Road Fixie

I’m seeing alot of hits about how to clean a fixie. That’s cool – cause if you keep your ride clean it will last alot longer with less expense into replacing abrasion and corrosion worn parts.

So – what I do (and been doing for along time) is very simple post-ride ritual.

1) I use a garden hose and spray off all the road grit. If its been a muddy ride or especially nasty, I’ll use a light soapy mix (just dishwashing soap) to cut the crud.

2) Rinse again and wipe down with a chamois or baby diaper. Don’t wanna scratch the paint.

3) Take some CRC 656 or WD40 and spray inside the BB holder or other ‘vent holes’ if you’re riding a steelie.Don’t spray this stuff directly on your hubs, headset or BB bearing sides. It penetrates and dissolves lube. Just use it to displace moisture and protect the raw steel. PLus clean the gunk off the cog and crank gear.

4) Do the same on your chain. These products will dissolve your lube – so after you spray and spin. Wipe the chain down and then reapply your chain lube.

5) Bounce the bike a bit to shake off any water drops  and once over with the rag. Spin out the crank a bit to distribute the chain lube.

6) Do a quick post-ride check of your wheels, tires and bearings. This will help you spot any punks and if you need to do any bearing tweaks.

That’s it! I’m off to ride.

The second part on cleaning up the muletto.

Now look how clean the cog and chain rings are! Note – this is a muletto bike – which means its an old frame that is simply stripped and converted for winter training. I’m using stock chainrings and stuff. The frame itself is a 15yo Panasonic that I bought at a garage sale for $25.

Now the cog end.

OK – that part is basically done. Now on to the fun part. Wax impregnating the chain. To do this you’ll need some paraffin wax, an oven and something to boil it in.

Cook the chain to burn off any water and solvents. In Japan we have these cool boilers – my wife will kill me when she finds out I’m using the fish broiler to cook my chain.

OK – lets go to Part 3 now.