CargoDane

$10k is peanuts in the rock crawling world (no, I don't partake), so I don't see how it makes a difference if there is some mud on your 10k bike. Having a dirty bike intended to go in mud isn't such a bad thing. Especially not if you have an IGH or Pinion with a belt. A dirty mtb is "disgusting"? Really?

All that said, hat's off to you for keeping your bike pristine (no, not sarcasm).

Mista Sparkle

I'll use the pressure washer if it is or is going to be out, it does a nice job on the tires, parts of the frame that are otherwise a bit difficult to get to.

Keep it away from your drivetrain, in particular the bearings. you could probably use it on your chain, especially if your going to use a water based something or other cleaner on it in a chain cleaner or something. Look out for cables and frame penetrations as well.

Usually I just use some rags and a spray bottle of 5% simple green.

CargoDane

There are seals in modern chains. You can pressure wash the grease out from there too.

79pmooney

I've been spraying down my road bikes after rides for years with a garden hose and regular multi setting pistol style nozzle. One firm mist from the front, then from the back on one side, blast the brake shoes with the jet (and insides of the fenders), then repeat on the other side. Air dry. Fast and easy. I've been doing it long enough for any bad effects to show and I haven't seen them other than TriFlo gets washed out of chains and derailleur pivots faster and I have to re-lube more often. No a big deal.

Edit: By comparison, using my pressure washer sounds like a lot of work. Hose lives by the side of the garage door, I just lean the bike on the door, grab the hose and go. Putting stuff away is easy. My pressure washer lives just inside the garage door, but not set up (no water access inside the garage and I don't keep it plugged in.)

cxwrench

Not in bicycle chains. Moto have O-ring and X-ring. Bicycles, no seals at all.

CargoDane

Thanks. I somehow confused matters.

dmanthree

Upon further review, too many question and doubts. I'll just use a good bike cleaner and garden hose. Probably less work than the PW anyway.

Mista Sparkle

Yeah, a reasonable decision. They work great, but not worth the effort if all you are going to do is wash one bike...

zacster

I still don't think a pressure washer is necessary. Mud will wash off easily. A regular hose using the "jet" setting should be sufficient for even the most stubborn mud.

dmanthree

No really mud, but that stubborn grease that builds up. I'll try some foaming bike cleaner and a hose.

cxwrench

It was never a question of whether it's necessary, only whether it was doable. At races there is very little time to clean a bike before you need to have it back in the pit for the next lap. The only way to do this efficiently is with a pressure washer. As I previously posted I use a regular hose and trigger nozzle most of the time for my own bikes.

Racing Dan

This thread is like having your cake and eating it too. Sure you can use a pressure washer, if you keep your distance, but is it really pressure washing then? By that logic you can use a 10.000 psi pressure washer to shower or wash your hands ;-)

(please dont try!)

Kovkov

Put bike into the sun. Wait until the dirt is dry. Go ride paris-roubaix in nice, dry weather .

Amt0571

Considering that my mountain bike has a couple of extra kg of mud stuck to it and I have riden over a few rock gardens this morning, I can affirm that your method doesn't work

I rarely wash my bikes (transmission and stanchions aside). I almost never use a pressure washer when I do it. But on really muddy rides I sometimes do it indiscriminately with total disregard to the bearings.

In 25 years I only wrecked a bottom bracket once (seized bearing), and I'm not even sure if it was caused by the pressure wash.

drlogik 

Back in the day before fancy schmancy electrical parts, inside-the-handlebar cables and holes through the frame for more cables, nobody I knew hosed off their bike.

That was back in the day of down-tube shifters and 10 speeds and we still didn't hose off our bikes. And, I worked in bike shops for years as a young man...yep, never hosed off a bike in the shops either.

Introducing water to a bike is inviting problems. Ok, you see the Pros doing that, their mechanics doing that. They get their bikes free. We don't. Just don't do it.

Me? I never "wash" my bike. I take a water-dampened rag to my bikes instead and I pay close attention around bearings so as to not squeeze water into them.

Ok, have to be transparent here. Once in a while, I will gently rinse my mountain bike off if it's caked in mud but I do so carefully. I keep it to a minimum and protect sensitive parts with plastic or rags.

My road bikes? Never.

--

Chuck M 

I can clean my bikes in less time than it takes to drag out the pressure washer and put it back again. A bucket of warm soapy water and a soft brush and rag are all I use.

But back in the day when I was in high school, whenever the cheerleaders did a car wash fundraiser, I would have them do it.

cxwrench

Wow...even with bike shop experience you don't know what you're talking about. Did you bother to read my previous post concerning pro team bikes? Maybe go back and check it out.

Russ Roth

Went for a mild ride?


This was a real cross course


I would never use a pressure washer to clean my bikes, it just leaves a giant mess all over the driveway, this is why they made self-washing car washes.
Pull in with the bike on the rack, set it to wash and pull the trigger on the tires first to get all the really chunky mud out of them, at the right angle it'll spin the tires and remove the mud, takes a little practice. From there let go of the trigger, the water still comes out hard enough to sting your hand, and give the bike a good wash down. Don't spray directly at the cones of the hubs, the axle of the bb or straight into the headset. Switch to the foaming scrubber to get the worst spots and finish with a rinse. Do it enough times and you can be done in 5 min with no mess to clean up, no machinery to pull out and the bike sparkly. When you get home it'll be dry, hit it with some lemon pledge for that lemony, shiny finish.
The pressure washer isn't going to do worse then the mud in these pictures which is ground in over 5-6 laps as the bike is run through small streams, sand pits, and mud bogs. Just take care and clean it. The hubs on my bike are now 15 years old, have been through numerous mud and cross rides and now grace my MTB since I upgraded the cross bike, they've survived plenty of washings.

zacster

And what did the rider look like? Maybe he/she needed to be power washed too! I will make a point though, that since you put yourself through this same mud, if the bike needed power washing the rider would too, but of course he/she doesn't.

But OK, if you want to do it you can be careful and do it.

I just reread the original post and he is suggesting that he wants to BUY a power washer for his bike. This is a different question than most of us have answered. I wouldn't buy one for this use. If I had one out to clean the driveway maybe I'd think to use it, but if I'm coming in with a bike like the above, I'd just grab the hose and brushes, and a bucket with some dish soap. That mud will fall right off. I don't think the OP was talking about races either.

I remember when I bought my first carbon bike, the shop guys parting words before I left with the bike were "don't get it wet" as if it would melt. In the years I've had it I've been through the rain with it only a few times, one an absolute downpour in Seattle (where else!) and since I was at a hotel that time I couldn't wash it off afterwards. I have ever since just washed it with hose and brush because absolutely no harm was done by riding through that "power wash". And it wasn't just once in a one week trip, it was twice. The second time I ducked under the awning at a cafe and waited it out. I'll have to say the riders in Seattle are pretty chill about it, they didn't seem to care and were just riding past me.

And all of this reminds me that I need to wash my bike as I did a ride recently where it was wet. Not a lot of dirt but it is trainer season and I like the bike clean for indoor riding.

Amt0571

Good luck getting a 1cm thick mud coat off without a hose.

cutdbeard

Good luck cleaning that! Makes me wanna help you with that.