Cleaning day - chore or cherish?

After 6 straight days of rain we had a let up yesterday - and no this ain't Seattle.

I got caught in it couple times and then just riding through puddles - bike was getting kinda messy...

Maybe I'm just getting lazy - but for the life of me I just didn't feel like washing that bike...

So after a pot of coffee and my motivational mantra I filled the bucket with hot soapy water and went out and opened the garage...

There she sat all covered in water spots and road crud - not to mention the droplets of oil that occasionally spit out of the air cleaner act as dirt magnets on the front side of the right bag. Basically I had my work cut out.. I rolled the bike to the end of the driveway ran the hose out there and just started doing what took me years to improve - I washed the bike. Washing a bike isn't like washing a car... you've got a plexy windshield - not glass, then your steel painted surfaces, fiberglass painted surfaces, plastic painted surfaces, chrome surfaces, wrinkle painted surfaces, and greasey grimy gritty surfaces...

Wash these in the wrong order and you can ruin your windshield, paint and scratch the chrome. Get wax on the wrong surfaces and it looks like crap.

I have a mitt - fake sheepskin that my hand fits inside of - I've cut my hand on the bottom of the luggage rack every time I don't use it.

I don't know if this happens because of the hard water out here - or if its the wax reacting with the water?? but as I wash my bike the bags and side covers - painted fiberglass and plastic - get spots that look like its in the paint and it makes it look like the paint job died. As soon as they dry out they go away but it doesn't happen on the tank and fenders - painted steel. I use to think it was the detergent I was using - Dawn for dishes - so I went out and got real car wash detergent from a name brand and it still does it. It never did when it was new - but it looks like crap until its dry. Maybe its the layers of wax...

Now that I've used the oven cleaner on the windshield I have to take extra care not to scratch it. I wash that bare handed so I can feel any grit before I wipe it back and forth.

I found out the hard way - don't do a good job and it will bite you in the butt. Any chrome that you don't get clean this time around will only be harder to get clean the next time. My nacelle and light bar/ passing lamps - is getting sand blasted on the freeways... well actually every thing gets sandblasted on these free ways - but my chrome is starting to get pitted. If I don't get a really good heavy coat of wax on it - it starts to tarnish and looks like it might even rust. It probably takes a good 20 minutes of rubbing to get that stuff clean and waxed right.

By the time I finished - It took me about 2 hours of cleaning, wiping down and waxing to get that bike looking right.. I started out dreading it and after 2 hours... I was whistling and smiling and feeling like a proud papa... I guess its only a chore if you think of it like one...

I threw a coat of wax on the header - as the bike warmed up I got a whiff of that new bike smell - cherish the things that make you smile, guys - these are the times we'll look back on.

Chore for me. After at least 35+ years of bike ownership I've got it down pretty good. S100. Thats right good old S100 sprayed on the bike after its cooled down, hose it off and wipe down. I buy it by the jug full . Did I say quick? LOL Then wax just the big parts first. Tank,tour pac and fenders for now. And more if I feel like it later. I just don't feel the need to wash and wax like its a show bike. Its a go bike. And never will let any of these bike wash people wash my bike. Not sure what their qualifications are besides big boobage,lol.

It might be the wax reacting to the soap in the water or quality of water used? Some places that have their water piped in like California have alot of chlorine added?

I spend a lot of time when it is clean, keep up on it with detailer, like it best when it is dirty, because when it is dirty I will ride it every day, don't care about rain salt, just don't care. sometimes I hate having it really spotless, cause I will take the truck instead of the bike to go to work and then the ride home is sunny as all hell and I am in the truck. love my bike dirty
deerslayer
and don't tell me to leave it dirty, i hate a dirty bike, ok I have a mental problem, but that is what the bike is for

HOLY SHI^
I think we drank the same water because I could not have said any of that better - especially the mental part...

And since we're tellin' it as it is... I haven't washed that bike since last August!!!! Thats The Truth.
If I didn't have a meet up to go this coming weekend, I'd have probably not washed it until next month.

BUT once that little bitch is clean - she sure does look sexy....

ONE question?
I cant really get the back wheel nice and clean without removing the bags... this wash I skipped it because of time and I just polished the wheels with the last wash...
Eventually you have to or are your arms able to fit in between - how do you get r done?

I think its the wax also - have you ever had anything like that happen to you? Water quality here is excellent... for watering the lawn - LOL - lots of minerals dissolved in it. Faucets get calcium deposits around the airateors and shower heads - I use CLR - Calcium Lime Rust remover. We get our water from under ground aquifers. They dam up the river in such a way that the rain water is absorbed into the ground and then pumped to filter stations. The hard water is why I have to wipe down the bike after a wash - if not I has white dots all over it. I give it a coat of wax to get ride of any residue and help keep it clean - I can spot clean it for the first couple weeks and then once it has an even coat of dirt on it I just ride it until I have a time that I'd catch too much crap for it being so dirty.

PEOPLE RESPECT A CLEAN BIKE MORE THAN A DIRTY BIKE.
I found people tend to stay away from my bike when it is clean and really shiny - when its dirty - they seem to think its an amusement park ride. Just one more reason to keep it clean i guess.

I have a lift for my bike so I jack up the bike on the lift, then clean and polish the rear wheel, I have chrome spokes and p spoke wheels also. I detail the bike most of the time when I get home. the lift makes this easy and at the same time I inspect the bike and do maintence at the same time. The lift is the best thing I have bought for my bike. For detailing I use Armorall works great spots are gone and I have some of the worst water in the US.

I bought a micro fiber drying towel I also have a real chamios that I got years ago and it still works the best for wiping down the bike to keep the water spots off. I have my bike jack but I don't trust it by itself - I keep the jackstands handy. I think for me the easiest way is still just pull off the bags and get in there with my spoke cleaning brush - really a toilet brush but don't tell anyone...
I did find some chrome wheel cleaner that is totally awsome for getting the spots I still can't reach and it works well - used it up and can't find it anymore.
I'm still thinking about the s100 stuff but seems like I'll still have to wipe and wax.
I have a funny story about the armor-all.
My friend told me years ago his son did him a favor and washed and detailed his bike... armorall on the seat and tires.. He said he almost slid off the back of the seat when he started out.

I have the cast iron rims, not spokes. So its spray and rinse too. Rolling the bike forward in incements.

S100 is the sh*t. The stuff is phenomenal. I'm not crazy about removing my saddle bags because it never fails to scratch them because of those saddle bag guards and the limited area to navigate/position them out or back in. The guards are the best and do their job protecting the rest of the bike but when it comes to taking off and putting back on the bags its very difficult to avoid the scratching

I'm pretty fortunate, here in Phoenix I mostly use spray on wipe off quick detailer for the dust and polish up the chrome every couple of weeks probably about 30 min tops. I have spokes and do as much of my own maintenance as I can myself. I was able to convince the boss into a good jack. I mean if it falls off the jack while I'm trying to save a buck by using a not so good jack than I kinda defeated the purpose of saving a buck I told her, I mean the boss. Bought a J&S Jack, not cheap but really good quality and Made In the USA, I will try to attach the link https://www.jsjacks.com/ but if it does not work do a search and click on the video that shows jacking of a full dresser

I wash mine every few months. I use Bike Spirits every couple of weeks and it takes about 30 minutes. Everytime I wash and detail the bike it rains.... even if just a little enough to undo the wash.