Never touched a Motorcycle. Tips on Detailing.

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deadlock32

New member
Hey a friend of mine's dad asked if I would detail his bike. I let him know that I would love to but wanted to find out what the major differences were before touching it. Are there any specific pointers for working with bikes.



I mean I've never owned one or washed one. Whats a simple wash procedure... lol I dont exactly want to just coat the entire bike with water. (do I?)



also are there certian product I should not use that you'd generally use on cars?
 
Check out Autogeek, they have a bike dteail help section, or try a search on here, been a efw threads lately.

Two biggest things...try not to soak instrument panels, even though weather resistant, why take the chance. Wash and clean them, but don't try to flood them.

Biggest thing, no tire shine, etc on the tires. Slick bike tires+ sudden death. Non slip cleaner on the seat as well. and Be prepared, bike have lots of nooks and crannies to detail, escpecially if its a cruiser, so tis gonna take you lots longer than a car detail.
 
We typically spend 2.5 to 4 hours washing a bike..depending on the class. I would imagine we have twice as many products and four times the tools than those use in automobile details. Its easy to wash a bike. Its very time consuming to detail a bike.

Tires? Every bike that leaves here has "water based" dressing on the sidewalls. Wiped on, not sprayed. Thats another one of those time consuming parts of the details.

If you currently use 303, that is very good for seats.

For dressers we have plastic inserts for speakers to keep a strong water flow out. Guages start out getting foamed just like the rest of the bike.

If you have very specific questions, that would be helpful. Its hard to judge what you have and how you would need to use it...doubtful you would want to purchase new equipment just to do one bike....example....during the wash process we use 6 buckets (3 X 2). Tires, motor and frame and paint are all kept seperate.

Couple of points....remove seat for washing.......remove side covers and hardbags for polishing.
 
I do regular detailing for a local BMW bike shop.

A typical detail on a used bike took me 2-2.5 hours.

I use a variety of brushes, microfiber mit and a strong citrus degreaser for the lower parts.

I never remove covers (on request of the dealer), but always take off cases/sadlle bags for polishing.

No need for a PC, just some good polish (O mostly use AIO/SRP and a final wax)

No dressing on tyres/seat, not even water based.

I you regulary drive FAST on a bike (I have a Ducati 999R) you will know the dangers of dressing, even water based...
 
A few tips:

- Don't use anything abrasive on the fork sliders.

- Be careful not to contaminate the brakes with anything.

- If the bike has a chain drive, use kerosene to clean the grime off the adjacent areas of the wheel and swingarm.
 
Dry it off with an electric leaf blower. I dress my seat with non-slippery dressing and have no issues. This is a personal preference and varies from bike to bike, seat to seat. Be careful on chrome (if you're doing a cruiser) because contrary to popular belief, it does scratch easy.



I just use a regular car wash now that I'm out of S100 Total Cycle Cleaner and find that it works just as well on my bike since there is no real serious grease/oil/dirt/grime.
 
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