Men love to talk about their motorcycles, and so when a gentleman rode up the other day and parked next to the patio at Starbucks, I said “nice bike” and he said; “thanks man, but it looks like hell,” and later he got his coffee and came out to the patio to smoke and shoot the breeze. Indeed, I mentioned I was previously in the detailing industry once and too bad I was retired or I’d offer to detail his Harley.
We got to talking and he said he wanted to clean his bike himself but didn’t really know the best way to do that. So, I explained it to him. You see, there is nothing like a perfectly clean motor cycle to take out on a sunny weekend. Hitting the open highway on an iron horse is one a mankind’s greatest joys. Of course, getting that motor cycle clean isn’t so easy, as you just cannot take it out to a car wash, and most detail shops either don’t wish to do them, or really don’t have the expertise or care to do it right; the way you’d like to do have it done.
Before you clean your motorcycle cycle you will need some supplies;
1. Chrome Cleaner
2. Aluminum Cleaner
3. Saddle Soap
4. Leather Cleaner
5. Mild classic car wash soap
6. Some tooth brushes.
7. A couple of sponges (one large, one small)
8. A small bucket
9. A hose with a nozzle that adjusts pressure
10. It also helps to have an air-compressor with an air nozzle chuck
11. Micro-fiber towels, terry cloth towels, or chamois
12. Applicator for wax
13. Spray bottle with citrus cleaner
Now you need to clean your motor cycle following this careful method
1. It’s best to clean your motor cycle after it has been sitting a while, so you do not burn yourself when cleaning the parts.
2. Put a cover over the air-intake
3. Find the most oily areas to do first, and wet them down.
4. Pre-spray some cleaner on these areas and then use your brushes and sponge.
5. Keep spraying these areas periodically.
6. After you’ve cleaned all those dirty areas, wet the bike down spraying mostly front to back and top to bottom.
7. Soap up the bike and rinse, all areas.
8. Use saddle soap on leather, and rinse completely.
9. Dry off the main parts with a chamois, terry cloth towel, or use micro-fiber towels.
10. Blow out with air-compressor all cracks and crevasses, and dry again.
11. Next, after it is perfectly dry, clean the aluminum with special aluminum cleaner, chrome with chrome cleaner, and wipe.
12. Finally put some wax on the painted areas.
13. Buff off the wax and continue to look around the motor cycle for any small areas which need improvement.
I felt bad when he left because he scribbled the whole thing down on a Starbucks napkin and threw it into his leather jacket – and basically rode off into the sunset. So, maybe you should download this article and print it out and leave it in your garage for future use?
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