Sorry, but I don’t believe that people don’t judge appearances. At least to some extent.
Like a messy apartment. Don’t try to tell me that a filthy living situation isn’t being mentally assessed the first time you see it. Maybe, unlike me, your mind isn’t racing, trying to find a way to get out of said disgusting apartment, but let’s be honest, you’re still judging.
One reason why I will frantically clean up my apartment if anyone is going to even just stop by.
Unfortunately this hasn’t really been translating to my bike. I’ve been the worst bike mom recently. So bad, that I’ve found myself in uncomfortably embarrassing situations where I take my bike in to be looked at and end up muttering some apology about how I meant to clean it before coming into the shop, while the mechanic reaches for a rag.
Yeah, I bet he’s judging. I would.
I managed, last night, to chip away the crusty salt-dirt-water mixture that was caked on my downtube though. My rims got wiped down and I also realized that my rear hub is actually a shiny silver, not some gray/matte silver color. The chain got lubed and my tires pumped; those usually get done, but it doesn’t really do much to improve the general messy appearance of my bike.
As always, I ended up with grease-stained hands, wrists, and arms. Soap only does so much, which means I get to appreciate exactly how manishly dirty my hands look as I finished the rest of my tea.
I’ve come to the conclusion that bike grease just isn’t swoon-worthy or even endearing on a girl. Or at least not on this one. And, even though I know you’re going to [because I totally would], don’t judge, okay?
[Edit: it’s gorgeous out today. Get out and ride!]
Tags: grease · judging · messy · swoon-worthy8 Comments
8 responses so far ↓
nothing sexier than a girl with bike grease on her hands. but then again im a bike mechanic
a mechanic will only judge when there is tetanus to be got, well at least in the winter (if your bikes filthy in the summer there had better be a apocalyptic grade storm outside).
if you want to get the grease off use dish soap and a brush. i have found murphey’s oil soap works ok, but leaves your hands pretty ragged. if you want to buy the good shit, get fast orange.
also, nine times out of ten, it’s brake dust not grease that gets your hands the filthiest.
i also forgot to second dan’s comment. grease and paint.
I have been sorely lax on cleaning or general maintenance this winter. When I did finally get around to giving a nice wipe-down I found a little Lava soap (or the citrus-y equivalent) goes a long way to cleaning hands after they have cleaned the bike mess up.
thanks for the tips, guys! i’ve tried dish soap but it dries out my hands like woah. i know i should get that gritty orange stuff that blasts away oil paint and turp too. that stuff is really really awesome.
and it’s good to know that some guys find bike greasy girls sexy!
With this crazy cold, warm, cold, warm, cold weather combined with all the snow, there is no way to keep up with bike cleaning… so don’t feel too bad!
1) What Dan said.
2) I need to give my bikes some tlc on my next day off
3) Another good solution for bike grease is those hand wipe things. Strangely they work wonders. All in all I prefer the citrus soap with the scubby bits in it.
pedro’s bio cleaner is awesome but simple green is much much much cheaper (a dollar something)
as far as getting hands clean gojo from the harware store or lots of abrasion! I find those scrub brushes for washing floors or horses work wonders.