I met a nice character a few weeks ago on a magnificent ride through the Bay Area. He rode a Colnago C-50 which was so filthy that I was unable to ascertain with any degree of certainty what color it was painted. I spent most of the ride suppressing the impulse to lead him and his bike through a local car wash. As it turns out, he’s based out of Asia, and the monsoon which is in full swing has the effect of turning white bikes black on the roads surrounding his adopted home of Hong Kong, which I always thought was an ape but apparently is also a city.
I’m what some people might call “obsessive” about keeping my bike clean. Even my Nine Bike gets a thorough washing if not after each ride, then at least after every other. A clean bike is easier to maintain, shifts more precisely, brakes better (if for some reason you want to go less fast), and the components wear more slowly. Not to mention that a clean bike is a beautiful bike. The secret to being able to clean your bikes often is a fifteen minute cleaning routine which I’ll detail another time. For now, lets leave it at having the right brushes and tools in place to quickly and easily get into all the hard-to-reach areas on a bike.
For many years, I assumed I had reached the high water mark in bike cleaning. Ego, it would seem, infects us all at one time or another. To quick I was to believe that cleanliness is godliness. There I sat, lonely upon my high horse of pride and arrogance, until my friend Charlie on Maui introduced me to a product called Pedro’s Bike Lust. And just like that, I was sent back to Earth in the knowledge that I still had much to learn.
This stuff is incredible; it sprays onto carbon, steel, aluminum, or rubber. It cleans and wipes off without leaving any residue. A little bit of rubbing and it brings out an as-new polished finish, covering and filling small scratches – it even diminishes the big scratches caused when, hypothetically speaking, your bike is blown over in the wind on Mount Saint Helens and scrapes along some jagged volcanic rocks. Hypothetically. I also spray it liberally on my saddle, which makes it very slippy and good for sliding forward and back as-needed for crushing fools.
At this point, I’m a complete junkie; I can hardly resist a little bump before each ride, just to get my head right and make my bike gleam beneath me as I set out on my ride. The only downside is the silicone-covered surface makes it harder for grit and mud to stick to the frame and show off how hard core your Rule #9 ride was.
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View Comments
@strathlubnaig
There are two other sellers who'd like £87. No mentions of watts, though.
Despite regular cleaning, my Cannondale has done a few thousand kilometers on a trailer and seen the inside of a bike bag enough times that it's lost it's as new lustre. Baby wipes do a great job of keeping it spick and span at a fraction of the cost.
The fault is in the brand fixation, not the ritual. That should be a rule, or a logical extension of Rule 26. Nothing finer than dropping the youngins on a climb astride the old C-40, shiny and clean (Turtle Wax "Ice"). "Dude, is that a new bike....." Keep it off the helmet and there will be substantial compliance with Rule 9.
@Chris
Not quite sure what you guys are on about when a 16oz spray bottle costs $10. Maybe I should start my own export company. Frank is right though, it's the dogs bollocks!
Bike lust is a beauty. Easy to apply, much easier than taking all the components off the frame and putting paste wax on it. And it keeps the sweat/sunscreen off the frame too, or at least helps keep it clean.
A friend was warned not to use a silicone polish on his motorcycle seat, one good twist of the throttle and he might not be on the bike when it left the station.
I've got an issue down this line of buyer regret.
Since moving to a "raw carbon" bike the finish always looks that bit off. Seeing all the carbon joins just makes the bike look a bit less polished all the time, and it never feels satisfying to clean it. I should have lost the weight off the motor and kept a nicer paint job.
I've yet to see said product on shelves about the LBS, but Mr Sheen has keep the luster lusting and the bugs, um... offing for many many years. Great for that quick clean mid week, and to bring up the luster after the weekend degrease/wash/lube full hurrah.
As to to baby wipes, maybe I am buying the wrong ones but they won't shift any wayward grease/lube which stands to reason since after three babies raised in my house, none yet have had to be de-greased.
I've always thought about stripping my bike down and giving it a dose of 303 aerospace protectant, but I never have as I don't know if it'd work or if it's any good.
My BMC has white chainstays... now that's a fucking design flaw. Upon cleaning my bike on Sunday I found that these just stay a grimy-version of their former selves. Super frustrating.
@Gianni
I armour-alled my dad's BMW one day. It looked fucking fantastic, all shiny and so on.
He said he took it through a corner and almost fell off. He appreciated my effort but asked me never to do that again. Nicest he ever was about me doing something that almost killed him. So far anyway.
Maybe this stuff will be the product that finally keeps the bugs off during mating season. apparently the mere sight of #1 gets them all hot and bothered. ends up looking like the front grill of my car after I drove across the country.
Last summer I took delivery of a custom bike. Before I built it up I rubbed it down with several coats of this stuff. I was very glad to have done so when, on my second after the build, I found one of my regular roads had a fresh coat of asphalt on it. I cringed at the thought of my tires throwing countless small globules of tar onto the fresh paint, but then remembered the Pedro's. I should mention that the chief color of the downtube is pearl white. I risked the road, and when I got home, wiped the few bits of black gunk off with a rag. They came right off without even streaking. Fantastic stuff.