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Washing bike in shower

Old 02-07-22, 03:27 PM
  #26  
Polaris OBark
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A damp microfiber towel is all you need to clean a bike unless it is caked in clay-based mud.

Of course, it helps if you use wax or some other dry lube on your chain. Then it needs no cleaning; the main issue becomes keeping it dry while you clean the rest of the bike. With a damp microfiber towel.
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Old 02-07-22, 04:23 PM
  #27  
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Be careful with the head set in the shower. They can be kind of sensitive.
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Old 02-07-22, 04:35 PM
  #28  
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Originally Posted by prj71
Yeah. Could be. Just throwing it out there as an option. No way I'd bring a dirty bike through the house and into the bathroom.

Even when my kids were little...if they got dirty...hosed 'em off outside before they could come in the house.

I use the self serve bay at the car wash quite often. I just make sure to keep the sprayer away from the bottom bracket area and wheel hubs.


But then, 'house', 'outside hose', and 'self serve car wash' likely don't apply to NYC apartment life...
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Old 02-08-22, 06:17 AM
  #29  
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Originally Posted by woodcraft
But then, 'house', 'outside hose', and 'self serve car wash' likely don't apply to NYC apartment life...
Precisely. I have never lived in NYC, but I have lived in an Italian city for a few months. Stayed in a hotel, and rode a beat-up old Rudge, for which I paid very few lire. My room was small. My bed was small, which is another story altogether - my feet hung about a foot off the end of the bed, and I'm only 72" tall! Anyway, they didnt like me keeping my bike in the room. The bike would bump up against things and leave a smudge. I kept the chain going with a wad of paper towels to clean it and a can of motor oil. Eventually the maids got P-O'ed and complained to the hotel manager, and he came to see me. I was young and belligerent, but I quickly put the situation to rest and chained the bike to a lamp post behind the hotel. When I woke up the next day it was gone.
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Old 02-08-22, 06:32 AM
  #30  
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Originally Posted by Mojo31
Be careful with the head set in the shower. They can be kind of sensitive.
That's what she said, right?
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Old 02-08-22, 07:47 AM
  #31  
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Originally Posted by prj71

I use the self serve bay at the car wash quite often. I just make sure to keep the sprayer away from the bottom bracket area and wheel hubs.
I do it that way too if the bike gets dirty after I've drained and rolled up the hose at home already. Mount the bike on the cheap Allen bike rack and drive it to the car wash.

I use the Low Pressure setting.
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Old 02-08-22, 08:38 AM
  #32  
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Originally Posted by Seattle Forrest
How dirty does a road bike get?
it's New York City in February. with recent storms & cold weather, I'm guessing there's some road salt everywhere mixed with droppings from all kinds of commercial vehicles. near me, in Waltham, on route 117, right near the bridge over route 128, there's a storm drain that overflows w/ what I'm guessing in household raw sewage, from the smell of it. used to bike commute that way & it never failed to gross me out when there was a lot of extra water on the roadway there
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Old 02-08-22, 08:41 AM
  #33  
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Originally Posted by woodcraft
But then, 'house', 'outside hose', and 'self serve car wash' likely don't apply to NYC apartment life...
Even if one lives in an apartment...I'm sure NYC has a self serve car wash.
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Old 02-08-22, 08:41 AM
  #34  
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Originally Posted by nomadmax
Garden sprayer tank. Outside.
was gonna suggest that myself

just got one myself. but the OP might need more fire power & depending on what floor he lives how would he handle the logistics? I can run inside fill it up & leave the bike unattended. the other day I had to fill it twice. even if he gets a bigger one, does he want to lug the jug & other cleaning supplies like a towel, etc up & down steps or elevator?
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Old 02-08-22, 10:16 AM
  #35  
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Originally Posted by rumrunn6
it's New York City in February. with recent storms & cold weather, I'm guessing there's some road salt everywhere mixed with droppings from all kinds of commercial vehicles. near me, in Waltham, on route 117, right near the bridge over route 128, there's a storm drain that overflows w/ what I'm guessing in household raw sewage, from the smell of it. used to bike commute that way & it never failed to gross me out when there was a lot of extra water on the roadway there
As if the smell of ambient bum piss and poop in that city is not enough to gross you out.
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Old 02-08-22, 10:26 AM
  #36  
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Originally Posted by Mojo31
As if the smell of ambient bum piss and poop in that city is not enough to gross you out.
I here ya, but I didn't want to go "there" & insult where the OP lives. I lived in a northern borough & worked in the city & my memories are mostly all good
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Old 02-08-22, 10:49 AM
  #37  
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Originally Posted by Mojo31
As if the smell of ambient bum piss and poop in that city is not enough to gross you out.
I thought that was mostly a San Francisco thing?
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Old 02-08-22, 11:15 AM
  #38  
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Originally Posted by prj71
Even if one lives in an apartment...I'm sure NYC has a self serve car wash.
I'm sure NYC has them somewhere, but if the OP has to ride several miles on slushy winter roads to get to/from, it seems kind of pointless.

I live in Chicago and this definitely isn't an option for me. The closest spray wash is over 4 miles away.
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Old 02-08-22, 11:47 AM
  #39  
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I guess if you don't have a car to get it there and back home then that would be a problem.
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Old 02-08-22, 02:44 PM
  #40  
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Originally Posted by Seattle Forrest
How dirty does a road bike get?
Very dirty if it is rainy or wet, on the road or not. Throw in some wet gravel and we are talking caked on, very gritty filth. If snow and ice was recent, the road salt really needs to come off.
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Old 02-08-22, 04:54 PM
  #41  
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^ For sure. In winter or in the wet a road bike can get very dirty.

Unfortunately my bike doesn't fit in the shower, but if I had a big "walk-in" shower or a bath tub shower, I'd be very tempted to use it as a bike wash!
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Old 02-08-22, 05:04 PM
  #42  
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Originally Posted by lyle.coop
Does anyone wash off their bike in the shower? Here in NYC it's a bit too cold outside to hose off the bike outside. I'd like to get all the street grim off the bike.
I do occasionally, but only when the wife isn't home.
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Old 02-08-22, 08:04 PM
  #43  
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Originally Posted by lyle.coop
Does anyone wash off their bike in the shower? Here in NYC it's a bit too cold outside to hose off the bike outside. I'd like to get all the street grim off the bike.
Safe to assume you rent?
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Old 02-08-22, 08:08 PM
  #44  
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No. Sometimes I will wash a wheel in the shower after a messy tubeless setup, but generally no. There's just no need to do that with a road bike imo, it just doesn't get that messy.

What I do when a wipe with a wet rag won't do is possibly worse; I get it in the kitchen/living room (the floor is tiled), spray some soapy water, and then a bit of clean water and wipe it all with a rag then relube. Then clean the floor afterwards. Wife doesn't really object because, well, I clean her bikes, too, and clean after myself when I'm done.
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Old 02-09-22, 04:56 AM
  #45  
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Originally Posted by Branko D
No. Sometimes I will wash a wheel in the shower after a messy tubeless setup, but generally no. There's just no need to do that with a road bike imo, it just doesn't get that messy.

What I do when a wipe with a wet rag won't do is possibly worse; I get it in the kitchen/living room (the floor is tiled), spray some soapy water, and then a bit of clean water and wipe it all with a rag then relube. Then clean the floor afterwards. Wife doesn't really object because, well, I clean her bikes, too, and clean after myself when I'm done.
Perhaps you are a fair weather rider, nothing wrong with that. Living in a beach area, even if it is dry, when the wind is up, sand gets blown and kicked up into the drive train and other areas. It gets to the point you actually hear the the grit, if it gets bad enough. That has got to go. I know of no way to get that off and out of the chain, gogs, etc. without a hose or some way of using water with a bit of pressure behind it. Using just a spray and wet cloth is likely going to affect the surface of the finish of the frameset. It's like wiping it down with sandpaper, JMO, of course. Personally, I will do it in the shower before the kitchen or other living space, any day. Wash those troubles down the drain. However it gets done, I prefer a clean, quiet bike.
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Old 02-09-22, 05:09 AM
  #46  
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Originally Posted by rumrunn6
it's New York City in February. with recent storms & cold weather, I'm guessing there's some road salt everywhere mixed with droppings from all kinds of commercial vehicles. near me, in Waltham, on route 117, right near the bridge over route 128, there's a storm drain that overflows w/ what I'm guessing in household raw sewage, from the smell of it. used to bike commute that way & it never failed to gross me out when there was a lot of extra water on the roadway there
I would hope there’s not raw sewage in storm drains. Especially in the western burbs.

Originally Posted by Mojo31
As if the smell of ambient bum piss and poop in that city is not enough to gross you out.
I’m partial to the smell of hot garbage in July
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Old 02-09-22, 06:12 AM
  #47  
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Originally Posted by Seattle Forrest
How dirty does a road bike get?
Hah! You've never seen the NYC roadside piles of grey-black mung that 2 weeks previous was fresh snow. That plowed stuff becomes filthy oily salty blech, and that's on my road bike, shoes, etc.

I know, I know. New Yorkers are nuts.
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Old 02-09-22, 07:00 AM
  #48  
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I did this just last night. BUT it was a bare frame and I was prepping it to be get painted so it has no components on it. I was just getting clean before paint prepping. My wife still was less than happy with my decision.
I probably wouldn't try it again.......couch seems like a poor place to sleep.
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Old 02-09-22, 08:21 AM
  #49  
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This thread reminds me why I don't live in NYC or any big city.
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Old 02-09-22, 08:56 AM
  #50  
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Originally Posted by prj71
This thread reminds me why I don't live in NYC or any big city.
Can I get an AMEN!?
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