For many motorcycle riders, their method of washing a motorcycle is running it down to the dealer and paying a hundred dollars for a motorcycle detailing job. For me, I'd be out thousands of dollars a year if I went with that option simply because I ride so much and am fearless about my riding. I'll even choose to ride in the rain and my bike shows it; with water spots on the chrome and dirt everywhere. I also choose to wash my own bike to make sure that it is done correctly. When I had the front tire installed on my bike, they threw in a free wash and I was not happy with the results. Aside from the job being sloppy, it was obvious they hit it with a pressure washer which is a big no-no for a couple of reasons; especially if used without discretion. Because of this experience, I won't pay to have it washed ever again and have come up with a cleaning method that is safe for the bike, quick for me and borders on a detailing job as well. Throughout this write up, I'll be referring to this slide show, so open up a separate browser window and enjoy the journey.
Coin Op Car Wash is Your Friend
I'll admit that my bike is dirtier than it has been in a while. (See slides 1 through 6) I managed to get through the spring with one wash and now that its summer and the chances of rain are dropping, it is time to give it a good wash. I also need to water my lawn soon and there is no quicker way to encourage rain than to tempt the rain gods with a clean bike on the road. My preferred method of getting the grime off a bike is to arm myself with a few dollars in quarters and hit the coin operated car wash. I don't own a pressure washer and honestly the brush thing they have, if clean, works better than the sponge/shammy I have in getting grime off. The other benefit of the coin-op is that you can clean your bike in the shade, which makes the entire process much easier; not to mention cooler.
The car wash near my home is pretty well maintained; however, I try to avoid the stalls that are really dirty. If I see a bunch of mud on the ground, it could splatter when I'm cleaning, or I could hit it when I drive out. First thing I do after I put my money in is to turn the knob to the high pressure soap; not for my bike but for the brush. (See Slide 7) I make sure I hit the brush thoroughly, as it could have dirt or grease on it and its better to spend a quarter's worth of time on cleaning it than dealing with that dirt and grime being on my bike. Then I turn the knob to the low pressure pre-soak. I hit the entire bike with this and focus on areas of the bike that are really dirty, especially the fenders. (See slide 8) I take care to not directly spray even the low pressure water at the spark plug area though; this can be hand detailed later.
After pre-washing the bike, I give it a good suds with the now-clean brush. (See slide 9 and 10) This should be done carefully to prevent catching the brush on brake lines and other parts. From here, a rinse with low-pressure again and then use the spot free low pressure rinse and you are done spending money on the bike washing process.
Before moving to the next step, I used a shammy cloth to dry off the bike. (See slide 11) It helps get any missed dirt off the bike and getting all the water off at once prevents water spots completely. As you can see in slide 12 and 13, I could probably have gotten away with stopping there but it is important to keep a bike waxed as well since it helps keep bugs and grime from sticking nearly as easily.
Waxing, Cleaning Chrome, etc.
My trick after this is to use a waterless cleaner/waxing product. (See slide 14) The one I bought was purchased by a random vendor at a random gas station but there are national brands that make similar products. Honestly, if the bike is only a little dirty, I won't hesitate to just use one of these products rather than going through the process of the car wash. The nice thing about these products is that the bike is clean and waxed and they also work to get cooked on bugs off and work great on chrome and on my lexan plastic windshield, provided I have gotten off any gritty material prior to using it.
The instructions on these products are pretty much the same as well; however, I have found from trial and a lot of error that the best application method is to spray the product onto the cloth you intend to use. My product suggests a terry cloth towel for the first step, however, I have found the tighter weave of an old t-shirt or cloth diaper works better for the application. If you are using these products on a car, the overspray is no big deal. On a bike, it means overspray in areas that even smaller hands can't reach or right onto the section of bike you already tackled.
What I do is go around and find any and all dried on bugs and pre-spray those areas directly and up close to prevent overspray. I'll leave these areas for last to let the spray work and reduce the amount of elbow grease needed. Then, I start at the top of the bike and work down. The inside and outside of the windshield first, then the fairing, then I pretty much work from front to back. I clean the entire bike first using the old t-shirt and as much as my OCD wants me to buff each section as I go, it is quicker and easier to buff everything at once. Slide 15 is of a section of the bike post cleaning and pre-buffing. Slide 16 is that same area after.
Once I am done cleaning and have gotten the trouble spots taken care of, I then proceed to buffing. The easiest and quickest way to do this is with a polyester microfiber towel. They are available in automotive care sections now because they work great on paint and chrome and combined with the wax in the spray, really make a bike or car shine. I go over the entire bike in the same order I did when I did the application, top to bottom and from front to back to make sure I get every spot. The nice thing about the microfiber towel is that there is no actual buffing; just a quick wipe over of the area and it's shiny.
As you can see from the slides 17-20, the bike looks almost as good as it did the day it was driven off the showroom floor. Slide 21 shows how bad it was before and how good it was afterwards. It took me 45 minutes and about five dollars in quarters. Even at a lawyer's hourly rates, it becomes hard to justify paying for a bike detail.
Source:
campbell hausfeld pressure washer 1750 psi
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