revtothelimit - motorbike forum

Hey,

I'm Calum, and I'm new to this forum and looking for some bike cleaning tips. What products are people using?

Thanks

Soap, water and elbow grease.

Cleaning ? Wassat ?

You need to speak to @weeksy

Any way wot you riding? where you ridin' and

Ditchfinder wrote: Thu Oct 09, 2025 4:32 pm You need to speak to @weeksy

Any way wot you riding? where you ridin' and

I wouldn't even know where to begin these days. Most of mine was GT-85 and effort.

for dirt, then I have Isopropyl alcohol in a spray bottle for oily grunge with some stiff nylon brushes.

Brake cleaner if it absolutely isn't shifting with the above. All rinsed off with the hose after a quick dousing of car wash foam.

My bikes are both absolute shit heaps though so if you have nice plastics you might want to take better care

I bought this for £25 not that long ago. With a half decent spray bottle it gets the worst off. Wet bike first, spray this on, quick rub over with a sponge and rinse. Dry with pet dryer.

https://ebay.us/m/zzFF34

Welcome in Mister C.

I have my man do that cleaning thing.

I've used loads over the years. I think S100 cleaner is still the best but it's flipping expensive, it's the only one close to spray on/wash off and even then still requires mucky bits to be scrubbed, so I tend to go with cheaper options and more scrubbing. Currently using Motoverde concentrate which you mix 50/50 with water. It's ok enough and smells like matey bubble bath. It's much of a muchness with Oxford Mint and Muc Off which I've also used over the last few years. Generally I wet the bike, spray on leave for 5/10 mins and then hose off to get dust/bits off and then either use the bike wash with a cleaning mitt/brush or 2 bucket wash with Meguires shampoo for a proper clean. GT85 is great for oily bits. WD40 chain cleaner for the chain. In my experience nothing is spray on/wash off so there are no short cuts to a clean bike. Also a lot of the spray on cleaners dry very quickly on summer evenings, you'll never get 10 mins to leave it like it says on the bottle unless it's cold. So usually I end up washing the bike in sections. Takes ages.

I think Supermofo's donne a great job of explaining why my bikes always looked like I'd ridden through a field ...

Snow foam - game changer.

Trinity765 wrote: Fri Oct 10, 2025 10:47 am Snow foam - game changer.

Please tell us more.

Trinity765 wrote: Fri Oct 10, 2025 10:47 am Snow foam - game changer.

I thought it was a problem on bodywork ?
Happy to be corrected

I'd imagine you could make your own solution out of washing up liquid diluted into a spray bottle. Maybe something to thicken it a bit to slow run off.

SDOC100, maybe a bit of a scrub on the oily bits. Rinse, Snowfoam (usually autobrite), wait, rinse off, wipe down and then dry off, normally with a builders vacuum set to 'blow' to get the water out of the nooks and crannies. Then maybe some ACF50 to finish it off and a bit of protection.

Leave it out in the rain, let nature clean it

Taff wrote: Fri Oct 10, 2025 10:52 am

Trinity765 wrote: Fri Oct 10, 2025 10:47 am Snow foam - game changer.

Please tell us more.

asmethurst99 wrote: Fri Oct 10, 2025 3:24 pm

Trinity765 wrote: Fri Oct 10, 2025 10:47 am Snow foam - game changer.

I thought it was a problem on bodywork ?
Happy to be corrected

Disclaimer - my bike was ceramic coated two years ago when new.

I have no idea if it causes a problem with bodywork, so far it hasn't, but I will let you know. All of the bodywork on my bike is plastic.

I'm using Autoglym Polar Blast with the recommended mix of 1:5 and a battery powered jet washer. Method - cold bike, run over it with water and then a good coat of snow foam, leave for a few minutes while using a soft brush to loosen any crud and cleaning that brush in a bucket of cold water as I go. Then rinse bike with clean water. I miss out the next stop if I'm in a hurry - clean bike with car shampoo, cloths and sponges and rinse again. Wipe away any water marks with a microfibre cloth. I've recently started coating it with ACF 50 as I'm assuming that the ceramic is wearing off.

Trinity765 wrote: Sat Oct 11, 2025 7:42 am

Taff wrote: Fri Oct 10, 2025 10:52 am

Trinity765 wrote: Fri Oct 10, 2025 10:47 am Snow foam - game changer.

Please tell us more.

asmethurst99 wrote: Fri Oct 10, 2025 3:24 pm

Trinity765 wrote: Fri Oct 10, 2025 10:47 am Snow foam - game changer.

I thought it was a problem on bodywork ?
Happy to be corrected

Disclaimer - my bike was ceramic coated two years ago when new.

I have no idea if it causes a problem with bodywork, so far it hasn't, but I will let you know. All of the bodywork on my bike is plastic.

I'm using Autoglym Polar Blast with the recommended mix of 1:5 and a battery powered jet washer. Method - cold bike, run over it with water and then a good coat of snow foam, leave for a few minutes while using a soft brush to loosen any crud and cleaning that brush in a bucket of cold water as I go. Then rinse bike with clean water. I miss out the next stop if I'm in a hurry - clean bike with car shampoo, cloths and sponges and rinse again. Wipe away any water marks with a microfibre cloth. I've recently started coating it with ACF 50 as I'm assuming that the ceramic is wearing off.

Thanks Trinity
Fireblade owners facebook group(s) - Most seem to spend all their time polishing their bikes anyway.
Mines a bit tatty and has mismatched panels.
I bought a bottom of the line Karcher so i'll take the bit off the end to stop the jet washing away any grease on the bearings.
I've put some scott oiler equivalent of ACF 50 on it as i noticed some bolts getting very furry - they live outside under good quality covers.

I thought the OP might have been back to sell us something,at least.

I used to like using paraffin. Good degreaser and it used to leave a protective oily film on the bike. Not had any for years as our local DIY shops stopped stocking it. I now also use snow foam. Not cleaned the AT yet, as not even had it 6 months!