Cleaning your pride and joy

[Cleveland]

What the best way to clean your bike? I'm not to keen on the idea of jet washing it so just use water and a spray cleaner/polisher.

What products are best?

[johnsmith222]

The best "product" ever has to be paraffin. Wet the bike, spray on paraffin. wipe all over with cloth it'll look like the bike is getting dirtier". Hose it down and all the dirt dissapears.

Mr Sheen is pretty good for polishing the bike afterwords.

The worst/biggest waste of money is muck off.

[mysterious_rider]

autoglym polish is pretty good too for getting that awesome shine.

[andyscooter]

[Dean-J]

Personally i used to be into detailing my cars, so i have a good collection of quality products to use up!

My current method is:

Wet bike
Muc off the really dirty areas (shock/undertray/wheels)
Rinse
wash with Meguires Gold Class shampoo
rinse
Dry with 100% Microfibre waffle towel
Polish with AutoGlym Super resin Polish
Wax with Poorboys Purple Haze hard wax
Apply FS365 anti corrosive to bolts/nuts/anywhere that gets covered n a lot of crud etc

Done!

sounds like a lot of effort, but the anti corrosive makes the actual washing of the bike really quick and easy

[iMark]

I tried the jet wash at the local garage... did not do anything, it looked ok when it was wet, but when it dried all the muck just appeared again...


as said before, Paraffin, that reaaaaally gets rid of all the crap, i can actually see my rims again, I got a big bottle (must be 3-4ltrs) for about £7 from my local DIY store
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K8 GSXR 1000
"G" : you got him to have a look at a forum which seems to have established a picture of an erect penis in a cat's mouth as it's mascot and thought he might consider it ok?

[iooi]

[fozzym]

whats the best thing for getting oil and lube off the back wheel, swingarm, chain ect ??

[Dazbo666]

...also wondering if the paraffin would have any detrimental effect if it gets sprayed/dripped on to the tyres??
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1st bike (Sept'06 - May'10) : 1991 GPZ500S / Current bike (since Nov 2009) : 2003 Suzuki Bandit 600N
Word of the day : DILLIGAF

[dsb79]

[pits]

Put bike up on front and rear paddocks outside
Spray with water based degreaser and allow to soak in
I then pressure wash the fairings, and everything that doesn't have bearings near it, also pressure wash inside of the fairings.

Then I soak in a cleaner
Then I wash with lambs wool wash mitt
Then I pressure wash off again
Then I dry
Then I clay
Then I wax and do any plastic trim etc
Drop off stands go out and ride

Takes no longer than 30 minutes really, if it is clean it is easier to keep on top of, so less time spent washing it.

That said after todays ride it will be a seriously deep clean.
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[pinkyfloyd]

Clean it?

Nope.

ride it?

Oh yes!

I have reached that impasse. If I clean it I am scared it will fall to bits.
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[DrDonnyBrago]

I wait until it rains on my way to work.


That's close enough to cleaning .

[Dazbo666]

[Sako]

i'm quite particulair about my cleaning regime to be honest.

1. cold water rinse
2. snow foam (leave for 10 mins or so)
3. then any of the more grubby area's gets the Sdoc treatment
4. wheels get wheel cleaner on / agitate with brush
5 warm water rinse
6. any oil/tar gets easily removed with a baby wipe if the other treatments didn't move them
7. chamois dry
8. polish using my favorite poorboys wax.
9. sit back, smoke and admire before putting back in garage

[mossi123uk]

im lazy

i just jet wash then dry it with old towels to try get as much crap off that i can

[L4Isoside]

1)Jet wash rinse
2)Snow foam
3)Rinse off
4)Hand wash (using two buckets)
5)Rinse again
6)Hand dry with microfiber cloth's/towels
7)Use this polish/wax cream mix thing I have, apply then buff off, giving a nice shiny finish!
8)Wipe mirrored surfaces etc down with window cleaner e.g. mirrors or windows if it was the car

Then apply chain lube, 3in1 in areas required e.g. ignition barrel and moving parts.

Thats a decent wash, if I wanted a quick one then a going over with snow foam if its not too dirty and I have time to kill.

Usually my cars/bikes only get washed when A) I'm hung over and B) Its warm and sunny . Find it a great way to freshen up and forget about feeling a bit rubbish from the heavy night before!

[devojunior]

[iMark]

[Mrjoolz]

I'm having trouble cleaning up front wheel. Tried white spirit and a little brake cleaner to get off the salt, oil and probably crap from brake pads, but to no avail.

Any thoughts on what else may remove the Sh1t from the front wheel.

ta
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Previous Bikes: TZR125, KMX125, RGV250, RD350YPVS, GXSR750H, GSXR600SRAD, R1 (2000), GSXR1000 (K1), ZZR600, CBR1100XX Super Blackbird

Current Bike: Suzuki GSX1300R Hyabusa.....

[iMark]

[fatjames]

I find it hard to clean the front wheel too. There seems very little space to get to the wheel with the disks in the way.
I've just bought a long wheel brush that bends, I'll try that once the sun comes out again!

FJ

[Shinigami]

wd40 will take the muck reet off dead easy but isn't particularly cheap and may cause other issues so i hear? just used it with a rag on my wheels and for the first time since i've owned the bike i can see the shiny rims! Gonna pick up some parafin this week and give her a full clean down this weekend while i'm replacing my chain + sprockets.

[TUG]

Ride in rain, done!
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Haz ER-5, innit!

[Shinigami]