There's a car wash down the road from my place and whenever I go out for a long ride and my bikes all muddied up then I just go to the carwash and have it cleaned up it cost really cheap at $1.
I love to wash my own bike using water and powder soap and metal polish after that, and I'm doing this just once a month, I'm not frequently use my bike because of lack of time.
This thread is really helpful. It seems like the better way to clean or wash a bike is to use air compressor so to protect it from rusting and other residues left by just washing it with water or other types of liquid soap.
Well I brush off the mad with a strong brush if there's any and I just use a wet towel to wipe off the remaining dirt. I then use a second towel to dry it up before I hang my bike