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https://www.amazon.com/EGO-Power-Lithium-ion-Cordless-Electric/dp/B06Y5…
I’ve wanted something similar for a decade but couldn’t justify it. This came up on marketplace for a good deal. Hot water washing is lush!
The Shop
Let my buddy with a 22 Husky with cone valves ride it last weekend. He rode it for about 10 laps and loved it.
He rode my Suzuki 2 Laps and told me it was a piece of shit.
I bought mine for 400 bucks, from somebody who bought it to wash boats and after 6 months said the burner didnt work anymore. So it sat for 8 years in the corner. He replaced the electrodes for the burner himself, and had them touching, so it would short as soon as you switched the burner on ha. Also the fuel pick up was on the return line, so it was returning air to the bottom of the tank and trying to pull diesel/kero from the top thus just picking up air. Dirt and stuff just falls off, dont even have to soap or scrub really.
This one is similar to mine, mine has the water box feature which is nice if you want to feed soap into it pulls more vacuum on the soap for washing patio ect. https://www.mitm.com/pressure-washers/HSE-1502-0MM11/2158/
Runs off a 20A 110/120V circuit.
Edit: I see that his is fully electric, thing must pull some serious power to run a heater element, but I guess it may not be that far off from an on demand hot water heater???
No.
This happens just before bike sale.....not every day
2. Plug canister with proper plug
3. Remove seat and set out of harms way
4. Remove filer and prepare for cleaning.
5. Mixture of warm water and dawn dish soap for washing
6. Simple green greasy areas chain loop overspray excessive dirt allow to set 2 to 3 minutes.
7. Support bike on side to get frame an underside of by clean
8. Set up right and wash thoroughly with a combination of pressure, washer and common garden hose garden hose for lower pressure around bearing areas
9. Low psi air to dry off excess water
10 towel dry the rest
11. Sc1 on plastics
12. Clean / oil filter
13 lube chain
14 install filter and seat
Gas pressure I’ve had 15 plus yrs can’t remember brand but came from Northern tool, electric pressure washer came from Home Depot
Lots of good tips in this thread
2) Soak with Simple Green
3) Rinse Simple Green off
4) Spray the area around the carb with carb cleaner
5) Dry off with a leaf blower
6) Start and run the bike for a bit to get everything completely dry
7) Spray anything prone to rust with WD40.
Harbor Freight electric pressure washer. Blow the water off with an air compressor when I’m done. Spray WD-40 on the chain then wipe it with a rag. Since I use an x-ring chain and Dirt Tricks sprockets on my 450, I don’t even use chain lube, so I don’t have any sticky mess that requires anything more than water to remove. I have over 50 hours on my chain and sprocket set and I’ve never needed to adjust it. I’m convinced this chain and sprocket combo cleaned with WD-40 will last way longer than I’ll have the bike.
What method are you using to apply the dawn soap and water mix?
Eagle Grit Wash, electric 1800psi pressure washer, hot water access, Scrubbing Bubbles, Scrubby Pad, leaf blower, WD40, SC1, Cable Lube, Air Compressor & small air gun, shop towels, bike stand, airbox cover, and that'll cover 95% of it.
I mix the Dawn soap and water about 10:1 in a plastic spray bottle. I spray constantly over a section such as the rear wheel, and then use a soft brush to lather it up and scrub off all the dirt. You can go on to the next section of the bike and come back and rinse it all off once you're done scrubbing every section of the bike. I have a few different sized brushes to get into smaller parts of the bike like between your engine and exhaust, behind your swingarm, hubs, sprocket etc.
I end up going through a full 32oz. spray bottle by the time I'm done with my bike. I usually end up going over everything twice , I break the bike up into 6 sections. Then once I'm done doing all the brush scrubbing, I rinse the whole bike off. Then I bust out the green scotch-brite pad and use the soap/water spray to lather up on the metal parts like frame and rear brake pedal to get the black marks off and make it shine again. I recommend rinsing that soap off immediately after scrubbing so it doesn't sit in the aluminum and stain it again. Then Magic Eraser on the plastic and seat scruff marks, rinse and begin the drying process.
All this takes about an hour, but it's time well spent to keep your ride looking fresh.
Appreciate it! My process is very similar to yours including the scotch-brite pads and magic eraser, just hadn't used the Dawn mix as my soap before and want to give it a shot!
Used simple green back in the day when that was the norm but got away from it for obvious reasons. Most recently been using Maxima bio wash which i like but gets expensive when you use as much as I do on every wash.
Any specific brushes you recommend? I have a collection of them as well but they are admittedly really cheap ones and need replacing anyway.
For anyone that lives in an apartment complex and doesn’t have access to water I just got a green works hybrid 60v 1800 psi pressure washer. It has a pickup hose with a strainer and will pull water from a 5 gallon bucket. It works awesome and I washed my truck the other day and only used 3 gallons.
Harbor Freight pressure washer with $10 3-year warranty. Have had mine replace 3 times in a year and half.
Pit Row
I just hit the auto parts store for some basic brushes. I have a large sized soft one for most of the bike, and small and medium soft brush for the crevasses. Then I have a large brush with pretty rough bristles for cleaning the tires (not wheels). I don't buy fancy brushes, just replace them pretty often so they're always fresh.
Hope you dig the Dawn soap, I learned it from Mike Gosselaar!
Careful with the dawn soap. It works good but don’t let it dry I noticed that I used to use it for mounting tires and it would get in the dish of the rims and corrode them. Can’t remember which magazine or maybe it was jay clark who said not to use it because it’s tough on metal surfaces if it dries
Ryobi pressure wash, spray with shout, bottle brush stolen from kitchen works really well for reaching into the shock. A small handle brush for the chain sometime use diesel fuel for that if it’s nasty. Toothbrush for tight spots, red scotch brite and aluminum cleaner for frame. Rinse again with pressure wash. Hit with mini milwaukee blower or compressor. Sc1 bath. Polish header. Sit and stare/think about where to get it dirty again.
It's been 20+ years but I remember spending hours cleaning everything 3 days a week after each practice/race. This might sound crazy but looking back at it now I actually really enjoyed the whole process ONLY when it was the day after. For example every week I went to Wednesday night practice at Marysville and then we had Friday night SX races at Sac Raceway so I would clean everything the next day since we'd get home around midnight. I was in homeschool so after I did my work I would go open the garage, spread everything out on the driveway, crank the stereo. We lived on the corner of a busy 4 way so I thought I was so cool out there with my bike and gear. Cleaning after riding all day Saturday/Sunday however was a real bitch.
We had a cheap pressure washer (don't remember brand) that leaked like crazy but worked great. Always start with the buttplug in the exhaust. Rinsed everything to get the most dirt off first, then soaked most of the whole bike in Simple Green. Let it sit for a couple minutes then rinse off. I would use different brush sizes to get all the little gaps and tough spots. I would wipe the big areas with a towel to dry but mostly let everything air dry. I had a PC works exhaust so that I would completely dry with a towel and then wipe the whole pipe with WD40. Lube the chain, take off the seat to hand clean everything inside and swap out the filter.
Oil was changed every ride. I had a fresh clutch & top end pretty much every 2 weeks when we would completely tear the bike down to the frame for inspection, grease/lube, etc.
Another thing I do every couple months that keeps a bike looking new is polish the spokes with some simple polish and microfiber cloth, also polish the back side of the brake pads when I put them on and they stay bright for a long time.
If I replied on this earlier I claim old age. I recently picked up an 18 volt Ryobi power washer, 650 PSI. Works pretty good for dirt bikes. Easier than dragging out gas power washer. My guess easier on connectors and greased bearings etc. compared to gas power washer.
I knock the mud off the fenders when I can feel the extra weight.
Those propane hot water pressure washers are amazing. My buddy that had dump trucks had one and wow that’s the best. Also if you ride a ktm husky etc simple green will dull your black anodized parts real quick
Simple Green is the devil.
Ive always used dish soap mixed with car wash. worked okay but not the best.
Recently tried Shout and its the best holy cow, gets off mud stains (NC red clay) stains out so well and is super gentle on everything and its cheap. My wifes bike had some red clay stains on the rear hub that nothing even purple power got out and it took them right off.
Just dont use purple power or any of those on your bikes except for degreasing maybe some suspension linkage or something when its taken apart. It messes with the aluminum and a lot of times you wont even notice it until you put it next to a bike that hasnt, the engine cases and stuff start to get a dark gray.
I use simple green, no issues at all… just don’t let it dry in the sun, but I wouldn’t let any cleaner dry in the sun….I do dilute it with water before I use it…
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