cycling2012

Dogma f10,CP super red 12s,CP ultra bora 50.I don't want water into bearings with water gun.what kind of water gun should I buy?

10 Wheels

N o n e

Friend washed his Bike at the Car Wash.
Destroyed All the Bearings

cxwrench

Wrong answer. The correct answer is pretty whatever you can afford. It's not going to wreck your bike by itself, you have to make all the mistakes. I've washed hundreds and hundreds of bikes w/ pressure washer and not killed a single one. This one is great, hopefully it's available somewhere: Muc Off bike washer

Sy Reene

One of these. They come in colors to help match the bike

caloso

Just don’t aim it at parts with bearings.

Iride01 

Why don't you just wipe it off with a damp towel? Or use those premoistened towelettes that come in a cannister? If it's not caked with mud, I can't see where you need a hose or pressure washer of any sort.

Trakhak

Garden hose at low pressure plus soft long-bristle and short-bristle brushes. Takes no longer than a pressure washer would. Why risk washing out lubricant?

(My neighbor uses a gasoline-powered leaf blower for the postage-stamp-sized lawn in front of his Baltimore row house. What made me think of that?)

datlas 

This

Kimmo 

+1 damp rag.

alcjphil

Don't do that. No sort of high pressure washer should ever be used on a high end road bike that has not done at least 100 km in torrential rain. Even then, the bike should be completely disassembled and overhauled before it goes back out on the road. Pressure washers are not needed anywhere near a road bike

cxwrench

And you as well are wrong. The 'don't wash your bike' myth is just that...a myth. As I posted before I've washed a metric **** ton of bikes, many of them w/ a pressure washer. I think that most of the people claiming all the crazy stuff about pressure washers ruining bikes have never even used one.

terrymorse 

A pressure washer is really good at injecting water into the moving parts of a bicycle. Even a garden hose with a nozzle will do the same.

It’s a significantly bad idea.

I’ve had to replace rusted headsets on far too many rental bikes, thanks to a clueless mechanic armed with a garden hose.

Put some soapy water in a bucket, apply with a couple of brushes, lightly rinse off with a fine spray from a garden hose, wipe down the frame with an absorbent cloth.

Or if only the frame needs a quick clean, spray some dilute ammonia on the frame, wipe with a soft cloth. I do that almost daily to get off the sweat drops and spilled drink mix.

That is all.

cxwrench

So you're calling me a liar in not so many words, right? Because I say I've done it and you say it can't be done?

terrymorse 

If you’re telling the truth, and you’ve power washed many bikes without ruining moving parts, I say you’ve been lucky.

I didn’t write that it can’t be done. I wrote that it’s a significantly bad idea, because it is. And I explained the failure mechanism. And I shared personal experiences of such failures.

The way bearings fail has been studied for at least 100 years. The top causes of bearing failure are loss of lubricant and water contamination. Pressure washing can produce both. Why take the chance?

cxwrench

When you've washed bikes as a pro team mechanic for the better part of 15 years 'luck' isn't part of the equation. Knowing what you're doing is a big part of it. Of course if you do it incorrectly you can blow right past seals. If you do it the right way you won't ruin a thing. Pretty much every pro team mechanic I've seen and/or worked with uses pressurized water to wash bikes. It's not hard if you are smart about it.

terrymorse 

Mechanics are not engineers, and they often do stupid things. Tell an engineer that you’re going to fire high pressure water near bearings, the engineer will advise against it in no uncertain terms.

Pro team bicycle mechanics are equally untrained in engineering and tribology, and they are just as susceptible to picking up stupid tricks, passed down from older mechanics who swear they’ve been “doing it for years with no problems”. I wouldn’t trust any mechanic with a high pressure wand, even the “pro team” ones who claim they are “smart” about how they wield it.

Spraying high pressure water anywhere near bearings is risky. Such practice isn’t allowed in any industry that I can think of. Except bicycles, of course, where myth and lore survive.

Kimmo 

I don't think pro team mechanics are a great example to cite if you're talking practices to promote longevity... Replacing stuff regularly is likely to be preferred to spending more time on daily chores. It's certainly expeditious for them to use pressure washers.

Perhaps the clue is in cxwrench 's name? Mud, as opposed to dust, and cross bikes rather than road bikes?

Lazyass

I use a water bottle fulled with hot water to spray the drivetrain.

Zaskar

I have used the Hybrid cxwrench method for 40+ years. I wash my bikes.. a LOT. I don't use a pressure washer, but I do use a pre-pressure reducing valve garden hose that has enough pressure to reach the sun (okay, maybe the moon). I use the pressure on the wheels, tires, frame/fork, under the saddle... I dial it back for the drivetrain and hubs, and don't hit the bearings directly. It's not rocket surgery.

In addition to always having very clean bikes, I also ride some old bikes. Somehow, those two are NOT in conflict with each other.

primov8

At the family home, we've got a 2300 psi electric pressure washer. Anytime I have my bike(s) there and need a good cleaning, I don't hesitate using the pressure washer. I just make sure to switch the nozzle out to 40° and it does the job. I've been cleaning all my bikes this way for the last 14 years and helps rid of all the crud that builds up especially on the cassette and brake calipers.

Sy Reene

I'm kinda surprised nobody's posted this classic yet.

Zaskar

One potential downside - you blast Bradley's name off your bike ;-)

indyfabz

Take it in the shower with you.

Andy Somnifac 

If my bike is on the roof of my car when I take the car to the carwash it gets sprayed down. None of the bikes that I have been doing this with (for years) have self-destructed. I just don't spray down the bearing surfaces with a high-pressure spray. This isn't exactly rocket science. Use common sense and you'll be fine.

cxwrench

I wondered if someone would bring these things up. No, we don't just blast away knowing that we can just replace parts if we wash them to death...because we'd have to spend more time replacing the parts. I've worked for CX racers a few times but 90% of my time was spent working for road teams.
Nice work!