Washing your bike

[hidepenny]

HI ALL,

how do you guys normally wash or clean ur bikes? just water hose on it? or a quick wipe? taking the fairings off?

any suggestion welcome "only to those have actually washed their bikes before"

Thanks

[Lainie]

I wash my Kermie after EVERY ride. Use car wash and then dry it and polish it I don't take anything off it....

[Barrabob]

Give it a good wash with a car wash like kitten or something like that and park it in the shade till it dries then get a soft cloth ( i get a new bag of rags from supercheap occaisonally) and a can of mr sheen and spray it up and polish away.

If you use the mr sheen regulary you dont need the water very much at all because it stops the bug sticking.

[hidepenny]

but after everywash do you re-lubraicate everything? is it with WD40 kinda things or special spray from bike shops?

[Lainie]

I don't

[Glen]

This is what I do (and before you start, yes I'm an anal retentive who was clearly never breastfed by his mother)

Kero and paint brush on the rear wheel/chain/sprocket/under chain guard.
Truck wash the wheels
Hose this off, without spraying directly on bearings etc.
Hose loose crap off the rest of the bike
Wash with Meguirs Gel stuff
Hose off with Fresh water (we have recylcled crap (literally) from the tap)
Dry Off with Chamois.
Wax bike with Meguiars Quick wax
Do Black stuff with Silicone
Do Titanium can with WD40
Go for a ride to dry off and warm up chain
Lube chain with Motul chain oil

I don't do it every ride but probably every second.
My wife thinks I'm mad and just shakes her head but she accepts my madness.

[Pabs]

Glen dont forget KY gel now comes in liquid form

[Stereo]

Wash the bike????? what??? And wash away the protective coating of filth and grime that has taken years to accumulate?

[Glen]

Glen dont forget KY gel now comes in liquid form

Thanks for that

[mick_dundee]

Not even close to anal retentive personally, wash it occassionally with a car wash of some sorts, use hose to rinse that off then champois dry basically, gotta lube my chain one of these days along with the oil change I wanna do but that takes time

[Damon Z1000]

Kero and paint brush on the rear wheel/chain/sprocket/under chain guard.
Truck wash the wheels
Hose this off, without spraying directly on bearings etc.
Hose loose crap off the rest of the bike
Wash with Meguirs Gel stuff
Hose off with Fresh water (we have recylcled crap (literally) from the tap)
Dry Off with Chamois.
Wax bike with Meguiars Quick wax
Do Black stuff with Silicone
Do Titanium can with WD40
Go for a ride to dry off and warm up chain
Lube chain with Motul chain oil

And I thought I was bad

[Gosling1]

I'm surprised Swabio hasn't posted here yet - he is the Cleaning King (even down to polishing the inside of the fairing... ) - but his bike does look immaculate.....

the 12 gets a wash every few weeks, with CT18, then polished . Getting a hugger has sure made the rear end less dirty, hardly any fling-off anywhere.......

[mick_dundee]

Glen dont forget KY gel now comes in liquid form

And you know this how?

[Strika]

I must be the opposite of anal then!

I wash my bike when it's dirty. If it's two months fine, if it's a week fine too. I don't get all that worried by it. But when it is dirty, I use a special formula I have found called "Morning fresh". My wife doesn't do dishes so there is always plenty of it around the house

I wet the bike with clean water, get warm Morning freshed water and wash it with a nice big fluffy sponge! I then hose it off with clean water again and then dry it with a chamois. After that I take it for a run up the fwy to blow off all the water. Then I put it away.

I lube the chain as infrequently as I can get away with, that way I don't have to wash the bike all the time. Getting it serviced is a good way to clean it, as they was it as part of the service!

But the bastards always lube the chain, regardless of how many times I ask them not too! So i end up washing it after the first ride from a service. I would rather replace the chain and sprockets than have to wash it all the time!

[hoffy]

here here strika,

I just gurney mine, no time for all the bullshit.