rumrunn6

don't know about hot garbage but I'd dig a hot mess. sorry couldn't resist

Bob Ross

ITT: folks who don't live in NYC make wild-ass guesses about what living and cycling in NYC is like.

Reflector Guy

Uncanny how that stuff manages to turn pure black. Looks just like coal sometimes.

I used to live in Peoria IL and they used to spread cinders on the roads, from the two or three local coal-burning power plants. Who knows, maybe they still do.... Anyway, unlike salt the cinders weren't water-soluble and didn't wash away in the rain. It was super annoying to get a flat tire in July from a razor-sharp slice of cinder.... Which most likely had been lying there since January! I got more flats in the three years I lived there than in the entire rest of my life. My a wide margin.

tempocyclist

Everything I know about New York City comes from watching Law & Order: SVU, CSI: NY, and NCIS: New York... 😅

(and watching a couple of bike messenger YouTube vids)

cxwrench

I've washed a lot of bikes in showers...hotel showers at cx races all over the country. Works pretty well.

indyfabz

+1. I’d kill for a brownstone in somewhere like Brooklyn Heights, Park Slope, etc.

eduskator

The real question is, do you shampoo the handlebars or wash the entire thing with soap only?

Andy Somnifac 

Yep. I definitely do this. Get it situated in the shower, spray it down with bike cleaner, rinse it down with warm water. Takes most things right off.

Fredo76

Works like a charm! Even white handlebar tape comes clean! You can blast the drive-train clean, even the chain, by aiming at the freewheel to make it spin backwards. In Tucson, it would be dry by the time you got home, so oil it then.

indyfabz

I live in the 6th most populous city in the U.S. I can wash my bike with a hose on my back deck and in front of my house. Not all living conditions in big cities are the same.

rumrunn6

for me it would be something similar but "Back Bay" Marlboro Street, Boston MA. I lived on Beacon Hill for a cpl years when I 1st moved from NY to Boston, but it's too hilly.

phrantic09

Those homes are great. Would totally do that if I had a few million to drop and could get off street parking.

rumrunn6

plus you can walk to Fenway Park for a ballgame. when I first moved to Boston in 1984 girlfriend & I got an apartment on beacon Hill. 1 bedroom, in a 5 floor walkup, view of the Charles River from 2 rooms & the roof deck. the rent was under $300 pr month. the Landlord told me he bought the bldg for $200K. ah the good ole' days

rumrunn6

yikes! I have fond memories, too countless to list. Springtime was always great, especially doing fashion shoots on location in front of The Metropolitan Museum of Art & in Central Park. riding South on the Subway (standing) just to turn around at Wall Street to get a seat back North, not so much

phrantic09

You can’t get a box under the pike for 200k now.

I used to travel a lot to see my staff at an office on State right across from the Long Wharf. Would walk to Fenway from there when chance arose to get to a game when I was in town. Haven’t been since pre-pandemic.

rumrunn6

haha true that!

Bassmanbob

Fortunately, living in a single-family home in SE Florida, I usually don't need to do this. I did do it once in a hotel shower. My bike was somewhat dirty, but not anything like caked-on mountain biking thick dirt. I would never do that to someone's plumbing. I did use a water-based degreaser, so it would wash right down the drain-- and it did. Then I used my usual car cleaning soap and gave the bike a nice bath with a sponge. I used the plastic disposable cup in the room for those hard-to-reach places the shower head would not wet. It worked well, I dried the bike with towels I brought and lubed her up, protecting the floor with paper towels I brought.

noimagination

Personally, I'd rather deal with cold fingers and wash the bike outside (self-serve carwash; hose in courtyard; whatever is available) than have to clean grease and grime off the tub/shower enclosure after washing the bike there. Everyone is different, though, I suppose washing a bike in a tub or shower is doable, so if that's what you want to do then great.

rumrunn6

fwiw - there are a cpl youtube videos of ppl washing their bikers in the shower

Reflector Guy

My worry would be having all the grime and grit go down the drain. I live in a "Chicago-style brick bungalow" (Google it, it's a recognized architectural style) and the tree roots are always getting into the sewer discharge pipe. They make a maze that traps everything that goes down the drain. The less debris I wash down, the better.

Eventually I'll have to spring for new PVC sewer pipe.... $$$$

burnthesheep

Lookup "roof leak tarp with hose". Find one that's roughly a size it could fit your bathing area to protect it and trim the hose really short or just align the hose connection outlet to your drain.

Then all the muck goes into the tarp and not on the bathing area and the waste water goes down the drain.

That's the best I have.

rumrunn6

that's pretty darn good actually

big chainring 

In winter, in Chicago, I use this to wash my car. Handheld wallpaper removal sprayer. Fill it with warm soapy water. Wash rag, dry rag, buff rag.

Lancercool1992

when cleaning leads to more cleaning

Mojo31

Why not just use a rinseless car wash outside in the winter? Two buckets of warm water and some small towels are all you need. I frequently use it on my cars in the winter.

Rinseless Wash & Wax - Griot's Garage (griotsgarage.com)