for our climate as our overnight temps only stick above 10 degrees for maybe 3 months of the year), they also don't like to be stored at below or above 25-60% charge if leaving for longer than a week.

Obviously most people don't follow these rules as gospel, and a year down the line there will be hardly any difference, the differences definitely start to show up 4-8 years down the line

 

[edruid]

So where I'm at RN:

Ride
Hose the bike down with a shower head
bounce it
dry it (inside if ness)
brush crevices
apply silicon spray (not to brakes)
Lube drivetrain
procrastinate about riding
Ride
Repeat