Ducati Monster Forum

I just realized that I took the rearsets, chain, tank and sprockets to clean my bike today.

I spent 2 1/2 hours doing it all. I've come to realize it might be considered a little, excessive...

How much do you guys usually clean your bikes?

I know Mr. I is probably cringing at the thought.

I'm in the same boat as Someguy.

I washed my S4 once, about 4 years ago shortly after I got it.

After that, never again.

Haven't washed the Hyper yet either.

hmmm...

Your bike caught on fire, IIRC his bike caught on fire too. Correlation?  ;)

ooooooooooooooooooooooooh snap!

3 hours for the complete bike, with a 3 year old`s help [thumbsup]

No you're just aspiring to be like Hiero.

I clean lots


it's a sickness

i cleaned my bike once.

i needed to find out where the oil leak was coming from. so i sprayed carb cleaner on the underside of the case then rtinsed it off with the hose.

i think that was the only time in 6 years i washed the duc.
the xr i hose off after i get done playing in the mud so things don't get locked up by adobe.



i am pretty good about cleaning the chain and headlight though.

Any washing is too far. If you'd rather wash than ride, you have a mental illness*


*washing is okay for those in areas where snow prevents riding occasionally.

I like my bike clean.
Once or twice a year it will get a full detail job and for the rest of the
time a quick 5 - 10 min wipe will keep it clean.

I took my 696 in for the recall and service bulletins. After they were done they called and asked if I wanted them to clean/lube the chain. I had only rode it 3 times since I had done it (3rd time was to the shop). I had them do it and explained I lived on the dirt road.

When I picked it up, the guy who went to wheel it up from the back said, "Oh, the dirt road bike..."   :-[  He brought it out and it was cleaned top to bottom.

I usually just wipe the road dust off the top real quick, but I guess I will have to invest a little more time cleaining it up more regularly.

CLEAN?!!!!!

Let's see....I tricked my wife into washing my ST2 the other day, that means its been washed once in the last......nine months, maybe. That probably means once in about 6000-7000 miles. I generally don't clean my bikes. Instead, I ride them. About the only cleaning I do is when I am working on a part of the bike. When I remove the front wheel for a tire change, I clean the lower section of the forks, wipe down the rim and rotors, and often will spray the calipers with brake cleaner. When I have the rear wheel off, I clean the sprocket and carrier, rim, and inside of the swingarm. I'm getting ready to change the chain and sprockets, so it'll get a pretty decent cleaning of the rear end of the bike, and I'll clean around the front sprocket area and will even pull the clutch slave off and clean that whole area.

I used to try to keep my bikes clean and waxed, but I figured it eventually became a waste of my time.....and as the bikes get more and more miles on them, it simply doesn't seem to matter.

How much faster would it have been without the help?   ;D

I thought I was the only person who would rather ride than wash. I work with a bunch of cruiser guys and I always feel guilty when I roll up with my bike covered in bug guts and grime while their paint and chrome are gleaming. I do wipe of the grime once in a great while, but the bike has only had 1 full detail in the 2 years I've had it. The Kan-O-Tuna I had before this one never even saw a wipe down. If you really like to wash and detail bikes I can donate mine and you can clean to your hearts content.  ;D

Too far is when you clean your seat cowl.   ;D

I have no idea what too far is anymore.

I never used to wash my bike, and I looked down my nose at people who washed their bikes as Ducati nancies who shoulda spent that time riding.   After a while, I'd wash it every coupla months.  But it still wasn't a priority and I still thought bike washers were tools.  Washing time was time wasted not riding.  Then I started racing.  I got into the habit of cleaning it at the end of each day and eventually at the end of each session.  It made it easy to see problems before they became *real* problems.  'course, that still didn't stop my bike from falling apart every other race, but at least it was clean.   [roll]

Then I got the M1000ss. I'd be bummed if it were covered in grime all the time.  So now I clean my bike once a week or so, along with a tire pressure check and other minor maintenance.  5-10 mins at most with some Honda polish.  It keeps it from getting too greasy/dirty.  I think of it as preventative cleaning.  It means that I don't have to do a half-day detail to get it clean.  Every month or two--depending on whether it's rainy season--it gets the full S100 treatment (30 mins) along with more involved maintenance. 

I ride in the rain - does that count as washing it?

I once washed my old Honda CB550 and it caused some dirty nasty clogged oil to come lose and the bike started leaking.  It kinda turned me off to washing.:D

Actually, i really don't care if it's dirty.  I ride too much and have better things to do than spend hours cleaning.  Every once in a while I will grab some soap and clean off the plastics and call it done - but that takes all of 20 minutes.

Bugs are a badge of honor.

i never washed my 620, NEVER the only time it got washed was when i was in the rain [laugh] i was to busy riding..

but now with my s2r i give him a little more care, i'll wipe him down often, can air the the clutch ( cause of my dust bowel i live in) when i clean the chain i just go ahead and use PJ1 cleaner and thats about it, a real quick session...

if the weather is bad i'll do a whole day cleaning, but that rarely happens here, i just ride...

I clean and lube the chain about every third week but I've only washed it 4 times in 6000 miles. I sometimes use some spray-and-wipe when the wheels get dirty with brake dust and road grime. After all that I still have some corrosion from this winter on the underside of my motor so, apparently, not enough.

For all the people that said that they would rather ride than clean, I totally get it. I'm actually the same way; I've put a thousand miles for every month my bike has been running on it, so it gets used daily. Throw in 3-4 long moto trips a year, the miles rack up pretty quick.

Honestly, I think a lot of it has to do with how much you've put into a bike. If you've actually taken the time to mod it yourself and invested effort into it, you will ultimately want to take as much care of it as possible.

Such a thing is not possible. one can try but will ultimately fail. I've never seen cleaner machines.

I ritualistically spend about 5–10 minutes cleaning after every ride. Never any build-up that way.

But then I've been known to dismantle and clean my guns when they haven't even been used since the last cleaning...

It's bonding time with your machine. Just like riding. ;)

I wash 'em about once a month. Takes about 30-45 minutes each, but then I don't disassemble the bike and scrub the individual bolts like Matador  ;D
What can I say, one of my favorite things about most Ducs is how beautiful they are. I like 'em clean.

You could always take the route like this one:

(http://www.bikernewsonline.com/uploaded_images/automatic-motorcycle-wash-720382.jpg)

[laugh]

During the dry season, I'll do a quick wash when I clean/lube my chain.

During the rainy season, I don't bother, it's gonna get filthy in the first few seconds of riding. :P

Once a month, 4 hours. I get out the old toothbrushes and go over everything. Usually do the chain wax ritual twice a month just after getting back from a ride.

I also have a 10 year old 328I that looks pretty good, about twice a year I pull each wheel and tire so I can clean the inside of  the rims

My critter on a typical NW ride; a hosing down might occur, but then again a little dirt adds character... [moto]

(http://applewood.smugmug.com/photos/306565094_B8FoU-L-1.jpg)

I keep im tidy only to notice potential leaks; none yet noticed... :D

If you bolt on enough carbon fiber, you can't even tell where the carbon stops and the dirt starts. 

It's winter now and I was smart enough to perform my tail chop in the lead up to it...  [bang] So washing it is a bit of a lost cause at the moment.

That said, pretty soon I won't even need to buy El Matador's Cafe Seat Cowl, I'll just mold the muck on the back of my seat into shape!  [thumbsup]

Not that it will ever be ready for sale...

i don't understand the "i'd rather be riding than cleaning"...

i clean my bike after every ride. but i assure you it doesn't cut into my riding time. i go riding. then when i done riding for the day, I'M DONE. then i come home park it and i give it a little cleaning. how is that cutting into my riding time? i basically just like to keep my shit nice. thats all...

Alright, now try doing the same thing, without going home, or parking it. If it's your *only* vehicle, it just doesn't work.

Do you commute on it, day in, day out, in any kind of weather?

You were obviously not riding while you were writing... you could have been cleaning instead. [cheeky]

Bottom line is you will find plenty of time for it if you care about it, and for some people caring for their bike means caring about cleaning it.

She's texting on the back.  :P

having my bike be my only transport for 5 years now i'm with Mr I.
by the time I actually get home, the last thing i want to do is clean.

it's hard enough to make myself wipe the road salt off the chain in the winter, how am i going to motivate myself to wip off road dust?

There's a difference in "going for a ride" and "riding". If you use it as your daily commuter, no one expects you to wash it after every "ride". But, if you are going out for a 100-200 miles at a time, yeah, you should probably wash it afterwards. That being said, I don't always follow my own advice...

My daily commute is a 70-150 mile ride, a lot of which is through the twisties.  What does that count as? [cheeky]

Bought my bike, July 08 (anniversary date coming up) after 3000+ miles I did my first cleaning two weeks ago. 

First I did a long 300+ miles the previous day, and 3 hour cleaning the next day.  it's worth it... first you appreciate the joys of riding, then you appreciate the beauty of the engineering. after you clean it, you take pictures of it and ride some more.  I'm not going to preach about cleaning your bike every week, but I do enjoying cleaning my Black Betty once and a while....lets me know why I bought a Ducati!

BTW I did use WD40 on my rims as a last resort, and it works!

(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3389/3612993104_d29230cbb3.jpg?v=0)

(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3632/3620164442_00f36ffa50.jpg?v=0)

(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3370/3612160721_ab67716bec.jpg?v=0)

Whenever I change the tires, I wipe the wheels off.   And the chain whenever I WD-40 it.   And around the oil filter and the drain plug when I change the oil.   And I keep an eye on the fork tubes, and the shock shaft for dings and rust.   That's about it. 

I wash mine once a year unless they do it while it's in for service.

Except the wheels, I likes em white so maybe every other or third ride they get some attention. [thumbsup]

If no rain I wash every few weeks, living with a marginal well at the moment. :'(

Living on a dirt road, the monster gets a weekend wash if it's been out in the rain - that ain't purty.

If I wasn't on a dirt road, and had unlimited water, the monster (as well as the cage) would sparkle.

I'm a Klasse AIO / SG guy.

+1.  Riding is more fun than cleaning, but cleaning the bike is better than mowing the lawn.  It's also a good time for me to check things out like chain/sprockets, tire wear, loose bolts, leaks, etc. 

Plus it annoys all my riding buddies that my bike is cleaner then theirs--that makes it worth the trouble  ;D

i'm pretty cRAzY about keeping my things clean!?! i don't even take my car out of the garage when it rains, let alone the bike. whenever its at least a 40% chance of rain i drive one of the wifes cars...


+1 on this to. it is a good time to bond and look at your bike. and you got that right, i'd much rather spend my time cleaning my bike than mowing the lawn. that probably why i pay someone to do that...

I had to trailer my Monster to BCM to get a seriously worn rear tire replaced. I put it on the trailer the night before so I could sleep in a little longer. It rained really hard that night.

Does that count?

I hope you clean it for her too. ;)

I guess I'm a freak.

I wash and dry and sometimes wax my bikes every time I go for a ride.

When I go for a ride I ride at least 100 miles . I do like my bikes to always look like the day I bought them.

I clean and lube the chains every 500 miles.

When I come home from a ride I'm done riding for the day.

It takes me about an hour to clean a bike and get it put away until next ride time.

I clean my Helmet , Boots , hang up my leather Pants, Jacket and Gloves and turn on the Dehumidifier to pull any moisture out of the leather .Then the next day I put some conditioner on the leather so it feels like new. Boots smell like new.

For me it's all part of the experience of riding. Second nature.                        Dolph      :)

And we have a winner!

Thanks, DoubleEagle--you make me feel sane.

do you have eto touch everything 3 or 4 times as well?  ;D

  No touchy !      Dolph     ;D

If I'm boozed up and want to ride, I clean the bikes as an alternative.  Other than that, "cleaning" is getting the dead bugs off the visor. 

it counts as awesome.

I ride a lot, and often it's through the rain. I have a sham-wow in the garage to dry the chrome cans to keep them from water spotting. I use it sometimes.

your cleaning habits are legendary. I can imagine you selling ANYTHING you own as new and potential buyers would be totally unaware they're getting used stuff.

I averaged over 3000 miles a month on my first Monster 620. In less than a year and a half, I was 136 miles shy of 40k. I cleaned that bike every chance I got and it was often. I even cleaned parts of the bike you will never see, unless you are CSI.

Now my new 620, I part my bike inside my studio and it is less than 6' from where I sleep. It is my only means of transportation.  Cleaning, taking care of my monster never affects riding time. I take care of her, she takes care of me. She is beautiful and she's hot... In the cold winters of Southern California, after a ride she heats the whole studio up... She's cool too, she's into 3-way and up for girl on girl too.  [thumbsup]

I clean my bike about once a month.  She's got 5500 on her this year already but I can't get the bugs off the forks and radiator.  What does one use to do this easily?  I usually do the WD 40 thing with a bunch of rags to clean the bike in entirety, the bugs however do not like to come off. 

Simple green ftw

This is a good point. I've never kept my bikes all that clean. However, I now keep the Monstrada pretty clean...it being dirty bugs me.  :)

Do you live near a nuclear power plant ? Are we talkin' starship trooper bugs? I'm a WD40'er too. The bike looks like a Da Vinci.

I don't see a problem with cleaning the bike every now and then.  I commute 45 miles everyday when it's not raining (I am in Seattle) and I try to lube the chain every month.  If the tank and cowls are dirty when I service the chain, I'd give it a quick wash and WD40 some part. 

Yah, I don't really buy the "bike is for riding and not for washing".  I ride it and really enjoy it.  And 5 minutes of washing per month doesn't really eat into my riding time.

So.....you ride 90 miles a year?  ;D

LOL

We are definitely not as fortunate as many of you who get to enjoy year round sunshine.  But our summer is actually quite pleasant.  Dry and mild at around 80F.  Fall to Spring is a different story though...  *depressing*  Those of you in the Great Lakes and NE probably has it worse than me though.   [laugh]

i only wash it when it rains and i do so from the comfort of being inside.  i washed her once not long after i got her and now, roughly 7k miles later i havent touched her again.

i may need to though because i now have a garage so she doesnt get to stay outside in the rain anymore.

^ when i look outside and its raining hard, i run for my rain gear and then ride around real fast.


DONE.