How to properly wash your motorcycle

Shampoo, rinse, rub, dry: everything to shine the object of your pride

A few wise tips to save time, efficiency and beauty in longevity

Sunny days are approaching and there is nothing worse than being spotted on a very dirty motorcycle. A question of dignity, right? You may have black nails and forget to brush your teeth, but riding a dirty motorcycle is true. The question of priorities.

Of course, if your car sleeps under a tarp in a heated garage that sits on a thick carpet, it is probably in the same condition as when it first looked at the dealer's window. But for some privileged people, how many motorcycles run into the elements and sleep outside, sometimes in the rain and cold?

In addition to the pleasure of having a nickel machine, a clean machine is more resistant to excess time because oxidation is a chemical process that does not accept RTT. The use of protective equipment helps to postpone these deadlines. Finally, a clean motorcycle allows you to better detect, quickly, any leak or failure and fix it before it is too late; this will optimize the maintenance of the motorcycle. Here are some wise tips on the right cleaning agents to use to clean your motorcycle well.

Handwash

1. Start with a degreaser

We are not going to play it big feenyans: if we clean our motorcycle, we will clean it completely. However, there is really a painful part to clean up, these are the wheels, even more so from the side of the crutch if you have a secondary chain on the left. There are no miracles: start by negotiating or even dissolving all the beautiful layer of dirt collected in the right thick chain fat. How? For specific products, degreasers that are applied not with old panties without a future, but with a microfiber glove and left for a few minutes. Depending on the product, leave it on for 2-5 minutes in most cases, before rinsing, usually with soapy water.

But be careful, the degreaser is intended primarily for the chain and NEVER on paints and varnishes, risking tarnishing or even seriously damaging them.

2. No high pressure lance

A favorite of the former president with heels (and with some nervous tics at shoulder level), the high pressure lance is not necessarily recommended for washing a motorcycle. If it's perfect for cleaning cement, your motorcycle's paint and thin decals may be less enjoyable. In addition, pressure can force water to go where it shouldn't. Corrosion is not your motorcycle's only enemy: when you see certain electrical circuits made, you think that Kärcher will not hold the problems, but attract them. The same goes for the wheel and steering bearings as well as the secondary circuit.

Tips: Wash your motorcycle well, not with a high pressure lance

And if, in spite of everything, you want to wash at high pressure, you must carefully avoid bearings and electric seat belts, and even more so avoid throwing onto the saddle. The water then passes through to tart the underlying moss, which will decay more quickly than over time.

3. Choose freshness: water and motorcycle, they are cold

If you return from an off-road trip, you will be surprised to find that mud goes much better with cold water than with hot water. It's chemical ...

Likewise, it is tempting to wash your motorcycle immediately after returning from a trip. This is how it is done, we are quiet and we just have to sit on the couch to see Stéphane Plaza (my God, what a vision of the world!). Still, this is not a good idea. Metal parts expand with heat, and if they cool suddenly, they will contract too quickly, which will damage the surface finish first and then eventually weaken them. This is even more true of classic motorcycle exhaust gases that are coated with a thin layer of chrome.

Clear the motorcycle bubble

4. Do not wash your motorcycle in direct sunlight.

Even if it's nicer, don't wash your motorcycle in direct sunlight. And even smaller is a motorcycle that has been left in full sun for hours. Simply because heated paint becomes less resistant and can be easily marked with micro-scratches. Likewise, if you wash your motorcycle poorly, it can be difficult to leave soap marks on painted areas.

5. Only use products designed for motorcycles

Have you sold Médor to a Chinese restaurant and have a “special curly hair” shampoo? Well, it's a bad idea to consider finishing this on your tank. Use motorcycle products that contain elements that do not attack the parts to which they are to be attached. There are foam, spray and water shampoos. But there are also anhydrous products, not forgetting about pre-soaked wipes with products. But for lack of anything better, mild dishwashing liquid can work just as well as when there was no motorcycle specific product available.

Tips: Wash the motorcycle well, use cold water

6. Use a soft and damp cloth

Suppose the dust is very small particles and that if you crush it with a dry cloth, it will scratch. So either you're nostalgic for the 33 moves (but congratulations if you achieve the same line regularity), a soft and slightly damp cloth will allow you to avoid those indelible marks. And while you're a maniac, you can use two containers for rinsing, one for dirt and one for soap. This way, you don't fall back on the dirt you just removed. This is not Nutella either.

microfiber for cleaning motorcycle fairing

If you are green, you are getting an old t-shirt or panty. If you are smaller, you will buy microfiber (about 2 euros). Please note that more and more products are found in combinations, i.e. with product and microfiber. Be careful, not all microfibers are created equal and are often adapted to the type of surface for which they will be most effective. Finally, they can only be cleaned with water.

The three microfibers below clearly show differences in weaving and therefore in efficiencies, depending on the material, not to mention their ability to stain more or less quickly.

Sponge and microfiber

There are also long cuff gloves that allow rubbing without getting dirty.

7. Don't let water stay in the hollow parts

Already in "Le Grand Bleu" Jacques Mayol said this: the water rusts. This way, you don't want to wash your motorcycle, and then, while you feel a job well done, let the insidious evil gnaw on the inside of it. So, so that water does not remain inside the exhaust gases, for example, the solution: start the engine and start it a little. You can even see some of the vapor evaporate. This is proof that you are doing well.

8. Good wax for finishing

To keep it shining permanently, finish with wax, which you apply with a matching small pad. Again, no pump wax or parquet wax, even if it smells like honey. But wax or varnish is made for plastic surfaces and another for metal surfaces.

Tips: Wash your motorcycle well, gently

9. Lubrication after washing

In a big splash of obsession, you'll think about lubricating the essential elements after you wash and dry your motorcycle. For example, a slight blow to the cables and around the crutches will not hurt. And don't forget about the chain, perhaps after a very short walk of several kilometers, because the fat is absorbed better by the hot chain.

10. Minimum maintenance between two large washings

You can spend two hours properly cleaning your motorcycle, and this is not necessarily something that you can do often. Thus, the main thing is to keep your car at a "presentable" level during these periods of time. Remove the mosquitoes after every big trip and even more pigeon droppings that attack the paintings instead of letting them dry forever. Pass the protective silicone layer regularly. This is a way to keep your motorcycle presentable and in good condition for a long time.

In conclusion

To wash your motorcycle, at least you need 1 bucket of water + 1 old sponge + 1 old T-shirt + dishwashing liquid.