Washing Your Bike

Message

Henriettaah · Tue Oct 18, 2005 11:37 am

The most frequent compliment made on the LC is over how mint/clean/newer-than-it-is it looks.

I put this down to the new/redone engine (mostly - although everything else is clean, no muck or grease dirtying it up).

How do I keep it in this condition once I start riding it out in the weather?

Simply by taking a sponge and bucket of warm soapy (washing up liquid? car wax shampoo? Special bike shampoo, if there is such a thing?) water, and wash all visible muck and dirt away? Sloshing suds off with a good slosh of the hosepipe? Then polishing up and chromed/shiny bits?

All right, so they are designed to be ridden in the rain - am I just being a bit over-anxious about slopping water/soapy water where it shouldn't go in the engine? (I've never had my car engine jetwashed for fear of the same thing.)

Is there anything I should be wary of when sloshing soapy suds over me old bike

e.g brakes, carb, etc. Also, is there anything which particularly needs re-greasing/oiling/attended to after a wash?

shane-o · #2 Unread post by **shane-o** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 2:09 pm

i wash my bike with same stuff stuff i wash the cars with, use the same polish too if it needs it ( on surfaces that I dont sit on, ie; tank, fareing).

couple of things (im sure others will have more)

* dont use anything slippery on the seat, pegs or controlls (ie, Armoural or any other high gloss, shiney cleaning products)

* be very carefull braking after washing (test the brakes a few times)

* Dont use anything shiney on the tyres (ie, tyre black/paint)

* try not to spray a lot of H2o up the pipes, into carbs, or getting filter wet.

And you should always make sure your chain is well lubed, cause trust me, throwing a chain is not a good idea at speed. I lube my chain alot more often if im wet riding alot or after washing....yes you can buy chain lube that doesnt throw off all over ya nice clean bike.

Stay Safe

slider03 · #3 Unread post by **slider03** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 2:46 pm

I use a Mr. Clean Car Care Kit. It's a handy and quick hose attachment with spray, soap and filtered rinse, and has a brush for cleaning spokes.

High_Side · #4 Unread post by **High_Side** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 2:49 pm

I use $3 at the commercial carwash. If I time it right I'll even take a coat of bugs off of my jacket and boots

Wizzard · #5 Unread post by **Wizzard** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 3:12 pm

slider03 wrote:I use a Mr. Clean Car Care Kit. It's a handy and quick hose attachment with spray, soap and filtered rinse, and has a brush for cleaning spokes.

We use this too and this is really a great system . Altho ours didn't come with the brush .
And we use some high dollar polishes . Gotz to keep the scoots super clean . Now if only I would take care of my car as well............

Regards, Wizzard

Mag7C · #6 Unread post by **Mag7C** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 3:31 pm

I don't even bother washing it with soap. Each ride covers everything in a nice layer of dust anyway, so my washing sessions consist of blasting the bugs and thick grime spots with a hose, towel drying as much as possible, then ride-drying the rest.

#7 Unread post by **ZooTech** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 3:32 pm

Coin wash for the thick stuff, then a full-body massage with some Dri-Wash 'N' Guard.

#8 Unread post by **Sev** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 3:50 pm

Hose it down with cold water, then I'll give it a quick rub down with a soft cloth dunked in warm water (for my hands) with basic dish soap. I'll scrub in and around the chain and anywhere else there's splattered with chain gease, but I always do that last. Rinse with water. After that I've got a regular old shammy and some golds wax. Depending on how long I've got, and how willing I am to do it I'll put on upwards of 5 coats, but my bike has really soft paint for some reason.

Anyways, powerwash is not really good for a bike because of so many different places the water can potentially work it's way into electical systems and the like.

My bike has a minimum of paints on it, so waxing goes really fast, less then 4 minutes from application to complete removal. And it looks REALLY nice, very shiny.

No chrome, but there's some stainless steel, so if I'm bored I'll polish it a little bit. But I don't usually even feel the need to do that.

sapaul · #9 Unread post by **sapaul** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 9:13 pm

Back to the "MR MIN" thing again. After a good wash with soap and water and a good rinse. Dried with a chammy. Then a polish with MR MIN. Plastic, leather, synthetics, this stuff does it all.

Vit0r · #10 Unread post by **Vit0r** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 8:41 am

I don't know about all this soapy talk. I was always taught that whenever you clean your vehicle, car, motorcycle, etc. that you never use soap because in the long run that'd what's going to cause your body to rust.