Preventative Maintenance?

I wash my bike only when it needs maintenance. 

When  I raced in the 60's and early 70's it was normal to tear down the bike to the frame every few rides, clean and relube everything. The steering hed bearings were loose with no seals. If we rode oin the rain (which did) every ride

I thought PM meant Post Malfunction. 🤣

My tires are the only thing that see a pressure washer. Low pressure garden hose using a shower style nozzle on everything else. No water near the ecu or bars.

I use the pressure washer all the time. On race day sometimes 3-4 times a day. Never ever had dry / rusty bearings or water in the electrics. 

I don't get why people have issues with pressure washers.

Me neither. I have heard it a lot, and never experienced it. Other than trying to not force mud and dirt into bearings, and not spraying electronic devices directly for any prolonged time, and I have never had an issue and I always use a pressure washer. I always start it right after washing and let it warm up. Don't know if that's even necessary, but makes me feel better about baking all the water out of things.

I love them, just not a big fan of using them on my bike. Then again, I ride SoCal tracks and mud is usually a non-factor (other than the usual summertime flooding of the track in the morning by the water truck).

I'll revisit this when I'm strictly a Minnesota guy in the spring. 😂

Regular garden hose pressure on everything. Never spray it in the exhaust, air intake or near the bearings. I need to grease the steering head occasionally (once a year-ish,) but that's about it. 

I lube and tension my chain religiously, check the spokes regularly, keep the filter clean and the oil changed. Almost never have any problems. 

Linkage and swingarm bearings on all my CRs seem to need it 4-6 months. Especially the dogbone attached to the frame; I bought a spare just so I could swap it out and rebuild/regrease at leisure. 

Swingarm is more of an issue of the pivot bolt seizing than drying out needle bearings. Watch out for that one or it will cost you big time. So even with zerk fittings to the bearings, if the collars that slide on the axle are corroding the zerks won't save you.

The rear axle adjusters really need to be chased with a tap and coated with anti-seize semi-annually IMO. Learned that one the hard way and barely got the bolt out. A buddy of mine had to chemically dissolve the adjuster, what a s*show that was. 

Grease my wheel bearings every time I change a tire. Other bearing, I do every winter at longest. Suspension fluids a couple times a year. Garden hose only and wash, clean, dry and lube all pivot points every time I ride, which is once a week spring-fall at most.

VMX is a different animal, I try to avoid the pressure washer completely unless I'm doing a major teardown.  I only wash it with a hose, don't at all if it was a sand or dusty track, and keep water away from steering head, swingarm pivot, and wheel bearings. Be careful with adding zirc fittings, something like the steering head may crack from it.

I use antiseize on all the axels, swingarm pivots etc. VMX bikes like to challenge your creative thinking, nothing like trying to remove those when seized.

Make sure you keep your fuel needs in mind, VMX and pump gas don't mix well.

Have about 55hrs on my son’s supermini and just did a ring, tires, sprockets, and chain/swingarm guides. I do ring at 10 and piston at 20(approx) It’s the third set of tires, not counting the crappy Tusk brand we tried for two rides. Have greased the swingarm, linkage, and headset bearings twice but second time (30hr) wasn’t needed because everything still looked freshly greased. 

 3100 psi gas pressure washer stays hooked up to the hose next to my garage for every wash and I use a foam cannon and then blow dry with my air compressor. 

I think the people who believe a pressure washer will damage their bike are the same ones who hold the nozzle half an inch away from what they are trying to clean.

I always use a pressure washer. Never an issue with seals or bearings, although everything on the chassis gets cleaned and greased somewhat often 

Sounds like a lot of work.

Here in N.C if you dont pressure was your bike its going to look completely clapped in 20 hours.

When I get a new bike I tear it down before I ride it and grease and torque the chassis bearings.  I use a pressure washer but it's a somewhat low power electric one.  If you're going to the carwash only then I could maybe see an issue there.  Every winter I do the same tear down but I only do 25 hours or so a year these days.  Haven't had to replace a bearing in many, many years with this method. 

You haven't lived if you've never experienced the joy of opening a steering head and then hearing that rhythmic raining sound as they poured onto the garage floor, leaving you to chase them into every dark nook and cranny. It was especially fun if when you got done putting them back in place you had a gap like a missing tooth staring at you because you were one short. 😆

OP is asking about VMX, different world. Pressure washer was a real problem back then.

I’m pretty sure the professional teams use them. 😂I’ve always pressure washed my motorcycles.

If you have damaged your bike with a pressure washer, you are doing it wrong. 
If you haven’t damaged your bike from using a pressure washer, you’re wasting your time without one. 

I have used a gas pressure washer on every motorcycle that’s been in my possession over the last 30+ years. My kids went through 50+ bikes and I’m around the same over my lifetime. 

Not getting crazy on the linkage, swingarm pivot and headset bearings is really the main concern. 
But I do like drying them with a leaf blower or air compressor, it helps get all the water out. I start every bike and let it come up to temp, then check fluids, etc. 

I put a doubled up paper tower over the air cleaner, if it’s not getting changed. (Keeps the water from getting the filter wet) then remove it after washing. 
Otherwise I’ll put the paper towels in the air boot and use a wash cover to get the airbox cleaned up. The paper towels are just insurance, if the wash cover doesn’t seal well. Then install a clean filter. 

The same guys concerned about a pressure washer, probably still wear a kidney belt too. J/k

Be proactive and wait….actually had a leader say this once, I was so impressed with my self control 

lol

Hopefully not for a few decades. Once we got 10-12” travel, it really isn’t necessary. Of course it’s my opinion, but there’s some theory to it. 
I know a lot of professional motorcycle racers, from old dudes, to current racers and not a single one wears or even owns a kidney belt. 
Even the guys that race Baja, Desert, Hare Scrambles and Worcs races don’t wear them. 

There are some die-hard kidney belt users and there’s nothing wrong with that. Great back support if you can deal with that thing smashing your belly. Lol to each their own 

Yup, same here. 
My last kidney belt was a Gold Belt, can’t even remember who made it… maybe it was just “the gold belt” ? 
 

We strip them down every winter, disassemble, clean everything up, change bearings if necessary (usually the lower shock bearing in the linkage is a given) re grease and re assemble. It’s great to know your bike and that everything is ready to rip for spring. Also gives us something to do bike related over the awful northeast winter months. Cabin fever sets in quick!  And the power washer stuff cracks me up as well. You’re riding muddy tracks and washing your machine off with a garden hose? Ya ok. I’m not advocating for 8000 psi sand blast but a normal household pw is perfectly fine. I’ll be long done cleaning, drying, and lubing 2 bikes before you get a fender done.