How do you get/keep your bikes so clean?

[Hydrogen]

Don't get me wrong, all your bikes look great but...

Do you all ride inside/no rain/just after the streets have been cleaned?
Granted I ride my bike in all weather all the time and have tried every cleaning agent I have heard of but short of polishing my bike more than I ride it how can i keep it clean?

-H

[oremike]

I bought mine to ride not to polish. I do detail mine during the winter time. The rest of the time I just wash it because the bugs are so thick the headlight is getting dim.
http://www.pbase.com/oremackies/image/17178809
 
Mike M.

[PeteSC]

Mine is rarely 'pristine', but if you start with a good wax of the painted sutff, and polish of the appropriate metal stuff.....a quick hose off, and the use of a product like Meguiars Quick Wax, and some WD40 on the engine cases...and other dull metal parts,  (Rims, brake master cylinders, etc.) only take a minute or so, and cleans the old girl up quite a bit.

    I live in an apartment complex, but there's a coin car wash a couple of blocks away.  Usually I'll ride the bike down there, hose it off....ride home,  wipe the water off....spray it with Quick Wax, (or Instant Detail spray whichever Ipicked up...since they look alike, and are almost the same product!) and in a couple of minutes, the bike is looking 90% 'cleaned up.

[Red01]

I use Honda's Spray Cleaner & Polish 99% of the time. My bike might see a water-based washing once a year - or less.



Works good as a visor & windscreen cleaner, as well as on the painted parts of the bike. Comes in a big 14oz can that's good for keeping at home for general use as well as a 5oz can that fits into most tankbags/tailbags and is a great travel companion... along with a clean rag or two.

[B6mick]

Hey I ride as a courier, 3 days a week , in all weather, ( the Aussie guys will understand this statement ) in Melbourne weather, and we are well known for getting all four seasons in one day. and lets face it the bandit is not a hard bike to keep clean, and certainly nothing that a little elbow grease dont fix. Meguiars wet look polish on all the painted surfaces, and a little autosol on the polished alloy stuff. I have a compressor with one of those high preasure cleaning kit, so with that a some kero keeps the engine parts clean.
Hey I figure that 1 hours cleaning to about 40 to 50 hours riding per week is a small price to pay. And it comes up clean enough to be featured on a local tv bike show.

[aussiebandit]

I wash mine 'properly' every couple of months, whether it needs it or not.  

If its particularly dirty after a ride I'll give it a quick tub, especially after riding through a locust plague.......

Hey, Mick, are you sure there's only FOUR seasons, 'cause last time I was down your way I'd bet my left nut I counted six.

[B6mick]

Repeats don't count.  well not in the same 24hrs.


And don't bloody remind me of those bloody locust, still finding crispy ones, in the strangest places. ( on the bike )

[aussiebandit]

I bet the Hoo..... Hoooonn.... piece of shyte was even harder to clean...or didn't you bother cleaning it in the vain hope it wouldn't look so PINK.

[B6mick]

Buggered if I know, it ain't my bike, I may have painted it I still may fix it, but I try not to take to much notice of it, bloody waste of good shed space. Actualy with all the fairing scoops ducting the air into the radiators, I'm suprised the bugger didn't cook on that trip. When we got home Donna lot the high pressure hose in there to blow the buggers out. and had quite a pile of the buggers pity they where all cooked, on a hook I reckon they would have looked tasty to a Murray Cod.

[txbanditrydr]

Hey Hydrogen......glad to see your still around.   I won't have to revise the garage door opener thread when I repost it.  

I try to clean the bike after each day ride - much easier to get the bugs off when they are fresh.  Using a soft micro-fiber cloth from Wallyworld and lots of Glass-Plus they come right off.  I concentrate on the fairing, gas tank, front forks and case guards and it takes about 15 minutes.

The rear wheel gets wiped down every chain lube and the rear chassis area gets a good cleaning every chain cleaning.  I hate waxing - always seem to get wax where I don't want it.  I tend to be a fair weather rider though and that helps.  

[PitterB4]

I'm with TX on most of what he said.  I hose it down after almost every ride.  Hell, I wash my car once a week, too.  With the bike, I look at it as an opportunity to check everything out too - make sure everything is tight and in good working order.  I'm also a fair weather rider.  I take a lot of pride in the way my bike (and my car) looks.  If you let it stay dirty, the dirt gets ground into the paint and it looses it's shine.

[devildog0]

I'll second the Honda Cleaner/Wax spray that stuff is miracle spray.  My bike rarley ever sees a water wash.  I keep the cover on it and use the Honda Cleaner whenever I fell the bike is dirty.  I WD the swingarm area from the chain fling off.  Oh and I ride in all weather rain or shine cold weather.  Snow and ice is about the only thing I wont ride in.

[dsartwell1]

I try to wash mine once a week. Honda Cleaner and Quick Detailer work pretty good but I can just about hand wash it in the same amount of time. I tried some Armor-All Power Wash Gel last saturday. Stuff works great. You hose off your bike, squirt some of this gel right on the bike, and use a wet wash mitt to work it into a lather. I started with the fairing and had enough lather in the mitt to do the whole bike! With hot water, it really lifted the bugs. Worth a try.

[Bob Holland]

I have a friend who has a 1991 GSXR 1100. We would leave the dragstrip at midnight, and he would go home and detail his bike. It was always spotless, and if there was any chance of rain, he would stay home and not race. I have a couple of pictures of his blue and white GSXR on my Web Site.

[snofrog]

untill this spring i used honda polish .i found something else at the auto parts store in a gold ,trigger spray bottle called kit motorcycle cleaner and polish and imho works a bit better than the honda polish .it`s also $1 cheaper  M