Are your wardrobes full of dirty gear, garage sprawled with tools, and a filthy bike sound familiar? If so maybe these ideas can help you out?
Cleanliness is next to godliness
It’s not just racing teams that should strive for immaculately clean pit garages. Sometimes you have to spend some time sorting it all out but eventually, it adds up.
Seen the new Triumph Trident prototype?
If your toolbox is mish-mash full of sockets, spanners, and screwdrivers having a good clean out can help with you finding the right tool for the job. Those elusive 12mm spanners? Probably fallen down to the bottom of the box. That missing 10mm socket? Rolled down the back of the garage under the piles of boxes.
Cleaning your tools can help give you some order in life. Getting the correct tool first time, finding the right socket or Allen key, can all come with a cleaner, organised tool box.
Ever wonder why so many mechanics, techies, professional fettlers, and race teams never have a problem with missing tools? Because it’s all organized and tidy.
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If you’re feeling crafty, you could even rig up a small shelf that bolts into the top of your toolbox to hold your screwdrivers, keeping the rest of it free for the pile of sockets every biker has.
All you need to do it take a small length of wood, measure it to fit your toolbox, and drill enough holes to fit your screwdrivers.
Does your helmet have a bit of a stink? Give it a clean.
Most helmets have removable linings and cheek pads. Pulling them out and giving them time to breathe in the fresh air, combined with some small extra additions can help renew your lid and make it almost-box fresh.
Take your visor out, give it a good clean with a damp paper towel, apply some anti-fog spray if you have some. Lube the ratchet mechanism if you need to.
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Get some lukewarm water and a soft sponge or paper towel and use that to get off any gunk that’s built up. Get rid of those dead bugs and give the overall helmet a good clean.
If you want to, you can buy some helmet cleaner such as the Muc-Off helmet cleaner kit.
Clean the muck off your bike, and get into all the hidden away bits.
If you have a pressure washer, use it gently. We don’t want water gushing inside all your electrics and giving you problems.
Some of the best motorcycle cleaners we’ve used are the WD-40 bike cleaner and the Muc-Off bike cleaner. Simply spray it on after a rinse with your pressure washer and let it sit. Get into the nitty-gritty and tough areas with a brush and leave it to soak. After five, give it a rinse and then get to work on the detailing.
For a quick and easy clean, you can look into getting some waterless cleaning wipes to get a great clean both with and without a pressure washer.
An hour of elbow grease, some wipes, and a bit of radio can get your bike back to a glistening factory-esque standard of clean. Don’t forget to clean and lubricate your chain.
Wardrobe of gear overflowing? Have a sort out
Sort out that overflowing wardrobe of gear. Keep what you want and like, sell what you don’t.
If you’re adamant about keeping things, give them a wash (check the labels inside for instructions) to keep things fresh and alive ready for use.
We can all be victims of gear-hoarding, but if you have stuff you don’t want you can always find ways to sell things, or give them away to new riders you may know.
Do a stock check
Biking requires a lot of kit and chemicals. Take a stock check and see what you have hidden away. Get rid of any empty bottles or containers, combine any containers of the same product you can.
Here we’re going to consolidate our supplies, get rid of anything useless, and if needs be, buy more.
Check how much chain lube you have. If you’re running low, order some more. Low on motor oil? Buy some new oil ready for the next top-up.
Empty bottles of bike cleaner you were saving for a rainy day but they’ve never been taken out of the chemical box? Chuck them now.
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If you don’t need it, why is it taking up valuable space in your shed/garage? Getting rid of it also lets you know when you’re down to your last bottle instead of hopelessly trying to squeeze every last drop out of the dying container.
Now is the perfect time
The weather is nice but we need to stay safe and remain indoors, so why not do anything bike-related whilst we can. It also keeps summer hassle-free for more riding time.
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