Cleaning with some meaning
A lot of us aren’t fans of cleaning our bikes. All Year Biker is though. And they have a specific treatment plan to remedy years of neglect.
Keeping a motorcycle clean and in good cosmetic shape can be quite a science. Doing it really well requires the correct procedures and appropriate products. And if you hate cleaning bikes as much as I do, get in touch with All Year Biker.
I wanted to find out what the protection system could mean for my beloved but well-used VFR800. All Year Biker ‘operator’, Roy spent three hours doing his magic and the results were a revelation. My Honda ended up cleaner than ever before.
It all began with AYB’s Alan Grace weighing up the bike’s condition. Being as experienced as he is, as both a very keen motorcyclist himself (you can’t work for AYB unless you ride a bike), and the beneficiary of Roy’s four full days of thorough training and appraisal (if you can’t do the job or liaise with customers well enough, you don’t get hired) Alan inspected the bike closely.
General paint oxidisation, and faded plastics wouldn’t be too challenging to eliminate. But some staining of the frame spars and fairing screen, caused by using over-aggressive cleaning products, were beyond complete renovation.
Step one, the pre-rinse
While Alan set about the first stage of the process by simply pre-rinsing the bike to remove loose dirt and soften debris like insects, Roy explained that AYB fully cleans and dries the bike in preparation for total coverage with a fine film of ACF50, a highly-rated corrosion inhibitor originally designed for planes based on aircraft carriers.
Step two, the special degreaser
The second part of the multi-stage process uses a specially-made degreasing product which took Roy seven months to formulate. It’s powerful enough to dissolve oils and greases, but not too aggressive to cause any long term component etching damage.
The bike is then pressure-washed to rinse off the degreaser. Roy’s attitude towards using water at higher pressure surprised me. His view is that with the right nozzle to form a wider spray, and directed with care from a sensible distance, there will be absolutely no chance of water damage.
Step three, detailed cleaning
The VFR was left to drip dry. Work was then done to remove tar spots from the end can, and brake dust from the wheels which Roy says is harmful by being hot and acidic.
He also pointed out the damaging and corrosive effects of animal waste like bird droppings, tree sap, and washing-up liquids which contain sufficient salts to attack lacquers and reduce their protective properties.
The consequences of the most infamous substance of bike decay, road salt, Roy reasoned can be worse in the warmer and more humid
months of spring, than on a drier winter day.
Step four, shampoo
A diluted form of the AYB degreasing agent is then used to shampoo the bike, followed by the most dramatically visual part of the lengthy and highly involved process.
Foam traffic film remover dissolves any remaining wax and oils, the final part of the preparation process is then completed with a warm air bike drier used to dispose of any remaining trapped moisture.
Anti-corrosion spray
Before this can be done, my VFR was appropriately masked to prevent the anticorrosive spray reaching parts it shouldn’t like wheels, brakes, and tyres. The ACF50 is sprayed in a fine mist via a compressed air gun.
This process relies on the operator’s skill and experience to get it to the right areas, using a textile cover to help contain any errant vapour.
It’s heatproof and sticks tenaciously to components thanks to electron-bonding. It’s expected to last around a year or 10,000 miles. To round off the impressive cleansing and protection treatment, a dirt-repelling PTFEbased wax is applied to the paintwork.