ULTIMATE SCRUBBER:
FIVE STEPS TO CLEANING YOUR BIKE
Every now and again it pays to have a good scrub, and the same can be said for our motorbikes. But what’s the best way of tackling a year’s worth of dirt and grime? We asked BSB tech Adam Marshall to show us the way…
I’ll hold my hands up; I’m far from perfect when it comes to keeping my bike clean and shiny. Unlike Boothy, I’m not one for getting my hose out, and then there’s the question of knowing where to point it? I’ve watched too many videos of experts over time, each preaching their tried and tested techniques of ‘detailing’ and such like, which normally either puts me to sleep or makes me angry… or sometimes both. But I’ve also seen the tenacity of the industry’s best cleaners in action, the real ones, which typically base themselves in professional racing paddocks. You must have seen the clips on TV of technicians tentatively removing every crumb of muck from a bike that’s just been cartwheeled nine times through a gravel trap, meticulously ensuring the weapons they’re rebuilding are fit and ready to return to the track once again. I spent quite a bit of time in Honda Racing’s garage this season, and that determination for cleanliness and perfection was ever present. I was both in awe, and embarrassed, and wondered exactly how these cleaning gods and goddesses go about getting bikes so sparkling? Lucky for me, my mate Marsh (who’s a Honda BSB technician) kindly said he’d show me the ropes by giving my Suzuki GSX-R1000 the cleaning of its lifetime.
In case you’re not familiar with my bike, I bought it at the start of this year and have spent 2019 racing it. I’ve never been ‘frit’ of getting the Pledge out on occasion, but as far as anything more serious goes my L8’s never so much as seen a pressure washer all season long. On reflection, that makes me feel a bit of a minger, but I bet a fair few of you are in the same boat, so please hold fire with the hate mail.
Back to the story, and to help set the scene, the destination for this transformation was to take place at Crowe Performance’s workshop, where this practice is commonplace and typically costs customers upwards of £150 (depending on the extent of cleaning/repairs, servicing, etc.). For me, the plan was to keep things simple, giving the bike a thorough going-over, while changing the oil and filter at the same time. It all sounded simple enough, but knowing how to get the ball rolling was a little more mystical.
No spray, no yay…
When I say mystical, it wasn’t quite up there with Merlin the Wizard or the Bermuda Triangle. I could have anticipated that Marsh was going to kick things off with a good, hard jet wash, but there was more to the practice than I first imagined. The bike was put on a ramp and had its main bodywork removed to allow access to the dirty core of the bike. While being mindful of the electrics, the next part of the process was to give the bike a quick spay to soften things up, followed by a dousing with Motul’s E2 Moto Wash degreaser. That was left to soak in for the best part of 10 minutes before it was time to get hands on with a soft brush, agitating the cleaner in readiness for a full-on spray down with the pressure washer. “You’ve got to be mindful of two things when spraying.” explained Marsh. “Try not to target electrical components, and never get too close to the radiator fins – else you’ll destroy them.” With this wisdom engrained,
I watched as the bulk of the engine’s dirt was blasted off with little effort. The tricky area was the casing around the front sprocket. “Unless you stay on top of this area after every ride, it builds up loads of muck and chain wax. This is where you need to roll your sleeves up and get stuck in with a firm brush to agitate the grease. Don’t be shy of spraying a fair amount of degreaser, but know that it’ll only work if you get scrubbing. The other thing to remember is you’ll probably need a pretty potent product to shift this kind of build-up – your mum’s Fairy Liquid won’t cut it.” While I nursed my ninth cup of tea that morning, Marsh vigorously transformed the motor into a shiny, presentable lump of metal. The finishing part of the process was to work his way around the engine with an airline in one hand and a contact cleaning spray in the other, systematically blasting off any water or debris particles that might have stubbornly got stuck behind case covers or in tight nooks.