The Perfectionist's Guide to Washing Your Bike

Yeah, yeah, we know what some of you are thinking… “You’re supposed to wash your motorcycle?” We know a lot of you guys out there are adventure riders, dual-sporters, and hardcore long distance tourers, and that your idea of “washing your bike” is a power shower through a thunderstorm (if that.) But there are also a lot of us out there that are obsessed with having a pristine, spotless bike, and for us, there’s no better feeling than scrubbing and polishing our bikes until they are sparkling in the sun, making the neighbors jealous. If that sounds like you, our perfectionists guide to washing your motorcycle was made just for you!

In this guide, we’ll show you the right ways to get your bike spotless, the wrong ways you definitely want to avoid, and we’ll also give you some helpful tips and tricks to make the process a heck of a lot easier. Check it out, and as always, if you have your own helpful tips to share, post them in the comments below!

Part 1: Gathering the Right Supplies

Sure, grabbing an old t-shirt and a bucket with some dish soap might do the trick for some of you (you hooligans, you) but this is the Perfectionists Guide to Washing Your Motorcycle, and to do it right, the first step is getting the right products and tools to do the job.

Here’s what you’ll need (and why):

• A washing glove or mitt (you can use a microfiber towel, but a mitt will be a lot easier to use)
• Two wash buckets (one for clean, soapy water to wash with, and one to rinse your mitt as it gets dirty – we’ll explain more below)
• Motorcycle/car washing soap (these are pH balanced to not strip off coats of protective wax; many common household soaps are alkaline, and will)
• Spray degreaser (this will work well to bust off oil and grease of metal parts)
• Several microfiber cloths (for drying, and detail cleaning at the end)
• WD-40 (to displace water from metal parts, not as a lubricant!)
• Metal polish (to put a gorgeous shine on aluminum and chrome)
• One terry cloth rag (for the metal polish)
• An old toothbrush (to detail scrub hard-to-reach areas)
• Detailing spray or polish (to give the whole bike a once-over at the end to make it completely spotless)
• Rubber or nitrile gloves (generally makes the whole process easier on your hands, especially when using harsh chemicals like degreasers)

And here are a few things that will make your life a whole lot easier:

• An electric leaf-blower or air compressor (to blast water out of nooks and crannies and accelerate the drying process – trust us, this is the way to do it!)
• A front wheel stand or a set of stands
• A rolling stool
• Exhaust plugs (to keep water from running down your exhaust pipes)

If you have all that stuff already, well…you’re probably already a perfectionist, but keep reading cause you might learn some great tips from our years of combined experience. If not, gather as many of them as you can, and let’s get started!

Part 2: Washing Your Bike

Believe it or not, the usual suspects - dirt, bugs, and grime - do not cause the most damage to your paint. Instead, most damage to finishes on motorcycles is actually caused by improper washing; most riders cause more damage to their paint, plastics, and windshields by trying to clean them, but doing it all wrong. A dead bug won’t scratch your paint – but vigorously scrubbing it off while washing will, and that’s where many people get this whole “washing” process all wrong!

When washing your bike (or car or truck, for that matter), tiny pieces of grit that get trapped in your sponge or mitt are the enemy, because with every scrub you make, you’re dragging them all over the finish, creating more swirls. So the top priority in the Perfectionists Guide is keeping anything abrasive away from our soap and wash mitt, and using only gentle pressure on the finish to minimize swirling.

Awesome Tip #1: Use the 2-Bucket Washing System

That’s why, for perfectionists, we recommend using the 2-Bucket washing system. To do this, you will use one bucket for soapy water, which you will use to gently scrub the bike, and another to rinse it in, to remove all the grit from the bike you just picked up. By rinsing your mitt before you “refill” it with soap each time, you’ll keep a much cleaner mitt and have a much nicer finish. Don’t believe us? Try it once, and look at how much grit accumulates at the bottom of your “rinse” bucket – and imagine that being dragged all over the paint on your bike!

Step 1: Set up your washing area. Find an area with shade, and preferably with a slight incline, so water runs away from your work area. Don’t do this right after a ride; make sure your bike is cool (especially the engine and exhaust.)

Step 2: Put your bike on a front wheel stand (or set of stands) of possible. This will keep the bike perfectly upright, making it way easier to wash both sides. If you use front and rear stands, it will also make it a lot easier to wash the chain and wheels!

Step 3: Take a moment to check your bike over, looking for potential maintenance issues like oil leaks or leaky fork seals. You’ll want to know about these ASAP, and you won’t be able to see them after you wash. Plug your exhaust up, especially if you have high-exit pipes.

Step 4: Get your two buckets together, and fill both with clean water; add a soap made for automotive washing to one bucket.

Step 5: Spray down your entire bike with water. Do your best to blast off any loose dirt and grime, but resist the urge to use a pressure washer; these can strip off decals and force water into places it shouldn’t be, like electronics housings and bearings!

Step 6: Gently scrub down the bike with soapy water, working your way from top to bottom. This is important because going from bottom to top will move bigger chunks of grit and grime from the lower areas on your bike to the top, where they can scratch the more visible areas on your tank, fenders, and fairings.

Awesome Tip #2: To Get Rid of Bug Guts, Soak, Don’t Scrub

When getting rid of bug guts – which every rider has to deal with – the natural inclination is to scrub them off. Nope, that’s wrong! Scrubbing will get rid of them, but it is almost guaranteed to leave swirls behind too. Instead, try soaking them first. Wetting down your bike with soapy water and letting it sit will soften the guts and break them down back into their original gooey state, making them easy to wipe away with gentle pressure. If that doesn’t work, soak a cloth with warm water and lay it over the guts for a few minutes. That will work.

Step 7: Once the bulk of your bike is lathered up, shift your focus to the hard parts. Use degreaser on engine parts and elsewhere as necessary to remove grease. Let the degreaser sit for a minute on affected areas to break it down. If necessary, scrub them with a toothbrush or a separate cloth (but don’t use the wash mitt you’re using for the paint and chrome finishes, because you’ll contaminate it.)

Awesome Tip #3: Use a Washing Glove (If You Can Find One)

The best tool that you’ll ever use to wash a motorcycle is not a microfiber wash mitt, but a microfiber washing glove, which has individual fingers instead. This is awesome because you can get a single finger inside super hard to reach areas (like in between the coils of a shock spring) that would be almost impossible to get to otherwise!

Step 8: Now that your bike has been lathered up and scrubbed clean, it’s time to rinse. Spray the bike down with plenty of water, washing every last piece of grit away.

Part 3: Drying Your Bike – The New-School Way

Step 9: Now your bike is clean, but dripping wet, so it’s time to dry. The old school, slow, boring way is with a bunch of towels. But the super fast, convenient, unbelievably effective new school way is with an electric leaf blower. Blast the bike dry with it, focusing on getting all the water out of hidden crevices so it doesn’t run out and onto your finish on your next ride. (Note: do NOT “ride the bike around the block” to dry it off. That will just fling grit and grime back up onto your clean finish, before you detail spray or wax; that’s just begging for scratches!)

Awesome Tip #4: Use an Electric Leaf Blower for Drying

A blower will not only blast all the water out of crevices (that will eventually make it’s way out while you’re riding and leave spots anyway) but will dry large areas of your bike super fast. With a leaf blower you can have your entire bike bone dry within less than five minutes! They’re cheap too – about $30 will get you an entry-level leaf blower at most hardware stores. If you have compressed air, it will work to blast water out of crevices, but not to dry the entire bike, so it’s a distant second. A leaf blower will be the best motorcycle and car washing investment you ever make!

Part 4:The Finishing Touches

Step 10: With the entire bike completely dry, now you can do the finishing touches. Spray some detailing spray on a microfiber cloth, and run it over all the painted surfaces, giving them a nice even shine and removing any stray water spots. If you have metal finishes like aluminum or chrome, hit them with some metal polish (if you own a show Harley, you’re gonna be here a while – but you already know that!) If you want to, put a coat of quality wax on your painted surfaces, which will give them a deeper gloss, keep nasty things like bug guts from sticking to them in the future, and give it some UV protection to keep it from fading.

Do NOT use any kind of tire shine on your bike; you may thing it looks good, but if any of it runs into the tread, it’s gonna be slide city for you!

Step 11: Put on your sunglasses and admire your hard work, cause that bad boy is going to be gleaming!