Cleaning your bike - how do you do it?

[knuckledonkey]

So I looked at my bike and DAMN it's dirty.

I have stuff to clean the painted metal and plastic. I also have some stuff for the wheels.

But how does one go about detailing a bike, safely? It's everything from dirt to road tar.

I heard somewhere oven cleaner works. Sounds harsh

I would really like to hear how you do a good, thorough, cleaning.

[Bjorn Toulouse]

Both my Tiger 1050 and my SR500 were put away for the winter in grungy condition. While building an exhaust for the Tiger, I washed and waxed each piece of body work individually as I was reassembling.

With the SR500 I usually strip all of the bodywork and clean the engine, frame and wheels and then do all the chrome bits and then the bodywork while reassembling.

It's work, but then I can concentrate on bug collecting next season!


Rex

[chornbe]

Do not use oven cleaner.

Spray the whole bike down with the hose, taking obvious care not to full-force water into sensitive places. Then spray a fine mist of S100 or other suitable multi-purpose bike cleaner. After a few minutes, dip a wash cloth - soft cotton - into a bucket of warm water and start rubbing. Rinse appropriately. Blow dry with a leaf blower.

Bugs and stuff will come off fine with time to soak and soften up. Road tar may need chemicals, but that's about it.

Don't go crazy with the chemicals, harsh scrubby brushes, nasty sponges, etc. Your hands can get in most of the areas just fine and using a wash cloth lets you do so easily. And they clean up real nice. And are disposable if you whack it with oil, etc.

[Lawn Dart]

Ride in the rain.

[RexRider]

You clean your bike?  

I hose mine down once in a while, giving it a bit of a scrub, but the vast majority of the time I use a good spray cleaner/polish like Plexus, or the Honda stuff.  Clean up the wheels and bodywork, give the chain a scrub and re-lube, check the tire pressures and oil level, and go for a ride.  

[highside]

I use Meguiars quick detail spray. Works great, and gets just about everything clean and shiny.

[MK96xj]

I use orange clean on the wheels and the calipers. Also use on teh engine when the fairings are off. 1-2x per year.

Regular car suds for all other parts. Spray wax after.

[knuckledonkey]

Ride in the rain.

That's how it got dirty in the first place.

What about the hard stuff? I have what appears to be road tar stuck to my swingarm.

[bahwolf]

What about the hard stuff? I have what appears to be road tar stuck to my swingarm.

WD-40.

[MK96xj]

S100 is some pretty damn good stuff and if you let it sit its recommended time i am sure it will come off.

I'd say use something plastic to scrap at it after soaking with a cleaner but if you scratch it you would be cursing me out

[Zen Rider]

I usually just sell them when they get dirty.  

[M.Brane]

 1. Soak with Simple Green.

 2. Scrub heavy stuff with stiff natural bristle brush.

 3. Rinse

 4. Wipe/blow dry

 5. Wipe down with Pledge-soaked 100% cotton terry towel.

 6. Ride

[Lawn Dart]

That's how it got dirty in the first place.

What about the hard stuff? I have what appears to be road tar stuck to my swingarm.

Sorry, I ride a GS.  That's just called Character.

 

[dakmatik]

simple green is about the best I've found that is readily available, can clean grunge off of the bike and not making you want to pass out

[Rhythm]

Do not use oven cleaner.

Spray the whole bike down with the hose, taking obvious care not to full-force water into sensitive places. Then spray a fine mist of S100 or other suitable multi-purpose bike cleaner. After a few minutes, dip a wash cloth - soft cotton - into a bucket of warm water and start rubbing. Rinse appropriately. Blow dry with a leaf blower.

Bugs and stuff will come off fine with time to soak and soften up. Road tar may need chemicals, but that's about it.

Don't go crazy with the chemicals, harsh scrubby brushes, nasty sponges, etc. Your hands can get in most of the areas just fine and using a wash cloth lets you do so easily. And they clean up real nice. And are disposable if you whack it with oil, etc.

+2

Just want to echo again on what CP said about "not to full-force water into sensitive places''. This statement really applies too after you've been riding on salt covered roads. Bearing hate salts (chain,wheel bearing etc.).

Also, only use simple green on non clear coated metal surfaces and never on painted surfaces if want to prolong the factory shine. Personally and I always recommend adding three caps of Murphy oil soap to a bucket of warm water, preferrably soften or distilled. Using soften or distilled water will leave minium water spots when washing and rinsing with cold water. Once you dip your hand into the bucket of water and Murphy Oil soap and feel how smooth and slippery it feels you'll understand what I'm talking about. This solution will help loosen the dirt on the surface when washing and help keep dirt from collecting in you wash cloth or wash mit to avoid micro surface scratching your paint (wet sanding).

One more trick, if you have an air hose (compressor) blow out your radiator fins from behind your front wheel to remove the water that has collected in the spaces or the wind will blow it out for you when you go for a ride only to splatter up your nicely detail bike with water and collected road dust.


Have a nice day  

[traveler]

Ride to local carwash with cleaning stuff

Let cool down

While cooling, spray wheels, SSS, etc... with Simple Green

Wash using low pressure

Apply more Simple Green or WD-40 as req'd

Wash again using low pressure

Rinse using low pressure

Dry

Clean chain with WD-40

Ride home, wind helps drying process

Apply chain lube while chain is warm

Clean/polish again using Honda spray cleaner/polish and Plexus

Polish/wax as needed, using Meguires products

Drink beer, admire the beauty of VFR

Smoke cig, fall asleep

[ninjadad66]

S-100 for sure

Spray on bike and wheels and let it stand for 5 to 10 minutes, hose off, dry and ride  

For the windscreen, spray on S-100, and lay a wet towel across it. Within a few minutes the bugs and crap will come off without scratching the screen.

[Yankee Dog]

1st of all I like a clean bike, but I dont get obsessive about it.  Normal cleaning consist of wiping the shiny plastics with glass cleaner, Simple Green on the metal parts and Armor All on the rough black plastic and rubber (not the seat, tires or grips).  About once a year I break out the soap and water.  About twice a year I wax it.  

Yankee Dog

[Windblown]

1st of all I like a clean bike, but I dont get obsessive about it.  Normal cleaning consist of wiping the shiny plastics with glass cleaner, Simple Green on the metal parts and Armor All on the rough black plastic and rubber (not the seat, tires or grips).  About once a year I break out the soap and water.  About twice a year I wax it.  

Yankee Dog

Be careful with Simple Green. It can react with aluminum.  From the "Simple Green" website:

Aluminum - Is it safe to use Simple Green on aluminum?
Simple Green products have been successfully and safely used on aircraft, automotive, industrial and consumer aluminum items for over 20 years. However, caution and common sense must be used: Aluminum is a soft metal that easily corrodes with unprotected exposure to water. The aqueous-base and alkalinity of Simple Green or Crystal Simple Green can accelerate the corrosion process. Therefore, contact times of All-Purpose Simple Green and Crystal Simple Green with unprotected or unpainted aluminum surfaces should be kept as brief as the job will allow - never for more than 10 minutes. Large cleaning jobs should be conducted in smaller-area stages to achieve lower contact time. Rinsing after cleaning should always be extremely thorough - paying special attention to flush out cracks and crevices to remove all Simple Green/Crystal Simple Green residues. Unfinished, uncoated or unpainted aluminum cleaned with Simple Green products should receive some sort of protectant after cleaning to prevent oxidation.

[bomber]

auto bug & tar remove works very well --

sometimes, too well -- check on a difficult to see portion of the part you need to clean (like inside the swingarm) first -- I've had great luck with it

oven cleaner can be used to get terrifically hardened spooge off exhaust systems -- but that about the onlyiest place i'd use it, and I'd be sure to ride shotgun on the process, watching and rinsing it off before too long