Cleaning your pride and joy

[OB1]

I've been riding for over 30 years and love virtually all aspects of motorcycling... except for cleaning the damned things. Unlike a car with its huge expanses of flat-ish bodywork, bikes have loads of little nooks and crannies, hard to reach places and annoying sharp bits on which to scrape your knuckles... and I friggin' hate it! Because of this, my bike gets cleaned only a few times a year (whether it needs it or not... ha!) and, on some of those occasions, it'll be done by the Eastern Europeans down at the hand car wash - they are pretty good but, depending on who is there at the time, the price can vary from £5 to £15.

Another issue is that I have a tiny yard and no access to a hose or outdoor water supply.

Anyway... what this rant is all about is finding out if there is a product out there that I can just spray over the bike, leave for 5 to 10 minutes, then spray off? I know that there must be something out there but I want to know which products really work and are worth the money.

Your views will be appreciated.

[bill_qaz]

Muck-Off
It's a cleaner not an insult
I have used on trail bikes good stuff but any make of similar you use make sure it is well rinsed off any alloy surfaces a some brands do discolour if you don't

[daveuprite]

Anyway... what this rant is all about is finding out if there is a product out there that I can just spray over the bike, leave for 5 to 10 minutes, then spray off?

Not really. They all say that on the bottle and it's bullshit. What they really mean is;

'Just spray it on, leave it for 5 minutes, wash it off, discover that most of the muck is still stuck on, start again, spray it on, get a "brush", spend half an hour scrubbing like a loon, wash it off, discover that about half the muck has gone, start again etc etc.'

Anyway, here's the one I use on enduro bikes:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DUCK-SMART-E ... Sw8d9UrYSk

Mainly because it's quickly broken down organically and not oil/petroleum based. You still have to do all the scrubbing though, whatever it says on the bottle....

I did hear a story once about someone who had this thing called 'a friend who likes bike cleaning'. No, I didn't believe it either but apparently it was true. He actually enjoyed cleaning this guy's bike for him. Ideally you need to find one of them.

[simonw]

...if there is a product out there that I can just spray over the bike, leave for 5 to 10 minutes, then spray off?

S-Doc 100 is pretty much like that. Spray it on, leave it 10 minutes, then jetwash it off.

[Oop North John]

All year biker, ends up really clean and protected with ACF50, or something like it. Hardest bit is paying for it

[Godspeed]

...if there is a product out there that I can just spray over the bike, leave for 5 to 10 minutes, then spray off?

S-Doc 100 is pretty much like that. Spray it on, leave it 10 minutes, then jetwash it off.

+1 for SDoc, it’s expensive but good results

[lancashirelad]

I bought some SDOC-100 in a 2 for 1 offer at Hein Gericke years a go never used it till the other week and I was quite impressed by it to be honest.

[IanB]

Yep, it's expensive but it does what it says on the tin

[macvisual]

I've hardly ever washed my bike in many (many) years, I only use (fabulous) WD40 sprayed onto a rough cloth/old tea towel for the likes of both wheels/rims/front forks/rear swinging arm/exhausts etc, and Autoglym Instant Show Shine spray/polish for the plastic fairings and petrol tank. Been doing this for about 15yrs with truly excellent results.

That's it......... simple. I've been riding bikes around 38yrs.


Peter
Central Scotland

[TomBoyNI]

Another plus one for SDoc100from me, might need a bit of scrubbing still, there used to be a product called CYKO. It was great but I haven’t seen it anywhere in a few years now.