Mallory1 Posted September 1, 2013 Share Posted September 1, 2013 Mr Neat & Mr Tidy ..... I used to love those Mr Men characters (in fact, I still do) but I digress...... Just wondered what wee products and tips you all swear by when it comes to cleaning your bikes (I realise from enjoying manys a post on this site that 'clean' and 'my bike' will just sound like blasphemy to some of you ). I have to admit I do enjoy cleaning my bike at the weekend (time permitting) but I was wondering today whether I'm missing out on any effective (energy saving) tricks of the trade?? And no - sending SWMBO out with a cloth isn't an option! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
up.yours Posted September 1, 2013 Share Posted September 1, 2013 power jet. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator DirtyDT Posted September 1, 2013 Moderator Share Posted September 1, 2013 Go wash your mouth out Rain is natures way of washing your bike. Lets face it, we get enough of it! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obriens65 Posted September 1, 2013 Share Posted September 1, 2013 The most energy efficient way of washing your bike is... don't. If the day's nice enough to wash your bike it's nice enough to ride it 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmy Posted September 2, 2013 Share Posted September 2, 2013 Shampoo and water, then Autosol 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dt502001 Posted September 2, 2013 Share Posted September 2, 2013 Do not listen to theees lazy buggers,except jimmy,jet washers push dirt into places you don`t want it so cancel that,for a quick clean soap and watter with a proper wash mitten( I use 2 one for paint and 1 for wheels and tires) followed by a good whipe down with a old towel starting at the clean/ paint parts and down the dirty stuff so you don't scratch/bring dirt backon the paint,this should take no more than 10-15 min For the big clean the spray every oilie part with wd-40 but keep it off the tires/brakes waite about 15 min then get as many different sizes brushes as you can to get into all the different spots and go nuts,then dish soap to knock the wd and dirt off,then dry with towel and compressor air to get all the water off/out from everylast spot followed by a good fresh coat of wax and autosol for the shiney stuff a light coat of wd -40 for the not shiney stuff this can take hours but realy you only need to do this 1 or 2 times a year. Now the hardest part the chain and sprockets a proper chain brush helps alot here and some minneral spirts the front sprocket you will need to remove the cover to get at it and I highly recomend that you do this 3-4 time's a year to get the longest life out of them,fully clean the chain and sprockets of any dirt then oil or wax the chain,if you can remove the chain and soak in warm chain lube hang it and let it drip dry over night that way it won't throw oil all over you tire/bike. i know some say why bother cleaning it it'sonly going to get dirty again and the rain washes most of the dirt off,but cleaning your bike give you the time to look at each part and check it,hell I wash my dirt bike between races so some weekends it might get washed 5 times in one day,it's a HP to weight thing why carry around a extra 10 lbs of dirt to slow the bike down when a quick spray can take it off. The other thing is that it keeps the bike newer looking and who wants to buy a bike that looks like it has never been cleaned//cared for,I like to keep some bike's 10-20 years and when I sell a bike I always get what I want for it no dickering on the price! My 81 gs 1100 I sold for the same price as what I paid for it in 83 in 2001 to the first guy who looked at it, and it needed the seat recovered as the cover had split from age but the rest of the bike looked great.The money I got for the bike paied for 1/3rd of a brand new 01 bandit 1200 that still looks just like new ,,,well almost. Happy cleaning 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
up.yours Posted September 2, 2013 Share Posted September 2, 2013 puff. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewElvisFan Posted September 2, 2013 Share Posted September 2, 2013 Pressure washer - takes 5 mins, then WD40 over it all!. All shit sticks to that and is so easy to pressure wash off. Tcut the tank and polish the exhaust. Then oil the chain. All in all takes 20 mins, leaving loads of time for polishing my helmet!!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dt502001 Posted September 2, 2013 Share Posted September 2, 2013 puff. Your just jellouse cause my bike is so much better than yours,dosen't get stuck in mud and cleaner the chick's dig it sooooo much more than that stinky 2t Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obriens65 Posted September 2, 2013 Share Posted September 2, 2013 Do not listen to theees lazy buggers,except jimmy,jet washers push dirt into places you don`t want it so cancel that,for a quick clean soap and watter with a proper wash mitten( I use 2 one for paint and 1 for wheels and tires) followed by a good whipe down with a old towel starting at the clean/ paint parts and down the dirty stuff so you don't scratch/bring dirt backon the paint,this should take no more than 10-15 min For the big clean the spray every oilie part with wd-40 but keep it off the tires/brakes waite about 15 min then get as many different sizes brushes as you can to get into all the different spots and go nuts,then dish soap to knock the wd and dirt off,then dry with towel and compressor air to get all the water off/out from everylast spot followed by a good fresh coat of wax and autosol for the shiney stuff a light coat of wd -40 for the not shiney stuff this can take hours but realy you only need to do this 1 or 2 times a year. Now the hardest part the chain and sprockets a proper chain brush helps alot here and some minneral spirts the front sprocket you will need to remove the cover to get at it and I highly recomend that you do this 3-4 time's a year to get the longest life out of them,fully clean the chain and sprockets of any dirt then oil or wax the chain,if you can remove the chain and soak in warm chain lube hang it and let it drip dry over night that way it won't throw oil all over you tire/bike. i know some say why bother cleaning it it'sonly going to get dirty again and the rain washes most of the dirt off,but cleaning your bike give you the time to look at each part and check it,hell I wash my dirt bike between races so some weekends it might get washed 5 times in one day,it's a HP to weight thing why carry around a extra 10 lbs of dirt to slow the bike down when a quick spray can take it off. The other thing is that it keeps the bike newer looking and who wants to buy a bike that looks like it has never been cleaned//cared for,I like to keep some bike's 10-20 years and when I sell a bike I always get what I want for it no dickering on the price! My 81 gs 1100 I sold for the same price as what I paid for it in 83 in 2001 to the first guy who looked at it, and it needed the seat recovered as the cover had split from age but the rest of the bike looked great.The money I got for the bike paied for 1/3rd of a brand new 01 bandit 1200 that still looks just like new ,,,well almost. Happy cleaning Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator DirtyDT Posted September 3, 2013 Moderator Share Posted September 3, 2013 Washing a bike is for those people who have covers on their new furniture and tell you to take your shoes off when you are a guest in their home. It is a habit worth breaking, in my opinion. Use the power of rain and if things get really grubby then use your jeans, as you sit on the bike, or the rear of one of your gloves to wipe the excess muck off. The only time you should be cleaning parts of a bike is when you are preparing for painting or about to sell it. A highly polished bike normally goes with low mileage, not always but very frequently. The Japanese didn't spend multi millions of yen developing a quick wipe clean product, they spent it on technology (oh, and on parts destined to fail to keep you in the dealer network). If one of my bikes falls over it just takes some of the dirt off. You need to embrace dirt as natures way of giving your bike an extra layer of protection. It's free and takes no time to accumulate and, to some, proves that the powers that be was a bike lover as he/she gave us such a wonderful gift of free bike protection. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neversaydie Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 Good wash off with cold water from hose pipe, not jet washer. Jet washers can push water/crap through seals and ruin paint While still wet, I spray on Pro-Clean (simialr to Muc-Off) using one of those pump action garden sprayers by Hozelock, specially around the swing arm/under the fenders/in the cooling fins/carbs all those difficult to get at areas Let it soak for a couple of minutes Cold water hose off Cloth dry with old towels etc Compressor on and blow off all water form the fins/swing arm etc Wax and shine all over ACF-50 using a smaller Hozelock sprayer and brush around swingarm/under fenders/vulnerable to corrosion areas/carbs Once a month each bike 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dt502001 Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 Take 2 nuts and bolts and get 1 dirty and spray 1 with acf-50 here we use krown same stuff different name,,leave outside for a few months and see wich one comes appart with easy and one that you have to work at getting appart,thats all the reason I need to keep my bikes clean and protected. Not to mention that if you break down and you need to get it appart with minimal tools like the one that come with the bike you have a 100% better chance of fixing it than some rusty dirty POS with seized nuts and bolts.I work on cars all day and the ones that are clean and coated with rust protection cost less for the customer to have repaired because it takes less time to remove parts,, less broken bolts ect.. same goes with a bike.Most electrical problems are caused buy corroision that could have been prevented by simply coating the connectors with some form of protection So the time you spend cleaning and protecting will save you money and time when you have to repair it,you cant pull a barrel with dirt all around the gaskets and not chance getting any in the motor ! If you work on your bike when it's dirty your a fool!!! just asking for problems.The manufactuers went to alot of trouble to create seal's that keep the dirt out of moving parts opening up these part when dirty is just plane stupid your going to end up with dirt where it dosen't belong and have parts fail because of it.And end up doing more work. If spending/waisting your time with rusty seized bolts is your idea of fun then let it rot away.I get such a warm fuzzy feeling when a vehicle is as dirty as a port a potty at 3am after a drunk fest,I just sooo want to fix it NOT Bottom line wether you fix your bike yourself or you pay others to fix it for you,,, time and money wil be saved in the long run by simply washing and adding the easy to apply protection and when it break's your going to have to clean it anyway,so clean a little every now and then quickly or spend alot of time trying to get years of dirt off only to find a rust hole in your frame ect... that was hidded under dirt. My bike's get serviced to the piont of over kill,but you will never hear me complaing that I have broken a part trying to get it off or can't get someting apart both are 01's and can be taken appart as if they were new.Over the many years I have been turning wrenches for a liveing I have devised many a different way to get other peoples crap appart,so I know it's simpler to just keep it clean/lubed for my own crap. I do it for a living and when I have to fix my stuff I want it to go as easly as possible. And trust me I do charge more for working on dirty bikes ALOT more.They are like dirty girls fun to ride but you realy don't want your friends/co workers/family knowing about it. Now the rain is stoping and I''m on hollidays I think I will take my clean, well looked after bike out for a ride and listen for the sound of rust forming on the other types of bikes LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator DirtyDT Posted September 3, 2013 Moderator Share Posted September 3, 2013 Ah come on DT, look at my name. Why carry a toolbox? All that is needed is a big, or bigger, hammer and some recovery to get you home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dt502001 Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 Ah come on DT, look at my name. Why carry a toolbox? All that is needed is a big, or bigger, hammer and some recovery to get you home. You wouldn't want to waite for recovery here might be days before they find you depending on where you are IT"S A BIG COUNTRY with lots of back roads 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator DirtyDT Posted September 3, 2013 Moderator Share Posted September 3, 2013 You wouldn't want to waite for recovery here might be days before they find you depending on where you are IT"S A BIG COUNTRY with lots of back roads Very true. Easy to forget that in the UK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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