(First order of business: Yes, I tried searching the forums. Nothing I could find on the following topic )

I have two old rides that have, over time, become rather tarnished and dirty along the spokes from much riding and not much attention - one is a recent Craigslist find, the other my first love. I've tried several conventional and unconventional cleaning methods - Pedros Orange Peelz, SimpleGreen, Turtle Wax Chrome Polish with Steel Wool, and Lemon Juice and tin foil - all of which have given me less than incredible results...and required a very high level of effort.

I did a couple of queries on the web and ran across some bikers (the other kind...leather, harleys, bandannas and such) who swore by "Shout" as a painless dirt & grime remover for spokes and wheels, saying it's a proven winner that wins converts whenever they try it.

So knowing that some of the best vintage bike-cleaning tricks and methods are borrowed from classic car restorers and other sources, I think I'm going to give the Shout method a try later on...but wondered if anyone else has ever given "Shout" a shot?

well... I think that Shout would do (if there is not any rust). Most of the dirt on spokes is mud, grease from the chain and a layer of dust on top (and maybe some cobwebs, leaf particles etc). Any sort of decent household degreaser will do. I use Ajax dish soap in water with a cloth (cheaper than Shout) and then dry them up with a dry clean cloth. I am sure that Shout would be fine. Caveat: as I said before: no rust.

I know it works great on your laundry,especialy when you have tweenagers.

Are we talking stainless or galvinized spokes?

Never had much luck shinning up galvinized... keep us posted.

Let us know how it works for you. I am assuming that your spokes are not stainless steel? The better wheel sets I own have stainless spokes and I only have to wipe them with a rag.

Challenger cleaner/degreaser is amazing. Spray it on, wipe away years of dirt and grease. Use it for degreasing hubs, bearings, bottom brackets.

Thanks for the responses, I'll make sure to document the progress on the "Shout" experiment. I might not get to it tonight, but I'll try and post the progress some time in the next couple days.

That's logical enough for me, but Shout isn't a degreaser - it's a laundry stain lifter (spray), which is why it didn't occur to me to try it. And yep, there is no rust on the spokes, just a bunch of dried grease or something. One of the bikes I'm going to clean has wheels with 80's Campy road hubs, can't remember what spokes or rims...probably DT Stainless, but they're really crudded up from grease, dirt, and what might be road tar. The other is on my '79 Raleigh Sports with Sturmey hub...again, probably steel spokes on the rear wheel (not sure, but that's my best guess).

As I said, I'll try and document the progress and see how it ends up. Shout has saved me in many a pickle, but usually only when I spill wine on a shirt or something. If it pans out that it's a good de-crudder for bikes, it will be a experiment worth having conducted.

Simple Green is very good for removing accumulated sludge. I find it works better than petro-chemicals in removing grease from DRs and Chain wheels.

Scrubbing Bubbles Mega Shower Foamer. Seriously.

-Shin

Shin, is that for zinc plated spokes?

The discoloration on zinc plated (galvanized) spokes is not dirt or grime. I haven't figured out a way to clean it. I'll try shower cleaner.

Stainless steel spokes are easy to clean. Well, I mean uncomplicated. It is labor intensive, only because there are so many and because of the crosses.

The shower cleaner is good for grime and dirt. It doesn't do a thing for rust or discoloration. I like it because there isn't any scrubbing. Spray it on, wait, hose it off.

-Shin