How To Clean Your Bike In 5 Minutes!

We're going to show you how to quickly and easily clean your bike in 5 minutes without damaging it! Ollie also shares some hacks on how to do this with common household objects. LET’S GO!

Welcome 0:00
Pre-wash 0:17
Products for cleaning your bike 1:24
Degreasing your bike chain 1:56
Contact wash 2:35
Brushing chain 4:06
Hosing down 4:47
Drying your bike 5:26
A note of warning! 5:36

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📸 Photos - © Velo Collection (TDW) / Getty Images & © Sprint Cycling Agency

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[gcntech]

How dirty is your bike at the moment? 👀

[rundown]

How many bike cleaning videos can GCN make challenge

[Llanchlo]

But it's not the cleaning that takes time. 1. Extracting the bucket from behind the waste pipes under the sink. 2. Finding all the chems. 3. Finding the hose - under all that mess in the shed you meant to clean out at the end of summer. 4. Finding the hose nozzle - in the kids' room pretending to be a space rocket. 5. Going to the bike shop for new brushes 'cause the missus threw the old ones away to make a point after you cleaned them in the bathroom sink ...

[ldimitrov]

I like how you're have it in on people for resting their bikes on some walls for a quick picture for the GCN Tech Show's bike vault, but here you've probably done more damage than all of the people combined who sent pictures for the show

[tomwagemans]

If you take the time to prewash to not scratch your bike. Don't just put your wash mit on the ground😅. Little tip I learned from detailing my car: use a bucket with clean water to rinse your wash mit before you put it in the bucket with soap. You will be surprised how much dirt comes off the mit and how clean the soap bucket stays.

[markstone]

Also helps with timing if your bike isn't very dirty to start with.

[socopower]

Quick easy improvement: hose in shower mode not jet mode, so water spreads more easily ;) faster job

[brucearmenante]

Thanks for the washing tips. I do a light drop of the bike to shake excess water off before microfibering. Speeds up the drying.

[The_One-Eyed_Undertaker]

Oh yeah! And remember: Dishwashing soap is the Devil, Hitler and Stalin mixed all together in liquid form. You need to use Josh Silca's washing soap made from a mixture of Eddy Merckx's sweat and rookie Italian domestique's tears. It's only $49.99! 😂

[Glopieo]

No hose, no stand, live in a flat and recently found a massive watering can really helps! One big can allows for a pre-rinse and rinse of “shampoo”, as well as saving me multiple trips up and down to the kitchen with my washing up bowl. Of course you don’t have the power of a hose, power washer or even a manual pressure (don’t bother with the Amazon own one, it’s trash!) but it can’t do everything 😂

[markstone]

Oli sounds more out of breathe than when doing a Zwift race 🏁

[DH-.]

Wd-40 water displacement experiment number 40 created for maintenance of i.c.b.m missles... It helps dry the nooks and crannies water may seep into. and you can control over-spray with a straw attachment that it comes with.

[jrmhng]

I'm sure I've see this video before. But this time, muc off is gone and you have elite wheels on 😂

[kippen]

I think that I'll relax and take ten minutes to do this wash.

[leitmotiph]

We need a GCN presenter fastest bike clean challenge!

[overcookit]

I always clean the bike with a hand pressure sprayer (filled with soap water), and leave the with Squirt low temp wax waxed chain as it is (as it does not wash out that easily), until the chain does not feel "waxy", then I put some wax on again. The carbon front wheels of my summer bike I would never ever clean with a garden-hose pistol, as unnecessary humidity might lead to corrosion of the commonly used alloy nipples. On my DT Swiss ARC Dicut wheels (62 and 80) I put some Pattex Power repair where the spokes go into the rim to prevent water getting in there, and the valves are hidden in the rim, so I can "seal" the valve hole with a thin piece of tape and gain some better aerodynamics, it is a win-win. In this video, I would put some soap water on the frame instead of degreaser on the chain. In case the road is wet anyway but no rain is to be expected, I prefer riding without mudguards as they slow me down, and leave the bike dirty.

[Trancefreakeh]

Ollie, you have a garden-hose 'pistol' that has a 'shower' setting. Use it quickly and gently rinse of the soap. It also decreases the pressure so should be safe to use as a pre-wash without hurting the bearings. In wintertime I find using those handheld little chain washing machines very handy, btw. Will set you back 25-30 euro but I feel it does a good enough job and pretty fast as well.
Winter means using fenders/mudguards right? Don't forget to clean them out with the harder single waterbeam and give all the lights and reflectors you might have a good clean as well. You want to be visible in the darker months.

Question though: I take you're re-using those microfiber rags? Can you actually clean those well, with all the dirty grease? What washing settings are you using for those?

[davidhenner]

PRO tip: If you have a leaf blower you can get all the water off the gears/chains. Water is bad for chains so the leaf blower is awesome for your chain. No cloth will dry your chain/gears as well as a leaf blower.

[reinholdachleitner]

Awesome video, I find using an old old toothbrush for cleaning ones brake calipers work really well, wet or dry.Safe riding.💯👌🏻🚴‍♀️✌🏻

[melibaut]

I needed this video. Now I just need to buy the products! Thanks for posting 🙌🏻