Ever waxed your bike?

[veggieburger]

I'm thinking specifically for my mountain and cross bikes. They get so filthy this time of year, I'm wondering if a bit of wax might make them easier to clean. Anyone tried this??

[dogdriver]

Plexus on everything that isn't lubricated. The gook sprays right off...

[William]

Pledge.




William


PS: I'm not kidding.

[Lifelover]

Yes, I have used Liquid Glass and it seemed to work great.

[veggieburger]

Pledge? Plexus? Neither of these will damage paint? Interesting....

[sg8357]

Lemon Pledge, gives your bike that fresh spring scent.

[William]

Lemon Pledge, gives your bike that fresh spring scent.


...and it works great to. :banana:

Spray onto a clean rag, wipe on...then wipe off veggieburger-san. :)





William

[Steve in SLO]

+1 on Pledge.
Easier than applying wax. Unbelievable how clean and new it makes raw Ti look.

[spacemen3]

Meguiars #21 Synthetic Sealant works well for me.

[dogdriver]

+1 on Pledge.
Easier than applying wax. Unbelievable how clean and new it makes raw Ti look.

Ah, yes-- I believe that Pledge is the not-so-secret Moots final step before shipping a new frame.

[Blue Jays]

Absolutely. It is far, far, far easier to keep a highly-waxed bicycle nice and clean.
I start with Mother's carnauba wax and maintain afterwards with lemon Pledge like others have mentioned.

[veggieburger]

Ok, tonight I break out the lemon pledge (although I'm not riding titanium).
I'll letcha know how it goes!

[Lincoln]

Another Pledger here.

[Ken Robb]

Spray on Plexus is recommended to clean and protect soft see-through vinyl like helmet face shields, airplane/boat windshields and isinglass so it surely won't hurt paint. It seems to leave a nice protective layer after it softens and lifts dirt, bird crap, etc.

[toaster]

Besides cleaning, and waxing, anyone given thought to disinfecting your bicycle?

All the sweat, nose drippings, sugary spills and pollutants picked up from the road must make for a ecological disaster.

[William]

Besides cleaning, and waxing, anyone given thought to disinfecting your bicycle?

All the sweat, nose drippings, sugary spills and pollutants picked up from the road must make for a ecological disaster.


Wash it, wax it, good to go.



William

[soulspinner]

Absolutely. It is far, far, far easier to keep a highly-waxed bicycle nice and clean.
I start with Mother's carnauba wax and maintain afterwards with lemon Pledge like others have mentioned.

+1-like Mothers...

[Wilkinson4]

Wax on, pledge on and don't forget the 303 for your rubber parts and tires.

[Skrawny]

I learned the Pledge not-so-secret when I picked my bike up from the shop, put it in the back of my car, and noticed that things smelled a little lemony. Now I Pledge after every cleaning.
-s

[Steve in SLO]

Besides cleaning, and waxing, anyone given thought to disinfecting your bicycle?

All the sweat, nose drippings, sugary spills and pollutants picked up from the road must make for a ecological disaster.

Nope. Anything that would disinfect your bike would lead to a bigger ecological disaster.

A friend of mine (ex-US Team member) swears by the addage "Fantastik then Pledge"

[toaster]

What about some "green products", Fantastik and Pledge must contain some pretty harmful ingredients.

[Steve in SLO]

They do, hence my initial statement regarding the ecological disaster.
There are many 'green' products around, such as Simple Green, Citrus cleaners, Pedros and various enzyme cleaners. All do a pretty good job cleaning. Plain water in a rag can go pretty far, too.
As for that final touch, carnuba wax is pretty green.

[Nautilus]

Zymol. Smells delicious too.

[Ken Robb]

Simple Green corrodes naked aluminum

[mtbmike]

The absolute biggest mistake have ever made was the failure to wax my pretty italian roadbike before I stuck it in the trainer for the winter. By spring, the paint was bubbling off the cable guides, top tube, etc. from sweat/salt. Wax it and wax it often. Use carnuba or mother's glaze or something meant for cars. Beware, some furniture polishes have solvents in them! But anything is still better than nothing.

P.S. The ecological damage of a re-paint is far worse than a little cleaning product.

[veggieburger]

Found some Armor All in my trunk, the stuff for dashboards. Not sure if it will protect from mud, but it sure looks purdy!!

[Lincoln]

Simple Green corrodes naked aluminum

+1
Simple Green is green in color but not "green" as in environmentally friendly.

[PBWrench]

"Bike Lust" polish by Pedros for me on carbon frames. Looks great and smells like a vanilla milkshake!!

[Dekonick]

Pledge... cheap and it works.

:)

[Velosmith]

I have a 2007 CRV that has never seen the touch

of wax. My bikes get it often.

It's a sickness, I know.....

[Ahneida Ride]

wax often ..

a 1/2 paint 1/2 Ti Legend is trivial to maintain ...

It's all Ti where the nasty stuff happens ...

I preserve a deep coat of sacrificial wax on the surface..
Dirt flushes right off.

Paint looks almost brand new after 8 years.

Wax is so easy and so cheap.... why not do it ?

[stephenmarklay]

I treat mine just like a car. I use Optimum no rinse wash (greatest product in the world :) and the other optimum products.

I use dupont Teflon spray on everything mechanical (cleans and lubricates) My 3 year old bike looks basically new.

Mtbmike - wax would not have helped. Only constant washing the salt away would have worked. Wax does not prevent rust.

[Volant]

1 Grand Blitz wax, but, Pledge is faster.

[GuyGadois]

Pledge works wonders. Used it ever since working at Turin Bikes years ago.

[Elefantino]

Our hosts recommend Lemon Pledge® for their ti.

AFA paint, any good paste wax'll do.

[Chief]

You guys have hairy bikes?? :D

[NRRider]

check this out
http://www.activeion.com/default.aspx
Converts back to regular old water after 30 seconds or so.
A buddy of mine is a co-founder.

[333halfevil]

Pledge works great! We actually use to use it on even polished ti frames at serotta! It will not harm your paint, trust me; I was a painter there for 10 years.

[flickwet]

Occasionally use Macguires "cleaner wax" then pledge regularly, also I wipe down after a ride with a rag sprayed with wd-40. I'm a horrific sweater.

[johnnymossville]

I used Meguiars NXT on my bike when I got it, but pledge sounds oh so much easier. I can't wait to try it out.

[veggieburger]

Lemon pledge....you mean the stuff in the aerosol can? And it's ok on painted aluminum frames, not just ti?

Ok, if you say so..

[Bob Ross]

I found Pledge furniture wipes to be more convenient than the aerosol stuff, but afaik it's the same stuff.

re: Simple Green corroding aluminum, I'd heard that was only an issue (and in fact, only possible) if you left it on for 24 hours or so. So you don't want to soak your naked aluminum parts in Simple Green overnight, but you can clean them with Simple Green sans fear so long as you wipe it off immediately thereafter.

But what the hell do I know, I'm just refuting one internet myth with another.

Anyway, my routine is clean the bike w/ Simple Green, then wipe down w/ Pledge wipes. I can't swear the wax really makes the bike any easier to clean, but it looks & smells nice.

[abqhudson]

To make it easy to clean - Liquid Glass cannot be beat.

I also use it on the lower portion of my cars.

YMMV.