That's gratitude for you

There have been some posts of late showing extremely clean bikes and has finally moved me to try and make mine a tad cleaner.

I don't have access to a hose pipe, so it's a bucket wash or with one of those pump up car sprayers (a garden sprayer with a picture of a car on it). Dirt laughs at both these methods, so the poor 'Cat hasn't had a decent clean in over a year and was starting to smell a bit.

Last week I spotted a DIY car wash at a garage some distance from me and thought it would be worth a try. £2.80 for 4 minutes - better than lugging buckets any day so I go for it. The ground turned pitch black from the muck that came off and the bike looks a lot better.
Take a longer route home so the water can blow away and dry the brakes etc. Take it easy, but feel the back end is starting to become rather slippy.

Get home and discover the *%$ Scottoiler has done the dirty again and dumped a lot of oil all over the clean mudguard and getting really close to the caliper, then I see it managed to get on the back wheel, little wonder I had power steering from the back.
The lube tube has now been ripped out and it might not be long before the rest of it goes the same way AARGH.

Steve,

I assume it was a power wash you used. I'll stick with the buckets and elbow grease as I always wonder what and where the water will go on the car, never mind on the bike. Generally I just use the jet wash to clean the alloys on the car.

But congratulations on the clean bike. At least the scott oil will help the swing arm avoid corroding! I don't know what it may do to the tyre though. Hopefully nothing.

Keep up the good work. Plus I bet its a bit faster now, lees weight to carry!

Sorry to hear of the scottoiler problem steve but you must post a picture of the clean bike.

Yeah it is one of those power wash types, but it isn't very high pressure. It seems to rely on a power brush to clean the car - avoided that like the plague. I rather enjoyed being able to clean the bike without getting myself filthy dirty.

Panzerbuilder wrote: I bet its a bit faster now, lees weight to carry!

except I'm putting on weight at an alarming rate. Had I have known this was going to happen I may not have quit smoking!

yamahamad wrote: you must post a picture of the clean bike.

Clean is a relative term Paul [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.], think it is still classed as dirty to some. Should get some pics this weekend at BC, but I'm planning on putting a few miles on it before getting there. Might be covered in migies by the time I get there (I tried killing most of them off in East Anglia last weekend).

I'm almost as bad as Steve (but not quite! haha) so I'm considering this at the start of the winter:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

£60 for a full-on showroom bike valet and a professional application of ACF50 (apparently there's *science* to how to apply it properly, better than just buying a rattle can from halfords!) leaving the bike properly clean but more importantly protected so it should be a piece of pish to keep on top of the cleaning through the winter.

Now all I have to do is save up the pennies! They're based in Newbury so local for a few people on here too

Chris

Commiserations re the oil!! Yes, I'd stick to a good old bucket and sponge in the future!

That bike valet thing sounds a great idea - bit far for me though!

The power wash and the Scottoiler are not related.

I suspected there was something wrong with the oiler last week. There has been an air bubble in the line for a while now and it hasn't moved - however the oil level in the Scottoiler gizmo has been dropping. It is supposed to draw oil in from the Lube Tube and keep the 'pump' unit full, but its not doing that.

Found out the Lube Tube has a hole in it (which isn't supposed to have), and I'm sure that air and oil have been changing places. (There is a link to show what it looks like - if interested click on the large text above)

I guess it was just the timing of the tube deciding to pack up, possibly the clean bike made the leak glaringly obvious.

One of the reasons the bike was so mucky was I had used ACF50 over the winter, getting the stuff off with a sponge isn't easy (big sponge and even bigger hands) in small places. Degreaser and the pump up spray got some of it off, but there was some of it lurking in imposible to reach places (hence the unpleasant smell).

I have never liked the idea of a scottoiler for the reason you have of one day emptying the oil contents onto my back tyre. Also i do not do that many miles so a clean & lube now & again is fine for my bike. Hope you can sort it out fairly easily steve.

Was'nt it last year, again at the Bishops Castle meeting, that it decided to make your back wheel looking ever so shiny???

Or was it the Big Mac??

Wonder if we shall see some more bikers with wearing only, there helmets again an the BC2 run.

Rob.

It did it at Applecross Rob.

During the day a lot more seems to have gone on the tyre, right mess it made. How inconvenient, I was going out for a ride - no worries just jumped on anyway, but didn't get too far. Get a phone call from Pam in Mauritius, so had to head back home. Looks like I have managed to get rid of most of the slick even with a short ride.

Scottoiler have emailed me and will be sending me a replacement tube - very good service. I may even make an appointment to see them when next in Scotland and let them give the oiler system a good once over. parts of it are 13 years old, so possibly a bit tired.

The weather looks good enough for some Welsh lads to go commando again. If it were to happen, I wonder if any of our group would be quicker at getting out their camera than the escaping boyo's
That had to be the funniest thing I have seen in ages,; a helmet, boots and OMG what is in between riding a kwakker (not sure what they were all on - as in riding )

yamahamad wrote:Sorry to hear of the scottoiler problem steve but you must post a picture of the clean bike.

Could do with a bit of polish
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

this is not as bad as when I first saw the oil

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Managed to miss the calipers and disc.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

but made a mess of the tyre
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Bucket, Sponge, Meguires 'wet look' polish is all ya need!!! Bike looks great Steve!!

Wonder if we shall see some more bikers wearing only there helmets again an the BC2 run.

Im bloody hopeing and praying we do Rob, this time I'll have my camera ready

Blimey Steve...
I thought you had a black and orange cat!

Nice to see the decals

See you at BC

Chris

so who,s bike is that a picture of steve i just can,t see the number plate im sure you cat was a motled black with a splash of mud dirty streaks
thrown in
pete

Looking good steve, very nice.

yamahamad wrote:Looking good steve, very nice.

Thanks Paul, you can see I'm getting a right ribbing

cards wrote:so who,s bike is that a picture of steve i just can,t see the number plate im sure you cat was a motled black with a splash of mud dirty streaks thrown in

What like this Pete? I've gone and washed all the camouflage off now



[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]