This Bike Cleaning Guide is brought to you by our Cleaning Partners - Cyclon Bike Care.
Regardless of whether your bicycle is a basic model or you have committed to a bigger spend on a top of the range bike, it is imperative to look after it.
Bicycle maintenance is as much a part of owning a road or mountain bike as riding it is, a poorly maintained bike will detract from your riding enjoyment. Not a only does a well maintained bike look good, cleaning and lubricating it properly is the basis of good ownership and will ensure that it works better, lasts longer and you get the maximum enjoyment.
Cyclon Bike Care has some of best products on the market to help make bicycle cleaning, lubrication and maintenance work easier and beneficial to your bike. We only use Cyclon Bike Care products which was why we were happy to promote this Bike Cleaning Guide in conjunction with them.
Bicycle Cleaning and Cleaners
Generally speaking there are two types of bike cleaners on the market, all purpose cleaners and cleaners with degreasing properties. They are deliberately formulated to do different jobs so it's essential they are used correctly.
All Purpose Cleaner
This more general bike cleaner is ideal for cleaning mud and road dirt from your bicycle frame, wheels, saddle, handlebars, mud guards and so forth. Because the chemical agents in these cleaners are designed to be weaker they are not to be used on heavy grease and road grime areas. Make sure you use a good brush set to clean out those awkward areas and agitate the more stubborn dirt.
Degreasers and chain cleaners
Compared to All Purpose Cleaners like Cyclon Bike Cleaner, Degreasers are more powerful bike cleaning products.
Their purpose is to keep your components clean and working smoothly by getting old oil and grease off the drive-train. Once cleaned those parts will need lubrication (see below) too and must never be neglected.
The Cyclon Bio-Net Degreaser is brilliant at making the job of cleaning your cassette and bike chain easy. Getting in between cogs and chainring with a brush ensures a really detailed clean.
Grease & Lubricant
Cleaning is only the first stage of caring for your bike correctly. Once it is clean it will need the careful application of grease and lubricant. Failure to do this will lead to poor performance and limit the lifespan of your components. A little bit of time and care here will reap big benefits in both the long and short term.
Lubricants
For the uninitiated lubricants are for chains and come in three distinct categories, Namely, Dry, Wet and the All Purpose.
Dry Weather lubes: Dry lubes as the name suggests ‘dry’ on the chain and have a wax solvent basis that leaves a lubricating layer that repels dust. Accordingly these lubricants are ideal for dry / dusty conditions.
Wet lubes: Specially designed to withstand the worst wet and muddy riding conditions; providing a 'wet' protective layer on moving parts. Our Wet Lube and Wet Spray both provide optimal performance.
All Purpose lubes: Cyclon Course lubricants are designed for mixed weather conditions and whilst they perform well they are not condition specific like the Dry and Wet lubes. That said they are very good for many riders who don’t want to lubricate every time according to the weather but still want to care for their chain.
Grease
Perhaps it sounds old fashioned and dirty but in fact it’s neither of those things and also incredibly important. We use Cyclon Grease on our own bike components with threaded parts, cables, ball bearing and fixed parts, like your seat post. Check out their range here.
ProBikeWash only use the Cyclon Bike Care range of products and while this Bike Cleaning Guide scratches the surface, we will bring you more detailed bike cleaning and maintenance articles in the future.
