Motorcycle Cleaning and Your Attitude
How about a new way to look at cleaning your motorcycle? I’m term life insurance quotes going to tell you to make a list of cleaners and polishers as long as your arm. Tell you to go get them and swear to their ability to transform your scooter into the once proud machine that rolled off the line 30 years ago. Let’s face it there’s too many to list and talk intelligently about. My experience is most riders want a routine that works and they also want to know what they do wrong in the process so they don’t get the cleaning DEMON ATTITUDE! New Hampshire Lemon Laws know it isn’t easy but I think I can help.
First, let me tell you what turns me on the most about a really, really clean bike. I drive up to a friend’s place and get the same reaction I’ve gotten since I started riding 38 years ago, “man is that all you ever do is clean that thing”? No, I reply, my wife cleans it for me. It’s worth it just to see them turn that funny shade of green. No, my wife doesn’t clean my bike and that isn’t all I ever do. I’m like anyone else I’d rather ride the thing. So why don’t we get right to it, shall we?
Let’s start with what I think is about the most important thing “protect that attitude”. I know that isn’t where most people start however without it cleaning that scoot will always be a headache. How do I protect it? First, get a motorcycle lift. They’re not all that expensive these days. I got mine at Harbor Freight for about $300.00 and I can’t tell you how much easier it is to clean any bike. You can get them much cheaper even as little as $60.00 auto insruance so. But my point is to get that baby up in the air so you don’t have to hurt your knees, back or anything else. Nobody looks forward to kneeling or bending over for hours at a time. Do you think that might be a reason your friend’s bikes may not be so clean?
Second, “Time”, I try to give myself all the time I need so as not to be rushed. This is extremely important. If you don’t have enough time you will surely loose your focus, break a smooth routine and end with a bike half done. No doubt with an attitude that you wasted a great deal of time and you know your right you should have just jumped on that puppy and took off. Give yourself all the time you need and your whole world will turn easier. And when you do clean it your “good attitude” will go the distance. When you’re done all that work will leave you with a sense that it wasn’t so hard to do and doing it again won’t be so bad. And don’t forget to take breaks frequently, drink a little work a little, drink a little work a little you’ll be amazed how quickly you get finished and how much better you’ll feel.
Third, “Perspective”, if you’re going to protect that attitude you must have the proper perspective. This will include proper “focus” which will instill a smooth “routine”. Perspective means you’ll walk up to that bike and start cleaning the first section like you always have {I start with the handlebar and gages section} every time. This means I’ll focus on only that area and not leave it until its done while developing a routine “of muscle memory” in this area. I can’t stress this “muscle memory” enough, soon you’ll have cleaned an entire area and not remember doing it! Now that’s “focus”.
Forth, “Section the bike off”, in your mind’s eye. How many times have you seen a friend start on the mirrors and end up 5 minutes later on the exhaust tips and nothing in between done very well? I call this the “hop, skip and jump syndrome”. He’ll clean from marijuana addiction to spot for a long time and when he’s done the bike isn’t. The poor guy tried to clean the whole bike at once, never had focus, never had a muscle routine and ended, after too much time, with a bike that’s “ok” but not detailed like yours. Believe me he can tell and he knows you can too. Let’s help this guy, shall we? Here’s what I do.
a} I take the tank, side covers and seat off. If you have a sport bike take the body work off. And finally if you have a dresser I know it looks tough buddy but you got to “gitter done buddy” now strip that baby!
b} I section the bike in my mind and clean it as follows;
1: The headlight, gages, handlebars, hoses and all the cables that go to them. Clean those hoses and cables to the end and stop! Don’t get lost!
2: The front forks, hoses and calipers.
3: The front wheel. Stop, here’s where I take a breather.
4: The frame, start at the steering head and work back across the top and down one side include the foot pegs and rear shocks. Then, the other side of the frame pegs and shocks. Now all things attached to the frame including the rear fender. Stop! You deserve a drink.
5: Rear wheel, swing arm and rear brake caliper. This is often very dirty, be complete, stay focused. Now take a good break. You know what’s next.
6: The engine and trans. If I’m cleaning the carbs now’s the time. Then the top and front of the engine, spend a lot of detail time here this part takes a lot of abuse. Now across the top and down the back of the cylinders. Then the top of the trans. Now the side of the engine and trans. Then the other side. Now the bottom of both. Are you glad this thing is in the air, or what? No doubt this took awhile, take a break, I would!
7: The exhaust pipes. I start at the cylinder head and follow two pipes down to the collector on one side, then the muffler and brackets. Now do the same to the other side.
8: Finally, clean all the parts you took off in section {a}. Don’t put them back on yet!
c} Now, I wax and polish in the same way, one section at a time. This is the part of detailing the bike that most guys get lost. I might wax and polish one section but I don’t jump to another before I’m done. Keep that perspective, stay focused, you’ll be done before you know it and the job will be far superior.
d} Yes, now that you’ve waxed and polished those body pieces you can put them back on this impeccably clean motorcycle.
Well how does it look? Yes, I know if you did it all at once it’s been a long day. But I’ll tell you what, now that you’ve deep cleaned, polished and waxed it, all I do to keep it looking great is wipe it with a wet rag followed by a dry rag and that bike will shine right back up. I do this for the couple of minutes the bike is warming up. You’ll be surprised once you’re in the routine how easy it is and how seldom you have to deep clean. On that note I’d like to mention that I deep clean only twice a year. Now you know if I get caught in the rain the body work comes off but that’s just for a good soap washing and drying. However I still follow the same routine as outlined in the sections above.
One last word about cleaning products. As you have noticed I didn’t mention any particular brands. I’ll leave that to you because I think you’re plenty smart enough to go to any auto parts or motorcycle dealer and pick out good products. However that being said I’ll mention only a couple of suggestions to help newcomers. When I clean the really oily areas I use a rag I soak in mineral spirits from my parts washer or squirt it on from a bottle but after cleaning with the mineral spirits and before it dries I spray Simple Green on to dissolve the spirits and wash with a gentle stream of water. Also I use my air hose to blow drops of hidden water as I hand dry the section. That last tip puts me yards ahead of the others. You don’t need a powerful blast of air, easy does it, almost any amount of compressed air will do.
Remember its all about “ATTITUDE” protected by TIME, PERSPECTIVE, FOCUS and ROUTINE.
Ronn Hardy is an ardent student of money, history, current events as well as a novice entrepreneur and a 38 year enthusiast of motorcycling. You may find more informative information at ronnsjob.com
