Cleaning Kit

ok so I'm excited about getting my new bike on 1st march...

just putting together a cleaning kit, what does everyone recommend?

I hard muck-off is pretty good, what does every one use for polishing the exhaust?

ta peeps

Cheap car shampoo, WD40 and Mr sheen. Cheap at twice the price

Mr Sheen on a bike.....my mum would be so proud!

Cheers

They tend to not to be so proud when you throw your oil rags in with the dust cloths

If you can get hold of it try MER
Fantastic stuff you can either pour some into the hot water and use it as a shampoo or use it as a polish.
With this stuff you can do the headlights as well as the chrome and trust me it brings it up like new.
Although it is a bit pricey.

I use:

a fairly high pressure hand-held plant sprayer filled with warm water for general cleaning.

WD40

Cheap car wax for the paint on the tank (works wonders, and looks better than a tankpad IMO)

I use autosol on my exhaust (downpipe in particular). Apply with a toothbrush for vigorous scrubbing, cloth to buff.

Lots of kitchen roll to clean off the above!

Don't use chemical cleaners on the wheels etc (e.g. Wonder Wheels) as they start to slowly take the paint off. WD40 or household polish (Pledge, Mr Sheen) works just fine.

Don't use a power washer as it forces water into places that doesn't want it and can cause things like electrics to go AWOL and wheel bearings to fail.

Don't use washing-up liquid as it contains salt and you'll just help the bike corrode. Use any cheapo car wash shampoo.

If you don't like to clean your bike very often (not something I comprehend ) then use a hard wax on the paintwork or if you like a shiny bike then Pledge gives a better shine but doesn't last as long so will need regular applications (which is the right thing to do, naturally ).

The exhaust header pipe will need constant attention and most chrome cleaners work fine but after much (joyful) experimentation I'm now using Lord Sheraton Brass and Copper Polish which is available in Tesco etc and is simply excellent. As for polishing the original exhaust can, don't - replace it with something that sounds amazing .

And as for vinyl, Mer do an excellent external vinyl cleaner (Halfords).

Make a note not to throw away old clothes - cut them up, put them in a large bag and use them as cleaning cloths (gussets work best as they're double thickness, so chuck away the crotchless panties as they're completely hopeless ).




.

[Spiderman]

Originally Posted by jonboy

Don't use chemical cleaners on the wheels etc (e.g. Wonder Wheels) as they start to slowly take the paint off. WD40 or household polish (Pledge, Mr Sheen) works just fine.

Don't use a power washer as it forces water into places that doesn't want it and can cause things like electrics to go AWOL and wheel bearings to fail.

Don't use washing-up liquid as it contains salt and you'll just help the bike corrode. Use any cheapo car wash shampoo.

If you don't like to clean your bike very often (not something I comprehend ) then use a hard wax on the paintwork or if you like a shiny bike then Pledge gives a better shine but doesn't last as long so will need regular applications (which is the right thing to do, naturally ).

The exhaust header pipe will need constant attention and most chrome cleaners work fine but after much (joyful) experimentation I'm now using Lord Sheraton Brass and Copper Polish which is available in Tesco etc and is simply excellent. As for polishing the original exhaust can, don't - replace it with something that sounds amazing .

And as for vinyl, Mer do an excellent external vinyl cleaner (Halfords).

Make a note not to throw away old clothes - cut them up, put them in a large bag and use them as cleaning cloths (gussets work best as they're double thickness, so chuck away the crotchless panties as they're completely hopeless ).




.

And thats from someone who knows a thing or two about cleaning.
If you want your bike to look like its still in the showroom... even tho its on the road... take Jonboys advice.

Ignore the "chuck away the crutchless" remark. Give em to the mrs.

If you want to try the "made for bike" stuff, the auto-glym range is pretty good! (I got a good deal at HG a while ago...)

cheers every one!