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

[Yankee Dog]

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

I have used on my wheels for quite some time.  Spray it on, wipe it and the grime off.  Have never had a problem, not even corrosion.  And nothing else seems to work as well.  

YD

[county]

When you pull that rear tire/wheel off for tire replacement is the time to clean up the wheel and shock and all that stuff you can't get to very well with the tire on.  Lotta stuff gets exposed with that tire off and cleaning that wheel is so much easier.  Or you can just pull the wheel off for cleaning.

[Bjorn Toulouse]

You clean your bike?  

Once a year, whether it needs it, or not!


Rex

[jwhite518]

Get yourself two sets of rags/sponges. One set is for cleaning the dirty stuff - wheels, engine, etc. The other rags are for cleaning the clean stuff - bodywork, cockpit, etc.

1. Fill a bucket with soapy water. Using your dirty rags, wash the dirty stuff. Feel free to use Simple Green degreaser, rubbing compound, or the chemicals of your choice to remove the cruddy crud. Rinse.

2. Dump out the bucket, refill it with new, clean soapy water. Wash your bodywork and other "clean" stuff. Rinse.

4. Dry the bodywork with a chamois before it spots up.

5. Apply any wax or polish as you wish.

6. Put on your helmet, gloves, boots, and protective clothing. Ride around the block a few times to get the water out of the nooks and crannies. Warm up the brakes to get the water out of the calipers and rotors.

7. Pop a cold one.

That's the official BMW anal retentive method.

[chornbe]

heh heh heh he said anal heh heh heh

[Galo]

we need Big Block Dave the Canuck here to privde the most complete and thorough response..
Dave!! Dave....where the hell are you!?

[Busy Little Whiner]

So I looked at my bike and DAMN it's dirty.
But how does one go about detailing a bike, safely? It's everything from dirt to road tar.

Mercy!!! if you clean your bike after every ride and it would look dirty but not DAMN dirty...

I remove tar with gasoline because it works fast and it's always handy...


Busy Little Shop's simple 3 step method of bike cleaning:

1) At the end of day soak a wash cloth in HOT water and remove bugs and road grime... repeat as necessary...

2) Add plastic polish fairings and gas tank and buff to a shine...

3) Add a little Gasoline to the corner of the rag and degrease wheels... plastic polish to add a nice luster...

After 10 years and 50K miles of perverted highway I've never once hit Mr.RC45 with a garden hose... it's bike
abuse because it promotes corrosion in all the little nooks and crannies... why just look at Pat's RC30 axle  
after repeated sprays with the garden hose... pitfull as the metal is etched for life...  

[chornbe]

After 10 years and 50K miles of perverted highway I've never once hit Mr.RC45 with a garden hose... it's bike
abuse because it promotes corrosion in all the little nooks and crannies... why just look at Pat's RC30 axle  
after repeated sprays with the garden hose... pitfull as the metal is etched for life...  

As much as I've loved - absolutely and wholly loved - some of the bikes I've had, I haven't met the bike I want to keep for 10 years.

Yet.

50k miles in 10 years is almost criminal. That's two years for me. Now if ONLY I could KEEP a bike for 2 whole years.  

[knuckledonkey]

I do a cursory cleaning maybe twice a year, but I've never really done a really good cleaning.

Mercy!!! if you clean your bike after every ride and it would look dirty but not DAMN dirty...

[1KPerDay]

Smoke cig, fall asleep

Wake up to flames, run for life, call 911.

[traveler]

Wake up to flames, run for life, call 911.

I should have put a period instead of a comma after cig.

[Busy Little Whiner]

As much as I've loved - absolutely and wholly loved - some of the bikes I've had, I haven't met the bike I want to keep for 10 years.

Yet.

50k miles in 10 years is almost criminal. That's two years for me. Now if ONLY I could KEEP a bike for 2 whole years.  

Mercy chornbe... do your bikes stay out all night and won't call home???

I rode a VF500 for 14 years and racked up 98K miles... I'd still have it today if it weren't for a certain trip
to Tijuana Mexico...  

[pmax]

For general maintenance I use a product from a company called Wurth USA Inc.  It's called Showroom Detailer.  It is far better than anything I have tried of the retail shelf.  A bit expensive at around $18 for 22 oz.  It works on many different surfaces and it's easy to use.  I could only find it on line.

A Harley friend of mine swears by Zep window cleaner.  He sprays the bike with the cleaner then gently hoses it off.  I haven't tried that one

[Global Rider]

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

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

Time and care...thats all it takes along with the right products.

I heard somewhere oven cleaner works. Sounds harsh

Harsh it is...on metal. Thats the trouble with the internet. Its hard to seperate the good from the bad advice. Oven cleaners are for ovens!

[MarcS]

I let a family of mice live in my bike.

They keep the wiring nice and clean.

[TuffguyF4i]

If you guys use high pressure, make sure to keep it away from all electrical connections.  Those connectors are not rated for pressurized spray.

[JoelCool]

I typically pick up whatever car wash is on sale, and wash the bike just like I'd wash the car.  The nooks and cranies are a bit harder to reach, but I don't sweat the small stuff.  If you're down on your hands and knees looking for dirt on my bike I'm sure you'll be successful.  Any crud that doesn't come off in the first 30 minutes gets to stay there.

When the rainy season comes I wash it less frequently - it's just not worth it trying to keep ahead of the winter crud.

During the warmer seasons I'm pretty good about covering the bike when I'm at work.  That tends to keep the dust off in the first place.

[Walker]

After 10 years and 50K miles of perverted highway I've never once hit Mr.RC45 with a garden hose... it's bike
abuse because it promotes corrosion in all the little nooks and crannies... why just look at Pat's RC30 axle  
after repeated sprays with the garden hose... pitfull as the metal is etched for life...  

Larry, that wasn't caused by using a garden hose.  That looks like galvanic corrosion to me, where dissimilar metals with a galvanic potential are in electrical (physical) contact.  It would have happened over time simply due to humidity.

No garden hose huh?  I forget that you guys in CA never ride in the rain either...  

[maddjack]

I use one of the cleaners like S-100,Bike bright or the Stuff aerostich sells,soak it with the stuff,wait, rinse with a garden hose and a hard stream of water (NOT a powerwasher),if its still a tad grungy I resort to auto wash in a bucket a soft rag and elbow grease.I always dry throughly and then wax it to help repell the buggers and grime

[Busy Little Whiner]

Larry, that wasn't caused by using a garden hose.  That looks like galvanic corrosion to me, where dissimilar metals with a galvanic potential are in electrical (physical) contact.  It would have happened over time simply due to humidity.

No garden hose huh?  I forget that you guys in CA never ride in the rain either...  

It was a garden hose... Pat's home is Fairfield California and it enjoys low humidity year around...

Out in CA is perfect for motorcyclist... you can get your fill of riding without having to resort to the few wet days...

[kenish]

I start with the lower areas of the bike, since they will be the dirtiest.  Any greasy areas get cleaned up with a cloth dampened with WD-40 or with a cleaner/wax product if it's a painted or plastic area.

Then take it from the top with S-100 as other posts describe.  The big timesaver....dry off only the pipes, then take the bike for a 5-minute ride at 50mph+ .  Most of the water will either blow off or shake off when the bike goes over bumps.  Then finish drying any areas that are still wet.  (After a few washes you will figure out what areas need to be dried before the dryoff ride).

Last, wax any areas that need it.

[Walker]

It was a garden hose... Pat's home is Fairfield California and it enjoys low humidity year around...

Out in CA is perfect for motorcyclist... you can get your fill of riding without having to resort to the few wet days...

You're missing the point:  Galvanic corrosion happens no matter what you do, and indicates either poor engineering (or procurement) design in the choice of materials (dissimilar metals with no insulation between them or sacrificial anode).  Or perhaps he used the wrong greese in there which accelerated the corrosion.  Either way, it shouldn't have happened, and I've been cleaning bikes with a garden hose, doing river crossings and mud riding, and riding in severe rain for over 30 years.  The only time I've ever seen something like that was due to galvanic corrosion on a boat prop shaft with bad zincs.

[Busy Little Whiner]

You're missing the point:  Galvanic corrosion happens no matter what you do, and indicates either poor engineering (or procurement) design in the choice of materials (dissimilar metals with no insulation between them or sacrificial anode).  Or perhaps he used the wrong greese in there which accelerated the corrosion.  Either way, it shouldn't have happened, and I've been cleaning bikes with a garden hose, doing river crossings and mud riding, and riding in severe rain for over 30 years.  The only time I've ever seen something like that was due to galvanic corrosion on a boat prop shaft with bad zincs.

The axle is all the same 4140 steel covered by an aluminum wheel... no dissimilar metals... so as
long as the steel stays dry there's no corrosion and the axle looks like this...



But if you hit the assembly with a garden hose then don't bother removing the moisture... the
aluminum wheel traps the moisture and the steel corrodes... so the axle ended up looking like
this...


Or like this...

 

[Bounce]

1. Find a rain storm
2. Ride there.
3. All clean!

[2WheelPilot]

I don't have any tips, but here's part 1 of a 5 part series on YouTube:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=HREqf4wIukA&feature=related

The rest of the series should be easy to find.

[Walker]

The axle is all the same 4140 steel covered by an aluminum wheel... no dissimilar metals... so as
long as the steel stays dry there's no corrosion and the axle looks like this...

But if you hit the assembly with a garden hose then don't bother removing the moisture... the
aluminum wheel traps the moisture and the steel corrodes... so the axle ended up looking like
this...

AAARGH.... Larry... no!  The steel and aluminum corroded because they were in electrical contact with each other.  Aluminum and steel are VERY dissimilar metals, spaced pretty far away from each other on the galvanic table.  (Look it up, along with doing some homework on how galvanic corrosion works as a degradation mechanism).

The other reality is that while aluminum is very active on the galvanic table and easily corroded, aluminum oxide is not, and forms a very nice protective coating usually about 0.005 mils thick very quickly.  However, this layer is easily removed by agitation, such as vibrations and mechanical motion, thus creating fresh aluminum oxide very quickly.  The aluminum, thus being in electrical contact with the steel corrodes galvanically, and even the relative humidity in the air will enable the corrosion to occur (though much slower than spraying it with a hose or riding in the rain).

There are only 4 things you can do to mitigate galvanic corrosion:  
1) don't use dissimilar metals on the galvanic table, or choose metals that are very close on the table and thus will have a very slow corrosion rate (not practical for probably 90% of mechanical design).  
2) Use an impressed current system to counter the galvanic potential voltage and thus stop any corrosion.  (Requires a power source, often not practical without some type of 'shore power' available, and interstingly enough, the presense of shore power in dense marinas has actually been shown to speed corrosion in boats due to the electromagetic fields created.)
3) Use a sacrificial anode.  Often made of zinc.  The zinc is in the galvanic electrical circuit with the dissimilar metals.  Since zinc is so galvanically active, it corrodes readily.  After it corrodes to a specified limit, you replace them.  (Any of you with boats:  Check your zincs every time you pull the boat out of the water!  They've been known to weaken and fall off due to the expected corrosion they go through, and carefully follow the manufacturer's replacement criteria, and NEVER paint them.)
4) Electrically insulate the dissimilar metals from each other and thus eliminate the galvanic potential altogether.

Had I been the one to design it, I would have anodized the aluminum wheel and hub.  A proper aluminum anodization (Al2O3) is about 1 mil thick, is harder than everything except diamond, is highly corrosion resistant, even in salt water, and most importantly, is highly electrically resistant and would require about 800 volts to pass a current through a 1 mil thick anodized layer.  In other words, would have prevented any galvanic corrosion between the steel and the aluminum because the two dissimilar metals would have been insulated from each other.  

Makes me wonder if this was another case of a bean counter ruining a perfectly good design.  Any mechanical or materials engineer worth his salt would know this intuitively.  However, anodizing aluminum parts is not cheap and takes a lot of electricity in the process.

Thus endeth the engineering lesson for the day.

[Busy Little Whiner]

Look it up, along with doing some homework on how galvanic corrosion works as a degradation mechanism.

Preventing galvanic corrosion:

Step 1 keep the metals dry.

[1KPerDay]

Hire the neighborhood ruffians.  

[Nouroog]

Wake up to flames, run for life, call 911.

Anyone have suggestions on cleaning wire rims?

[Walker]

Preventing galvanic corrosion:

Step 1 keep the metals dry.

No again!  Gavlanic corrosion will occur simply due to relative humidity in the air, just at a slower rate.  Or for that matter, any other semi-polar liquid that is capable of carrying a spare electron or two... believe it or not, some greases can do that.

But then again, we're back to square one.  You Californians never ride in the rain and thus are perfectly willing to accept bad engineering I guess.

[Busy Little Whiner]

No again!  Gavlanic corrosion will occur simply due to relative humidity in the air, just at a slower rate.  Or for that matter, any other semi-polar liquid that is capable of carrying a spare electron or two... believe it or not, some greases can do that.

But then again, we're back to square one.  You Californians never ride in the rain and thus are perfectly willing to accept bad engineering I guess.

You're right...  we are back to square one:

Relative humidity in our part of California runs about 15%...

This is my axle after 2 years without garden hose moisture...



This is Pat's axle after 6 months worth of garden hose moisture... the parts of the 4140 steel
that were hidden by the wheel trapped the moisture and the steel corroded... the parts of the
4140 steel that were exposed to the open air did not corroded...