How often should you wash your bike?
Should it be daily? Every other day? Read on to find out.
Knowing how to washing your own bike is crucial knowledge for all cyclists as a dirty and unmaintained bike may affect the riding experience of the cyclist and can sometimes cause accidents. Riding a dirty bike can also wear your drivetrain faster than riding a clean and properly oiled bike.
First of all, how do you know when’s the best time to wash or clean your bike?
Actually, this matter is subjective and will be based on how you use your bike, like for instance:
1. Using your bike as a way of commuting.
- If you’re using your bike for commuting or using it often in a week, you don’t really need to wash the bike fully as often as you think. The most important thing you should watch out for is your chain because chains have a lifespan compared to other parts of the bike. A dirty chain can also wear your cogs and crank teeths as accumulated dirt within the chain links contributes to the wearing of the chain.
2. Using your bike for leisure.
- If you’re using your bike for leisure purposes like once, twice or thrice a week you should wash it often to get the maximum comfort and security that your gears won’t fail you — especially before going on a long ride.
Bike chain’s lifespan
Yes, chains have a lifespan. You should replace your chain every 2,000 miles to 3,000 miles of being used. Using a weared off or dirty chain can cost you MORE than just buying a new set of bike chains. The teeth of your crank, cogs and rear derailleur will wear faster to the point of breakage or unusable due to your weared off or dirty chain.
How to take care of your bike chain
1. Clean them with degreaser
- Using a degreaser is one easy way to remove accumulated grease and dirt within the chain-links of your bike chain. Just be sure to use a brush or even a used toothbrush to scrub the chain with a degreaser.
2. Use chain lube
- Be sure to use not just any oil or grease. Use a bike chain lube as it is created specifically to lubricate bike chains. There are 3 different kinds of chain lubes: dry-lube, wet-lube, and all-weather.
3. Pedalling efficiency
- Riding at a faster cadence is more efficient and cost-effective as it doesn’t stress the chain as much as pedalling hard. Therefore, it doesn’t contribute much on wearing your chain.
4. Check for wear
- There’s a tool you can use to know how much wear you chain already has. It is called Wear Measure Indicator Tool. It is used to check the wear of your chain and it placed on top of your chain that if the other end of the tool doesn’t go in between the link that means you need to change your chain immediately as it can also affect other critical parts of the drivetrain(as said above).
Here’s a bonus video on how to quickly wash your bike:
That’s all Superbikers. Always remember “a clean bike is a happy bike”.
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