So it is still raining and it doesn't look like it is going to stop. So i decided to have an epic clean up of my mountain bike. Now i am not really one for just cleaning my bike, normally i hose it down, lube it up and then leave it. But it's getting old. Parts on it are starting to fail. So one more clean before things are replaced is on the cards.
Right i am not going to bore you or insult your intelligence by doing a step by step list of instructions on what i have done. But i will say what i have done. So firstly I started on the wheels. I took the tires off with a tire lever. The one i am using in the picture is just a cheap plastic one. They work as well as metal ones but do not leave scratches on the rim. The only problem with them is that they do bend and snap quite easily.
Finally, after getting the tire off i took a warm bucket of water, some de-greaser (if you don't want to fork out £3.99 for muck off de-greaser, you can use some washing up liquid and some lemon juice) and some bike cleaning solution. I just gave both wheels a good clean taking some time to get inbetween the cogs on the cassette. You can see me doing this in the picture below.
The brush that i am using is part of a brush cleaning kit that you can pick up for around £9.99. As you apply some chain lube (mainly the wet lubes) they pick up any grime the chain comes in contact with and then sticks to the cogs. So i have made sure that i get as much of this off as possible. This is where the de-greaser comes in handy because it does actually breaks down all the grime and makes it easier to brush away.
Because i have no money in the bank, i have decided on changing the tires on my bike and just clean and maintain the rest of the bike. This saves a lot of money and sometimes parts only need to be cleaned and re-greased and they will work like new.
