year round use cleaning tips

[Mudshark]

so, as a new bike may be in the offing, and inspired by the vulcanet wipe thread...
for those of us who have a manky bike, as it's transport and not a sunny Sunday plaything; any advice on keeping it from being too manky?... hose down wth the jet wash every night, ACF50 in November and leave cleaning until May..
How to keep all the crud out of the front calipers... strip once a month?
don't bother trying and buy a new one every 3 years?

answers on a postcard...

[M.C]

Jet washes aren't recommenced for bikes. I occasionally go over mine with a rag and some sort of cleaning product I stole from work. Couple of ACF50 treatments over winter.

[Beehive Bedlam]

Stripped and cleaned the pussy magnets calipers along with replacing the pads. Cleaned and ACF50'd the fuck out of everything else 28th September last year.

Not touched it since and it has been ridden every day between that will be about 9000miles it will receive the next bucket of soapy water (fairy liquid) and ACF50'ing in the next couple of weeks when the front pads need replacing again.

[kgm]

I've never been brave enough to leave it without cleaning. Mine get done once a week and generally survive well.

However because I alternate between 125 and 650 it means they're sitting unused for a few days. I think this is what does the damage. If you're using it every day I think it's OK to leave it but if it's going to be sitting a few days give it a clean. ACF50 a couple of times throughout.

[Dave70]

As you may have gathered from the above posts, ACF50 is your best friend when riding a bike throughout the wet season.

I don't clean the bike very often in winter because A) It's hardly worth it, as it'll be covered in crap the next day and B) you'll end up washing the ACF50 off.

Keeping on top of chain cleaning and lubing is a must though. I tend to re-lube it once or twice per week and clean it about every 4-6 weeks. Ideally, I'd clean the chain more often but, not having a nice warm and dry garage makes it much more of a pain.

EDIT : If the gritters have been out and there's loads of salt on the roads, I give it a good hose down to rinse it off.
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There ain't no devil, there's just god when he's drunk.

2012: R125 killed by white van. 2016 R125 killed by 30,000 miles of redline. Current: 2016 Kawasaki ER6f.

[Matt B]

[Mudshark]

cheers folks

[Gards868]

Weekly wash during spring and summer. Autoglym Rapid Aqua wax applied to bodywork and wheels.
It gets clay barred, polished and hard waxed in march,June and November, AFC 50 gets applied in November.
During spring and summer I use Meguiars wash and wax anywhere to remove flies and dust.
Winter I wash it once a fortnight and clean the chain weekly.

[trevoriv]

Had my zx6r for nearly 5 years now, use it year round and never cleaned it. Chain and stuff get lubed once a year when it's serviced. Everything works still, no real rust other than the downpipes but they were like that when I bought it.
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Past: '96 Thundercat, '02 ZX636R (A1P), '58 KTM 690 SM LC4 Current: '06 ZX636R (C6F)
Mudskipper wrote: Someone just has to sig that...

[Kawasaki Jimbo]

I'm not the year-round daily-commuter I once was, but back then I'd give two or three rinses with a watering can after a ride in filthy weather and give the bike a proper wash quite rarely, albeit thoroughly. The bike coped quite well. I made a point of rolling back and forth while prodding the lever to shed water from the brakes before finally parking up (outside).

Although this was perhaps born of laziness (and I like a bike to look used) I have a theory that if you wash every weekend you're washing the greasy road-slime off as well as the corrosive salts. A simple water rinse will remove the salt but leave the greasy stuff, and as that builds up it keeps the salt at bay. Controversial, I know! The bike won't look pretty every Monday morning if that's important to you, but I don't believe it will rot either. Regular rides and chain lubing are key.

[M.C]