Well now... I've had my bike for a couple weeks, and already almost have 300 miles put on it. Would've been more, but the boss forced me into a company fishing trip.
Anyways, the bike is collecting some grime that i'd like to take care of...
First - The average, every day, ordinary finger prints. My kids had their hands all over the bike. I thought about chopping off their hands as punishment, but the wife reminded me of the consequences. Go figure. So, will any old cleaner work? Windex maybe? Are there any cleaners that I should definitely stay AWAY from?
Second - This gets a little tougher. While I was giving rides to the kids, eventually, at some point their shoes would end up touching the hot exhaust pipes..... leaving behind what looks like some sort of melted plastic. Looks like a darn bird pooped on the pipes. How can I get this off without scratching the chrome? Also... has anyone ever had this happen before, or is it just my terrible luck with a brand spanking new bike?
I use dish detergent in warm water. Spray the bike down with a hose (I use my thumb to create high pressure), soap it up then rub it down with a clean rag. Spray the soap off and dry with a shammy.
I use mcguiler's gold class car wax on the plastics afterwards.
As for stuff burned to the exhaust, there are all kinds of "solutions," I prefer to just take metal polish (blu magic is my choice) and a clean rag again and just go at it. Over and over and over, it takes a long time, and a lot of elbow grease (this will be on the shelf next to the headlight fluid). I've head of superfine steel wool working on that. A razorblade carefully applied, or a plastic scraper also work. But you've got to be careful about it.
tell the rugrats to keep their feet on the pegs next time! haha.
Of course I'm generalizing from a single example here, but everyone does that. At least I do.
I use the regular car wash...matter of fact, on my shelf I found like 3 different soaps, 5 different waxes, and 3 different tire/wheel cleaners/spray and a random thing of HD chrome polish (where the hell did that come from??)
I don't really recommend spraying much, if any wheel shine, makes for interesting times riding if you get that slick stuff on the tread. You'll most likely find its effects in a turn
For chrome, I'd just try some chrome polish. maybe smething like a adhesive remover if it doesn't scar up the chrome, or heck, even a brand new razor blade if you can CAREFULLY scrape the stuff off without scratching things up. But whatever, just things I might try if those blemishes bother me enough.
If you're not sure of a product, don't use it unti you test it on someone elses vehicle
I have a can of Pro Honda Spray cleaner polish that I swear by for in-between wash cleaning. I also use it before I wash my bike to clean off my swing arm and rims. I have a chain, and I get some amount of chain oil on my rims and swing arm, and I have found nothing that removes that oil and brake dust as well and acts as an all-purpose cleaner at the same time. I also use it to keep my gas tank looking pretty, clean my windshield, clean my seat, and keep the bright parts look bright.
As far as actual washing goes, I just did my couple of times a year formal wash. Maybe once every couple months I get out a bucket, add some dish soap, put in some water, and throw in a wash cloth. I bought a couple of dish washing do-dads for getting into some smaller areas - one is a bottle washer, and another is a scrub brush for getting bugs of the front parts of the bike. I spray the whole bike down with a garden hose with the a medium spray setting on my spray nozzle, and soap it down a section at at time. First the front top and spray. Next the middle top, and spray, and so on. I do the wheels and the bottom last since they are the most dirty, greasy and likely need the least soap, since in my case it is all painted and non-shiney bits. I keep the whole bike wet while I'm doing each section to avoid water spots, so with each rinse I spray the whole bike again. Finally I dry the whole bike with a big towel, again top to bottom so any dirt won't be collected on the towel until near the end of the drying process. Then I take it for about a 20 minute drying ride, which should eliminate any extra water.
So that is my theory on the right way to care for a regularly used bike.
* 2003 Kawasaki ZRX1200R *
"What good fortune for those of us in power that people do not think. " Hitler - think about that one for a minute.
Avoiding the radiator, what are the downsides to a power spray with soap and rinse only? I wouldn't need the pressure the commercial sprayers have so stepping back to reduce the pressure would still get plently of the normal dirt off.
What about cleaning what look like over a over heated area (colored from black to blueish)?
Now I wash by hand and use generic windex on bug area's only. Does nothing for the pipes except dirt, which may be fine if the pipes burn area has no functional issues (like a future home of a crack). Or do many bikes get this type of burn looking mark? It just a couple inches past the flange mounting point of the pipe.
Thanks for any ideas on the pipes and proper use of commercial spray cleaners.
If I recall, I believe my wife has some sort of plastic scraper that she uses on her teflon cooking stuff. It seems to be fairly soft, so I'll definitely give that a try. I'll let ya know how that works out.... shortly.
For the rest, I'm pretty sure I should have some sort of basic cleaner around here.
flw wrote:Avoiding the radiator, what are the downsides to a power spray with soap and rinse only? I wouldn't need the pressure the commercial sprayers have so stepping back to reduce the pressure would still get plently of the normal dirt off.
Most bikes shops use a full on pressure wash - water/soap then just high powered water to clean off the bike. So long as you're careful around seals and electrical connections you should be fine.
flw wrote:
What about cleaning what look like over a over heated area (colored from black to blueish)?
That's not overheated, the pipes (depending on the metal) just do that when they get heated at all. Don't worry, just wash it.
flw wrote:
Now I wash by hand and use generic windex on bug area's only. Does nothing for the pipes except dirt, which may be fine if the pipes burn area has no functional issues (like a future home of a crack). Or do many bikes get this type of burn looking mark? It just a couple inches past the flange mounting point of the pipe.
Thanks for any ideas on the pipes and proper use of commercial spray cleaners.
Almost all bikes get it, different colors show up depending on the metal type, but they'll all show it, unless there is a second "wrapper" around it that does not touch (and thus does not transmit heat) the actual pipe. But those are expensive.
Don't worry about blueing of your pipes.
Of course I'm generalizing from a single example here, but everyone does that. At least I do.
If I recall, I believe my wife has some sort of plastic scraper that she uses on her teflon cooking stuff. It seems to be fairly soft, so I'll definitely give that a try. I'll let ya know how that works out.... shortly.
Be careful with those plastic teflon scouring doodads. They're more abrasive than they look (don't ask how I know). It should be OK for chromed metal, but I wouldn't use it on anything that has paint or clearcoat. It will scratch.
K, I tried windex, carb cleaner, wd40... all with little or no effect.
When snooping around, I happen to come across some metal cleaner (can't remember the name off hand), and that did the trick. Still took me over 1.5 hours of pure elbow grease to get it off, but right away I could tell it was doing SOMETHING.
I just hope that the cleaner didn't harm the pipes in anyway, like ruin the strength of the overall finish. Probably did knowing my luck, but the stuff had to come off.... it was SOOOOOO ugly. Stuck out like a soar thumb.
Side question - Can carb cleaner harm the paint finish on other parts?
tell the rugrats to keep their feet on the pegs next time! haha.
