Cleaning your bike

How much do you spend a month on cleaning things for your bike. Are you equipped with buckets,brushes,sponges, shampoo, degreasers etc etc - a whole host of stuff that would supply a small country or are you not as dedicated and struggle to find a sponge and a bit of fairy liquid somewhere about the house?

Just being nosey.

whatever it takes rather spend a few quid and have it working longer.

cover about 800 - 1000 miles per week on the tiger, used mon to fri and then cleaned on either fri night or sat ready for mon. I clean it using parafin to degrease the back wheel and to clean the chain. i use hippo wash and jet wash the bike. once dry i use pro pro prep on the plastics, engine, frame and wheels. and then a car polish on the tank and all painted panels. finally use afc 50 on the switches and wipe the chain over. chain adjusted, scotoiler topped up and tyres checked and we're ready to go. it takes about an hour all in each week. once a month i strip clean and regrease the brake calipers. covered 58,000 miles since march 2007 and the bike still comes up like new. still on original bearings as well. i spend probably max £25 per month on cleaning, polish and afc 50.

cleaning your bike needn't cost much, Ive never thought of it in price terms? a tube of autosol lasts me ages, WD40 i buy in 5ltr's @ £20 thats gonna last years and i just wash her over with car shampoo, when she gets waxed i use car wax or when she gets a quick polish i use furniture polish.

I cleaned my bike today. Then went out on it and got it dirty again. I'll occasionaly buy a new sponge, and I'll buy some wash&wax when it runs out. I WD40 any parts that need it and put thicker more oily stuff in parts that really need it (see: clutch mechanism etc).

I have brought one tube of autosol in my time. Still have that one tube. In the summer i'll give the ol' downpipe a polish.

I'll T-cut the end can every now and then, but thats cheap because I nick me dads t-cut. Sometimes use a bit of furniture polish on the plastics, but not really fussed.

As long as its not caked in grit and grime on the area's where corrosion is a worry, then I don't mind

Originally Posted by busasean

cover about 800 - 1000 miles per week on the tiger

Sean - how/why do you do such a high mileage? Business? What do you do for a living?

My bike - well it gets cleaned when I have time, which is not that often. I buy the potions I need as and when - less than a tenner a month

Originally Posted by kwak zzr

cleaning your bike needn't cost much, Ive never thought of it in price terms? a tube of autosol lasts me ages, WD40 i buy in 5ltr's @ £20 thats gonna last years and i just wash her over with car shampoo, when she gets waxed i use car wax or when she gets a quick polish i use furniture polish.

furniture polish, a modern day miracle.

tis, seen the race teams using it too at oulton part this year.

[Wideboy]

Originally Posted by kwak zzr

tis, seen the race teams using it too at oulton part this year.

i use it aswell, brings up the blacks nicely like back to black but with out the crap

wow that rhymes

Originally Posted by kwak zzr

tis, seen the race teams using it too at oulton part this year.

still see factory suzuki using mr. sheene.