How do you clean your Cruiser

As cleaning a bike or how clean it is happens to be a very personal issue, what products or tips in general do you have that can be shared to help others doing this mundane task.

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For a quick clean, this is what I do

I tend to spray the bike with a hose in the mist setting to cover the whole bike and occasionally run the bike on a more powered jet to get the worst off or allow it to start to soak. 
I then leave it for a few minutes before lightly spraying the whole bike with products such as Muc-Off and allowing that to work it's magic.
I then spray the bike off with a gentle jet from my hose before spraying the whole bike again with another coating of Muc-Off & allowing it to sit for another few minutes.
I the get my dampened cloth & spray that lightly with Muc-Off before wiping the bike all over, I may at this point do the last step mentioned all over again if felt needed.
I will at some point have the wheels spinning to assist in them being cleaned properly, for this I use my brilliant home made jack LINK, the best and most used bike tool I own, Love it & its a god send. I do own a "proper" Cruiser lift bur rarely ever use it.
I then spray the bike all over with a higher powered jet of water (not high powered) & then dry the bike with a high powered blower, this apart from drying the bike will stop the possibilities of water staining ( I use a cheap leaf blower) .
I then protect & polish my bike with various items but I have always predominantly used WD40 which I think is great to do both.

I always used to just hose it off then give it a lathering over with some washing up liquid or car wash if I had some and the use what ever polish the Mrs had in the kitchen to make it look all nice. Not as sophisticated as some may do it but better that than not wash it hardly at all like some

PS I love my PC for correcting my spelling  

Hmmm I don't want to be a kill joy but washing up liquid contains salt. As long as it is washed off thoroughly that would be fine I suppose. Just steal borrow it when the Mrs ain't looking or you might do more cleaning than you at first planned.
As a general purpose washing aid for bikes I just use the 1 Gallon containers that Halfords sell as a car wash. Very cheap and does the job.

Oh duly noted  

I give mine a quick squirt of muc off and then a rub over with asda's smart price car wash soapy water and sponge, hose it off then leave to drip dry for an hour or two, then a quick buff up with furniture polish, for a real treat I use auto glym car polish 

That's a good idea Sim, thats what I will do from now on. Soak it with Muc-Off the give it a good going over with nearly neat cheapo car wash on my sponge.  

Never bought auto glym polish Sim but nearly have loads of times, as I need to buy some polish do you recommend it?
I always float between auto glym & Mer but then buy always think oh bugger it, I have got some Wd40 at home & then get neither of them as I am a tight arse & hate to try something for for the first time.

Yeah Dave, Auto Glym is pretty good stuff, I get the one for dark coloured cars but it doesn't seem any different to the normal one? I find their products a bit on the expensive side but good quality, I've never used Mer, But I believe it's of a similar standard.

3m is probably the best polish I have used, but expensive, Auto glym, and Mer or both very good, I'm a GT85 fan, is that the same as WD40? 
Only done 1160 miles on the cruiser, and not got it wet yet, but when it needs it will probably get degreased with Gunk, and a good dose of hot soapy water 

My bikes never get particularly dirty but when I do clean then its never ever with water !!! wd40 on the metal parts and pledge furnature polish on everything else !!! the paint may get a wax over with Mcguirers once in a while but that it, done this method for years and I also know classic owners who do the same.

Jim.

I normally jet wash the bike then then use some cheap car wash in a bucket with water and a sponge then use jet wash to rinse it all of let it drip dry for 5/10 mins then rub it dry with whatever I find towel tea towel kitchen roll........ job done or if I can be bothered (not that often) I then use wax on the tank so on metal polish on the metal bits and  I have stuff for the rubber bits keeps them from perishing then use bits and bobs to fully detail every part of the bike by the time I've finished the whole proses takes friking ages  hence the when I can be bothered

Similar to Sim..... use any old wash wax with a microfibre car mit, then hose off & drip dry.

Don't have any mucoff, but a few years ago I saw a thread on a car forum about a Gilmore Gun...


You put a couple of inches of snow foam concentrate in it, then connect to a hose, and it squirts a clinging pre wash foam over the bike. Bit like they do at those drive thru hand car wash places...

I'm not especially impressed with the Gilmore. Bloody expensive (£50 ish) and the snow foam doesnt cling anywhere near as much as when the pros do it.

But having bought it a few years ago, I like to still use it.

Big  for Auto Glym. Mrs Bigmal got me a selection one Christmas (there was some kind of deal in Halfords). One little bit goes a long way.... and TBH, you're only waxing a tiny area on a bike.

DaveC wrote:

I'm a GT85 fan, is that the same as WD40?

Yes a very similar type of spray. My friends who use it on their scramblers after cleaning their bikes, are split about  50/50 between the two products for lubricating, polishing, plastics. paint, protecting & freeing items.

Very, very rarely wash it, unless I get caught in the rain or something. I use squirty window cleaner for the chrome, Autosol for the metal parts and either Mr Sheen or Autoglym for the paint, including frame and plastics

Every 3rd clean or so, the chrome gets a polish with liquid chrome cleaner and the paintwork is T-Cutted little & often and only to restore the shine if its looking a bit dull.

For a full deep clean, it takes me between 4 and 5 hours, but this includes removing side panels / trims etc to clean behind them and I am a bit OCD about it all to be honest !!

I got a mate a bit like you Mick, he never washes his bike and just uses wipes instead and stuff. Bike looks great tho 

Autoglym is great but only use on metal. Anything with silicon in it like pledge or Mr Sheen is great on plastic. I squirt a doc 10 gel dry on the bike and leave 10 mind.  Rinse off the bike and then dry then as above.

what the heck's DOC 10 GEL?  That sounds groovy...

Sorry. Bloody galaxy s4 spelling. sdoc100. Google it.

Great stuff but my golly is it expensive.

Wouldn't want to run my bike on it   

Santa I'd bringing me an litre,