How often should I wash my mountain bike?

Ideally, you should do a quick clean and re-lube after every hard ride or two. A more in-depth wash is necessary if you ride through rain or mud.

• Keeping your MTB clean (particularly drivetrain) is the most important preventative maintenance you can perform for your mountain bike.

1. Clean your mountain bike (after every hard ride or two)

   • Dry it off (thoroughly)

   • Then lubricate the chain (properly)

2. If you don’t want to wash your bike that frequently, at least clean your chain after every ride.

   • 1) Grasp your chain with a rag

   • 2) Turn the crank backward for at least 30 seconds

   • 3) Lubricate chain

   • 4) With clean rag repeat steps 1 & 2 to get off excess lube

The Importance of a clean mountain bike

• Cogs

• Chainring

• Chain

• Derailleur(s)

Since your drivetrain is exposed to all the elements, it needs frequent cleanings.

How to do a quick mtb wash

There are many different philosophies on this seemingly simple task. Below I have outlined a quick cleaning routine that takes less than 10 minutes and doesn’t require a bike repair-stand. Also, if you clean your drivetrain regularly, you can mostly avoid having to use solvents.

1) Hose your bike down

If you clean your bike regularly, all you need is:

• Soap

• Water

• Sponges

• Brushes

1. Step one: Hose your bike down

   • It’s super important to AVOID using high-pressure washers, such as you find at the car wash or other industrial sprayers

   •  If you use a high pressure nozzle, do not point it at the bike from the side as it can blow the bearing seals inward

     • High-pressure washes can push water past seals in your hubs, bottom bracket (BB), pivot/shock seals, and headset

For a quick wash, you can leave the wheels on. Also, if you don’t have a hose, you can use a water bottle.

Scientifically formulated to go faster

2) Scrub entire bike & wheels with hot, soapy water

1. Wash with a big sponge for gentle frame cleaning and easy to reach places

2. Use a stiff nylon-bristle brush for tough and hard to reach places

3. Leave the chain, cogs, chainrings, and derailleurs for last and use a separate brush

4. Don’t forget to wash the tires

5. Can clean disc rotors with rubbing alcohol

With this quick wash, I don’t recommend using a degreaser. If you wash your bike frequently, a degreaser is not necessary and can lead to “over-cleaning” your drivetrain.

3) Rinse your Mountain bike

You can hose off your bike or wipe it down with a wet rag. Just remember not to use too powerful of a sprayer.

Once again, avoid getting water into the bearings of the bottom bracket, headset, or hubs.

You can fill up a water bottle and spray onto the bike, working from the top downwards. The soap and scrubbing are what loosens the dirt, and a light rinse will remove the rest of the grime, and soapy residue.

4) Dry off the bike

You can use an air compressor, leaf blower, or towel. 

If not, drop your mountain bike a few times from a couple of feet as this will knock off excess water.

Also, wrap a clean towel around the chain and spin the crank in reverse for at least 15 seconds. This will dry the chain, which you want before applying lubricant.

5) Apply lube to the chain

Anytime you clean your mountain bike, you must apply lube to the chain, as the washing process will remove some of the lube.

The largest factor causing a dirty drivetrain is too much lubricant. Excess lube on the outside of the chain will transfer to the cogs and chainring, which makes them “dirt magnets.”

After you have lubed your chain, make sure to spend at least 15 seconds wiping off the excess lubricant. You can’t wipe the chain off “too much,” so wipe it down well.

Final Thought

The easiest and best preventative maintenance you can perform is simply to wash your bike or at the very minimum, your chain. Frequent and routine bike cleaning is easy. This will extend the life of your bike, as well as keep your bicycle running like new.

However, as one of my riding buddies likes to say, “it’s a tool, not a jewel.”

Tune your bike like a Pro-Mechanic: Learn more NOW

Jesse is Director of Pedal Chile and lives in Valdivia, Chile (most of the year). Jesse has a Master of Science in Health & Human Performance and is an avid MTBer, snowboarder, reader of narrative non-fiction, & frequent cleaner and luber of his bikes.

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Sources:

1. Downs, Todd. The Bicycling Guide to Complete Bicycle Maintenance & Repair for Road & Mountain Bikes. Emmaus, Pa., Rodale, 2010.

2. Gwiazdowski, Jenni. How to Build a Bike : A Simple Guide to Making Your Own Ride. London, Frances Lincoln Limited Publishers, 2017.

3. Park Tool, and C. Jones. “How to Wash a Bike.” YouTube, 27 Oct. 2015.

4. Rohan Dubash, and Guy Andrews. Bike Mechanic : Tales from the Road and the Workshop. London, Bloomsbury, 2014.

5. Trek Bicycle Corporation. HOW TO HAVE MORE FUN ON YOUR NEW BIKE. 2018.

6. Wiggins, Christopher. Bike Repair & Maintenance. New York, New York, Usa, Alpha, A Member Of The Penguin Group (Usa) Inc, 2014.

7. Zinn, Lennard, and Todd Telander. Zinn & the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance : The World’s Best-Selling Guide to Mountain Bike Repair. Boulder, Colorado, Velopress, 2018.