Posts
169
Joined
9/16/2014
Location
AU
Edited Date/Time
1/5/2015 10:16am
Does everybody keep their bike so clean! do you even ride it?
my bike is fully apart and I'm sanding the frame and engine cases at the moment
can anybody help me get everything looking brand new again?????
my bike is fully apart and I'm sanding the frame and engine cases at the moment
can anybody help me get everything looking brand new again?????
Wipe the plastic down with this if you can find it
If the bike isn't disassembled on an annual basis - at least, buildup is due to happen and with the varying changes in temperature it is easy for it to adhere to the bike.
Easiest way to keep it clean, wash it within 24 hours of riding. I don't bother riding unless I have time to properly care for the bike after riding.
The Shop
DeCal Works Huge Plastic Inventory of UFO and Polisport kits.
Luxon 4-Post Bar Mounts
$189.95 - $239.95
As a bonus to working great, Shout is extremely cost effective. You can buy a 1.34 gallon jug at Costco for about $7.
Never use an industrial degreaser it just dulls everything.
You wash after every ride, then inspect. That's how you find broken stuff and things that need repair. You do it all along.
The tip to keeping a bike looking new is to never let the cast parts (hubs and cases mainly) get stained in the first place. This means cleaning the bike every time you ride it. Once the parts get stained a bike will look roached no matter what type of cleaning you do to it.
The key is to not get to that point. If you need to make everything look brand new again, you haven't been cleaning it all along.
You wash after every ride, then inspect. That's how you find broken stuff and things that need repair. You do it all along.
I use Shout and it is very effective but I also go over the bike with a wash mitt soaped up with Dawn dish detergent. The mitt can reach places that are sometimes missed by the pressure washer.
Pit Row
After each ride, I go to the car wash. Then I load the bike in the truck and wipe it down with a disposable towel. I start at bars, seat, plastic and work down, usually finding bits of mud and stuff that I’ve missed. This lets me also inspect the bike for missing bolts, cracked fork guards, new dents in the pipe, etc… When I get home and unloaded, I wipe the excess water off again. Then I wipe down all the polished metal with a metal polishing towel – levers, kicker, pipe, hubs, etc... It has enough residue on it that I can usually just wipe over the parts to keep them nice looking, but sometime I have to actually apply polish to the pipe and hubs. The hubs suck because you have to get your fingers in there. I usually spray some plastic polish on the body, but not always. And occasionally I have to use a nylon brush and simple green on the gripper cover to pull out some stains. Then I lube the chain, spray the pivot points, make sure no weed are wrapped around the axles or caught in the primary, check chain slack and take a peek at the filter, carb boots, etc…
I do that after every ride, but I’ve been riding this bike since fall of 2010 when I bought it new and it has aged very little. It didn’t take a lot of work to keep nice looking, just a little work after each ride.
FGR01 pretty much nailed my routine. now I have to go try shout lol
I use a garden hose, one of the above cleaners, a brillo pad and WD-40. I typically ride in red Georgia clay and that stuff really sticks and can stain. I rinse the big stuff off, spray on the cleaner, and then hose it down. ALL of the red clay stains come out with one rinsing and I do not have to rub anything. Even the rims sparkle. If Shout can equal that - please tell me because I'll switch today.
After the wash, I go to it with the brillo pad and get all the aluminum surfaces that are visible - and a few that are not. After that I wipe the bike dry and then hit all the pivot points and really just about everything with compressed air. Next, all pivot points, pipe, shock adjuster nut etc., gets the WD-40 treatment. Then I apply TOPKOTE Finishing Spray for a really nice look that helps with the clay sticking and makes my garage smell really nice.
greatest. stuff. ever. Most race teams just use Arm & Hammer liquid laundry detergent mixed 1 part Arm & Hammer 2 parts water or mr clean mixed the same way.and it won't harm your anodizing like Simple Green does. (fades)
and brillo pads for aluminum. simple green does work good but there is better and cheaper things to wash down the drain!
Other than that, I use gunk degreaser for the chain lube and any silencer splooge. After the final rinse, I coat the bike in WalMart brand WD40 and then wipe the whole thing dry.
Another benefit of Shout is that it is super cheap especially at Costco
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