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PandaAttack1

PandaAttack1

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How often do you guys wash your bikes, and then what process do you follow?

My Ducati seems to be more sensitive to dust/dirt/bugs than my S1000R.

In my kompleks, we are not allowed to use hose pipes to wash cars/bikes. So I am trying to figure out what would be the safest (for the bike) and efficient way to do my weekly washes.

I got one of those 2L pump bottles to spray down the bike, then very soapy water and gentle scrubbing on panels. I spray diluted APC on chain, wheel and engine/suspension areas. I agitate here with detail brushes, and a different mf towel for the wheels and larger areas. Then I spray down the bike again with my 2L pump bottle with clean water. After I towel dried the bike, I spray a quick detailer over the shiny bits and buff over.

Any alternative method or ideas are welcome.

After these washes I will apply chain lube, and plan to clean the chain then once a month with paraffin and a chain brush.
 
PandaAttack1 said:
How often do you guys wash your bikes, and then what process do you follow?
Click to expand...

Comparing our bikes is like comparing a Ferrari to a beach buggy, but I'll contribute to the thread anyway :)

She gets a wash when she's dirty. Initial rinse to get rid of mud etc, then I have one of those pressurised sprayers you use for weed killer etc to spray diluted Shield car wash soap. Three cloths; one for shiny bits, one for greasy bits and a separate one for gritty bits to avoid scratches elsewhere. Rinse, dry with a chamois, silicon spray on everything except hot bits, saddle and grips. Done.
 
iamgigglz said:
Comparing our bikes is like comparing a Ferrari to a beach buggy, but I'll contribute to the thread anyway :)

She gets a wash when she's dirty. Initial rinse to get rid of mud etc, then I have one of those pressurised sprayers you use for weed killer etc to spray diluted Shield car wash soap. Three cloths; one for shiny bits, one for greasy bits and a separate one for gritty bits to avoid scratches elsewhere. Rinse, dry with a chamois, silicon spray on everything except hot bits, saddle and grips. Done.
Click to expand...
I ordered a quick detailer product with some hydrophobic properties to try and keep the dust and bugs from 'sticking' to the paint.

I'm sure mud and grub easily sprays off with the silicone spray on the bike? If it rained before a ride, I would usually spray a liberal amount of silicone spray inside my dirt bike's mud guards. No packed up mud for me.
 
I have two kinds of wash, bike only(whenever its dirty), and bike + chain (once every four normal washes)

If I do the chain as well, I do the chain first.
So chain cleaner to get rid of all the gunk on there.
Wash with the same three cloth strategy. Dry with lint-free cloths and then re-apply chain lube 24hours later just to make sure its dry before being sprayed.

Personally, I don't like silicon spray though, looks great on initial application but it looks worse for me after a few hours in the sun than it did before being applied.
 
ovisser1 said:
I have two kinds of wash, bike only(whenever its dirty), and bike + chain (once every four normal washes)

If I do the chain as well, I do the chain first.
So chain cleaner to get rid of all the gunk on there.
Wash with the same three cloth strategy. Dry with lint-free cloths and then re-apply chain lube 24hours later just to make sure its dry before being sprayed.

Personally, I don't like silicon spray though, looks great on initial application but it looks worse for me after a few hours in the sun than it did before being applied.
Click to expand...
Do you use any quick detailer, polish, sealant products on your fairings?
 
ovisser1 said:
Personally, I don't like silicon spray though, looks great on initial application but it looks worse for me after a few hours in the sun than it did before being applied.
Click to expand...
I'm using Shield Sheen Cockpit - no such issues. It's "Cherry scented" though so my bike smells like an Uber parking lot for an hour or so...
 
PandaAttack1 said:
👀 no...

Jk, as long as there is some wax/protectant in the wash to help protect that clear coat against UV it should be good.
Click to expand...
This bike gets minimal UV treatment :cry:
Working from home and not being the social kind means this bike is in a garage 99% of its life.
Garage parking at work and at home.

I did 13'000km in the first 6months of owning it( July 2019 - Jan 2020), and only 3500km from there to date.
I do about 100km a week now in total (Shared between car and bike when it is raining).
 
ovisser1 said:
This bike gets minimal UV treatment :cry:
Working from home and not being the social kind means this bike is in a garage 99% of its life.
Garage parking at work and at home.

I did 13'000km in the first 6months of owning it( July 2019 - Jan 2020), and only 3500km from there to date.
I do about 100km a week now in total (Shared between car and bike when it is raining).
Click to expand...
This is the saddest thing I've read all week. F.

I've put down 1.2k km on my Ducati since ownership 2 weekends ago, and now she's hella dirty cause of the rain in Pretoria the last 2 days. Time to start the beemer up again.
 
PandaAttack1 said:
This is the saddest thing I've read all week. F.

I've put down 1.2k km on my Ducati since ownership 2 weekends ago. Time to start the beemer up again.
Click to expand...
When you do a breakfast run again, let me know and I'll tag along.
I used to go out a lot more with my brother on runs, but he only has two throttle modes (idle and open taps) and can't talk about anything other than his GSXR, so it got boring quickly.
 
ovisser1 said:
When you do a breakfast run again, let me know and I'll tag along.
I used to go out a lot more with my brother on runs, but he only has two throttle modes (idle and open taps) and can't talk about anything other than his GSXR, so it got boring quickly.
Click to expand...
Whoo! We will make arrangements. We try to consider everyone's pace, ability and what they're there for. Then we adjust our ways accordingly. Hooligan ride = hooligan behaviour. Outride with @Wacko_ZA I know it will be a slow 2nd, 3rd gear type ride. If his wife joins it's a nice cruise to where ever we're going.
 
PandaAttack1 said:
Whoo! We will make arrangements. We try to consider everyone's pace, ability and what they're there for. Then we adjust our ways accordingly. Hooligan ride = hooligan behaviour. Outride with @Wacko_ZA I know it will be a slow 2nd, 3rd gear type ride. If he's wife joins it's a nice cruise to where ever we're going.
Click to expand...
Yea that's normally how it is, but 2nd gear for the MT10 is about 140 compared to (I guess) close to 200 for the Ducati ?
@D3TTOL might also be keen if I bring a spoon along.
 
Last edited:
ovisser1 said:
This bike gets minimal UV treatment :cry:
Working from home and not being the social kind means this bike is in a garage 99% of its life.
Garage parking at work and at home.

I did 13'000km in the first 6months of owning it( July 2019 - Jan 2020), and only 3500km from there to date.
I do about 100km a week now in total (Shared between car and bike when it is raining).
Click to expand...

Same boat - I did 3247km between 28 Dec 2019 and 20 Dec 2020.
 
PandaAttack1 said:
Whoo! We will make arrangements. We try to consider everyone's pace, ability and what they're there for. Then we adjust our ways accordingly. Hooligan ride = hooligan behaviour. Outride with @Wacko_ZA I know it will be a slow 2nd, 3rd gear type ride. If his wife joins it's a nice cruise to where ever we're going.
Click to expand...
slow 3rd gear? you passed me twice in 4 hours on saturday you noob :D
And my wife will be faster than you on a track, that you are too scared to go to.

But to add my 50c to the wash chat...
Pappa wacko treats his ladies with respect.
First, I use Motul mag/rim cleaner to properly clean those forged bad boys.
Then, the pressure washer comes out, to rinse the motul goodies off, and all the big dirty bits (usually @PandaAttack1's tears) off.
I use my pressure washer with the karsher soap and foam my ladies up till they look like snow angels.

Next up is a wash with a clean, usually new microfibre cloth, with 2 buckets with HOT AS F water in. the cloth comes off the bike, rinsed in one bucket, then the cloth gets rinsed in clean water, and back onto the bike.
Once done with that its a blast with the washer to make sure all the soapy goodness is gone. followed by drying the ladies with a chamois.

Lastly I tend to go over my girl with either detail ease, or Motul polish/wax to make them look good for the next time I wreck panda on a pull.
 
Wacko_ZA said:
slow 3rd gear? you passed me twice in 4 hours on saturday you noob :D
And my wife will be faster than you on a track, that you are too scared to go to.

But to add my 50c to the wash chat...
Pappa wacko treats his ladies with respect.
First, I use Motul mag/rim cleaner to properly clean those forged bad boys.
Then, the pressure washer comes out, to rinse the motul goodies off, and all the big dirty bits (usually @PandaAttack1's tears) off.
I use my pressure washer with the karsher soap and foam my ladies up till they look like snow angels.

Next up is a wash with a clean, usually new microfibre cloth, with 2 buckets with HOT AS F water in. the cloth comes off the bike, rinsed in one bucket, then the cloth gets rinsed in clean water, and back onto the bike.
Once done with that its a blast with the washer to make sure all the soapy goodness is gone. followed by drying the ladies with a chamois.

Lastly I tend to go over my girl with either detail ease, or Motul polish/wax to make them look good for the next time I wreck panda on a pull.
Click to expand...
I think those pull discussions should be left for another thread... Don't want to mess up my bike wash thread with your excuses. :ROFLMAO:
 
I don't wash often maybe every month il do a general wash and not the clay and ceramic. Il do a full clean and cermic coating every 6 months.

I Pre wash with water only on a light pressure spray and use my dirtbike chain cleaning mix (blue stuff, works like a charm), then with warm water and Meguires gold class or Feynlab pure wash I do the first wash with a microfibre sponge.

After wash I rinse off and dry with microfibre cloth.

Then generally use some Meguires clay lightly if needed and then wash again and dry.

I finish with Feynlab ceramic spray.

Il use warm water, Meguires gold soap and sponge on the lights and front fender because of bugs, that's a quick thing before the weekend. Maybe spritz a detailer if its not dusty.
 
Firstly let me say I dont wash my baby nearly as often as she deserves.
However, in a ideal world I would first use one of those Karcher soap dispenser nozzles on a high pressure hose to get the bike nice and soapy and to also lift off most of the dirt/dust/bugs etc on her. This also gets into the harder to reach places.
Then I will use the high pressure hose on mist/light spray to clean off the soap, then it's just polishing, cleaning mirrors, screen etc thats left.
Also maybe go a bit harder on the rims as these can be a bitch to clean by hand, but the brake dust etc stuck on there can also be tough to clean if you dont have a gloss paint job on your rims (i.e they aren't perfectly smooth).
 
ovisser1 said:
This bike gets minimal UV treatment :cry:
Working from home and not being the social kind means this bike is in a garage 99% of its life.
Garage parking at work and at home.

I did 13'000km in the first 6months of owning it( July 2019 - Jan 2020), and only 3500km from there to date.
I do about 100km a week now in total (Shared between car and bike when it is raining).
Click to expand...
Same. I did almost 25k km in the first 1.5 years, but I've started it once since 8 Nov :(
 
SCHNITZER ZA said:
Every time after riding :ROFLMAO: its a dirt bike.
Click to expand...
My KTM also gets a pressure wash and foam session after every ride. Unfortunately, I can't use a pressure washer at my kompleks where my road bikes live.
 
Last edited:
I’d say probably about every 2500km with a Meguiars washing product and two buckets and their fancy gloves.

Every other wash will usually wax it as well.

I use the Quick Detailer but only soon after a wash when caught by some rain, I don’t trust anything as a waterless solution when it’s properly dirty and dry.

I’ve seen their Muck Off kits meant to be used without water but I just can’t.

Of course every 10,000km BMW washes it for me, but with Covid I’m starting to consider doing what my mates do and just dropping it there for the free wash every time I go to the office.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
SauRoN said:
I’d say probably about every 2500km with a Meguiars washing product and two buckets and their fancy gloves.

Every other wash will usually wax it as well.

I use the Quick Detailer but only soon after a wash when caught by some rain, I don’t trust anything as a waterless solution when it’s properly dirty and dry.

I’ve seen their Muck Off kits meant to be used without water but I just can’t.

Of course every 10,000km BMW washes it for me, but with Covid I’m starting to consider doing what my mates do and just dropping it there for the free wash every time I go to the office.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
Click to expand...
Nice routine.

What bike do you have my dude?
 
ovisser1 said:
Yea that's normally how it is, but 2nd gear for the MT10 is about 140 compared to (I guess) close to 200 for the Ducati ?
@D3TTOL might also be keen if I bring a spoon along.
Click to expand...
16073a00d76a74acea5eec71ba8ad731.jpg
 
Spent some intimate time cleaning the S1000R yesterday afternoon...

I am having difficulty reaching everywhere on these silly naked bikes. Feels good driving a clean bike around though, she was hella dirty.
 
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