... and cleaning your bike is really pretty simple. You don't need lots of specialist products either, though we are admittedly big fans of Green Oil and Fenwick's products. And, while some specialist products definitely make things easier, you can clean your bike effectively in just a few minutes with common household items.
Give your entire bike from below the saddle and handlebars (keep those dry if you can) a gentle spray with a hose on low pressure, or even a watering can. Don't use a pressure washer and definitely don't direct high pressure water into major bearings like headset or bottom bracket. They don't like it!
Then, with a bucket of warm soapy water and a a soft washing up brush or sponge - and avoiding disc brakes and the oily bits (chain, sprockets and chainrings) - give it a gentle scrub and make sure you agitate any dried-on dirt and debris
Then, using the same brush or sponge, with more soapy water give the front and rear derailleurs (gears) a scrub and try to dislodge any dirt from them, particularly around the jockey wheels (two small cogs) on your rear derailleur. run the chain backwards to help get as much dirt as possible off each side of those little wheels
Next, using your watering can or hosepipe, rinse it all off thoroughly with LOTS AND LOTS of clean cold water (again avoiding the saddle and handlebars)
Leave it to drip-dry for five minutes and then wipe it dry with a rag; old t-shirts are great but make sure you don't use anything you'll miss as from this point it's in for a life of grime!
Fold another dry rag a few times into a pad and with your left hand, use the wadded rag to grip the chain between the rear-derailleur and the chainset. Then, use your right hand to rotate the pedals slowly backwards, dragging the chain backwards through the wadded rag in your left hand. Be sure not to let the rag get dragged into the chainrings (front gears). Keep rotating the pedals backwards until the rag has a thick black oily stripe across it. Then refold the rag to offer another cleanish area and repeat. Keep repeating until you've removed as much oil from the chain as possible.
If doing this the day before or the same day as your service then that's it, you're done. Congrats!
If there's more than a day yet before your appointment then you'll need to apply some chain oil to your chain in order to prevent any corrosion. Apply a single drop (just the one!) of Green Oil chain lube to each and every roller of your chain (rollers are the shiny 'polo mint'-shaped bits between the outer plates) and then backpedal the chain for 40-50 rotations to work the oil into each roller. If your chain has a 'quicklink' or 'master link' use this to spot when the chain has completed a rotation and every link has been oiled. Then - and this is important - remove any excess oil by taking another cleanish part of your wadded rag, gripping the chain in the rag in your left while back-pedalling with your right hand for 20-30 turns. This will still leave a dirty stripe but it shouldn't be quite as bad as before you started.
And that's it: a nice clean bike that's easier for us to work on and that we don't have to clean before we can start work.
We'd recommend spending just a few pounds on some good quality bike cleaning products (such as those from Green Oil or Fenwick's) so that when we've serviced your bike you can keep it in good running order for longer. Ask about this at your service appointment and we'll recommend some suitable products.
