Bike Cleaning Mistakes That Ruin Your Bike!

A clean bike is a happy bike, but sometimes cleaning things can actually cause more harm than good! Using the wrong sort of cleaning products for example can destroy your paint, or spraying silicone shine spray on your brakes is going to end up in faulty brakes and a costly repair bill to follow! In this video, Doddy runs you through some of the common cleaning mistakes and how to avoid them, helping you treat your bike to a proper deep clean that won't cause any damage!

⏱ Timestamps ⏱
0:00 - Intro
0:23 - Damaged bike paint
1:34 - Bicycle lube mistakes
2:33 - MTB brake contamination
5:03 - Bicycle washing tips

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Dust till Dawn - Dusty Decks

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[BicheCS]

That little bird at 6:20 put a huge smile on my face.
What a cute moment haha

[goatsplitter]

Another mistake: buying all the specialty 'bike only' cleaning stuff when you have dawn dish soap at home. You can bring water and a spray bottle with water/soap in it if you need to clean it while out. Also, use automotive wax/sealant on your clean paint. It's stronger and more durable and you have it lying around anyway. Using regular ass soap and wax, my bikes have lasted many years without any dullness in paint or issues with contamination or whatever. It's not rocket appliance...

[huntertodd]

Cheap shower hats work great for covering the brakes when cleaning

[garygup]

One of my favorite quote when I used to work in a bike shop, a customer came in complaining that his brakes didn't work. It was quite obvious he'd sprayed somethong oily on them so I asked if he'd used WD40 on them. He answered quite angrily "No! It was GT85!"

[richardk]

Too much bike washing does more damage then good. There is no way you are keeping out all that dirt no matter how much time you spend cleaning unless you take the whole thing apart and clean each piece in a parts cleaner bath. I owned a company that sold lubricants for large equipment. Lubricant is designed to keep dirt in suspension. The most important thing you can do is keep lube on your chain and gears and basically keep water away from the sealed areas. Granted it has its limits so knock off the big chunks of dirt and then make sure you have lots of lube. You can't really have too much lube either. I use an inexpensive chain oil/grease. What isn't being used will not get in the way and it will help keep out dirt. Each time you clean your bike chances are you just push more dirt into the moving joints. So don't be afraid to ride with a little dirt. Also, it saves you time. I have been biking for over 30 years. Wear from dirt is the least of the problems with my mountain bikes. Crashing and flying sticks is where the damage comes from 😆. Also, I wonder if these guys are trying to sell specific bike items that don't need to be specific to bikes.

Also, the reason they make mountain bikes with a finish that is a different color than the underlying metal is so they can sell more bikes. Unless your rides are very boring mountain bikes are going to get scratched. So finish paint should match the undercoat and/or the metal it is made of. Bikes would look good much longer if they just had some kind of clear coat over the metal.

[roberthaptonstall]

I've definitely done the accidental brake contamination. But I've also contaminated my brakes while spraying mosquito repellent on my legs while standing too close to the bike.

[ebikescrapper]

To clean disk brake rotors use isopropyl alcohol. You can also make your own chain degreaser cheaply, most specific bike cleaning stuff is very expensive and a bit of a con.

[fud]

When 'lubing' your chain, you should always wipe it clean afterwards, otherwisw you'll just collect even more 'gunk' to the chain..

[petesahad]

I only concentrate on drivetrain and suspension by now. No point in cleaning the frame after every ride just for it to get dirty with the next. I've got a ptotective layer of dirt now.

[CJ-rgqu]

I've been mountain biking now for over 20 years and I've never done the water displacing spray on any of my bikes... I've owned each of my bikes for 5+ years and I'm probably the worst at lubing and cleaning them. Yet, I've never had any major issues as a result. All of my bikes looked amazing when I sold them and we're in excellent shape mechanically. I really don't like the idea of dousing the bike with a WD spray to attract more dirt and dust.

[gabe]

When I want to really clean my chain I take it off and have in a ultrasound bath filled with degreaser/cleaner.
It's so zen to see the clouds of fine dirt appear out of each link.

[corentinoger]

Brake cleaners don't leave a preventive "barrier", they evaporate immediately leaving no residue, it's the whole point! At least the automotive ones I use.

[MrJonathanpearce]

Seen Gee On his dream build series doing the whole spray the whole bike down with polish! Commented several times he still does it! gets right on my nerves he might have specific spray that doesn’t contaminate brakes but how many people must copy him and wreck brand new pads and rotors!

[ChannelZeroOne]

3:20 Acetone and/or alcohol cleans rotors very well. Bed them in after to burn off the residue, and good as new usually.

[radwanderer]

One may has to replace the pads after a mistake with an oily substance, but NEVER the Rotors. Since they are solid (and not tempered, like the pads that soak up substances) it's possible to totally free them again from any friction-reducing substance.

[ishq]

Thanks, going to try cleaning my bike for the first time.
Glad I saw the part about destroying the breaks, cause I had no clue that was a thing!!!

[adammorris]

'Rinse you bike off so you don't ruin the paint' the very next scene you're then scrubbing the bike with the dirt still on it 😂😂😂

[commanderoof]

3:03 just remove the disk and soak it in alcohol and scrub it without removing it a day later, flip it and a couple hours later scrub it again without it coming out of the alcohol even once!! [outside of flipping it] You will be down to bear metal and they will work like new (sealed container)

But new pads needed

[core-i]

I lightly hose it down (light so mechanism and brakes don't get screwed up) and then I use dish soap and a sponge to scrub bike, then I hose down again and grab a cloth, run chain through it.

[phantombigballs]

Dash of Fairly liquid and a soft sponge with garden hose. Been using that for years never scratched and bike, ruined brakes rim or disc...infact no issues at all.

No need tor muc off products as promoted in this video....again
...