Originally Posted by
tomtomtom123
If you don't do the cleaning, customs won't let you through and then they'll make you do it at the airport. If there's any dirt found they'll make you brush it out and wipe it down.
Deep Chain cleaning is once per 3 months or 2000-3000km so I'm doing it thoroughly.
Doing this in a 5m2 hotel room and you'll see how much more time it takes. Need to lay down the plastic sheets or the room geti dirty and you'll be charged for stains. Moving stuff around to clear the space for the next step when space is limited takes time. Using rags and paper towels to soak up the runoff degreaser and changing plastic sheets to keep the room clean.
Seems like the perfect application for hot melt wax chain lube before a trip, everything stays so much cleaner, and no runoff of degreaser. If any road dirt, just a spray bottle of mild cleaner, or just a sponge in a small basin of warm water, should work. Cleaning my bike I use dilute household lemon ammonia, and a shot of spray citrus cleaner for any greasy spots, but I'm still using chain oil. I want to go back to chain waxing, did it decades ago, was SO clean, but I quit because I thought oil gave better lube; published tests say otherwise, that wax is king.
I don't ride my folder off-road, but if I get caught in a big rain, the road grit makes the bike pretty dirty. I wheel it into the large bathroom next to the tub/shower, with a floor drain right next to the tub; Using the shower hand sprayer, wet down the bike, then a drop of good dish soap that dissolves oil (Dawn) on a soft-bristle brush with long bristles (easily wrap well around the spokes and across the rim, inside of fork and chainstays, etc) on a head the diameter of a softball, quick sudsy scrub down everything, then spray off with the sprayer, and it all goes down the drain. Dry the bike, clean, easy.