Detail That Bike!

Do you ever get all obsessed with cleaning your bike? I went on a major bike detailing jag this morning. I rolled through a couple of miles of muddy trail a few days ago, and I just cannot live with mud caked on my bike. I spent about two and a half hours scraping all the grit out of my bike. Don’t you hate that? I wish I had little fingers so it would be easier to get all the gunk out, but alas, I have the hands of a teamster, not a seamstress.

Brushes for Micro-level Cleaning

I’ve discovered that medical brushes with nylon bristles are really good for getting into those hard-to-reach places like derailleurs, sprockets and brake levers. They are really small and sturdy so they not only get the job done, they stand up to the toughness of the job. Also, the bristles are soft so they don’t damage the bike parts or cause scratches that would lead to rust. Medical brushes can be kind of expensive, so my brush supplier is usually whoever sells them on Ebay. And Gordon Brush makes really good ones. It’s too bad they don’t make them specifically for biking, but their site does say they make custom brushes. Maybe we could email them and say we want them to custom design a brush for cleaning bikes?

Detailing

The same stuff that your gearhead brother uses to give his Corvette a perfect coat you can use on your bike. After I’m done extracting the grit from all the crevices, I like to wipe down the frame with some detailer, and I rub until every last little smudge is gone. I really like the Speed Wipe stuff that the Chemical Guys make.
I like to keep my bike shiny, even though I know I’m just going to get it dirty again. What products/tricks do you use to keep your bike spic and span?