Regular Bike Maintenance
Bike cleaning with Peaty’s Products makes bike parts maintenance easier, protects your gear and saves you money in the long run. But which Peaty’s Products do you need to use? In what order? And why and how? Here’s our essential guide to getting your MTB looking, riding (and smelling) mint.
Pre-Rinse
Pre rinsing the bike will help to remove the bigger chunks of muck straight away and also soften any dried on dirt. A bike maintenance stand can be a help here as it leaves both hands free to use Peaty’s Bog Brush to help get the big clods off. Start from the top so gravity lends a hand and leave it a couple of minutes for wetness to work its way in.
Get Fresh
Now it’s time to freshen up with Peaty’s minty fresh LoamFoam. For most bits of your bike ‘Mist mode’ works fine. That because (Geek alert) the organic gelling agents in our LoamFoam bike cleaner make it cling to the filth on your frame instead of running straight off like watery cleaners will!
Foam Party
For stubborn or hard to reach dirt (fork braces, suspension linkages, BB area etc.) flip the cap flap into ‘foam mode’. That’ll get those crazy organic gelling agents whipped up into a thick foam frenzy. As the foam expands in 3D it not only reaches parts normal cleaners won’t it also hangs on longer so it penetrates and cleans better. Plus foam just makes things more fun right?
Grip Don’t Strip
When brewing up a bike cleaner, you’ve got two choices...
Use an aggressive mix which strips dirt off your bike super fast but can also start stripping off paint, anodising and grease from any bearings they sneak into. Cleaners like this are typically more harmful on the environment too.
That’s why we went with option 2 with Loam Foam. Less chemically aggressive out of the gate, so it’s safe for your bike, but with better grip so it gets the job done better overall. We’ve doubled down on the environmental wins by using organic gelling agents and biodegradable cleaning elements too.
BTW if you’re asking yourself “Do I need an e-bike specific bike cleaner?” … The answer is no, no you don’t - Peaty’s LoamFoam will work just as well on an eBike as a normal bike.
Gear Grime
Peaty’s Loam Foam cleans off most dirt but for a really filthy, oily chain, cassette and gears you’ll need Peaty’s Foaming Drivetrain Degreaser. Simply spray this onto your cassette cogs while pedalling forwards and shifting your gears up and down a few times. This works the cleaner into all the rollers, links and hard to reach spots like a sexy shampoo advert. Don’t actually use it on your hair though, even if you’ve been wearing a full face all day. Because while it’s as eco friendly as possible it’s made to be safe for your bike not you.
Problem Solver Not Problem Solvent
The big difference between Foaming Drivetrain Degreaser and a lot of other drivetrain cleaners is that it’s not a solvent degreaser. This means it won’t actively dissolve and strip waterproof grease out of your bottom bracket, jockey wheels or suspension bearings if you accidentally overspray.
If you’re asking yourself “Do I need an e-bike specific drivetrain degreaser?” … You guessed it - the answer is no, no you don’t - Peaty’s Foaming Drivetrain Degreaser will work just fine on an eBike. It is definitely worth being more thorough with your drivetrain cleaning regime though.
Scrub For Speed
Once the Loam Foam and Foaming Drivetrain Degreaser have had 3 - 5 minutes to do their filth loosening thing it’s time to fully clean up with our Peaty’s Brushes. We’ve designed and tested each brush extensively to get everywhere you need with speed, but not damage delicate parts or your frame finish in the process. Wooden handles keep them eco friendly and we’ve made the handle on our Drivetrain Brush wonky to make it knuckle friendly too. I mean you don’t want blood all over your nice clean bike because you just punched your cogs do you?
The Scrub Club
So what do our four different Scrub Club brushes do?
The 360º flagged end bristles of our big fat Bog Brush is perfect for getting your mainframe, forks and wheels looking brand new without rattling your frame or scratching your precious paint like most flat brushes do.
Our Peaty’s Detail Brush is long, thin and flexible for getting into all the tight spots in your suspension linkages, saddle or hubs. It’s soft nose and plastic coated wire core means it won’t damage your delicates if you have to really get stuck in.
Peaty’s Tyre Brush has stiff dual-height bristles for making sure your side knobs are as clean as your centre tread and a long handle so whatever is on your tyres doesn’t get all over you.
Finally we designed the firm dual height bristles of our Drivetrain Brush to get into the deepest, dirtiest parts of your chain, cassette and chainrings. The angled handle means you won’t punch any pointy bits and keeps your hands and sleeves away from the chain and cranks when you’re spinning them to win at cleaning.
And, yes, before you ask, Peaty’s bike brushes will work just fine on an eBike.
Rinse and Check
Once you’ve sprayed and scrubbed it’s time to rinse off again with clean water. Now is a great time to check frame, tyres and forks for any damage. Spin the chain to check for stiff or split links and spin the wheels to check they’re straight. If anything is noisy or dragging then it’s time to get Peaty’s Grease on the job, but that’s another blog entirely!
If everything looks and feels OK then it’s time to refresh your chain with the right Peaty’s Lube. for the current conditions: LinkLube Dry for dry and dusty conditions, LinkLube All Weather for changeable mild conditions and LinkLube Wet for the wettest, filthiest rides.
Time To Shine
To make the most of your cleaning work and keep your bike shining longer finish the job with our Peaty’s polish and protection range. PT17 is our PTFE free, biodegradable maintenance spray which adds a slippery mud and corrosion fighting layer to your components. Protect & Shine brings your frame back to concourse condition and means mud will slide off rather than sticking when you hit the trails. They works brilliantly with our organic bamboo cloths perfect for producing maximum, shite shirking shine. They’re naturally hypo allergenic, antimicrobial and antibacterial too so they work as well for your armpits as well they do in the race pits.
Will Peaty’s Products Work On My E-Bike?
We ride E-bikes all the time at Peaty’s, because more runs is always better right? That means we make sure all our products work fine on E-bikes and certainly won’t damage them. We’re not going to try and sell you a special handle to help turn your cranks backwards for easy chain cleaning either. Just brace an Allen key in a chainring bolt against the crank arm like we do. It does make sense to be extra thorough with cleaning and lubing though as that extra power will damage a dirty, dry drivetrain a lot quicker.
