How To Wash Your Bike Like A Pro Mechanic

[Music] I'm out here at the women's UAE tour one of the early season races where some of the best riders in the world are going to go head to-head but if you are some of the best riders in the world you don't wash your own bikes you have someone to do it for you so In This Very video we're going to be chatting to one of the pro mechanics to see how they wash a bike like a pro and hopefully get some tips for you at home [Music] too hi Mike how you doing good thank you you good how do you wash a bike like a pro mechanic funny you should say that we're just about to start washing one do you want to see yeah let's do it right Mike what products do we need to wash the bike obviously things are a little bit different here because you haven't got your big fancy bus you are limited to what you can bring so what have you brought so literally for this race cuz it's like you said FlyAway race we have a really basic area that all the mechanics can share the organization provid us with hose pipes water we don't need the big pressure washer because the conditions are pretty good so we're not needing to blow lots of mud off so all you really need basic wash is bucket sponge couple of brushes good Degreaser and a little pot to put your Degreaser in yeah that's a nice little Pro tip do you do that all the time with your all the time a used water bottle so we're Recycling and I'll see the special little um brush as well I like it I like it and do you leave the back in back Wheeling when you're washing a bike so for most people um if the bike's not too messy then what we'd suggest doing just leave the wheel in because the brakes running correct it's easy to do but in a pro wash what we'd always do is take the rear wheel out so we can really get in and get the cassette clean we can get the chain clean we can get the frame clean as well cuz obviously tomorrow's the first stage we want the bike to really um ping and zing and bling love it and as you said it's not super super dirty you're not getting loads and mud on the bike but will you wash the bikes after every stage yes because what we're looking to do is get rid of any road Grime any road dirt we're looking to get rid any dirt off the tires that could potentially cause us a problem the following day uh we're also looking to get rid of sweat we're looking to get rid of any um uh gels off the frame we're looking get spit on there bit of spit all the nasty stuff basically and possibly a bit of blood maybe right what's the first step we'll take the back wheel out back wheel out and then I'll put the rear axle back into hold the chain on nice little [Music] tip so you got your wheels out what are you washing first so first thing we're going to do we're going to degrease the chain because actually when you start de greasing the chain it's going to drop onto the frame so I don't want to wash the frame and then have to wash the frame again so um I put my handy little water bottle into the water bottle holder it's there not just for drinks but other purposes as well don't drink that though don't drink this one though then what you want to do and and area that often gets missed is the pedal so we're just going to put some Degreaser on and around the pedal there I'll be honest I've never washed my pedals but I well now In fairness when you rot for me that's true and also on there and then the next step is to then degrease the chain and is that just a paint brush or is that a just a paint brush you don't need any fancy specific you you can if you want to but not necessary but when again you're on a Flyway race if you forgotten something you're not necessarily going to find something specific so you just go and get the nearest thing and the brush is perfect and what is actually in the in the bottle is it pure Degreaser or have you got a mix we don't we don't water down pure Degreaser to really get in and get the chain clean as quickly as possible cuz we're looking for Speed as well um we use a brand for called bike seven nice and how are the girls that washing their bikes are they pretty on top of it when they come to you to RAC the time by the time with they're to this level of professionalism they're pretty good um but we have to do a lot of teaching a lot of coaching in the early days maybe they'll watch this video I hope so [Music] maybe so the reason that we're doing this is to really get rid of any road Grime any road dirt any mud and for someone at home it's super important because actually this is the bit that gets touched least and it's really important to get these as clean as possible for the best possible [Music] shift what bit of the bike do you think people don't concentrate on washing the most for me people are pretty good with actually doing their chain because there's all sorts of chain tools you can clamp on and wash the thing like a special bath and that but the bits that really get missed are the chain rings and the jockey Wheels um especially the jockey Wheels because because there's times when I look at jockey wheels on uh on sport Eve Riders bikes and there's just this massive buildup of mud and grime and basically little Flathead screw and a to chis a it all off um and that's super important because that's the bit that really helps the jockey Wheels run proper and the chain run proper for good [Music] shift so after I finished cleaning the chain just a little bit more Degreaser back on and what we're going to do is a bit that often gets missed is where the B brake dust gathers underneath the caliper now some people may worry about the fact de Greaser on the pads by the time we've washed it off by the time we've dried it everything is going to work absolutely fine so you've got all the DIY Greaser on all the BS how long do you need to leave that on there to marinate so with a Pro Bike by the time we've actually gone around put the Degreaser on it should be ready to come straight off maybe for someone at home that you know where they haven't cleaned the bike so often maybe 5 10 minutes but by the time you've done that it should just be ready to rinse [Music] off chain is looking pretty sparkling thank you what is going to be the next step so next step I'm now going to give a quick rinse to the the frame um and then what we're going to do is we're going to take the sponge um from our bucket full of uh fairy liquid other washing up Liquid brands are available um doesn't need to be any anything more drama drama than that it just needs to be was up Liquid does the job yeah and then straight onto the chain and then I'm going to apply fairy liquid to the rest of the frame um and then wash it wash it off is there a reason that you wash the chain again just with soap um yeah really just to get every last bit of grease off before we put new chain lube on [Music] cool so when it comes to washing the frame is there an order you like to to do it from so generally what most mechanics like do is go top to bottom and then from sort of back to front so for instance I'll start off with the saddle making sure we get under the saddle as well especially important when it's um uh wet and grimy race seat post and what we're also doing as a mechanic is we're checking for any cracks on the frame it could be something hairline but something that doesn't feel quite right does that happen often that no not often but if you have had a crash in the day you never know especially on like say maybe a dark color or a black frame that it's not so obvious so then we take the stays top of the stays under the stays top tube down tube handlebars where ofv you get the spit and the sweat the shifters the bar tape especially important for like say someone like triathletes or people who are doing a lot on zwift where the sweat gets on to especially an aluminium handlebar it can get pretty m in it cored yeah as well that shall see is not so good [Music] no okay so you've rinsed the bike off and now we're on to the wheels I can actually see some dirt on the wheels I know it's unbelievable yeah what are the top tips for washing the wheels okay so what we're going to do is same sort of thing is to grease it first because then as we wash the Greaser off it's going to go on the rim you don't R doing the job three times s so we'll degrease the cassette top tip is actually we'll degrease both sides of the rim to actually help the the O the oil run off of the wheel as well and then we'll put some Degreaser on the Hub because again the Hub gets missed quite often as well it's quite hard to get in there sometimes though isn't it this is where the brush is really helpful like we've got a couple of small brush options that you can use as well yeah and do you wash the tires we also wash tires so after I've after I've degreased after I've rined that off then I'll use fairy liquid to wash the wheels so bikes washed or done uh no next we need to dry it we need to polish it Lube it and then on a race bike we then check any bolts for like loose bolts or make sure it's ready to race so still quite a bit to go still little and I'll be honest sometimes I do just wash my bike put it back in the garage why shouldn't we do that not a good idea cuz obviously it can go corroded it can you know get all seized Parts everything so what we're looking to do once it's all dried off is make sure there's uh an application of uh bicycle lubricant onto the chain and generally I'll also put is like a nice light uh Teflon lubricant on the jockey Wheels um and a little bit on the cassette as well and what are you using to dry the bike uh just a normal towel um normally if we had the race truck here we'd have a compressor to make everything a little bit quicker the weather's good here the bike's pretty dry within about 10 15 minutes so it's not too bad but yeah in a really race I'd be there with a compressor blowing it all off a towel and then yeah just finishing off with a nice polishing cloth nice and one more question what is the worst or the dirtiest bike you've ever had to clean would have been a mountain bike from 2007 24hour Red Bull 24-hour race in uh shopshire because it was just raining for 48 hours British weather British weather so it's been super interesting being able to spend some time with Mike and seeing a totally different side to the race that some people might not see the behind the scenes of the race but that's one bike down for Mike only six more to go but if you enjoyed this video make sure to give it a big thumbs up and let us know down in the comments what you thought of the video we'll see you in the next one

Channel: GCN Tech

Views: 167,714

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Id: XzlWmumnQp0

Length: 10min 52sec (652 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 26 2024