You don't want to sand it off because it will damage the underlying material, even if it's stuck on there.

But you do want to remove the dirt.

So, I experimented to see what products and methods could effectively remove dirt.

I tested the following four areas:

■ Test Areas

・Handlebar (metal part)

・Handlebar (grip part)

・Frame

・Tires

■ Handlebar (metal part)

Since my daily use and experimental bicycle is quite cheap, its coating quickly deteriorated.

Here, I'd like to explain what coating is first.

• What is coating?

Normally, metal is not used as is (often referred to as "raw material").

Any metal, even iron, is usually treated with some kind of surface finish, such as plating, before use.

Otherwise, it would rust.

Only stainless steel does not rust even when used as raw material, so it is used without surface treatment.

Coating involves applying a transparent resin or paint to the surface after that.

The difference between coating and surface treatment is surprisingly difficult to define, but it might be easier to understand if you think of surface treatment as changing the properties of the metal surface, and coating as covering the surface with a different material without changing its properties.

Of course, in specialized terms, it's a deep topic that could fill an entire book, but it's not that important here, so I'll leave that to specialized texts.

The dirt on the handlebar (metal part) this time is from an area where the coating was not very good, started peeling off about a week after purchase, and became dirty with ingrained grime.

This is dirt that cannot be removed by simply wiping with a cloth.

I tested the following four types:

・Oil

・Alcohol

・Car scratch remover

・Dish soap

I asked a friend who works for a detergent manufacturer, and he said that while he could make predictions, the actual effectiveness could only be determined through real-world testing, so the experiment was not meaningless.

• Oil…It didn't work at all. It had no effect on the dirt.

• Alcohol…Surprisingly, it cleaned up quite well. However, it seems to have removed the dirt along with the peeling coating.

It would be advisable to apply a topcoat (transparent paint) or some other treatment afterwards.

• Car scratch remover…Surprisingly, it had almost no effect. Scratch removers are compounds, essentially polishes. Roughly speaking, they contain relatively coarse abrasive particles, like toothpaste, so I expected them to clean well, but they were not very effective.

• Dish soap…Using it diluted about 10 times with water, it cleaned up quite nicely. This also removed dirt better than expected. Dish soap contains surfactants, so simply applying it with a spray bottle and letting it sit for about 30 seconds significantly improves dirt removal.

■ Comparison of each agent

The most effective dirt remover was alcohol. In fact, I didn't expect much from it, so I used it first, but it cleaned up so well that I had less space to try other agents.

The next best was dish soap.

It's readily available and cheap, so it might be the best.

Both alcohol and dish soap were effective when scrubbed with a microfiber cloth.

■ Handlebar (grip part)

The handlebar turns black due to gripping.

Since wiping normally doesn't remove the dirt, I tried dish soap and alcohol.

Dish soap... It wasn't very good at removing dirt. Is it less effective on rubber? I applied a generous amount and let it sit for a while, but it didn't seem very effective.

Alcohol... It was more effective than dish soap, but it didn't make it look brand new.

Further research may be needed.

■ Frame

The frame is painted and then top-coated.

If you rub it too hard mechanically, the topcoat might peel off, and if the paint underneath also peels off, it becomes difficult to fix.

Ideally, we want to clean it chemically using agents.

First, I tried scrubbing with water and a microfiber cloth, but it barely removed anything.

Then, adding alcohol and scrubbing similarly, the ingrained dirt was completely removed.

Alcohol is definitely an agent worth having on hand.

■ Tires

Finally, the tires.

In another article, I mentioned that dish soap cleans them well, and that's certainly true, but I'm going to try it on dirt that has become stained.

Dirt that couldn't be removed with dish soap easily came off when wiped with alcohol.

To show how effective it is, I only wiped a part with alcohol.

Since it's an experimental bike, the tires are white, so the dirt should be easy to see.

Compared to dish soap, alcohol seemed to clean faster and easier.

Tires are destined to get dirty, so there's not much need to make them this clean, but it's also true that it feels good when they are clean.

For example, how about trying this when bringing a bicycle that is usually left outside indoors, or during an annual intensive maintenance session?

Tires that hadn't been maintained for several months became as white as new quite easily.

In conclusion, alcohol was the most effective.

Dish soap was readily available and had the next best effect after alcohol.

▲ICAN carbon wheels - Fast delivery within Japan

External Writer: Koichi Okuno