deacon mark

I am sure I not the only one who does this but over the years I have gone from cleaning with water and mild detergent to WD40. I have titanium bike but I also use if for the CF bike. Typically I don't ride in the mud it is a road bike but now the wd40 seems to do everything well except I don't use it to lube anything. I just put it on the stand take the wheels off and start with shop towel and wd40. I gets all the tar specs off in the summer and the dead worms of riding after rain. Then I take the brakes off spray wd40 and clean up. To me it is easier than water and soap plus it does more for the the derailleurs and brakes than simple water. I even clean the wheels with it good for the rim. It does not take much either.

epnnf

Im glad it works for you, but I would never do that. I hope rim brakes, not disc? I use degreaser to clean my bike; wd40 is only last resort, to break something loose.

10 Wheels

Take a Look:
WD-40 Degreasers, Rust Inhibitors and Parts Cleaners | WD-40

znomit

It's all good until the neighbourhood dogs start chasing after the fish oil scent.

Iride01 

I'm all for whatever works for you.

I've used WD-40.... the original stuff, not their other branded products, for quite a bit of stuff. WD I've heard is for water displacement. Don't know if that's why it's called WD-40, but it does displace water.

When I'm feeling lazy and don't want to dry off my bike after riding in the rain, I've sprayed WD-40 on my cassettes, chain and other parts I didn't want to rust and just put a box fan to blow air on it and dry it. Seems to keep them from getting a surface coat of rust that will bloom on them if I don't spray them.

Of course I am careful of the brake surfaces. Of course I lube my chain and other parts before the next ride... sometimes.

Inusuit

Just for the record, no fish oil in WD 40 and yes, the WD stands for water displacement. Not a very good lubricant. I use it on frozen parts as it is a good penetrant.

SoSmellyAir

Now that I know that WD stands for water displacement, it seems that using WD-40 to clean the chain before applying lubricant may work better and is definitely cheaper than using the lubricant to both clean and lubricate.

The question is, which WD-40 product to use? When I was young, WD-40 is WD-40, but now there seems to be a variety of formulations, at least implied by the product packaging.

Nick 93

WD-40 is really good for cleaning up grease, tar, etc. I wouldn't use it to clean the whole bike but its very good for cleaning chainstays if you did some maintenance and made a mess. Something I recently learned is that oil (mineral oil,vegetable oil, etc) cleans grease and other oils. Whenever I work on the vehicles or the bike I've found it works better than water for initially cleaning my hands.

fujidon

There have been seemingly millions of discussions about WD-40. What it's good for, what it's not good for, what's in it, why the name, etc.

So many opinions, I may as well add mine...

It does NOT displace water. I've experimented with it. Oil and petroleum-based products are lighter than water and won't get underneath water to "displace" it. Nor is WD-40 miscible with water. Try it, you'll see.
It's a lubricant, plain and simple. It may not be the best, but that's what it is. It's a lubricant in a solvent that evaporates. Once the solvent evaporates, what's left is basically oil. The solvent is necessary to thin it enough so that it can be sprayed.

I will use it to clean because it doesn't contain water and when freshly applied, it's thin enough to wipe clean leaving a small, almost imperceptible residue. I do not use it as a lubricant because I do believe there are better choices, but if the chain on my kid's bike started to show signs of rust, I wouldn't hesitate to spray WD-40 all over it.

Sy Reene

Seems odd to clean a bike with an oil product. Does rubbing your bike clothing on the frame afterwards yield stains? Does it make the brifters and bars slippery for a while?

fujidon

I've never seen oily stains. When WD-40 is freshly applied it's very "watery" (i.e. non-viscous) and wipes off easily. I don't use it, nor would I ever, on the the shift levers or handlebars. (nor the saddle, but that should be pretty obvious)

eduskator

WD-40 is a very good degreaser. I don't see why anyone would want to use this on anything other than something that needs to be degreased.

Cyclist0108

I use it as a lip-balm and (as recommended by the manufacturer) to flush out my Chris King ring drive.

Reflector Guy

Back when I used to work outdoors I knew one guy who sprayed it on his hands to keep them from getting chapped. I never tested it to see if it worked; I'll just have to take the guy's word for it.

The real old timers used to pee on their hands to keep them from getting chapped. I'm not sure which is worse!

sloppy12

Well pee probably wont give you cancer.

Iride01 

I does displace water. We had a thousand pounds of cut to length steel tube in a basket out waiting to be picked up by the customer. It came a unexpected rain shower and got it wet before the customer came to pick it up. We sprayed it with WD-40....When the sun came out and dried everything up, the tubes in the basket didn't have any rust bloom. The drops from the same tubes in the scrap bin had a nice bloom of rust on them.

I also used to spray WD-40 in the distributer cap of my car when after going down roads with deep water at the speed we teenagers liked to drive in the 70's it either quit or would run rough. Solved the problem every time.

Anecdotally I think that's two reasonable examples it displaces water.

mercator

I think the idea of water displacement works in tight spaces where the WD-40 will penetrate and replace any moisture. Spraying it on a puddle of water won't do much, obviously.

ridelikeaturtle

I think WD-40 is a great product to clean off grease and tar as it dissolves it quite nicely. Smells nice too.

But it will leave a bit of residue, which isn't a big problem if you wipe everything down really well w/a clean cloth. It'll still attract a bit of dust; but at least it's easier to clean off next time.

I've found using water-based disinfectant wipes - the sort of thing you'd use around the kitchen - works really well to do a final clean and will remove any greasy residue left from WD-40.

cxwrench

Years ago I raced shifter karts. Pretty much everyone I raced with used WD to clean nearly the whole kart. The plastics, chassis, rear axle, and most importantly the chamber/pipe. Most chambers are just plain steel and rust quickly if there is much humidity. The WD would keep them free of rust and shiny. It did a good job of breaking down stuff on the plastics, dirt/bugs/tire rubber/gas/oil...we used a ton of it on race weekends. I've used it on Ti frames and it keeps them looking nice. Saying it doesn't displace water is nonsense.

Razorrock

I think this is more of a Ti thing. When I first got a Titanium bike I cleaned and put a coat of wax on it like I had done on all of my previous bikes, but it would show finger prints and sweat stains on the first ride. I asked around and many people suggested WD40 or even chain lube! It works fabulous.

Dylansbob 

Years ago when I worked for a bike company that specialized in cheap titanium, I was to clean frames with wd40 and a white sos pad before packing.

The reason I still use it to clean is that it doesn't seem to bother my hands as much as other solvents. Keep it away from chain/bearings and it is one of the fastest working degreasers.

MidTNBrad

I have an old Ti Litespeed with logo decals on it rather than more permanent options. Will WD-40 remove the decals?

Ogsarg

Just don't ride by any place where dust is kicked up.

Many years ago a young man who worked for me told me a story about how he used it to shine up his old Datsun pick-up before picking up his girlfriend. It looked great when he was done but a mile or so from home he was driving by a field where a tractor was plowing and the wind was blowing pretty good toward the road. The truck went from red to red-ish brown in seconds.

Jack Tone 

I always use WD40 to remove the glue from stickers and decals. And before I was a Bike Forums student, I used WD40 to lube my mountain bike chain, I don't know why, but the chain lasted through several races, and then 5000 miles of commuting before the bike was stolen.

big chainring 

I have used WD-40 to clean my bike and it works fine. Lately I just put some oil on a rag and wipe down my bike. Oil itself is a good degreaser. Its not complicated. Moving parts need lubricant. Oil and grease provide the lubrication. WD-40 has some good properties. If a bike has been sitting unused for several years, spraying it down with WD-40 is a good first step to free up the cables, chain etc.