Washing my motorbike

You may call it partiality, discrimination or crazy. There is a guy who washes my car daily. But I don’t like him washing my Royal Enfield motorbike. No way. That’s one thing I would rather do myself unless it’s given for a grand service with a spray wash and a diesel spray etc.

Talking of washing, few tips to bore you ….. but you can pass me your own ideas , if good enough - I shall add it here.
N.B. It is assumed that your bike is averagely clean and has NOT come from a muddy dirt track or a very long tour. (If ‘Yes’ …psssst (give it to the service station !)

You might have seen motorbike websites telling you how to wash your bike by having 3 or 5 buckets of water with different ingredients in different buckets! Well folks …. I don’t advise that – we are washing a motorbike here – Not making colorful Indian curry with exotic spices!

You will need soft cloth/chamois cloth … still don’t get it ? Arre yaar that ‘yellow cloth’ in the service station/petrolpumps !

Hope u also have got some mild detergent !

Get a bucket of water! (Make sure the water pipe is nearby so that you can get more water!)

Splash the water with a mug so that the whole bike is wet! Some international bike dhobis….. sorry ‘bike washermen’ have told in some websites that high pressure water spray in service stations will damage the bike ! (SO wash it urself ! means “start your own service station”)

Now that the bike is wet, mix some mild detergent in a mug of water and clean the wheels thoroughly and get wheels shining! Pls throw that cloth away as it will be dirt’ful’!

Now with a new cloth dipped in mild detergent water clean the painted parts, wipe away the dirt.

You could use ur old toothbrush to reach out to nooks and crannies of your bike engine. Cleaning the greasy parts, oil leaks etc, use some cloth dipped in petrol and wipe away and clean with soft cotton waste. If you feel sad using petrol, ask someone in US/UK to get a Degreaser ( I dunno if you get one which is cheaper than a litre of petrol in India Rs.50 – a.k.a. 1$ ) Beware some strong cleaners/degreasers not only clean the bike but take some paint off too ! (Lucky they don’t ride away with the bike !)

After that you can wash those areas with mild detergent to make the bike smell and look clean!


Splash water and clean the bike so that there’s no detergent remaining on the bike. Dry ur bike with the soft yellow ‘clean fella’ chamois cloth so that its dry!

Now take your bike around for a spin so that water inside drips off due to the breeze and slowly apply brakes in pumping action incase water has got into the brakes.

I don’t recommend using wax polish for bikes as most do take some paint off, then only you get some shine.

Please do all the above in the shade. –

However some Lucky dudes get their bikes washed as below!
.
.
.
.
.
.
.



Cheers n Good luck!

BT


Pics: 1. BT's bike and 2. wash scene from Eliots blog