FR/EN

Free Bicycle Cleaning (and other) Supplies

The title of this page is a bit misleading, but true. There are many things around the house that you can re-use as "free" (you already have them) bicycle cleaning (and other) supplies before (or instead of) ending up in the landfill anyway.



old toothbrushes Old toothbrushes When a toothbrush has come to the end of its useful life cleaning teeth, it is still great as a small bicycle cleaning brush for caked-on mud in hard-to-reach places, or to clean small gears, jockey wheels, chainrings prior to cleaning a chain.
old gardening gloves Old gardening gloves Great for any jobs where you don't want your hands dirty but do not need precise hand movement (ex: bicycle tire changes at home), and/or to protect your knuckles when using regular tire levers.
old gardening gloves Thick resealable bags of proper size for saddle bags Great for storing sanitizing wipes, bandages, sunscreen sample packets, etc (preferably each in their own separate bags due to possible leakage) inside a saddle bag. The bag has to be thicker than your usual resealable sandwich bag, and ideally small enough to fit inside a saddle bag in a way that does not perpendicularly fold the seal of the bag (potentially breaking the seal).
rags Old clothes to use as rags I donate clothes if they can still be of use to someone, but if the article of clothing has holes, then it becomes a rag. I go through many rags when cleaning chains, and for initial wiping of my hands or bike parts when working with bearing grease, anti-seize compound or other greasy stuff.
WARNING: be careful with oily rags. when piled together they can be in a scenario where the evaporates (as a result of oxidation) of such products are stuck between rags and pressure builds up resulting in smoldering and/or spontaneous combustion in the proper conditions. I usually leave them in a bucket filled with water and/or discarded "bio degreaser" (NOT the petroleum distilate kind; that would be much worse) until garbage day.
glass jars Glass jars I keep glass jars to put bicycle degreaser in for dipping chain cleaning brushes/intruments in (ideally find one like the big salsa jar the left that is just wide enough (and the width of the mouth matches the width of the jar, as opposed to the pickle jar in the picture (where the brush currently sat when I took the pic)) for my brush but also not too wide a jar so that I don't have to use as much degreaser to dip all the bristles).
I also use glass jars to safely keep chemicals I need to discard later at my local waste management site.
mailing bag Plastic Courrier / Mailing bags USE 1: The contents of your saddle bag will be exposed to vibration. Some items may rub against each other, resulting in damage over time. To mitigate this, you can wrap most of your saddle bag contents individually in multiple layers of those light gray strong courrier/mailing bags.
USE 2: Use courrier bags to protect parts from being splashed/sprayed, etc. (another good example would be to spread a large piece of courrier bag all below a bike stand to collect the drippings of chain cleaning).
USE 3: (see freewheel cleaning station idea below)
freewheel cleaner Conical-shaped plastic as freewheel cleaner This is more advanced (and highly specific), as I was looking for a way for me to clean a bicycle freewheel with a long-bristled brush and some degreaser without the freewheel resting directly on the cleaning surface (I did not want degreaser to get to the freewheel bearings). Any cone-shaped device (ex: a funnel) would've probably done the trick but not only did this seem to do the job perfectly, but it's one less thing in the recycle bin (technically some cities cannot yet recycle the specific plastic from caps and parts like these, so I saved this (and 1-2 spares) from the landfill I guess...)
Anyway, this, combined with a plastic courrier/mailing bag, provides a perfect way to clean a freewheel (after removing it from the wheel using a freewheel remover of course... told you this was a bit more advanced).
Desiccant Desiccant packs Depending on riding conditions, and unless your saddle bag has waterproof zippers, the contents of your saddle bag could be exposed to humidity. I throw a desiccant pack in there.

NOTE: I keep the desiccant packs in a sealed container until I need to use them.
chain hook using part of a binder clip Binder clip You can use part of a binder clip to bend into a chain hook (used to hold a chain to ease installation or removal of a master link). A paper clip is not strong enough, hence the clip part.
Jar lid Jar lid (preferably a shallow one) Use a jar lid to hold new or used ball bearings. Any jar lid can temporarily hold dirty used ball bearings. Some jar lids are shallow and have a circular seal "track" inside which makes it great to stage the correct number of new loose ball bearings before servicing hubs and older bottom brackets.
Old clothes Use old clothes when servicing bikes (or painting) Servicing bikes will involve brushing, chain cleaners, oil/grease, degreasers. You can use an old apron, but if you have an old long-sleeved shirt along with old gloves, old pants and cheap foam kneepads you will be somewhat protected from any splashes, and also be able to hold tire/wheels in better positions for leverage (ex: when inserting or removing a tire with a tire lever) without ruining your regular clothes.