hey

i was wondering, do you people have any tricks for cleaning your bike? what to use and not to use?

You might want to check out this link at the park tool website.

cleaning

thanks for the link!

That site gives you as good picture on how to clean your bike the only thing I suggest is save your money on special cleaning fluids and go to your local store and by some orange based solvent and use that to clean. It is multi purpose so you can clean the entire bike and your house (and car if you own one) and it is a fraction of the cost of these bike chain cleaners. Look for the concentrate you may think it is more expensive but it last a heck of of a lot longer than your bike cleaners or pre mixed stuff and is still much cheaper. Do use bike chain lube and boesheild or something like that to oil your moving parts. You can buy the brush kit, but I just went to the dollar store and bought a couple of brushes that work well enough. I do however use a pedro chain cleaning machine, that I found works better than trying to use a regular brush to clean the chain. Don't forget to clean your dérailleur pulleys and cassette.

Good advice on the Park site. For a major clean up, I normally clean the chain with a Park chain cleaner, scrub down the cogset and chain rings with a citrus degreaser, remove the wheels to scrub down the sidewalls (and keep the rims nice and clean) with a plastic scrubber sponge like what you'd do the dishes with, using dishwashing liquid. I clean the frame with dishwashing liquid and a paint brush and then rinse with clean water and a sponge. Then I dry it off with a lint-free cloth and re-lube the chain with Prolink. For a more basic clean, after a dusty or dirty ride, or once a week, I'll do a quick once-over with the painbrush and dish soap and rinse with a sponge.

I use Simple Green. It works great! Spray it on use a soft brush on the hard to reach places and use a light spray to wash it off.