Washing a dirty bike.....dirty.

[StormingHonda]

Just spent an hour cleaning the bike, I really hate this time of year, after covering it with cleaning foam, then water I discovered it was still dirty

Looks like I am in for a deep cleaning session soon, as I need to ACF50 the bike ready for January salt assault.

[Sir-knob-head]

Yeaaaa I knwo tat feeling. I'm cleaning my bike everyday at the moment

[StormyRob]

Weird because I spent ages last night looking at tips and tricks on youtube!
Yes I know how to clean but its a ball ache.

One guy did have a fantastic set of 5 short videos of him cleaning his old blade if anyone is interested. However given this forum is full of obsessed storm owners it is likely no one is!

[lloydie]

I gave the bird a good wash today ,
I'm going to get some acf50 in for my 3 day weekend (Xmas) and give it a good strip and clean .
Should keep me out the way as they tuck into the craziness

[StormingHonda]

Weird because I spent ages last night looking at tips and tricks on youtube!
Yes I know how to clean but its a ball ache.

One guy did have a fantastic set of 5 short videos of him cleaning his old blade if anyone is interested. However given this forum is full of obsessed storm owners it is likely no one is!

Hes not the bloke with full blown OCD that strips the bike down to nothing to clean it.

[StormyRob]

Not sure. He takes the wheel and fairings off as well as front sprocket cover but thats about it.

[budd]

just watched the first of the videos and I'm surprised WD40 appears so effective at breaking down the crud, I tend to use a dedicated de-greaser but I'm tempted to try some WD after watching that.

[StormyRob]

Honestly Budd the blade is fairly rotten. By the end of the last video his methods seem pretty good.

Quite a bit of expensive autoglym stuff.

I have wd40 degreaser at home.

[budd]

Honestly Budd the blade is fairly rotten. By the end of the last video his methods seem pretty good.

Quite a bit of expensive autoglym stuff.

I have wd40 degreaser at home.

yeah it's a bit tatty but basically sound although no amount of cleaning is going to sort out things like the fork legs and rad but with some prep and paint even those would come up good. He doesn't go into much detail on correcting the paint work, simply relying on AutoGlym super resin polish as a one product solution, really it should be clay barred, all the swirls, minor scratches, dull spots etc compounded, then polished and finally waxed. And while AG products are OK (and readily available) you can buy much better for the same and in some cases less money. the problem with AG is all the stuff is already diluted and ready for use if you seek out professional products these tend to be concentrated and go a long long way compared to stuff you buy from Halfords (not just AG but Maguires, turtle wax etc) I buy most of my stuff from a company called A-chem ( http://www.achem.co.uk/ ) well the bulk stuff like brake clean, shampoo, de-greasers etc these are all concentrated so represent excellent value for money. One the thing is clean then there are an almost unlimited range of pastes, creams, polishes and wax's available so many in fact it's impossible to come up with a definitive list of what's good and what's not. Personally I favour Farecla and 3M compounds/polishes finished with wax's from Colinite, Blithamber Migilore in fact Migilore do a fantastic wheel wax that helps keep brake dust and crud sticking in the first place http://www.migliorewax.com/#!wheel-sealant/clio for rubber and plastics products from Sonax are very good and the also do a quick detailer (Brilliant Shine Detailer or BSD ) that is fantastic for a quick wipe over before going out for a ride water beads off it like you've just used a top carnauba wax highly recommended.

Well the sun is shining (for a change) and I'm feeling a bit energised by all this talk of cleaning so I'm off to give mine a wash.

[StormyRob]

Mine is currently in bits mate.

Have to get rogered forks this weekend.
Paint the lowers
Repair chips to tank.
Respray bike
Powder coat the wheels
Get the lovely renthal sprockets on and armstrong discs
Polish the headers

Toying with painting frame black or polishing them :/

Replace a few nuts with nicer nuts.

Once I have all that done I will start to clean the filthy thing.

[budd]

I like to clean it before I start stripping it down I think it makes the job much easier, then clean everything as it's going back together.
The front end is my planned fettling this year, strip rebuild forks, new head stock bearings, new seals in the callipers and hopefully a flat bar conversion, should keep me occupied through the bad weather.

[StormyRob]

Well mine is in the dining room so its not gonna have the bad weather on it.

There will be a new chain going on and with the swingarm being powder coated it allows me great access to the back end. Will spend hours and hours just to inject some youth into it. Ill clean the bits while they are off obviously. Just find the stripping makes things easier to get to.

Looking forward to it actually!

[StormingHonda]

Mine is currently in bits mate.

Have to get rogered forks this weekend.
Paint the lowers
Repair chips to tank.
Respray bike
Powder coat the wheels
Get the lovely renthal sprockets on and armstrong discs
Polish the headers

Toying with painting frame black or polishing them :/

Replace a few nuts with nicer nuts.

Once I have all that done I will start to clean the filthy thing.

Go with a black frame, when clean they look pretty good, I've had two X11s with black frames, wouldn't buy one with a silver frame.

The only downside is keeping them clean, dirt shows up fast.

[StormyRob]

Ive read that people paint the frame with hammerite smooth. I will likely give that a go...worst case scenario i f**k it up and have to polish it!

[Sir-knob-head]

Not sure. He takes the wheel and fairings off as well as front sprocket cover but thats about it.

That's just cosmetic cleaning lol

You saw my 660. That's a proper clean ;-)