Hi Ryan,
Well Vera had a good washing last Sunday. She needed one too. 3100 mile road trip in May then a 400 mile trip to Sunrise. I thought that a 185 mile trip in the rain would clean the engine up, but it did not.
For periodic cleaning, leave the hose alone, but for those times when you want to give her a thorough cleansing, use the hose and don’t shy away from a good blast at her jugs. Get yourself a good parts cleaning brush or some sort of brush that will reach between the fins on the jugs. The spark plug ‘well’ can get a blast of water too. Ensure the spark plug boots are snug on the plugs though.
I use a bucket of Turtle wax’s car shampoo suds, a bottle of Simply Green, one large sponge, one small natural sponge, the parts brush and a couple of rags.
Wet her down with the hose, while trying to direct the water away from certain areas. Areas like the rear end of the slip-ons. Away from the underside of the fuel tank. Away from the handlebar controls. Away from the saddle and pillion. And definitely keep the water away from the fuse box and all key holes. Clean the pipes, the undercarriage, the case, the fenders, then the jugs. Use the suds first, then for the areas that still remain dirty, use the simply green in conjunction with the sponges, rags and brush. The wheels can be done last as I like to lift Vera up and spin her wheels to wash them. You can wet down the carbs then spray them with simply green and rinse them off. When you get the jugs clean, lift her off the side stand and lean her to the right. This will allow the water to drain out of the spark plug’s ‘well’. When all is cleaned up the way you want, fire up some sort of forced air device and blow her off. Break out the Maguiar’s mist detailer and polish her up. But do insure that you take her out asphalt dancing as soon as you can to heat up her heart and evaporate away the residual water that may linger on her jugs and in her spark plug wells.
Another thing to note when giving her a thorough cleansing is to lube the chain after you take her dancing. The chain will get wet and may get some simply green on it when you wash the rear wheel's hub. This re-lubing of the chain is one reason to not use a hose for periodic cleaning. (That and the electrics). Also lube up the choke slide mechanism with some chain wax too if you cleaned the carbs.
OK now your done, right? NO! For an extremely thorough cleansing pull the pillion, the saddle and the tank and clean till she shines. The top of the air box gets full of road silt, the underside of the tank’s console gets filthy too as does the top tube. While the tank is off, use some di-electric grease and rework the ignition coil connections and whatever other connection you see fit. Use a shop vac to vacuum up the road silt, then pull your air cleaner and vacuum the inside of the air box as well. Put all her clothes back on and now you can take her out for a proper dance.
In closing, I do not recommend washing her this way every time. But she can suffer a day at the spa once or twice a year.
This picture was taken right after Vera's Spa day. The breather tube needs a bit more rubbing, the header pipe nuts need some lube, but she enjoyed her day at the spa and didn't rib me for not scrubbing her back. (Removing her pillion, saddle and tank. That will be another day.) In this picture Vera is ready for some elbow grease and simichrome. 3 years and seven months young and only ridden 36500miles.
