How I wash my bikes

that’s basically how i clean my bike. i think the biggest thing with using a hose is to not use a super high-pressure spray, like you said, because that can force dirt into places we can’t easily get to and can really mess up bearings (even some sealed cartridges, depending on how well-made they are.) i usually just use a mix of 50/50 water and rubbing alcohol, although i’ll have to try out some Simple Green (some of the orange-based cleaners would probably work really well, too.) one thing to remember though is that if you’re rocking a CroMo steel frame, make sure to dry out the inside of the tubes as much as possible if you get water in them, since they don’t have any paint or powdercoat to stop rust!

a couple times a year i’ll use engine degreaser or brake cleaner to really get rid of ALL the funked-up old lube and grease, and do a total relube. i’ll usually do it sometime in the fall to get out all the lube that has dirt and mud in it, and at the end of winter, since Colorado DOT uses tons of road salt and sprays mag-chloride deicer on the roads like it’s going out of style (mag-chloride doesn’t seem to do any type of metal any good, and road salt is even worse.)

as far as drying my bike, i don’t own an air compressor, so i just wipe it down and then go cruise around the neighborhood for a little while to air-dry.

I usually stare the dirt down and intimidate it with my utter Awesomeness… no water needed…

But seriously, pretty much the same thing here too.. I use simple green as well, but I usually just use a water hose with the pressure turned down and my thumb to create a gentle even mist… of Awesomeness