Repair guides › Frame & Fork
Wash the bike
The backbone. Everything bolts to it, and its geometry decides how the bike fits, steers and how wide a tire it clears. 6061 aluminum tubes TIG-welded into a front triangle (top, down, seat and head tube) and a rear triangle (seat stays and chainstays). Threaded inserts (nutserts) take racks, fenders and bottle cages. Aluminum does not rust, but it can crack, especially near welds, and it does not bend back.
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Tools
- Chain lube (dry + wet): Finish Line Ceramic Wax + Ceramic Wet lube ($$)
- Degreaser: Simple Green All-Purpose Cleaner ($)
- Shop rags + nitrile gloves: shop towels and nitrile gloves ($)
- Isopropyl alcohol 91%+: isopropyl alcohol 91% ($)
- Cleaning brushes: bike cleaning brush set ($)
Compare Good, Better and Best for each tool
Steps
- Rinse gently with a hose on low or a bucket and sponge. Never use a pressure washer near the hubs, bottom bracket, headset or pedals: it pushes water past the seals into the bearings.
- Degrease the chain, cassette and chainring first: brush the degreaser in, wait a minute, scrub, then rinse. Use a separate brush for the drivetrain so grease doesn’t spread to the frame.
- Wash the rest top-down with bike wash or a little dish soap and a soft brush: bar, frame, fork, wheels, tires.
- Keep soap, degreaser and spray lube off the disc rotors and pads. If they get dirty, wipe the rotors with isopropyl alcohol on a clean rag.
- Rinse, bounce the bike a few times to shake the water out, and dry it with a rag, the chain most of all.
- Once the chain is dry, lube it: one drop per roller while you pedal backward, then wipe off the extra.
- While it’s clean, look it over: cracks at the welds, worn brake pads, cuts in the tires, loose bolts.
- Squeeze the brakes a few times before you ride: wet brakes are weak for the first few stops.
Signs it needs doing
- Creaks that follow you even after the BB, pedals and seatpost are greased
- Hairline crack or paint flaking in a line at a weld
- Rear wheel no longer sits centered (bent dropout)
- Dent in the down tube or top tube