I know you are all busy with your lives..but I am really struggling with the maintenance side of biking...and I need to be shown how to do certain things...especially how to clean my bike properly..I do wash her regulary..but she needs a deep down thorough clean...
Could anyone living fairly local spare some hours and help PLEASE!
Sorry too far away and if you ever saw my bike I'm no advert for bike cleaning lol, two good branded cleaners are "Gunk" that is a brush on degreaser that really works, and then a brand that's come allong in more recent years id "Muck Off" more a general cleaner, cleaning things like wheels I tend to use a good quality dish brush and a strong solution of washing up liquid, paint I used a good quality chammy leather for washing and if a polish is needed a pair of lambs wool polishing bonnets (the type you use on a drill) wax on wax off lol
I'll be going down that route again once I've put right all the wrongs I've allowed to happen to my bike scince I've owned her.
Personal preference here really, but I for one don't touch washing up liquid for washing the bikes. It contains salt and as we all know salt and motorbikes don't mix.
What I do BC is the following;
Firstly, wash regularly. A little often is a good way of keeping your bike in good nick. People are often surprised to find that my bike, just over two years old, has well over 30k on the clock and I think a lot of that is to do with the regular cleaning.
Rinse the bike down. Hose pipe set to jet or a low powered jet wash are best. Get in to all the nooks and crannies around and under the engine. Don't use a high powered jet wash and be careful around wheel bearings, swingarm bushes etc.
Next squirt all over with "Muck Off" or similar. Be careful with these products. I recently tried "Fuchs Off" and although I found it cleaned better than "Muck Off" after only ten minutes or so it had stained the screen (the first area I squirted). Luckily it has cleaned up since.
Leave for a few minutes and then jet wash off. Give it a good rinse.
Wash all over with a mild detergent solution. Use a good quality car shampoo. I use Autoglym. It ain't cheap, but a large tub goes a very long way and it is very good. Use a clean large sponge rinsing the sponge regularly in the bucket to make sure there are no bits of grit or similar. The professionals use a "two bucket" technique which is one bucket with the detergent solution and a second bucket of clean water for rinsing the sponge. I think this is excessive for at home, but if you want to do it, it does reduce the risk of scratches.
Rinse off again. Again really thoroughly. I use the jet wash again, but from further away (or at a lower power setting if you've a posh jet wash).
Dry the bodywork, casings, exhausts etc with a good quality micro-fibre drying cloth. Again, these aren't cheap but are far, far better than an old fashioned chamois. Far less chance of scratches and absorb water like nowt you've ever seen.
Whilst doing this start and run the engine. As the engine gets hot it'll dry all the crevices around the engine and the radiator itself. This eliminates water marks caused by taking a nice clean bike for a ride and having water spitting out from the engine all down your nice clean polished bodywork and so forth.
Once the engine is dry, allow it to cool down and then quickly dry off any excess condensation off the tank etc before polishing.
You'll find that the drying cloth does a pretty good job of polishing the bike anyway, but every now and then (about three months for me) put a coat of polish on the bodywork. I don't like wax polishes as the wax platelets can cause fine scratches. This is what tends to cause the circular hazy scratches and dulling of paintwork that you see. I use Autoglym Resin polish. Very good stuff. Put it on sparingly in circular motions and then once dried to a haze polish off with a micro-fibre polishing cloth.
Sometimes to get a thicker coating I put a second layer of polish on. Wait for the first to dry to a haze and then put a second coat over the top (in reality they bond to become one thicker layer). Wait for this to dry and then polish off.
To finish you may want to spray the engine and aluminium areas with an after-wash treatment such as Moto Xtreem or similar. This will help keep corrosion away. I ride a Honda which I wash regularly so don't bother lol!! (Although saying that my mirror mounts have developed psoriasis!)
Finally, lube the chain.
One last thing. If your bike has a full fairing it is worth removing it a couple of times a year (or more depending on how many miles you do/riding over winter etc) and wash the bike with the bodywork removed. You'll be amazed how mucky an otherwise clean bike is behind fairing panels.
Geoff that was very thorough THANK YOU! I do wash her twice a week or more and I do dry her down and run the engine but going into finer detail helps lots thanks very much!
Hope other new riders have took note on how to clean your bike PROPERLY...and I love Autoglym but have never thought about using it on the bike....bet they have their own bike products dont they Geoff?
Jaysus Geoff , it took me longer to read this than clean my bike ! 1 bucket soapy water -then- 1 bucket clean water thats my method , unless the wife's in the mood...only joking lol
I give my Pan a good deep clean and a wax every two or so weeks. I also use ACF 50 on the front forks and exhaust to stop the road s**t from sticking to the chrome. for and intermediate wash to get rince of road film after a heavy rain mid week i use a pressurised plant sprayer filled with diluted car detergent and hot water to rinse down the bike. the wax and ACF50 i put on during the deep clean do most of the work. once i have plant sprayed i refill the plant sprayer with clean water and hose her down.
Hi Rose,
you need to get yourself to squires next month for the friendlies "maintainance day"fundraiser.For a mere fiver...yes only a fiver...an expert will show you all you need to know about basic bike maintainance and security.A bargain in anyones book and fun to boot
A friend posted his cleaning regime a couple of weeks ago on another forum, it goes like this:
For a general clean I just rinse mine with running water wash with car shampoo (Meguirs) or anything you fancy then dry off. For a bit more detail I wax and polish any shiny bits and black trim.For the major clean about once every 8 weeks I de-grease wheels strip off fairing, hugger, front mudguard and get all the hard to reach areas done even remove back wheel if it needs.Then usually do the chain degrease and re-oil. For any metal autosol should be ok or any other metal polish just read the instructions.Oh and for the winter and wet months apply loads of FS365 it supposed to prevent corrosion and water penetration.
I'd say removing the rear wheel is probably beyond most of us girlies though!!
Tim is right.. Haynes Manual or Owners Manuals are the best thing, but if you are over awed by a job, someone will always help you out, but the best way to learn is to do it y'self but if you're not sure about something, dont attempt it until you are!
Is that you or the bike Julie?
Being brought up on British Iron and then a spell of Harley ownership brought home the value of regular washing of bikes. In those days it was the chance to spot what had fallen off, what was about to fall off and the bits that were just a little wobbly looking. It's a good habit to get into, if I end up chucking a bike down the road I'd rather do it from trying too hard than because something (other than me) had fallen off.
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