Keeping your wheels clean will dramatically increase their working life.
The best way to clean your wheels is to wipe them down with a clean soft cloth once a week. Microfibre cloths are ideal and relatively cheap to buy. If your wheels are extremely dirty, slightly dampen the rag and then wipe clean.
For the hard to get places around the hub area, we recommend using a soft bristle type brush. Soft brushes can be used to get into hard to reach spots.
If you have been riding in the rain, we recommend cleaning your wheels and removing the tyres, tubes and rim tapes to allow the wheels to dry out.
Downsides to common practice cleaning you need to be aware of, This includes hosing down your wheels and using bike cleaners that bring your wheels up sparkling like new, this is not something that is recommended for your new wheels.
Pressurized water forces its way into places that it otherwise wouldn’t get to, like inside the sealed bearings, cassette body and inside your rims. Once the water (and usually some of the dirt you are trying to clean off) gets inside these areas it is hard to get out and if left there, it will start to cause damage.
Sealed bearings are water resistant, not water proof! If water and/or dirt find its way inside, the grease inside will start to break down and corrosion can occur. Corrosion damages (pits) the metal surfaces and this slows your wheels down. The end result is typically noisy, rumbling hubs that won’t run as fast and smooth as they used to. If this happens to your wheels, don’t stress, they can be replaced!
When your wheels are really muddy, take the nozzle off the hose and rinse them off. Use a soft bristle brush to scrub tuff dirt. When you have finished, remove the tyres and rim tapes to allow any water to get out. Some detergents and cleaners have active ingredients that can affect the anodizing treatment on your wheels, this can cause surface discolouring and galvanic corrosion.
