Regular cleaning and maintenance in dry/dusty/rocky areas

[turbolego]

My bike looks like this after every ride:

Okay, this is more like three rides worth of dust. I bought some WD40 degreaser but it seems excessive for regular use. I also don't have much experience needing to clean drivetrains, I must confess on my regular hardtail I rarely bothered. Something about laying down $5+ grand makes you want to take care of your things better.

Can anyone with similar terrain and dust buildup tell me how they would do routine cleaning of the drivetrain? Most of the online videos seem to have more to do with mud buildup in wet climates.

 

[RustyIron]

Automotive quick detailer spray (with wax or ceramic additive). I spray it onto a microfiber towel, and wipe the bike down. The microfiber towel minimizes scratching. Detailer spray that contains wax will make the bike easier to clean next time.

I don't like to spray directly onto the bike because I don't want the product getting on rotors. If there are little blobs of mud, I'll spray directly onto that area.

 

[KnollyBro]

I use this chain cleaner from Aliexpress with a little Simple Green in it to clean the chain and a either a soft brass brush or a stiff tooth brush to clean up the cassette and jockey wheels if there is any build up from any extra lube. I clean it every time it looks like there is a build up of extra lube (maybe 5-8 rides). Add some Dry Lube every other ride if its dry and wipe off the excess with a rag after you spin the chain around several times. Extra lube will only attract more dust.

 

[yorkshire89]

My bike looks like this after every ride:

Lucky you
Give the chainring and jockey wheels a wipe with a cloth to get the dust off, and give the chain a clean and lube.
Personally wouldn't touch the rest of the bike but depends how bothered you are about how clean it is. You can eventually get a build up of dust on the fork seals that I'd wash off with water and a cloth (gently).

 

[Mikerb]

We had a taste of that in the UK this summer. My advise is to equip yourself with a decent soft bristle brush and a stiff bristle brush ( like a scrubbing brush). Most of the dust can be removed wth a soft brush but I use the stiff bristle brush to clean out in areas like pivot bearings. If necessary I then use a damp dishcloth to wipe over frame and wheel rims...........once clean I use Siliconshine on all parts of the bike ( spraying onto a cloth no direct on the bike)............with the callipers and rotors covered in paper towel to prevent any risk of contamination.
For the chain/jockey wheels/chainwheel, again a stiff brush and then a cloth. Lube with dry lube. Every second or third ride I clean the chain with degreaser in a spray bottle using a toothbrush ( easiest with the rear wheel removed and the chain removed from the chainwheel so it hangs just from the top jockey wheel.........metal pot underneath to catch the degreaser). Then use fresh water in a spray bottle...dry, then lube.
I drip wet lube onto shock shaft and fork stanchions and dropper post............and in each pivot bearing. Once the bike is off the stand I compress fork and shock and dropper ( and release back up) and wipe the stanchions/shaft/dropper post clean. That lifts any dust settled on the wipers/seals.

 

[irie]

I drip wet lube onto shock shaft and fork stanchions and dropper post............and in each pivot bearing. Once the bike is off the stand I compress fork and shock and dropper ( and release back up) and wipe the stanchions/shaft/dropper post clean. That lifts any dust settled on the wipers/seals.

As posted below, there is an easy way to lube fork, shock, and dropper post seals. What I now do is drip lube onto the pipe cleaner then lube the seals, and no longer cut the pipe cleaners in half so less lube on my hands.

How do you lube yours

The chain , on a a normal bike you can just spin the cranks backwards while lubing the chain . That’s not possible on ebikes . At home we can use a stand or hang it up etc but how do you manage when your out and don’t have that facility . The only way I manage is to oil the two main runs of...

www.emtbforums.com

 

[Jeff McD]

Same problem as you, and I initially use a soft horse hair hand brush to remove ALL the dust right after I finish the ride. It's an old hand broom with a handle that I bought ages ago at Home Depot but I see that that style has gotten a lot more expensive now. You can get any shoe shine brush which is horse hair for about four bucks on Amazon but the long handle style makes it so much easier to use I would spend a bit more and get that. It's amazing how easy it is to remove all of that dust with that if you do it right after the ride. It's safe and works better than any other brush I have ever used in the past 40 years of cycling.

Then wipe dust off chain with bike flipped over resting on saddle/handlebars w/ dedicated dry terry cloth wash rag, apply fresh dry lube. Immediately wipe the excess off w/ clean side of the wash rag before it dries, or get too much buildup & more difficult to remove if you're too lazy to use chain cleaner like I am. Wash rag replaced every six months when it is loaded up with lube.

Dedicated T-shirt cloth is used to clean stanchions/dust wipers to avoid cross contamination of wax and oil from chain rag. However this dust is going to get down below the dust wipers and more frequent fork lower and shock servicing is best for these conditions. Plenty of videos on this online and it gets easy to do.

Finally spray pledge furniture polish on 2nd dedicated T-shirt rag & polish the entire bike. I stock up on Pledge when they are on sale. Take care to walk a few steps away downwind when spray the rag, which is easy to do instead of taking everything off the bike to avoid contamination of rotors. Have never contaminated a rotor. Bike turned upside down initially and then flipped upright for polishing the parts that are hard to reach.

This may sound like a lot but it goes very quickly when I get to it right when our group finishes the ride while others are chatting:

Grab bag of bike cleaning gear from truck
Flip bike over
Horse hair brush entire bike quickly
Dedicated rag in its own Ziploc to clean stanchions
Dedicated Terry cloth rag in its own Ziploc wipes dusty chain , apply fresh lube, wipe excess w/ clean side of rag.
Polish frame mostly cause too tired after drive home, can touch up missed areas before next ride
Flip the bike over and done.
10 minutes max.
Join group chat with buddies

Of course if it is raining when I finish riding this gets done at home. Hope this helps.

 

[RebornRider]

My regular ride is Pleasanton Ridge Regional Park, which is probably similar to Chico. Dry, dusty, and washboard hard pack. One thing that made a difference for me was switching from Triflow to Muc-Off dry lube. My chain would be uniformly tan (coated with dust) after one ride with the TriFlow, but it stays silver with the Muc-Off. I still clean it with a Park CM-25 (my Cyclone broke) and household degreaser every-other ride. It's probably in my head, but it feels like I need to put in fewer watts with a clean and freshly lubed chain.

The other thing I do is to use a microfiber cloth to wipe off the stanchions, wiper seals, and dropper post before every ride. I'm not convinced it helps all that much because those parts get quite dusty again after a few minutes on the trail.

 

[turbolego]

Thanks I like the idea of the brush and dedicated rags, I used a stiff plastic brush to get most of the dirt off yesterday, and I guess I'll try the muc-off dry lube since it still took a lot of elbow grease.

I think I'll wash and wax the frame etc and then not worry too much about dirt on the nonmoving parts.

 

[Just gan]

I never do anything like these folk I just wash the bike if its really covered in mud and put some 3 in 1 oil on chain every second ride . Why is it still working i must be missing something ??? , three years on and six thousand miles .

 

[RebornRider]

I never do anything like these folk I just wash the bike if its really covered in mud and put some 3 in 1 oil on chain every second ride . Why is it still working i must be missing something ??? , three years on and six thousand miles .

You are simply awesome. A truly blessed individual.

A car that is 100 miles away from total engine failure is "still working".

(this is humor, BTW, before anyone gets angry)

 

[Just gan]

You are simply awesome. A truly blessed individual.

A car that is 100 miles away from total engine failure is "still working".

(this is humor, BTW, before anyone gets angry)

Forgot to say im on motor number three . There has always been two beliefs , if alls well leave alone or fiddle about with everything both have been alright for someone ????

 

[Jeff McD]

I know, I know, I never used to be anal. I was always the guy who never washed his bike, just roughly brushed off the worst dirt, ending up with the dirtiest bike of the group for our Sunday ride. Then the 2022 geometry fit my super long torso so superbly and the bike handled so intuitively that I loved it enough to start cleaning it. Hope this doesn't mean I'm gonna die soon. The gods are snickering at me.

 

[turbolego]

Alright I have a follow up question - some of you said you wouldn't bother cleaning the rest of the bike (aside from drivetrain and shocks) - so do you just ignore dust buildup in, say, all the odd nooks and crannies. For example today I changed my chainring and there's plenty of dust sort of sitting at the interface of the crank arm and the chainring. Same with all the pivot points for the suspension. Just let it be? Rely on the seals?

 

[jsharpe]

My bike looks just the OP's picture. It seems to collect duct like a magnet after nearly every ride. When it's time to relube the chain I do hose it off but most of the time I just leave it and only wipe down the shock posts. However, when I feel like bothering, a once-over with the air compressor works almost as well as using water.

 

[turbolego]

Every once in a while I use a couple of damp microfiber cloths, an old toothbrush, yellow muc-off degreaser, silicone oil spray and a 3 liter bucket of water. The area of the record pads I use record cleaning spray and kitchen paper. I never grease the crankshaft/motor shaft. Greetings.

What is the silicone oil spray for?

Also, record pads? Brake pads?