I don't care a hoot about my car, I wash it once a year whether it needs it or not.
It's the same for a commuting bike. My road bike on the other hand gets washed, tyres pumped, transmission cleaned and lubricated on every ride.
I think most club riders would be just the same.
It's not just vanity, dirty transmission is more tiring to pedal when you're trying to keep up with a group and when you're coming down hill at 50mph you want to know your brakes will work.
And look at the average railway station bike parking.
Bikes have it rough. They have crappy suspension, usually are used on roadways that are much worse than the ones that cars ride on, they have to regularly deal with impact and g-forces that you rarely see in cars outside of actual accidents and people drop them all the time. I've been working on bikes all my life and if there is a form of bike damage that I have not seen yet it would amaze me.
I think that's a generalisation too far. :P
I don't care a hoot about my car, I wash it once a year whether it needs it or not.
It's the same for a commuting bike. My road bike on the other hand gets washed, tyres pumped, transmission cleaned and lubricated on every ride.
I think most club riders would be just the same.
It's not just vanity, dirty transmission is more tiring to pedal when you're trying to keep up with a group and when you're coming down hill at 50mph you want to know your brakes will work.
Tell my teenagers ;)
And look at the average railway station bike parking.
Bikes have it rough. They have crappy suspension, usually are used on roadways that are much worse than the ones that cars ride on, they have to regularly deal with impact and g-forces that you rarely see in cars outside of actual accidents and people drop them all the time. I've been working on bikes all my life and if there is a form of bike damage that I have not seen yet it would amaze me.
> And look at the average railway station bike parking.
Yeah there definitely seems to be a polarised dichotomy here.
Bikes are either very pampered or have a squeaky chain and gears that don't index properly with nothing in between!
>I wash it once a year whether it needs it or not.
I admire that, I used to wash my truck once a year too, until I ran out of time.