How do you wash your bike?

Okay, first things first. Repeat after me. High pressure hose = BAD! If you must use one, stand WAY back from the bike, do not 'nail the bike' with high pressure! Those things will blow water down your control cables, into electrical connections leading to all sorts of premature problems.

Other than after getting caught in the rain, which I'll wash the bike after, I only ever wash my bikes about 2 times a season. Use an automotive soap, I use this stuff called Zip wash. You will need two buckets. One with soapy water, one with clean.

Rinse the bike off. Do not spray water in your exhaust and only do around the hand controls as much as necessary.

Soap down the bike. Between each dipping in soapy water, rinse the soapy towel in the clean bucket of water (this keeps the towel cleaner, avoids contaminating your clean soapy water, and most of all, keeps you from rubbing in grime).

Do the wheels, chain area and lower front cowling last. These are the dirtiest areas.

When your happy with job you did, rinse the bike off. GENTLY.

Dry with another clean microfiber towel.

I only wax my bikes once a year. Use any good quality automotive wax.

So how do I keep from washing the bike more than a few times a year. After every couple of rides, wipe the bike down with a damp MF towel. That's it. It will stay remarkably clean. If you live in a dusty area, Swiffer's are the best thing since sliced bread! Remove bugs IMMEDIATELY when your done riding. Those little bastage are full of nasty acidic juice that WILL spot your paint. (Tip, fabric softener cloths work GREAT for removing bugs. Also a 50/50 mix of water and hydrogen peroxide will remove even the toughest bugs)

I know a guy who rides an ancient Honda VT1100. That thing is SHOWROOM. His secret, and this is no joke, he cleans one part, every day. He states he hasn't 'WASHED' his bike in 20 years. I believe him, and it's no garage queen.

Washing your bike is like making love to your woman! I do it about once a week aswell I take about 45mins-1hour the bike cleaning I mean

What you do need is a hose doesn\\\'t have to be high pressure but something to wash down the bike.

Materials would be:

Bucket(With Water)
Car Soap (Anybrand)
Sponge
2 Clean Towels(Micro Fiber would be best)
Cleaning Solvent( I use Maguiars make sure you get it for Vinyl not for steel)
Tire Shine (With a small piece of cloth)

Start off with just hosing the bike down with water just to get it wet, put the car soap in the bucket of water then go over the bike with the sponge and soapy water get all the nuke crannies but just don\\\'t go inside the Muffler/Exhaust, you need to do this fairly quickly (before it dries up and leaves white spots) hose down the bike again and then start drying you use one towel for this make sure you don\\\'t leave water on the bike so take your time if you have a compressor that will help with time but it is not needed, once the bike is totally dried you can go the extra mile with the detailing you take the cleaning solvent and your other towel/cloth and spray it on the exterior parts (what ever you want to shine) give it a good rub you will see some nice results again take your time with this, then the last part would be the Tire shine it isn\\\'t necessary but looks great you spray/rub it along the sides and gives it a shiney/black look and lasts quite a while (around 2weeks+) And there you go your bike is spotless clean and ready to get dirty within another couple of days


Not everyone makes lo..v I mean cleans there bike the same way but this is how I do mine B)

Peace.

P.S Don\'t forget just to re-oil your chain