Bike cleaning

After a long, long.... time and many many liters of mucoff and much much more disappointment with the result. I've found something that is actually really good at cleaning the bike. It's Comma TFR concentrate mixed with roughly 50-70% water. Wet the bike, hand spray the TFR on lightly all over the bike and then quickly was off with a power washer. It seems to kinda be like WD40 when you use that for cleaning stuff. 
Only thing I have to complain about is that if you get it on your discs then you will need to drag them for a short distance (100ft) before they come back to normal operating grippiness. 

What does everyone (apart from ET as he doesn't clean his bike) use to clean their bikes?

I try not to get it dirty in the first place! I find parrafin is good for the really mucky bits.

And you can't beat a bucket, sponge and a bit of car shampoo.

Don't get too keen with the jet wash. The electrics don't like them.

TFR works fine for cleaning but keep it away from metalic paint as it eats it. It'll even start leaving a matt finish dull after a while.

On the odd occasion I clean my bike (think I may have the same affliction as ET ) I use Fenwicks FS-1 diluted 10-1 in a spray bottle or neat for degreasing as I got a load for my MTB. Works fine when finished off with a good spray of GT85 everywhere except brake surfaces.

Jameshambleton wrote:After a long, long.... time and many many liters of mucoff and much much more disappointment with the result. I've found something that is actually really good at cleaning the bike. It's Comma TFR concentrate mixed with roughly 50-70% water. Wet the bike, hand spray the TFR on lightly all over the bike and then quickly was off with a power washer. It seems to kinda be like WD40 when you use that for cleaning stuff. 
Only thing I have to complain about is that if you get it on your discs then you will need to drag them for a short distance (100ft) before they come back to normal operating grippiness. 

What does everyone (apart from ET as he doesn't clean his bike) use to clean their bikes?

Well, what seems to work best for me is a sort of "little and often" approach. However I'm lucky in that even though I average several hundred miles a week, I don't have to ride if I don't want to - which means I can usually avoid rainy journeys. And this in turn means the bike isn't ever really getting the brunt of the weather and thus never needs that much of a clean.

But, that said, it will be often be used on wet/damp roads and can still collect a fair amount of crap. Particularly in winter.

Firstly, I never use water or water and detergent on the bike. I'm lucky enough to have a garage - a wet bike will go in there, and I have a fair few rags that will be used to wipe the worst off. I then let the rest of it dry before going to work on it with cleaner, oilier rags - and I will use diesel on other rags too. Shocks, swing arm, frame, headers, anything else I can get to. All get oily ragged, maybe some diesel cloth wipe downs here and there. Then a cleaner rag after that. Then it's chain and sprocket - which can either be a two minute job if it's been dry riding or 10 or more if wet.

I pretty much do all this after every ride - but as 90% of my miles are dry(-ish), it's a 10 minute job. No dirt really has chance to build up, and time is minimised.

I appreciate this kind of regimen may not be entirely practical if the bike is someone's only form of transport - however even then I'd say that some such due diligence is in order because unlike cars most bikes are comparatively maintenance-hungry beasts. And soon deteriorate if given the chance - be they Honda, Suzuki or of Chinese origin. Almost impossible without a garage or shed though.

I let all the mud and crap build up over the winter as a protective coating and it kinda worked but I won't be doing the same next year, she'll be getting hosed off after every ride. Since then I've been trying to slowly remove all the mud and stuff. I found that TFR did a great job at removing most parts including on the engine fins that a toothbrush can't quite get to

Have you used AcF50, James - if s what's it like?

Never got round to getting some or any Optiglanz for that matter, @badseeds did you ever end up getting any Optiglanz?

I use ACF 50 on all my bikes. It's an excellent corrosion inhibitor.

Best in liquid (not aerosol) form. Ideally sprayed from a parrafin gun.

Yes but it's notorious for making bikes look quite grotty, pretty quickly - I suppose because it must hold onto dust and other particles of road shite. Now this isn't a problem in and of itself, necessarily. But if your preference is for a bike that always looks clean, won't this mean you have to keep washing the dirt off - and if you wash the dirt off, does the acf50 come with it? If so, do you then have to go through all the rigmarole of reapplying the acf50. Idgi

Mine doesn't look grotty - ever!

The trick is to have a very thin coat of ACF.

So do you brush it on or use one of them fancy pants paraffin gun efforts you're always going on about? If latter - does need compressor thing? How work?

sullivj wrote:Mine doesn't look grotty - ever!

At 1500 miles a year, I should think so too.

Once a year, I wash it with water, dry it with the compressor and then use the parrafin gun, filled with ACF50, linked to a compressor, when I do an annual 'tank off' spray off the whole bike.

Intermittent cleaning, is normally done with an ACF soaked rag. If it's really mucky, I spray and wipe it with WD40 first.

If you think this is an Anal regime, talk to JerryFudd 

So does the compressor mean the applicator can create a very fine mist or how does it work, why's it preferable to just brushing the stuff on. Not owning a compressor and not really wanting to invest in one just for these purposes, the latter holds more practical appeal tbh.

Yes, you're right - it turns it into a fine mist. The gun also has a nice long lance, which allows you to get it into places you would struggle to spray with the trigger pump supplied (when you buy a litre).

There's some pictures here:

http://www.cb500club.net/t4130-acf50-winter-protection?highlight=Acf50

I bet this would be an ace thing to do to the underneath of a car every year.

If I had a ramp, I would! My 14 year old Beemer still looks stunning on top, but I bet it's not so nice underneath!

But we digress...!

Yeah - needs ramp. Or pit at the very least. Neither of which are easy to get the use of for most mortals.

Sulli I hope you've done something special today considering it's Tango's birthday

Jameshambleton wrote:Sulli I hope you've done something special today considering it's Tango's birthday

Is it?

So it is.. I just checked the paperwork!

She's 16 today, so I've just been out to the garage and lubed up her exhaust pipe!

I bet she is well chuffed

My guess is that she's well "baffled" 

May even be exhausted by the end

I find the snow foam works well, ph neutral and very inexpensive. I use it in the little bottle that attaches to the end of the Karcher. Foam the bike, leave for 5 minutes and then rinse with the pressure turned down. I'm a little and often type cleaner upper, and the snow foam takes 90% of the muck off. Then quick once over with shampoo and water, dry with a clean microfiber cloth, and Mr Sheen all purpose for the paint and plastics.