Bicycle Mechanics - Carwash?

Anyone take their bike to the carwash? I do a lot of off-road riding. Had my Trek 820 in the back of the pick-up this weekend. I sprayed off the chain, sprockets, and frame with high pressure soap, being careful not to direct the stream into the bearings. After a good rinse I oiled the chain and cables with WD 40 and took off for a ride down the gravel roads of eastern Missouri.
Seemed to work OK. Any thoughts on this?

Get some chain lube and ditch WD-40. Should have used that to polish the frame.

Still, I'd recommend against using the high pressuse wash at a car wash. Careful as you may be, it won't take much to blow the grease out of the hub, BB, and headset bearings.

what's so wrong with a bucket of water and a brush anyway?

Has anyone tried just driving throught the car wash with the bike on the rack?










Only kidding:D

Anyone take their bike to the carwash? I do a lot of off-road riding. Had my Trek 820 in the back of the pick-up this weekend. I sprayed off the chain, sprockets, and frame with high pressure soap, being careful not to direct the stream into the bearings. After a good rinse I oiled the chain and cables with WD 40 and took off for a ride down the gravel roads of eastern Missouri.
Seemed to work OK. Any thoughts on this?
I prefer to wash a muddy bike with a rag and a bucket of water. I think high-pressure spray gets water in the bearings even if you try to avoid it. Water is never a good thing for the very exposed steel parts: the chain and cassette. After I clean the chain with Simple Green, I always wipe it completely dry before applying a slight amount of drip-can oil.

By the way, WD-40 is a pretty terrible chain lube. It's too sticky and more of a solvent than a lubricant. Also, any spray lube is a bad idea because it gets too much lube on the outside of the chain where it's not wanted, and too little on the rollers/bushings where it is needed. There are numerous flamewars about chain lube, but one thing all the experts agree on is that WD-40 is bad :) Any drip-can type oil is better, though everyone has their personal preference/religious belief.

I have taken my bike to the car wash. One year I cycled all winter on a road bike. Other times we have traveled over 1000 miles on the interstate with some bikes on the top rack. They get full of bugs that way. I usually clean my bike in the shower during the winter. When I do use the car wash, I do not use the high pressure mode. I am mostly just getting all the slush and salt (or bugs) off the bike.

Try this... If you know you're going to get muddy, hose down the bike with WD-40 before you go. Frame, fork, etc. Then when you get home, a simple garden hose is all you'll need to wash the mud off... It will just fall away. Old sprint car racing trick.

++ for the rag/bucket approach, though I like to use a watering can too and put the bike in the bath tub when cleaning it (NYC apartment life at its finest!).

Speaking of treating a bike like a car, car polish works well on my road bike's frame. I polished it for the first time in July and it still looks pretty good. The polish seems to keep dirt from sticking to the frame.