17. How to Clean Your Bicycle

The best way to extend the life of your bike and it's components, which in turn will save you money, is to keep it clean! We share how we clean our personal bikes, our "must have" equipment, why it's important to always dry your chain, and how to know if you have "toxic" sweat.

Transcript

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SPEAKER_03 0:05

This is Kristen.

SPEAKER_01 0:06

And I'm Steve, and you are listening to Cycling Together, a show all about bikes, riding, and riding together.

SPEAKER_03 0:13

We had a very busy weekend, and I feel like it's taken three days for my body battery to catch up.

SPEAKER_01 0:20

Yeah, it was, yeah, it was. Well, we well we said when we hit May, things really get rolling, and we're busy every weekend, and here it is.

SPEAKER_03 0:29

Yes. So Saturday, let's start. Saturday, you closed. I forced you to close so that you could come with me to Everwild, the International Women's Mountain Bike Day celebration at Hale Education.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

Yeah, and it was a great I mean, it was a great day, and it's it was May. It was May, yeah, right.

SPEAKER_03 0:50

We're just we're just May it was May 3rd.

SPEAKER_01 0:52

May 3rd, okay. So just into May, and it was hot.

SPEAKER_03 0:57

Surprisingly, shockingly, because it was supposed to be, I don't know, three days before you were like, I can't believe I we can't go to this thing and bring a bunch of stuff because it's gonna pour all day. And I was like, you have not been watching the weather, where Jackie has been sharing daily updates to the rest of us as she watched the weather.

SPEAKER_01 1:17

And yeah, and we had up having nothing but sun and some humidity, which is probably the most humid we've had so far, right? A little bit of humidity and then low 80s, and that's and that ended up being just hot.

SPEAKER_03 1:30

Yeah, it was a hot, gorgeous day. The funny part of that is as an instructor at Everwild, I was given last year a long sleeve athletic shirt. And so I got the same thing this year. Fabric was better this year, I liked it better. But we all just kind of went, it is really hot for this shirt, for this shirt. Well, that that is that's unusual. Yeah, well, that's what I'm saying. That's what she that's what Jackie said. She was like, last year, I think it was, you know, maybe 60 or 70. It wasn't as quite as hot. There were over 150 women there, including the instructors, of which I was one. We'll talk about that in a second. There were clinics and there were rides and there were vendors of which you were a vendor. Last year you didn't come, and I'm gonna tell you, it was really stinky to say to people, Oh, yes, no, I I own a bike shop, he's not here. It was much nicer this time to say, I own a bike shop, he's right there.

SPEAKER_01 2:32

And you had a nicer base of operations.

SPEAKER_03 2:35

We had the van there, we had the tent out, we slept over the night before in the parking lot, which was awesome. But I wanted to ask you what you thought of it.

SPEAKER_01 2:47

I mean, it's a really, really nice event, and I can this is the second year, and I can see this continually growing. Um, these events, as you say, events are hard, and they are always hard. And I think that Hale and Jackie did just an amazing job. Um, course. We should give Jocelyn uh some credit, also it's really Jackie and Jocelyn, but yes. Yes, right. Um, just just an amazing job pulling this all together. The stoke was high. It really was.

SPEAKER_03 3:19

It's it's interesting too. Somebody posted a story from a women's professional rider, a woman professional rider, a mountain bike coach, about why we need women's events and women's rides. And she uh stated that women learn differently, we process information differently, we're we're physically different how we do things, we tend to overthink things, and that we are also so often in the minority or the other, right? We're the the only, we're the only woman on a ride, or one of very few in a ride. So there's such an amazing energy to a weekend or a day like Everwild.

SPEAKER_01 4:12

Yeah, after you know, your women's ride series, this type of event, it is all very clear when you see these women focused events that they're important. They're they're yeah, they're just really important.

SPEAKER_03 4:29

Look at that. So I led the essentials clinic.

SPEAKER_01 4:35

Yes, you did.

SPEAKER_03 4:36

And I'm gonna fess up to some not some serious to a slight case of what we'll call imposter syndrome because I have taken clinics, I have assisted at clinics, but I have not led one.

SPEAKER_01 4:54

I've not led a well, not mountain biking, but you've you've done other clinics.

SPEAKER_03 4:59

Right. I've led cycle cross race clinics and was probably as qualified. No, I was definitely less qualified to do those than I than I was. I'm a good explainer. I know that. Like I know that I can, I may not be able to physically do the thing, but I know what I should be doing, so I'm a pretty good explainer. But that didn't doesn't mean going into this clinic that I was not uh did not have a serious case of nerves that was not helped by the fact that the assistant assigned to me, to whom I was partnered, was the executive director of the New England Mountain Bike Association.

unknown 5:38

Right.

SPEAKER_03 5:39

She was lovely, she was amazing. Nicole was great and said to me afterwards that she was surprised that it was my first time leading a clinic.

SPEAKER_01 5:49

Well, you're selling yourself short because you are really good at at hurting people in a clinic situation. Well, I'm good at organizing. Thank you. You're no, you're in, but you're even very good uh teaching the skills. It doesn't matter that you aren't necessarily an expert at a certain skill when you know how to do these things.

SPEAKER_03 6:14

Thank you. I think so. I did a lot of planning. I had two pages of notes and I watched a lot of videos. Most of them I did not like. Most of the videos I watched, which I will say were mostly men teaching something, and I thought, well, that's not how I would teach that. So, which just goes back to the fact that the women learn differently and they progress through things differently. And then what'd we do on Sunday?

SPEAKER_01 6:42

Yeah, so yeah, Saturday was a long day. We were we were basically up at 6 30 and and getting things going, and I don't know, home by 6 30. Uh so mad. It was a 12-hour day or so. And then uh and then Sunday we went to see our first uh New England youth cycling race. So we have been doing the coaching every week. Um, and but we had not been to a race to see the kids yet, and uh, so we got to go to a race and and and watch that scene.

SPEAKER_03 7:13

Talk about nerves. Those kids had some nerves, man. There was one of the kids that I coach at one point. I was talking to him, and I said, you know, you're just going for a ride with with numbers on. He's that's not helping. And then all these other kids, they're all talking to each other. He goes, I am having a straight-on panic attack. So but the picture of him winging by, he clearly was having an amazing time. So this team is the first time you have really volunteered with a youth organization. Yeah, it is on an extended period. Like you've helped once or twice with the Girl Scouts. Sure, but yeah, but not. But this is the first time you've really committed to regular coaching. What do you think of that?

SPEAKER_01 8:03

So it it's is I'm having a good time. It gets me out riding. Yes. And I mean, so far though, I mean usually placed with the fast kids. So we're we're doing a lot of just flat out riding fast.

SPEAKER_03 8:17

Um I think they wanted you in part to keep up with the fast kids because they're breaking the grown-ups.

SPEAKER_01 8:23

Just the way we the days we have gone um has not correlated many times with some of their skills days. Yes.

SPEAKER_03 8:32

So we've missed some of that, but um they gathered them all up on a rocky ridge.

SPEAKER_01 8:38

They did because two days before that you told them I would be giving a race pep talk or tip talk and so forth.

SPEAKER_03 8:46

What happened is I was talking to the the one of the head coaches, and he was asking me what I thought of the coaching. They're very lucky. They have a huge number of adult volunteers on this team.

SPEAKER_01 9:05

All parents, that's the amazing thing.

SPEAKER_03 9:07

Not all parents. I mean, we're not parents of any of the kids, of any of these kids, other grown-ups who are not parents of kids, all various levels of even riders amongst the parents. I don't know how many people have experience with racing. And so the coach and I were just talking about race fundamentals. And as you said, we only go once a week. So I too have we've just ridden. And I said, When does that happen? Like, when do you do the fundamentals? And he was explaining all that. And and I said, Oh, Steve said he has a list that he's been making in his brain of things that he might want to tell the kids. That's what I said.

SPEAKER_00 9:51

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 9:52

I didn't say, and he'd like to present it to all of the children. Uh what I actually said was, I'm gonna tell him that when he's with the group, he should just take the opportunity to do a little coaching, that he doesn't have to just ride.

SPEAKER_00 10:07

Right.

SPEAKER_03 10:08

That then got translated into Steve's gonna stand up here and and a reveal that he's been riding twice as long as all of them have been alive. Right. Because they're 11. And and that you were gonna share your tips. But you did a great job.

SPEAKER_00 10:27

You don't think of yourself as a good teacher, twice as much. Right?

SPEAKER_03 10:30

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 10:31

You don't think you're a good teacher, and I'm I'm determined to show you that you actually had I had written down, and then I started once you had told me that too beforehand, I started actually writing some of this down in my little on my phone, so I had notes in front of me. But yeah, I tried to pick things that were in my head about racing that you don't see in sort of that common YouTube video of top ten race tips. Right. It was sort of the little sneaky things that you don't necessarily think of.

SPEAKER_03 11:02

Maybe we'll have to do a show. At least Steve's sneaky ten.

SPEAKER_01 11:06

Right. Sneaky ten.

SPEAKER_03 11:07

But I thought you did a good job, and it was really fun to go watch them. As you said, we haven't gone to any of the races before. We've heard about them. And again, the stoke was high.

SPEAKER_01 11:21

It was really now this venue, which was beautiful, uh, it was a state park, um, but it was spread out. So the teams all basically took up occupancy in a in a camp spot in the in the campground area, which meant that the teams and the tents, everybody was sort of spread out across the whole, in the woods, through everywhere. And there will be venues uh such as like Northfield, where they have large open grassy areas where there's just basically it's gonna be the the town of tents.

SPEAKER_03 11:54

So does that mean we're going to another one?

SPEAKER_01 11:56

I would like to go to Northfield. We'll have to see where that falls in the schedule. But yeah, I would I would love to go to Northfield. It's not too far away, it's a beautiful area. Uh we, you and I, well, you did your first mountain bike race there.

SPEAKER_03 12:11

Oh, is that where the first bike first mountain bike race was? Then we have to go. Yeah. Because I did not know what I was doing. So I will definitely get my coach's plate and I will ride. I find it super satisfying. I love working with the kids. I had missed. So for our listeners, I was a Girl Scout troop leader for our daughter from kindergarten to the 12th grade. Yeah. And I not just watch not just being a leader for our daughter, which of course I loved, but I really enjoyed the opportunity to work with the other girls to coach them, coach them about being girls and about strong leaders. And I missed it. I missed those interactions with the kids. I missed the crazy conversations, and then I love watching them take those nerves, embrace them, and and and do something amazing. So I'm really, I'm really glad that you did it this year so that I could do it too. I am definitely not keeping up with the speedy, the speedy kids.

SPEAKER_01 13:28

Yeah, and they're and they're very fast.

SPEAKER_03 13:31

And it's apparently they're not even as fast. Our speedy kids on our team are not even as fast as the speediest.

SPEAKER_01 13:40

Oh no. In fact, uh there was one day where they were really moving through the woods. Yeah. And and then I asked them basically, so you know, and this was early on. This is probably only maybe third or second or third coaching day we had done. And I, you know, I said, Oh, how do you guys do in the races? You you must, you know, are you getting podium? And it was like, no, like we're lucky if we crack the top 20. You know, and then you hear about some of these kids who, well, you I guess they're now they've left league, but because now they're racing for the national team in Europe and that kind of stuff, right? So you're getting some serious talent coming out of this series.

SPEAKER_03 14:21

It's great. I have the hundreds of kids all in one place, all playing with bicycles, all supporting each other, helping them with their number plates. It's it's just really cool.

SPEAKER_01 14:32

And just to reiterate, we've said before, but basically New England uh youth cycling is the equivalent of Nica around the rest of the country in different states.

SPEAKER_03 14:41

The other fun thing about a day like Sunday is watching the parents let go a little bit. So talking to one mom, she's like, Where is he? Is he where he's supposed to be? I said the coaches have him, he's with the other kids. You just say, let's go watch. And that's not something that we as parents get to do all that often, right? Our kids just wander off into the woods with with the coaches, and then they're riding through. It's very cool to be able to give them that independence. It's good for the parents.

SPEAKER_05 15:15

It's very cool, it's very cool.

SPEAKER_03 15:17

Waiting for it to start, though. Uh one of the moms was like, Wait, what is taking so long? Her husband goes, it doesn't start for 15 minutes. Oh, fine.

SPEAKER_01 15:27

Yeah, and and what the first thing when we got there, it was a good thing I was there because one of the racers had a dragging front brake. Oh, because he was on the trainer warming up and apparently guess kept on squeezing his front brake with no front wheel, right? To the point where the he was lucky the pet the pistons didn't pop out. So, and then they couldn't get that actually opened up enough to not drag. And I mean, he had five minutes before he had to be done.

SPEAKER_03 15:59

So you were able to fix it?

SPEAKER_01 16:00

Oh, yeah, I was like, give me the give me the bike.

SPEAKER_03 16:01

That's it. Give me the bike.

SPEAKER_01 16:02

Take the wheel back out. Fantastic. I'm like, you guys are being too gentle with this. This is this is race time, this is race mode, this is race mechanic time, right? Yes. You you this is you have to get him operational and not dragging his wheel badly on the start line in five minutes. I will do it in 30 seconds.

SPEAKER_03 16:21

Right. I will not be gentle with this thing.

SPEAKER_01 16:25

It doesn't matter if we if we gouge up the pads a little bit, we're getting these pistons. Right. Yeah, which were stuck. Were they? Yeah. So you had it, that's why they that's why it didn't go because they were being a little too gentle.

SPEAKER_03 16:38

Yeah. Oh, I'm glad you were there. I totally missed that. All right. Well, what are we talking about today? Oh, cleaning the bike. Yeah, we're gonna do a deep dive. We've talked about cleaning the bike a couple of times and why you should clean your bike, you filthy animals. So we're not talking about what you as the bike guy do to clean the bike at the shop. We're talking about what you, what, what we as bike owners can do to clean our bikes and what equipment is needed. Yeah. Right?

SPEAKER_01 17:12

Yeah, so we'll do a deeper dive. So it was it was good um timing on this. Friday morning I rode gravel, and my bike was just a display. Yeah, it had rained the night before. Yeah, and it was um it was yeah, it was coated in mud. And then, and then what Sunday, Saturday, Saturday we got a little guess, a little messy, didn't we?

SPEAKER_03 17:33

So your bike, so I watched your mountain bike, it clearly had not been cleaned.

SPEAKER_01 17:39

Oh, and it was overdue in a hot minute. It was overdue, although it wasn't it wasn't that bad. It was the the mud puddles on Saturday that were left over Saturday morning. Um that's pretty bad. That's what covered it.

SPEAKER_03 17:52

You're down to was clean. Oh, yeah. See, it wasn't like that until a couple Saturday. When we talk about cleaning our bikes, why do we want, why do we care about cleaning our bikes other than the fact that it makes them look pretty? Makes them look pretty.

SPEAKER_01 18:07

It I mean, first and foremost is probably wear and tear. Um a well a chain will wear down much, much faster uh when it's dirty. Yep. And because chain stretch, and we can we will say this over and over many times in different parts. We'll keep talking about it. Chain stretch. Is really the uh pins wearing down the holes that they're in, and those pin in those holes where the pins go into becoming larger. Right. And so those are wearing down by the grit and the dirt and the chain lube all mixing together to cause a friction paste and then wearing those out. So your chain, the cleaner your chain is, the longer it will last. And if you're not one who picks up on that, your chain is worn, then you also can ruin your cassette and then your pulleys and your chain ring and so forth. So um right away, wear and tear there. Uh on a mountain bike where you have suspension, so the that also that grit will get onto your to your stanchions and so forth. It'll get down into the seals, it will so your your shocks and your forks will they will need service more often because of that. They'll scar the the dirt, will scar the surface, what they're supposed to slide on that you're supposed to keep nice and clean. Dropper posts, same thing. You can um you can get those all gunk duck. Cleaning your bike, minimize the wear and tear.

SPEAKER_03 19:36

Yeah. And even on road and gravel bikes, anything with with tape or on the handlebars, you know, you can have sweat, you have just sticky stuff that you've been drinking, if you've been doing like there's all sorts of gluck you should be getting off of your bike on a regular basis. Uh, we talked about in the past, uh for the mechanic, it makes diagnostic. Diagnosing problems a lot easier if you are not first trying to dig through it's not an archaeological dig to try to figure out what's going on.

SPEAKER_01 20:11

And one of the best tools the mechanics use is sound. And if the bite bike is gritty, then sound is a problem. Sound is a problem to use. Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:24

Okay. Is there anything to fear when cleaning your bike? Like one of the big things I'll hear is you're gonna you're gonna mess up your brake pads.

SPEAKER_01 20:33

You know, it's actually uh and I get this often, is that some people in a way think you can't just like hose your bike down. You can't get your bike wet. Yes, it's really designed to get that wet type of situation.

SPEAKER_03 20:50

And I swear it's the media. I swear it's like YouTube videos that are like if you get anything on your rotor, and then it's gonna get the pads gross, and so you really can't get anything, anything, anything, anything. Like I just watched a video because we were prepping for this, and the first thing the woman did before she had even wet down her bike is she wrapped the rear rotor in like a plastic bag. And I thought, well, I am doing that wrong. Like I I I flood the zone with water. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 21:26

Like I I don't it water is it water is not going to hurt your bike. But I swear they need to be washed in a almost like you wash your car.

SPEAKER_03 21:37

Yeah, okay. All right. I have everything I read is, but just don't you don't want to mess up those don't miss mess up those bricks? We're gonna talk about that. There there seem to be ways to do it, but it can get wet. Hella wet.

SPEAKER_00 21:54

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 21:54

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 21:55

Correct.

SPEAKER_03 21:56

Super wet.

SPEAKER_00 21:56

Super wet.

unknown 21:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:58

Other things that I worry about, you mentioned the stan this stanchions. I can wash those. Like I found myself overthinking that the other day as I started to, I had a I had a soft cloth. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 22:09

But you want to use a soft cloth. So you because you and you don't want to say be uh taking a rag or a cloth or whatnot and be wiping down a bike that's dirty, and then when there's dirt and grit on that on that rag, then you wipe those. You don't want to do that because you don't want to wipe those down because then you're then you're caught creating sort of micro uh abrasions in that.

SPEAKER_03 22:34

So that is you can again you can wash them.

SPEAKER_01 22:38

But you can you absolutely wash them.

SPEAKER_03 22:40

All right, let's talk about uh the equipment. Do you recommend people have a mechanic stand?

SPEAKER_01 22:47

Well, I do for many reasons. One is washing the bike, so the purpose that you wouldn't think it's for um is great. It is great for that. And then if if you're somebody who does even some minor stuff on your bike, having a a work stand where you have the bike lifted up in the air at eye level, where you can turn the cranks and you can spin the wheels and you can turn the handlebars and all that stuff, it is and it's and it's one of those things. If you buy a mechanic stand, you're going to have it. Well, you you could theoretically have it for the rest of your life, to be honest. If you take care of it, you really could. If you took care of it, you can. Yes, there is no reason you can't.

SPEAKER_03 23:30

It is one of the coolest things I think we own. We have one at home.

SPEAKER_01 23:36

We do, which, by the way, it is my oldest one, it and we don't necessarily take care of it now. And that's unfortunate, we probably should. So you need to rehab her. Yeah, it just needs a few a few replacement hardware pieces.

SPEAKER_03 23:50

Really great to be able to put it on the stand, you can get around it, it's not leaning up against the house, it's not in the grass, it's not required. But of all the specialty pieces of equipment that we have to clean the bike, I think that's my favorite. Other than that, I don't think there's anything that I use that is technically a specialty piece of cleaning equipment.

unknown 24:17

Right.

SPEAKER_01 24:18

But just on that, the the work stand, you'll often, you know, maybe you've been to uh like a Airbnb or something where we've been to where they have a bike wash stand. And that's basically just a place where you can hang the bike up a little higher off the ground. Yeah. And so, yeah, there are things called bike wash stands, and it's just a way of getting the bike up higher.

SPEAKER_03 24:40

It can be made with like two by fours. We've seen them made with two. We've talked about putting one in our backyard.

SPEAKER_01 24:46

A simple like arm, even quite frankly, uh a horizontal tree branch, and you just hang the nose of the saddle by that, and you're good to go.

SPEAKER_03 24:55

It doesn't have to be anything special.

SPEAKER_01 24:56

It's just it just makes everything easier to wash.

SPEAKER_03 24:59

Easier to use a hose.

SPEAKER_01 25:04

Yep, and and what? Sponges. I have a handled saw uh soft bristle brush.

SPEAKER_03 25:10

Yeah, that one happens to be a muck-off brush, but it doesn't have to be. It's just a soft brush. Yep. A lot of brushes.

SPEAKER_00 25:16

I do have a couple of stiff brushes, of bristle brushes that are used for cassettes and so forth.

SPEAKER_03 25:20

Yep. A ton of rags. Because as you said, the minute it gets gritty, I move on to the next rag, right? Because you don't want to be dragging it across your paint. Right. That's I don't want it to scratch my pretty paint. Why don't we wash our bikes in the shower?

SPEAKER_01 25:38

Well, okay, so have we done that before? I think we have, haven't we?

SPEAKER_03 25:42

Uh I have done it before, and you told me in no uncertain terms that I should never do it again.

SPEAKER_01 25:49

Right.

SPEAKER_03 25:50

Do you remember why you said we should never do it again?

SPEAKER_01 25:54

So cleaning the shower is not recommended, but in a pinch you can't. But let's just talk about why I don't particularly like you washing in our shower or in our house washing the shower. Yes. And this does not fall to everywhere, but we're on a septic system. Right. And so when you wash a bike, oily, greasy things and and stuff is coming off the bike, and I don't want that going into the ground. Right. Has nothing to do with the bike.

SPEAKER_03 26:25

The bike would love to be in my shower. It's warm and lovely, but it's really more that even just all that greasy stuff gets into our shower. But it's on the table.

SPEAKER_01 26:34

So that's the secondary reason for any shower is that you will you could wash your bike in the shower. You think this is all not bad, everything's getting clean. You take your bike out of the shower and so forth, and you come into the shower, say the next day or whatever, and and it's gross. You're like, what? Wait, why? It's like a teenager shower here. Uh, and it's because all of that residue does not clean up easy, it does not go down the drain easy. It can get so we can be gross.

SPEAKER_03 27:02

We don't get to use the shower. We do use, I will say, one on the list of equipment, bucket and warm water, warm soapy water.

SPEAKER_01 27:10

Yeah, warm hot water is actually nicer to use. Yeah, so it works better.

SPEAKER_03 27:15

Yes. Other pieces of equipment would be we in the past have used simple green, right? We've used the muck-off um bike wash, the pink stuff, the pink stuff, which is great because it comes you can refill those bottles with the punk powder refill.

SPEAKER_01 27:32

Yes, or you can get the your bottle refilled at a bulk station at some shops as well, too. With just the yeah, with the liquid. Okay. And just plain old dishwashing soap works great. Right. So you don't need to. Or car wash. There's other car wash concentrates as well.

SPEAKER_03 27:49

Okay. Other piece of equipment that I have a question about, which is the disc cover that I see being sold. Is that a real thing that I need to buy?

SPEAKER_01 28:03

No, you don't need to buy. I but I but I'm not gonna say I don't recommend it because it is super easy to contaminate your disc pads or your disc rotors. Okay. It it's easy to contaminate your disc pads. It is not easy to contaminate your disc rotors, I should say, j during a wash. All right, but during lubrication is when you can you can do that. And it's easy and it's certainly easier to wash your rotors if you and accidentally say, oop, I think uh, I think a couple droplets got onto my rotors. You can easily just wash that while you're washing your bike. Yes. Unfortunately, pads you don't know if you got stuff on them because of their, you know, they're set into the brake pads. Yeah, and once you get oily residue on them, it basically almost seems impossible to get it off. Okay. And different brands of pads seem to be a little bit more sp uh sensitive to this kind of thing.

SPEAKER_03 29:04

And you would know if you had messed up your pads.

SPEAKER_01 29:10

They tend oh, they tend to squeal. Okay. Yeah, that's if if you if you're they say, help me, I'm getting violent. If you're if your disc brakes are squealing all the time, then you've got something on them.

SPEAKER_04 29:22

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 29:23

And if they are and if certainly if they're low on power. Um, but sometimes the power's there that you at least you think it's there. Yeah. Um, but they're but they're making the noise.

SPEAKER_02 29:34

Okay. That's a good sign.

SPEAKER_03 29:35

All right. So let's talk about cleaning the bikes phase. I'll call it uh tier one cleaning.

SPEAKER_01 29:40

Oh, you've tiered these cleanings. Okay. Let's do a tier one cleaning.

SPEAKER_03 29:45

When I look at the difference between tier one, tier two, and tier three of a brand household cleaning for the bikes, I started to realize it all started to get centered on one area of the bike, depending on how aggressive the cleaning was. And it was all down to the drivetrain. Is that as we go through it, you can tell me if that sounds accurate.

SPEAKER_01 30:09

I I don't know, but yeah, that I guess that sounds accurate in terms of the level you yeah, the level of detail you go through. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 30:15

Like tier one is we'll call it your every couple week cleaning, right? It's or after a particularly muddy ride. Yes. Right. That's you're gonna flood the zone with water, you're gonna give it that soapy wash, really, and and let that water soak in. That's the big thing with the pink, the pink stuff, it'll say pre pre-wash, pre pre-wet, pre-wet, yep, spray it, spray it down, walk away. Yes, five minutes. Yes, let it do its thing. And it does. It it's it breaks down the the hard bits underneath. I don't try to knock those off ahead of time, right? Um big soapy wash.

SPEAKER_01 31:00

So it the and this this is the fundamental of washing your bike between water and a surfactant, which is soap.

SPEAKER_03 31:12

Not surfactant.

SPEAKER_01 31:14

So if you just like rinse down your bike, that is that is okay as an uh intermediate step to sometimes, like sometimes in an event, they'll have a hose. And but maybe there's just that's it, there's just a hose and you're and and it's a it was a muddy day. And so you wash, you spray down all of the mud off your bike so that it can make it home so you can actually wash it. Yes. Okay. If you just use water on a muddy bike, it it does not clean off all of that mud, and certainly not any oils or grime or anything like that. And then it basically just leaves a haze as it dries of filth.

SPEAKER_03 31:57

Okay, can we talk about the people who there's a long line of people waiting because you've all just done a really gross ride. You're all at the bike wash. This sounds like a cycle cross race, which is off. Yep, and there's one guy who's like, No, I'm doing a deep cleaning right now, and they will be there for half an hour while everybody's just waiting. Yeah, that is not the time to clean your bike. That is the time. Get the get it just rinsed off so you can get it home and then get out of the way. Because everybody else is standing there muddy and miserable, trying to get their bike cleaned so that they can two can go home, right? But there's always one.

SPEAKER_01 32:34

But at those events, if they have soap, absolutely use the soap, right? I mean, you so you do want to just said not to. No, you you said don't monopolize the the the wash station, but but I would say sort of in that vein of of being considerate, get as clean as you can.

SPEAKER_03 32:55

Yeah, okay. I'll give you that. If there's not a long line, there's soap available, right? Soap her up. Yes. Give her some love. Yeah. Try to get some of that the oils and everything.

SPEAKER_01 33:07

But well, the the soap is needed to get the dirt off.

SPEAKER_03 33:09

Yes. Okay. All right. So we're home. As I said, we're gonna get it super wet. Yep. We're gonna add our surfactant. What did you call it?

SPEAKER_01 33:19

Yeah, surfactant. Okay, we're gonna call it. It makes water wetter. That's basically what it's doing.

SPEAKER_03 33:27

Uh, water is not wet. Water makes things wet, just for the record. That's what I learned from some Twitter account. You really want to get after you get that soapy, really get into all the bits and the pieces with that soapy. I will, as I said, I'll use multiple either sponges or rags to just not so much, not so much rub. Like it's funny, I will more continue to flood the zone with but with soapy water where I'm taking it and I'm gently washing it, but I'm not aggressively rubbing. Yeah, you're right. Yeah, you know, it's really more of a gentle, we're still flooding. We're still just it's a ton of liquid just with soap this time. I'm not applying soap directly to this to the bike or to my rag. It's in the water itself. And then continuing to kind of rinse and see that I've gotten everything, getting in particular under the saddle.

SPEAKER_01 34:31

It is amazing how you've hosed down your bike and you've done this all the stuff, and then you'd be like, How did I just miss it? How did I miss that spot? How did I miss that spot? So you're absolutely right. So, like underneath the down tube, uh behind the the seat tube near the rear wheel, and that and that fork and that nook and cranny in there, underneath the saddle, um trying to think of all the oh, behind the fork at the at the top of the fork crown, that's that little uh junction there, it gets frequently missed. Yep. Yeah, lots of little and then it's just basically um after you've done that, you're then you're rinsing all this off. And we're gonna get into the power of the rinse in a second here. But um and if the if the drivetrain was not that dirty and that filthy, then a lot of times just everything you're doing for the rest of the bike, the soapy water and the the light touching of your um sponge or your um brush gets all that clean. Yeah. And then you want to dry it. So I do like to wash the bike when it's sunny out, if possible. So I will dry most of the bike, and you kind of bounce it up and down on the ground, and all those big droplets come bouncing out, and then and then I like if you can stick it in the sun to air dry like that. Yeah, and so a lot of that becomes more difficult if you're in the the the nasty seasons where it's there's no sun and there's no warmth and so forth.

SPEAKER_03 36:12

Tell me about the the chain, even at this level of cleaning. We're not we've we've soaped the rear cassette, we've soaped the chain. Yeah, you've rinsed it. I tend to run it through a rag in my hand, the chain to dry it, to dry it, it takes off a little bit of the it takes off a little bit of dirt. Like I'm not aggressively trying to clean it, but I'm I'm drying it, and in that drying process.

SPEAKER_01 36:41

Well, the chain can always be its own thing. No matter how the rest of the bike looked, the chain might just need more attention. Yeah. And of all the things in terms of we just talked about, don't be afraid of water in your bike, yeah, chain is the one place to be afraid. Okay. And not that it can't get wet, is that it just can't sit wet. Yes. And so that's the biggest thing. So especially if you have to wash your bike in the winter, you know, or or you don't have the opportunity to very to let it you know it's not gonna air dry very well, right? Then you want to physically dry that with a towel. And and and anytime the chain gets washed or wet, you want to lube it.

SPEAKER_03 37:27

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 37:28

So there is gonna be that that lubrication after the wash for the chain.

SPEAKER_03 37:31

Now, can I ask about lube?

SPEAKER_01 37:34

No, let's go through the rest of the tier the cleanings because the lube will always be the last thing on most of these washes.

SPEAKER_03 37:42

Oh, you're gonna make me go through all of them before I talk about chain loop? Yeah, I think so. Okay. So tier two. So this is where I was thinking the only escalation for me between tier one and tier two is all again in the drivetrain. In the drivetrain. That when we talk about a what I am now defining as tier two, normally I wouldn't have said it, but if I if I look at the bike and I go, oh, she really needs some love, the next thing I will probably do is all the stuff we just talked about, but then I take the rear wheel off. And the reason I do that is it allows me to really work on cleaning that cassette.

SPEAKER_00 38:26

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 38:27

And here's a question I saw a couple of again, we don't use anything different for cleaning the cassette. I still use the pink stuff. I may use a hard brush that you have and and really I'll spray the cassette, I'll let it soak, I'll start going after it with a stiff brush. We have some skinny brushes and some picks, so I can really oh yeah, look, there's a stick in there and a small animal, and I can and I'll you know, stick them out. Sometimes I will what's called floss the cassette, which is so satisfying.

SPEAKER_01 39:11

It is the edge you take the edge of a rag, yes, so and then you put that that thin as you as you're holding that rag taut, you put that edge into between the the cogs, and then you just basically go back and forth. And as you go left and right, the the cassette naturally uh ratchets and turns and goes around, so you're getting all around just by moving left and right, and then you go in between the next one and the next one and the next one. Very satisfying. Yeah, it's great.

SPEAKER_03 39:37

I actually saw a video the other day, and it was like somebody had instead of a whole towel, sometimes it is a little, it's a little too much fabric, it was like just a thin strip of fabric and almost like Yeah, that's where you can.

SPEAKER_01 39:51

I used to take I used to do this. I used to cut thin strips out of um rags and particular things, and then use that.

SPEAKER_03 39:59

I love that. idea because sometimes A you can't see the cassette because it's covered by all your fabric and sometimes it gets trapped.

SPEAKER_01 40:08

So I actually love it too thick of a rag, too thick a fabric. It doesn't work all that way great actually. You can't maneuver it through very easily, but yeah.

SPEAKER_03 40:16

Yeah. What about uh I've saw a couple of I'll call them pretty aggressive foamy degreaser things that people were putting.

SPEAKER_00 40:26

Oh I think you're talking about those sort of jet degreaser sprays.

SPEAKER_01 40:30

Yes. Yeah okay so there are some products out there there are they are spray degreasers. Yep. I believe Finish Line makes one and they they're sort of and it's an aerosol can a metal aerosol can and they and they have a very very forceful spray. Okay. And so they almost jet clean the cassette and the chain with this um with this really um uh it's well just a solvent that is works amazingly well okay um I I have reservations about these they do work really well okay um but they sound stinky so are they stinky like oh yeah they are no they are they're stinky with fumes yeah I mean this is not these are not like um biodegradable have your kid help you clean your bicycle no no it they this is some serious degreasing chemicals okay and so when you're doing this one you are well inhaling those fumes fantastic uh it is it you are they work because they're also flooding the zone with a lot of this stuff yeah and so that is just dripping down all over the ground so you are just dropping the grease from your cassette plus these these these uh degreasing chemicals onto the ground um and then of course if it's on your wheel even if your wheel is off your bike okay your rotor is still on your wheel so you could be over you're over splashing okay this mix of degreaser and oils from your cassette onto your rotor we did see one that's where a rotor guard can come into play we did see one video where they sprayed it with this stuff it was on the bike they sprayed the cassette and then they started to hit it with a brush and you said oh well now they definitely have gotten everything messed up from you they've definitely contaminated their their brakes because they were so aggressive with this chemical stuff.

SPEAKER_03 42:51

Right. Okay so I also have the bike off I have the wheel off and I've been cleaning the cassette and while I have the wheel off the other thing I like to do is I have this tool from Park Tool called a big dummy and the big dummy effective it's a chainkeeper. It's a chainkeeper that's what that's the real term for it. Okay chainkeeper but effectively it lay it lets the chain run through the through the derailer while the bike while the wheel is off. While the wheel's off and that lets me go to town on that derailer right I can check the uh the police that's what they're called the little pulleys and those get full of or jockey wheels pulleys are jockey wheels wheels okay and I'm cleaning those of wood.

SPEAKER_01 43:42

So you know I'm glad you mentioned the pulleys because that is probably one of the biggest things I see of bikes that come into the shops in terms of of what people are not taking care of their bike on the cleaning side. Yes. Okay so one would be the chain and two would be the the the pulleys because the pulleys those are those two little it's the two little cogs that the chain runs through. So those collect dirt and on the sides on both sides that the dirt builds up. Yes I mean and it can build up so thick that it's basically filled in the gap between the pulley itself and the metal cage next to it. Which so all of this is creating friction for your chain running through uh smoothest of shifting all that kind of stuff. So and this is where you take a well a flat headed screwdriver it works really well and you kind of just hold it up against the edge of that and you can either turn the crank to get the chain running through to then for therefore turn the pulleys or you can actually just put your finger on the pulley and turn it by hand but you are scraping off um all of that dirt. And then once the you've scraped off the mass of the dirt um then you can kind of come in and sort of pinch it with your fingers in a rag and just sort of get that get that rest off. Old toothbrushes are great little bike tools or old toothbrushes I I have at least a couple in my sometimes this dirt is so packed on those pulleys that the brushes don't do too much unless they're very very stiff bristles.

SPEAKER_03 45:28

There's a whole subgenre of videos on YouTube of people cleaning pulleys with screwdrivers. Yeah there's just a whole because it's just a ribbon of grossness and then a ribbon and then a ribbon of gross comes off ribbon of gross and there's hair in there and then hair let's talk about that.

SPEAKER_01 45:48

Okay let's talk about hair so if you have long hair yes so not just women but if you have long hair right so you tend to um like straight lose strands of that right throughout the throughout the day and on a ride.

SPEAKER_03 46:03

The long hair around here is trying to kill our roomba so yes I'm I'm aware of that process.

SPEAKER_01 46:09

And so I often find on women's bikes in the shop who have long hair yeah that there is hair trapped in the pulleys. Okay. And you actually have to take you have to undo the pulley screw take the pulley out of the derailleur get the hair out and you'll find like this coil of hair along the edge where it has wrapped itself around the the the axle of that that pulley.

SPEAKER_03 46:30

Based on the hair that gets wound around our roomba's like brushes I've often joked it's the slowest ineffective way to murder somebody but you absolutely it it is it cuts through rubber yeah yeah like it cuts through on the roomba uh it's a one of them is a plastic rubber kind of brush and it has sliced through just our daughter's hair has sliced straight through the plastic.

SPEAKER_01 46:58

So no hairs and you wouldn't think on a bike you wouldn't think on a bike while you're riding that the hair on your head would just because you're only losing you know a strand here a strand there but you would think it would not go down onto your driller and boy does it.

SPEAKER_03 47:13

And you would say it's it's it's not just picking up hair from anywhere because men's bikes would have the same issue but it's women's bikes where you observe yes more yes hair. While I'm talking about cleaning the chain and the and and I've got my big dummy on chain those chain cleaner tools the ones that clamp on what do you think of them?

SPEAKER_01 47:38

They do work very well. Okay. They can be convenient to use you can get just as good of a job done but without them okay um but they kind of make it convenient especially yeah they make it so you don't have to take the chain off sort of a yeah well you don't have to take the chain off. So here's the thing about taking the chain off so most chains nowadays have a quick link. Yes okay and you do need a tool to undo that quick link and but the thing is is that 90% of the chains we're gonna say I'm not gonna say 100% because there's a couple out there they want you to use a brand new quick link when you put it back together. Oh now everybody like everybody does not like no you know they will reuse their quick link everybody does it I know they do it and and they have been fine but they are not as strong and I'm s and at the same time there are people who have broken the quick link because they tried to reuse it too many times.

SPEAKER_03 48:40

Well there's also the other risk when you take the chain off is that you best know how to thread it back through those pulleys to make sure it does goes down the right you have to know that many chains are directional they have they have a left and a right side okay and so there's a lot of yes you do have to know what what you're doing so a tool like that the clamp on are really helpful to keeping the chain clean there does seem to be a trend now that we ran into which is people making their own chain cleaner tools out of the water bottles and and a toothbrush head. Yes yeah you know I'm all for it necessity is the mother of invention that seems to work.

SPEAKER_01 49:29

But the idea is that you're giving it that next level of clean yes but remember when you're cleaning a chain with degreasers and solvents you are stripping out the lubricant from inside the rollers where it's needed. Right. Right so and and then if you were to apply a lubrication on the chain while there's still degrees in there the degreasing residue is going to break down your new lubricant and not provide the job that it's supposed to do.

SPEAKER_03 50:05

But when we clean chains here at home we're still just using the simple green and the and the pink stuff like we're not using any aggressive degreasing no because we tend not to let our chains get too nasty.

SPEAKER_01 50:19

Okay. Right? So so that is sufficient in terms of not having to really get off a lot of built on we're trying to get them back to shiny.

SPEAKER_03 50:28

We're trying to see their color by the way when someone has a black chain on his mountain bike very hard to tell if it's clean true I was cleaning your bike and I was that's that's when you just see if there's something coming off on a ride. This chain is disgusting and I started to clean it and I was like oh right this chain is black. Right it's not very satisfying. It's not as satisfying as look it was kind of black and now it's silver again.

SPEAKER_01 50:53

Something very satisfying it doesn't it's really elbow grease right it's just taking your rag and and following along and just yep along along along with your cleaners and then and so and then it's important to let that dry yes um a a final rubbing alcohol wash or wipe can be can be great for a chain because it's going to actually dissolve down and clean off the cleaners that you might have used.

SPEAKER_05 51:22

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 51:22

Okay and and then evaporate very quickly um so that is a great way as a final wash on a chain and but then it is great to just let the chain sit and really dry before you apply the lubrication.

SPEAKER_03 51:36

Okay. Like we talked about in the sun but if it can't be out in the sun is it okay to say put it in a fan on it? That's what I was gonna ask. Yeah I would put a fan on it if I couldn't yeah it like yeah even when we get to tier three the biggest change for me would be okay this cassette is really really bad. Yep. I'm gonna take it off the wheel and it falls apart depending on how many rings it has right and then we soak it. Yep. But I'm still soaking it I have to say I'm still soaking it in something friendly. I'm I haven't I still haven't I have never cleaned our bikes with anything that required me to wear an N91 mask.

SPEAKER_01 52:21

That's the aerosols but but you know you're right. I mean it's I've never I only Dawn detergent will soaking it in that will do an amazing job. Yeah you put it in a thing I mean it's you know and then you're gonna need a little some some manual uh well that's the thing then you take each one out and you clean it and then there's usually one you know that's several of the on the so and then and then for the derailers so the derailers I find that you can actually get quite clean on the bike. You don't necessarily need to take them off. It does help on the rear derailler and to to shift it in. So wheel off a little easier with the wheel off. Oh it's way easier without the wheel on there and then so and then you shift it in like it's going on one of the larger cogs. Okay. That opens up the parallelogram and opens and pulls the cage away from the body and then you can take a rag and you basically are just sort of flossing it. So you can actually put the rag through the parallelogram in the middle up through there and floss that back and forth. You're just you're you're giving this what I like to call a lot of my cleaning on the bikes almost like a shoe shine. Think about that whole motion of a shoe shine type of thing with a rag and then I find that for me I like so this is where I do use spray. Okay. Okay. Um compression time yes and and so I use a silicone spray I really really like the silicone and but when I use it what I will do I use it in two different ways. I will use it and it has a straw I use a straw head on it okay and I can I can almost dribble it out of that so that I'm not sh shooting out as as droplets. Or I will I will shoot it into a rag okay so that I have it on the rag and I have not basically sent aerosol particles up to the air. And so I love sort of dribbling on silicone into the pivot points of a derailer onto the spring. Is that to clean it or is it two things after you've cleaned I'm cleaning I'm this is after sort of a wash clean. Okay. But if it's not that dirty right then it becomes sort of a cleaner and the lubricant at the same time.

SPEAKER_05 54:39

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 54:40

And silicone does not really attract dirt and it works great for these pivoting points of a derailleur so it keeps everything just operating smoother. And then on the front derailer you would shift it to the big ring if you have a big ring. Yes. Well if you have a front derailer you have a big ring. Right and and that again opens up the parallelogram you can get dragged through there you can go back and forth you're sort of getting oh getting trying to get all the grit off.

SPEAKER_04 55:10

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 55:11

Another thing if you have it that works really well for the drailers to do before you put lubricant on it though is air compressor and an air gun. So shooting that at parts on a bike works really well to get all the stuff out and especially like things with nooks and crannies like derailers. But you don't want to like lube your drailer full of silicone and then do this because now you're gonna send you're going to send particulates of lubricant up into the up into the yeah yes again then then order matters.

SPEAKER_03 55:41

Right. And then you've ordered matters. That's not great. As I said with like tier one, tier two tier three it all seemed to center around the derailer everything else I was cleaning I've never taken apart other things to try to make it cleaner.

SPEAKER_01 55:59

Yeah the crank sets so the more you just sort of keep up on the cleaning the less cleaning you need to do. That's my mother keeps telling me but it doesn't work right no and but if you're say coming to your bike you'd be like oh I haven't cleaned I don't think I've ever cleaned this right that kind of situation. You're going straight to tier three right and and and there can be a lot of built-up grime on a bike and and and and in places now that's more difficult like around the crank set and say on the inside if you have a single cranks are single chain ring cranks are pretty easier to clean. Double ones are much more difficult. You almost need to take the crank off the bike to get at the back side of it. Okay. Uh and to get the to get in between the chain rings and the back side of the chain rings again if it's been a long time. Yeah and and I will find that some bikes come in and my normal sort of on the stand cleaning which I suppose we can call a sponge bath in a way. Okay. Right um it it like doesn't do anything. And there are there are times I'm like oh I'm gonna I'll you know I'll try this this this degreasing cleaner and I'll wipe it with bat and then I'll try this all purpose cleaner on top of that and then I'll try some alcohol on top of that. And it's like this is not coming clean. This is dirt that has been baking in the sun and the in the and the wind and everything for years. Yeah. And so I don't think I've ever had a bike like that but it does not come off in the workstand at the shop. And um magic erasers. So magic erasers can be wonderful for getting off that kind of built years of built up grime. Really? Yeah you are going to dull the finish of things okay but a lot of times some it in a minor way but sometimes it's actually that's better than the dirt that was on it and the filth that was on it. We should talk about spraying the bike so you might find you might hear lots of things about oh don't power wash your bike don't power wash your bike and so forth. Uh Mukov has a new power washer they do these are low pressure power washers these are not these are not car wash power washer using these aren't like bleeding your brick power washers. No but generally let's say you're just using your garden hose right you do you don't want to put it on the finest stream you want to have somewhat of a spread of the of the droplets okay um because you're not so no jet yeah and the only reason the only reason behind that is because you don't necessarily want to force water into bearings or force water into or even certain openings in your frame where cables go. Yes there's gonna be maybe little gaps around those and the the harder you're spraying at that area then the more water will get down in there. Now most frames have drain holes drain holes at the bottom not all do oh um and I have certainly had my fair share of bikes that come into the shop where I have had to turn them upside down take the seat post out and water water comes pouring out I actually haven't seen that in a long time because I think most have drain holes I think most have drain holes now.

SPEAKER_03 59:35

But so it's okay to get it very very wet you don't necessarily want to get it very very wet at pressure. I do tend to use the more floody water setting on the right it's it's not a sh spray but it's because it's a gentle flood.

SPEAKER_01 59:55

You're using as we talked about you're using the soap and and the brush or the sponge Yeah. And sort of that process to get it cleaned, you're not trying to blast the dirt off.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:07

If you clean your bike regularly, the cleaning is fairly gentle.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:11

Yes, it is.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:12

Right? You're not trying to again, just like your car.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:15

And regular could be once a month during the riding season. It doesn't even have to necessarily. That is often enough to keep dirt from baking itself and solidifying on the bike.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:28

I love c I love washing the bikes. It's just a fun I go outside and wash my bikes. There's all this stuff that you can spray on the bikes or on the bits and the bobs of the bikes. Like luster spray.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:46

I I use this sometimes.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:49

I just got some in a gift box.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:51

So actually, some of this is called silicone spray because silicone is one of the one of the compounds that does well for making a bike shine. This is for your frame. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:00

Just for the frame. It's not for like my side tires.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:05

You know, I find well, there are products for that, but I find it doesn't work that well on tires. Okay. Um and then there's um bike in a can is what one of the products is called.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:18

Are these to make a bike buster? Are these just to make it shiny?

SPEAKER_01 1:01:21

Just to make it shiny.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:22

What if you have a matte mountain bike like you do?

SPEAKER_01 1:01:25

There's I actually find that this stuff can work quite well on a matte bike, but it can tend to it can be blotchy unless you wipe it even across the bike. Yes. There are matte finish cleaners out there, and I you you I've used them and I say, well, there's no difference than what I they're just from actually washing it with the other.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:50

I was surprised that the one I got in my gift bag said for cleaning and it did.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:58

It said for cleaning and polishing.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:00

Yes, and I thought, but my bike is dirty. Why would I put this on there? Is it a soap? We don't know.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:07

Yeah, I I don't know if I would trust that to clean and polish.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:11

Okay. But I'm finished cleaning my bike. She's dry, she's beautiful, and I use this stuff to make her shiny. Okay. Shiny. Functionally, does it protect anything?

SPEAKER_01 1:02:24

Well, actually, dirt, it is a coating. Okay. Right? So, and dirt does not stick to it as easily. So your bike will actually stay cleaner a little longer.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:35

Okay, we have the we have the luster um lube.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:41

Yeah, let's talk about the chain lube now.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:44

Wet lube, dry lube, ceramic okay. So what the hell am I talking about?

SPEAKER_01 1:02:52

Wet lube and dry lube um you'll see on different chain lubricants from all the brands. Yes. And they both refer to what the lube consistency or application is all about, and for the conditions that you're usually use these in. Okay. So a wet lube you can almost think about like an oil. Okay. Okay? Basically different forms of oil.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:18

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:19

So it goes on like an oil, and because it's an oil, water and oil don't mix, so it will not wash off very easily in the rain. So if you're going to be riding in wet conditions, that's when you tend to use a wet lube. Okay. Okay. I'm sure there are plenty of people who like wet lubes all the time. That that's fine. But that's a general application of a wet lube.

unknown 1:03:43

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:44

A dry lube tends to be a uh the lubricant itself, the the lubricant that's intended to lube your chain is dissolved in a carrier solution. And so you apply this to your chain, the carrier solution dries and evaporates away, leaving behind that it could be a wax type of base material or or whatnot, but leaving behind the actual lubricant in your chain. And these tend to not collect dirt as easy. Okay. Wet lubes collect dirt much easier, which is why people don't really like using those in dry conditions. Okay. Because all that dust and so forth will will cake on there. Um but they do wash, dry lubes do wash off if they get wet quite quickly. Okay. Um I mean, even just in the course of that wet ride.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:35

Ceramic?

SPEAKER_01 1:04:36

Well, ceramic is just another it's a type of lube that some companies make that have different particles in them to either provide uh advanced lubrication or not wash away as easy or or whatnot. Um I do like a like I do like some ceramic lubes out there. Okay. And they come in both wet and dry flavors.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:00

You don't flavors. Sure. You don't lube your chain all the time. So how do you decide what your general use lube should be?

SPEAKER_01 1:05:11

Well, the one of the biggest things I see is people overlubing their chain too much. And that's and that's when a chain comes in dirty, yes, it is and I should say like filthy. Okay. It's still usually because they overlube their chain and then it collects a lot of dirt. And then they probably are not cleaning the chain, they're just applying more lube.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:40

I was gonna ask, are they over lubing because they're continuing to they regularly lubricate the chain? And when we say lubricate chain, you're basically putting like a drop on each link. Yeah. Right. On each roller. And then they're just lubing it again without cleaning cleaning it.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:59

Yes. The other thing though is that the lubrication for a chain belongs down in the rollers, it belongs down on those pins, not on the outside of the chain that you can basically see.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:11

Right.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:11

Right? So if your chain is coated in lube, it's going to collect dirt, and that dirt is going to then quickly build up.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:19

That's why we after we put on the lube and we spin it a couple times, we then take our rag and just wipe off and wipe off any excess gently. Yeah. Just running it through.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:32

Certain lubes you can actually um get just a small drop on each roller which kind of soaks down into there, and you're not really getting it anywhere else. And so you haven't gotten it all over, say, the side plates and so forth of your chain.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:48

And you should be putting it on the bottom. Like you have the chain closing. No, no, it does it surface.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:55

It doesn't matter. So by putting it on the so yeah, if you have your chain going around the crank set, right, and I usually will apply it on the return back to the derailer on the bottom. On the bottom. Right, only because I can spin the crank backwards while applying it. That's that's the only reason. And and it because that the the nozzles of a lot of chain lubes tend to then float over the chain easier down there.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:17

Well, also, wouldn't it because I saw one video of somebody lubing their chain and they were actually doing it as it ran through the cassette.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:29

So I don't like it doing it on the cassette, and that's because the cassette should not be lubed, and basically you are letting that lube drip down in possibly in on into and on the cassette, which will then collect dirt on the cassette.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:44

Ta-da!

SPEAKER_01 1:07:45

The the cassette.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:46

I love when you go exactly to where I have led you. Does not need to be lubed. Well, and doesn't it also risk contamination of the disc and the brake because you're putting some kind of liquid on at the same time, which is awfully close to that.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:01

I'm glad you brought that up. So, what I will also see on a lot of bikes is the rear rim coated in chain lubricant. Now, it's not liquid, it's it's a it's a film, it is a dried-up film, and let me tell you, that might be the most impossible thing to get off of a bike. Okay. Okay, it does not wash off. Yes. You're going to have to probably use steel brushes to get that off.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:31

Fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:32

And this and that is because uh the person is over-lubricating, yep, likely lubricating on top of their cassette, which now has lubricant in it, then they go out for a ride.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:44

Anything else on cleaning our bikes?

SPEAKER_01 1:08:46

Um, clearing your bike. Heavy sweaters.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:49

Heavy sweaters?

SPEAKER_01 1:08:50

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:51

Okay. Sweaters. Sweaters. Not not sweater. No, no. Yes, heavy sweater.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:57

Okay. Just real quick on this. Salty. Salty. Salty people. Yes. So um there are some people who have what we're gonna call toxic sweat. And it is a very high acidity sweat. And usually they're the kind of people whose like there's the stem bolts at the top, like those are rusted if they're not stainless steel. Yes. Like anything on their bike that doesn't happen to be stainless steel or aluminum, whatever, any like steel bolts are rusted. Okay. Okay. And they often will, like their brake calipers, like their disc brake calipers, will the the the paint will be actually peeling off of it, right? Because of this. Yeah. So in those cases, and where I'm going to with this is actually their hands. So that sweat can soak through the bar tape where the more like a road bike or a gravel bike, okay? Yep. Um, it can soak through the bar tape down onto the handlebar. And that sweat then reacts with the if they have an aluminum bar, it will react with that aluminum bar. It will also rust out the clamps and the bolts and those shifters, too. But that's not generally a problem. Okay. It's the corrosion on the handlebars, and which which shows up as white powder. Yes. Okay. Yep. Um, you can risk snapping your handlebars if you let that keep just going without ever checking it. Okay. I have seen this happen. Yes. So, and and I think every mechanic has seen this. Yeah. So I've seen the videos. Um, if you're somebody who who has the what did you call it? Toxic sweat.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:38

So it's not that you're necessarily a sweaty person.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:41

You could be a sweaty person and not have to have this problem where your pH balance for some reason. It's just extremely low.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:49

Okay. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:50

All right. So very acidic. Science. And so if you're somebody whose bike has a lot of little rusty bolts and that kind of thing, then you probably have this more acidic sweat. And so you should think about, and if you're not somebody who changes your bar tape often, yes, you should probably think about checking underneath the bar tape at your hoods. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:09

And would something like regularly, say, washing the bike help with that. Yes, because usually you're soaking down in there. Right. And you're getting rid of that salts in that. Okay. Yes. All right. Clean your bikes, people. They deserve it. We're going to wrap up with a question from Jeff. This is, we were talking about the difference between cross country, down country, trail. Is all mountain the same as trail, or does it sit between trail and enduro? This this is back to what are we calling all of these mountain bike types?

SPEAKER_01 1:11:47

It really does get a little bit tricky's the wrong word. It just sort of comes down to a lot of marketing in this case. Marketers. The the names for all of these different types of mountain bikes can be boiled down to both travel and we'll say angles. Okay. We'll call it a little bit of the geometry of the bike. Yes. Right? So where you you move up from, we're gonna start, we're gonna start at 100 millimeters of travel. Okay. All right, because there are very few full suspension bikes that have less than that. And sort of moving up all the way to the downhill segment where you're in the 200 millimeters of travel range.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:29

So it starts at cross country?

SPEAKER_01 1:12:31

Cross starts at cross country, then a kind of down country. I think now people are trying to get rid of down country.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:37

Yes, we talked about that.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:38

Uh then you have a trail bike, then an all-mountain bike, then an enduro bike, and then a downhill bike. Okay. Trail and all-mountain can get swapped around a little bit. There's there's some overlap there. There's overlap in travel. In general, a trail bike is gonna be a little bit more of a responsive bike. It's gonna be a little bit more on that um down country side. And and the all-mountain bike is gonna be a little bit more pushing the Enduro side.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:13

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:14

All right, so an all-mountain bike is intended to sort of be that everything bike. Uh it can climb well, it can go downhill hill very well. Okay. Um, but it's not going to climb as well as a trail bike. Okay. Um, so trail and all mountain, they kind of flip-flop a little bit. Okay. All right, depending on who you're talking to, when the company, and so forth. Um so, but you have a that sort of definitive edge though, between cross country, down country, and enduro.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:47

We also had a little bit of a follow-up. We talked on the last episode about a woman who was having trouble. She was getting bounced off the back of her bike. And we were talking about her tire pressure versus her shock. And as I was preparing for my fundamentals class, I thought we didn't talk about the third thing, which was technique. Oh. That right. What we didn't talk about is yes, you need to check your pressure. Yes, your shock should help. She might be sitting too hard in her saddle. She might not be, she might not recognize that she should be standing up on her pedals, and that that can actually help prevent her from getting popped off of her saddle, right? Because she's she's sitting really hard.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:35

We've I think you know, you ride behind some um beginners, if you will, and they a lot of times they tend to be seated riding through stuff or generally sometimes coasting through stuff, I should say. Yeah where they should be standing up on their pedals. Yeah, and then so there's no wonder they're feeling like they're getting bucked around on their bike, coasting through a certain very bumpy section because they're seated, they're sitting down and they should be standing.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:04

So that's a I don't know, correction? It's an addition to last week's show. Cycling together with Kristen and Steve is a production of Steve the Bike Eye, an independent bicycle shop in Eastern Massachusetts and Sundon Marketing.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:16

If you like the show, please leave a review and share with a friend. Um, for show notes, links, or to leave a comment, question, or topic suggestion, please visit cycling together.bike. Uh, and you can follow Steve theBike Eye at the shop on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube at Steve theBike Eye.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:33

Thank you for joining the ride.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:34

Alright, see you next time.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:36

Well, you can tell me if I'm wrong as we go to there seems to be one area of the bike in particular that it's gonna differentiate my tier one from my tier two to my tier three, and it's the derailer. It's the derailer. There you go. Okay.