Carbon road bike cleaning
 

Hi guys I recently purchased a BMC time machine road 01 bike. It’s a very beautiful bike in a white Matte color. I picked this bike up yesterday and took it on it’s first ride today. Relatively clean roads and no rain today. When I got back home the frame was completely dirty with black smudges everywhere. I quickly tried to wipe it down with some dish soap and a wet cloth but it barely removed any of those grease smudges. If I had known this color was such a nightmare to clean I wouldn’t have purchased it !!




Anyway to make a long story short , does anyone have Matte colors or even Matte white carbon frames ? How do you clean them ? Safe to use degreaser? Then finish with a Matt cleaner ?




I can’t upload any images because I am new here but it looks bad after just 1 day or riding! And it didn’t even rain!! I don’t want to become a Slave to cleaning this daily with a full soap/ degreaser wash. Any tips out there ?!




Thank you

Matte finishes are a bad idea because repeated rubbing with a cleaning rag will turn the matte finish shiny. I'd try mineral spirits, applied gently with a soft cloth or paper shop towel to remove grease. After that, a moist microfiber cloth may be sufficient to remove ordinary dust and dirt.

If I ever find a frame I just had to have with a matte finish, I'd scuff the whole thing with grey scotchbrite and give it 3 coats of gloss urethane before building it up.

My shop owner told me to spray it with isopropyl and wipe with a microfiber cloth. Water will blotch. My carbon bike is matte black, so I haven't actually bothered to use anything other than regular bike wash so far.

Matte. Just sayin'.

WD-40 and a clean rag works well on matte finishes. Just rinse with soap and water to finish up.

White Lighting makes a cleaner/polish for matte finishes. I use it on my Spec. Allez that is matte black and it works really really well.
keeps that matte look like factory.

Around my parts about 12$ a can. Its a aerosol foaming type product.

That's a $13,000 bike. Have your butler clean it.

Or just get some Muc-Off bike cleaner.

i use the same on my gloss black carbon fiber, matte black specialized roubaix bike.
WD-40 followed up with some Windex glass glass cleaner.

WD40 on a rag.......it also acts as a water repellent....

My bike is partially matte

Thanks for all the feed back guys. Going to try some waterless muc off cleaner and top it off with a matte finisher. Will post some before and after in case some of you guys have Matte finishes.

Wet wipes

If not removed, it also attracts dust.

Guess i should clarify I don't bathe the bike in WD40.....just enough on a rag to get any road grime, oil etc removed.

The WD40 therefore does not remain in a wet finish......never had issues with dust after.
Also; if i am really in the mood i finish off with Mothers Carnuba Wax, as used on my car.

One could go to town and buy the BIKE SPECIFIC products; but it really does pay to do research on anything you want to do nowadays.......and save yourself a lot of money; marketing will make you buy anything; but with the internet there is no excuse to educate yourself.

Bear in mind, the road grit will be harder than the paint over epoxy composite... so will scratch..

soap & water.. soft brush.. wheels off..

Pro repair stand if no round tubes.. clamp grips the empty fork

Try any matte auto detailing product:

www.chemicalguys.com

Three of my bikes have a matte paint finish and being a keen car detailer, this is something that I looked into a while back.

I wash all of my bikes using Muc-Off Nano-Tech Bike Cleaner (using a large soft bike brush), rinse and wipe dry with a microfibre cloth. Once completely dry in the sun, I treat the matte frames with Muc-Off Matt Finish Detailer. This works really well, doesn't impart a horrible shine onto the paintwork, and is really easy to apply (wipe on, wipe off).

For the gloss paint finishes, I use Chemical Guys Hybrid V7 sealant and detailer for outstanding results.

The drivetrain and chain are treated with specific products.

All of the plastic, rubber and leather parts of the bike are treated with a product called CarPro PERL.

I have to double check, but I'm 99% sure I'm use Pledge Multi Surface. I spray the product on a micro fibre cloth and then cloth down the my matte black bike. I'm happy with the results. In fact Ithink somewhere on the forums here recommended Pledge to me...

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...0ddfa46f18.jpg

This is what I use on my clearcoated bikes too...just doused the Colnago in it tonight after my ride, like always. Love it.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...951bd9e87.jpeg
If you stay on top of your maintenance, you don’t need anything beyond rubbing alcohol and car detail spray. I’ve been using this on both my carbon and Ti bikes. My drivetrain (chain, rings, cassette, pulley wheels) gets a wipe down using a dry t-shirt to get the funky stuff off, and I’ll follow up with a t-shirt with some rubbing alcohol. I’ll also wipe down the derailleurs/discs with rubbing alcohol. Everything else (frame, forks, bars, etc) gets wiped down with car detailer spray. Process takes 30 minutes and I do this after every ride. Now if you decide to wait and do it every “x” month/s or every 200-500 miles you will have a lot more funk to deal with and will have to take more extensive measures and use of specialized products depending how anal you are with your bike.

I use the non-flushable wet wipes for 95% of cleaning my carbon fiber bike. The other 5% is when I give it a wash and scrub, maybe 2-3 times a year.

Wet wipes are easy to store, easy to use and easy to dispose of.

Gary

@jadocs out of curiosity, do you wash your greased up t-shirts or toss them? And if you do wash them, do you have any concerns about getting grease inside the washing machine?

I toss them, a t-shirt will last me quite a while though. I cut or tear them into sections and I have "dirty" ones that I use first to get the funk off. Primarily the chain because the rings, cassette and pulley wheels don't get a chance to get funky. Then I have ones that are only used with alcohol, so they are not that dirty, I'll use those to do the rings, cassette and pulley wheels...to include a follow up on the chain with alcohol (eventually that will turn into a dirty one). I have a clean one dedicated to the rotors.

I use a section of old towel with damped with water to wipe down the tires. Doing so also enables me to inspect them. Found a bubble in my tread last month doing this and Mavic sent me two brand new tires as a result (great customer service btw). I've been using the same one for months. If there is anything stuck to my frame from riding on wet roads, I'll use a different damp towel section to wipe the frame off before I hit it with detail spray.

For the detail spray, I use my wife's microfiber dish rags (they get tossed eventually also and do not get used for dishes lol), spray on the rag and do rims, spokes, forks, frame, bars, shifters, seat.....

super anal, I know but I'm not kidding 30min and done because I've been doing it forever. Never have to resort to specialized products or chemicals.

The correct answer is McKee's 37 Matte Finish Cleaner & Protectant. Any other approach is a compromise, or worse.

Wd40 on a carbon frame is a he'll no you are just making no sense , I use white oils to clean the chain not the frame .

The fool proof way to clean a carbon frame is................ coconut oil , yep or she a butter , or coco butter , I swear I'm not trolling .

Next time you clean don't even use water or alcohol just warm up some coconut oil in a tin over the stove and use a clean rag to apply it and one to rub it all in and watch all the grease lift off like the Apollo space mission. 🛰🛫

So does every other grease or oil based product. I'm not saying use it, or don't use it. Anything wet will attract crap.