A pal of mine washes his bike and rinses it off with a jet wash after every single ride, then uses a whole can of WD40 on it afterwards. It allows him to ride through the winter and still have a concours bike. Who's the chief polisher/most obsessive cleaner in this forum?
Thats me out then. Although not mentioning any names I do know that Freak cleans his Desmo with cotton wool buds :biggrin:
I do like to keep my bike clean, but I clean it when I think it's dirty. I'm not that obsessive that it gets cleaned every time it goes out.
Never used water on a bike for years. Mr Sheen does the job for me ps I'm not talking Charlie either :tongue:
er..I have a procedure for cleaning the chain...and yes I mean EVERY link ! I generally clean the bike after every ride, sometimes just leave wet cloth on the nosecone to take the flies off, sometimes a full wash. I never use a power washer as its too much so just the hosepipe but only on jet for getting the flies out of the radiator the rest is on shower setting. The fairings come off every few washes or if I get caught in the rain and the front of the engine gets a good clean then a coat of duck oil. Wheels off every few rides to get to the swingarm etc, calipers off and pads out to clean/coppergrease. This is only part of the regime and results in a bike that still looks like new when I have done 12-16k miles and 3-5 years old. Oh forgot to mention I remove the air filter and clean the airbox every so often. Any other suggestions for cleaning I can add to the regime?
Washed mine like twice since owning it? Cant see the point in keeping it out of the rain in the garage then deliberately deluging it in water?? :biggrin: They dont like water anyway... My Doocat looked stunning after last Winter, better than it ever had done! Think I took it off SORN in March?
I clean it when its dirty and give it a coat of polish afterwards, which just makes the next clean a little easier. I'll be doing a full body off clean and then spray some anti corrosion spray onto it just before she gets parked up for winter thou. I do like cleaning my bikes thou, its just another part of pride of ownership :tongue:
as was well known on ducatisti im a self confessed obsessive and literally clean it more than ride it..that doesnt say much though because i havent ridden it in anger for a few years due to various problems. i bought an F4 whilst my Duke was off the road but i was just as bad with that...i added £250 to the value of it a year and 4000 miles later. when i do a clean on the duke its not uncommon for it to get wheeled into the kitchen and have the rear wheel removed..call me sad, but the old girl would always have a 'quick' clean after every ride (about 2 hours), then a full belt and braces at the weekend (between 2 and 7 hours). even if i say so myself my 916 is one of the cleanest examples ive ever seen. the only and i mean only imperfections are some bubbled paint on one of the crankcases and some bubbled paint around the headlamp shell...these have been on my to do list for some time, and when im fit and well again will be getting repainted. sadly the bikes had so little use over the last few years that the rear tyre has done less then 50 miles and has now gone hard so will require replacing when she gets recommissioned. i bought her with about 4000 miles on 5 years ago and she's up to an eye watering 11k or so, mostly racked in the few couple of years! id upload some pics but the site doesnt want to play ball.
Upload pix to Photobucket. Click on quick link and copy it. Paste in URL box for uploading a pic on this site. Job done.
This is what I do with my bikes: In the summer, I'll wash it when there're enough bugs on the paint to worry about acid erosion. In the winter, I cover it (except for the brake surfaces) with ACF-50 in October/November and don't clean it again until spring, at which point it cleans up as good as it did before. For those who don't know about it, ACF-50 is aviation grade corrosion prohibitor and is fantastic.
P1260060_zps03e1b0c9.jpg picture by funkyrimpler - Photobucket dunno if this works?? theres 3 pics...notice how clean the INSIDE of the fairing panel is...not bad for a 16 yr old smoker hey?
I've made a profit from my last six or seven bikes by buying them dirty and selling them clean. I love it when people don't wash their bikes, means more money for fig! But I'm not an obsessive cleaner, I don't enjoy cleaning bikes at all. I'll do a full strip-down clean when I first get the bike, then thereafter it's just the usual, maybe get the fairing off a couple of times a year but otherwise it'll get washed every 4th or 5th ride. I try to avoid riding in rain, so they never really get that dirty. As previously mentioned, Mr Sheen is your friend!
The bugs on my bike went mouldy over winter, so gave it a quick wash before my first ride of the season. :biggrin:
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Wash after every ride and leather down. Polish something every time I go into the garage or even somtimes if I just have to go out and look at it. Always has the cover over it when in the garage. Like the ideas of Mr.Sheen and the WD40 will try. Regards Steve
