Categories: Accessories and GearReverence

Reverence: Pedro’s Bike Lust

Glossy shiny goodness thanks to Pedro’s Bike Lust

I met a nice character a few weeks ago on a magnificent ride through the Bay Area. He rode a Colnago C-50 which was so filthy that I was unable to ascertain with any degree of certainty what color it was painted. I spent most of the ride suppressing the impulse to lead him and his bike through a local car wash. As it turns out, he’s based out of Asia, and the monsoon which is in full swing has the effect of turning white bikes black on the roads surrounding his adopted home of Hong Kong, which I always thought was an ape but apparently is also a city.

I’m what some people might call “obsessive” about keeping my bike clean. Even my Nine Bike gets a thorough washing if not after each ride, then at least after every other. A clean bike is easier to maintain, shifts more precisely, brakes better (if for some reason you want to go less fast), and the components wear more slowly. Not to mention that a clean bike is a beautiful bike. The secret to being able to clean your bikes often is a fifteen minute cleaning routine which I’ll detail another time. For now, lets leave it at having the right brushes and tools in place to quickly and easily get into all the hard-to-reach areas on a bike.

For many years, I assumed I had reached the high water mark in bike cleaning. Ego, it would seem, infects us all at one time or another. To quick I was to believe that cleanliness is godliness. There I sat, lonely upon my high horse of pride and arrogance, until my friend Charlie on Maui introduced me to a product called Pedro’s Bike Lust. And just like that, I was sent back to Earth in the knowledge that I still had much to learn.

This stuff is incredible; it sprays onto carbon, steel, aluminum, or rubber. It cleans and wipes off without leaving any residue. A little bit of rubbing and it brings out an as-new polished finish, covering and filling small scratches – it even diminishes the big scratches caused when, hypothetically speaking, your bike is blown over in the wind on Mount Saint Helens and scrapes along some jagged volcanic rocks. Hypothetically. I also spray it liberally on my saddle, which makes it very slippy and good for sliding forward and back as-needed for crushing fools.

At this point, I’m a complete junkie; I can hardly resist a little bump before each ride, just to get my head right and make my bike gleam beneath me as I set out on my ride. The only downside is the silicone-covered surface makes it harder for grit and mud to stick to the frame and show off how hard core your Rule #9 ride was.

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frank

The founder of Velominati and curator of The Rules, Frank was born in the Dutch colonies of Minnesota. His boundless physical talents are carefully canceled out by his equally boundless enthusiasm for drinking. Coffee, beer, wine, if it’s in a container, he will enjoy it, a lot of it. He currently lives in Seattle. He loves riding in the rain and scheduling visits with the Man with the Hammer just to be reminded of the privilege it is to feel completely depleted. He holds down a technology job the description of which no-one really understands and his interests outside of Cycling and drinking are Cycling and drinking. As devoted aesthete, the only thing more important to him than riding a bike well is looking good doing it. Frank is co-author along with the other Keepers of the Cog of the popular book, The Rules, The Way of the Cycling Disciple and also writes a monthly column for the magazine, Cyclist. He is also currently working on the first follow-up to The Rules, tentatively entitled The Hardmen. Email him directly at rouleur@velominati.com.

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View Comments

Steve-o says:

May 27 2014 at 9:22 am

I use Pledge wipes after a washing and in between washings. Lays down some wax to make cleaning easier, is pretty good at getting off road grime and grease off, even the white parts, and keeps the bike looking good. I'll check out Bike Lust.
frank says:

May 27 2014 at 9:25 am

@strathlubnaig

Out of interest I had a wee keek on Amazon to see how much this stuff costs...er... 36 squigglies ? At that price I would hope it gives you an extra 20 watts as well.

I don't know what a squiggle is, but apparently its about $0.50 US?
frank says:

May 27 2014 at 9:26 am

@Chris

Despite regular cleaning, my Cannondale has done a few thousand kilometers on a trailer and seen the inside of a bike bag enough times that it's lost it's as new lustre. Baby wipes do a great job of keeping it spick and span at a fraction of the cost.

Its called Bike Lust for a reason; my R3 was in the same state when I first used it and it was head and shoulders above all else I'd ever tried, including baby wipes. The little shallow scratches disappear.
frank says:

May 27 2014 at 9:30 am

@Steve G

I've always thought about stripping my bike down and giving it a dose of 303 aerospace protectant, but I never have as I don't know if it'd work or if it's any good.

My BMC has white chainstays... now that's a fucking design flaw. Upon cleaning my bike on Sunday I found that these just stay a grimy-version of their former selves. Super frustrating.

The Pedros stuff also cleans in addition to shining. It's worth a shot anyway. I did have white cables for a while (not a design flaw as much as a thinking flaw) and the Bike Lust did clean them up nicely. But white chain stays...yikes.
frank says:

May 27 2014 at 9:35 am

@Owen

Maybe this stuff will be the product that finally keeps the bugs off during mating season. apparently the mere sight of #1 gets them all hot and bothered. ends up looking like the front grill of my car after I drove across the country.

Where do you live, in the biblical middle east? I need to hear more about this bug infestation.

@Rhodri

When I've used polish I've tended to spray it onto a clean rag then use that on the bike. Always been a bit paranoid about braking surfaces.

Good point, I have sprayed it on the brake surface with abandon and the first stop is a hair-raiser although after that its gone and everything works as intended.
frank says:

May 27 2014 at 9:39 am

@Chris

Just say "No" to aerosols, we'd like to keep being able to ride outside, n'est pas?

@Roobar

I've got an issue down this line of buyer regret.

Since moving to a "raw carbon" bike the finish always looks that bit off. Seeing all the carbon joins just makes the bike look a bit less polished all the time, and it never feels satisfying to clean it. I should have lost the weight off the motor and kept a nicer paint job.

That would be most disappointing.

@ErikdR

Admit it, Frank: you'd have bought the stuff anyway, regardless of how well it performed, just because of the name.

Well, it certainly made me more willing to spray it on my bike when Charlie showed me the bottle!

(I must admit that it makes the Veloforma look mighty fine though - as if that thing needed to look any more gorgeous, FFS...)

Nice touch in the first photo, by the way, with the shiny bike in the background, gleaming spokes and all. Cool pic.

Sharp eye. Love how it looks in Cobble Crushing Mode. Can't wait for next Spring!
frank says:

May 27 2014 at 9:41 am

@VeloVita

Thanks for the write up - I'd heard of the stuff, but not heard from anyone who had actually used it. Unscented baby wipes are my go to for a post ride quick clean, with a full wash followed by an application of Eagle One Nanowax the more involved cleaning scenario. I'll have to give the Bike Lust a try.

Does that leave any residue? The great thing about this stuff is you can put it on everything without worry.

@David B, @Steve-o

I've not bought a Pledge product ever since seeing an episode of Antiques Road Show where the prunish guy said, "This dresser is worth $5,600 but you ruined it by spraying lemon Pledge on it." The facial expressions were priceless.
Rhodri says:

May 27 2014 at 10:27 am

@frank

@Rhodri

When I've used polish I've tended to spray it onto a clean rag then use that on the bike. Always been a bit paranoid about braking surfaces.

Good point, I have sprayed it on the brake surface with abandon and the first stop is a hair-raiser although after that its gone and everything works as intended.

Eek. I'm from a more mountain bikey background and people won't even touch disk rotors for fear of getting something on them. If nothing else they squeal horribly. But that said I was never as careful with rim brakes and never noticed.

Come to think of it the disks on my cx-but-used-as-a-winter-road-bike seem far more prone to it with all the crap off the roads rather than the lovely cleansing exfoliating mud of off-road.
wiscot says:

May 27 2014 at 10:40 am

I use a commercial silicone polish (we had a million cans at work and were looking for a new home for some) and it works great. I do spray on a clean cloth first though.

I'd feel ashamed to ride a bike that was filthy and not working properly. I ride mostly by myself and if I ever went out with a filthy bike, that would be the ride that you meet up with other riders. They would take one look at the shit-encrusted bike and make scornful judgements. Considering I have Velominati decals on bikes 1-5, a filthy bike is not permissable. The only exception is if you AND the bike are covered in shite. That means you've been Rule 5-ing.
wiscot says:

May 27 2014 at 10:44 am

@frank

@VeloVita

Thanks for the write up - I'd heard of the stuff, but not heard from anyone who had actually used it. Unscented baby wipes are my go to for a post ride quick clean, with a full wash followed by an application of Eagle One Nanowax the more involved cleaning scenario. I'll have to give the Bike Lust a try.

Does that leave any residue? The great thing about this stuff is you can put it on everything without worry.

@David B, @Steve-o

I've not bought a Pledge product ever since seeing an episode of Antiques Road Show where the prunish guy said, "This dresser is worth $5,600 but you ruined it by spraying lemon Pledge on it." The facial expressions were priceless.

I remember an episode (I think it actually was in Seattle) and this snob had brought a lovely dresser into the venue to show off. He snootily declared that he had paid someone - a student I think - a couple of hundred bucks to "take off the ugly finish/color." That couple of hundred $$ cost him about $50k in value as it was the original patina/finish. The facial expression was indeed priceless . . .