Leather/Textile & Bike Cleaning

Psyoletic

Psyoletic

Psyoletic

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Joined
29 May 2011
Posts
524
Evening,

Curious to know what other fellow bikers are using to clean their gear and bikes with.

I've used SDOC100 but at £13 a bottle I guess it's great for a yearly deep clean however I'll stick to olde washing up liquid. As for wax/polish I have yet to find one I like and others have sworn by. I've looked up ACF50 which I'm considering.

As for leather and textile I don't know what's best to considering I've spent a good sum of money I'd like to keep them at their best. Leather soap? Conditioner?

My most expensive gear I especially want to take of.

  • Alpinestars Web GTX Goretex Boots
  • Alpinestars GT-S X Goretex Gloves
  • Alpinestars Andes Drystar Pants

Tips on what to use most appreciated,

Thanks.
 
For kit - my gloves and boots get a wash when it rains - Alpinestars SMX6 GTX boots and Held Racetex gloves (both goretex). In the summer I'll give my leather jacket a wipe down when there's a decent layer of flies, just with a sponge and water. But my leathers are water repellent and dry quickly.

Bike cleaning - I'm not your man for that ;) :D
 
Mer wax polish is best I've used but expensive,I have some regular turtle wax aswell which isn't bad

Washing textile clothing I use the washing machine on a delicate setting,I ruined an alpinestars one using a hot wash thinking it would get the grime out and it melted all the white material painted parts off

For leather a soap and feed? Ko cho line type protector
 
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Funnily enough I was watching this a couple of days ago and it seems like a nice cheap way of keeping things clean.

 
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When I get back from a ride I clean my bike kit with a few baby wipes. Honestly, nothing I've used so far to clean kit comes close to the ease these things shift dead bugs, but with a gentle cleansing action which doesn't damage the material. I'll use Autoglym Leather Care Balm to feed the leathers maybe a 3-4 times a year. Textile kit - my jacket is a Dainese Superspeed Tex which I stupidly bought in black with white panels in the arms. These panels look really dirty after only a few miles when the bugs start splatting but again, even on textile kit the baby wipes do the business. The important thing to remember with using baby wipes on kit or any cleaner on textiles/leathers is not to leave it too long. It takes 5 mins to do after a run as you sit and listen to the bike cooling down, ticking and pinging! :)
 
For my kit, just a damp cloth, although I should probably do my leather jacket properly some time!

For my bike, most weeks:
  • Spray SDOC100 on the worst and hard to reach bits, leave for 5-10 mins. I don't go mental with SDOC otherwise it'd only last 3-4 washes. Not necessary on body work etc., just useful for hard to reach places.
  • Rinse SDOC100 off (cold water)
  • Wash with Meguiars Ultimate Wash & Wax. Used a wash noodle mitt on my last clean which is way better than a normal sponge
  • Rinse again with cold water
  • Dry with proper drying towel - I have the big Kent one (normal cloths/micofibre suck compared)
  • Wax - I currently use AutoGlym aqua stuff, but do want to invest in some carnauba as the AutoGlym stuff doesn't seem to add a particularly thick/hard layer of wax.

I haven't been wiping it down after wet rides recently. I get home in the dark, so just put it away wet. Doesn't feel right to me, but thinking about it, wiping it down with just a cloth is just going to spread the muck around into places it never was before plus when giving it a quick dry down, you're not actually drying the bits that may rust anyway.

Some say never put it away wet, but I don't believe that those people commute on it or get home in the dark!

I might start just spraying my FS365 on after a wet ride as that's supposedly how it works and I may as well make use of the bottle they gave me, plus it relatively cheap so could be good through winter as an after-ride thing alongside ACF50 applications every so often.

Part of me wants to rinse the bike down after a wet ride, but my hose is a bit of a pain to set up, especially in the dark as I don't have an outdoor tap. I guess I could fill a watering can or something to rinse of most of the salty water.

For my helmet/visor, I have a bottle of Mr Sheen which does a good job and adds a layer of wax on the visor meaning a lot of the rain rolls off. Only £1.
 
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I'm a huge fan of ACF 50.
its dark when i get home so I dont get chance to dry the bike off, the ACF 50 does a good job until the weekend when i give it a wash and dry it off with my leaf blower.
 
i5aces said:
I'm a huge fan of ACF 50.
its dark when i get home so I dont get chance to dry the bike off, the ACF 50 does a good job until the weekend when i give it a wash and dry it off with my leaf blower.
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My only problem with using ACF50 like that (apart from the cost) is the spread sucks, it doesn't come out in a mist, so you need to apply with a cloth or by eye.

I used FS365 on mine last night after a rinse off which seems to do a pretty good job. The bottle it comes in gives a really nice fine mist, plus you get a litre of the stuff for around £10 which isn't too bad as you can make it last.
 
Craig321 said:
My only problem with using ACF50 like that (apart from the cost) is the spread sucks, it doesn't come out in a mist, so you need to apply with a cloth or by eye.

I used FS365 on mine last night after a rinse off which seems to do a pretty good job. The bottle it comes in gives a really nice fine mist, plus you get a litre of the stuff for around £10 which isn't too bad as you can make it last.
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Get a decent spray bottle and just stick the ACF50 in that, that's what I use.
 
tom_e said:
Get a decent spray bottle and just stick the ACF50 in that, that's what I use.
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I have the spray can of it unfortunately, but will be getting a plain bottle next time.

wazza300 said:
ive yet to use ac50 wouldnt one of those pump up weed/garden sprayers work to apply it?
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Yup, would do, but just make sure you buy the bottle not the spray can. The spray can is useless.

There's a little kit you can get which is 950ml bottle + spray thing. £32 though :(. Haven't been able to find literally a plain bottle of it on it's own yet.
 
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I use a oil spray bottle my wife had in the kitchen. it produces a really fine mist.
it helps to put it into some hot water first and heat up the ACF 50, it mists better when warm as its thinner.
 
Thanks all, great advice!

I've looked at ACF50 but how resilient is it? Couple of coats last a good month or so?

At the moment I've decided on;

Amazon_List.png


And the Aqua Wax, what do people use for seat and plastics to keep that deep black?

Many thanks,

Psyoletic
 
i5aces said:
I use a oil spray bottle my wife had in the kitchen. it produces a really fine mist.
it helps to put it into some hot water first and heat up the ACF 50, it mists better when warm as its thinner.
Click to expand...

Hmm, I wonder if I could (very patiently) spray out all of mine into a little atomiser and do that. That'd make it more useful at least!

Psyoletic said:
Thanks all, great advice!

I've looked at ACF50 but how resilient is it? Couple of coats last a good month or so?

At the moment I've decided on;

http://s13.postimg.org/zf47o4t4n/Amazon_List.png[/IG]

And the Aqua Wax, what do people use for seat and plastics to keep that deep black?

Many thanks,

Psyoletic[/QUOTE]

Can't comment on the or AutoGlym, but everything else is the same as what I have and it's all awesome :)

Those harbour clothes aren't very absorbent at all after a couple of washes, but they make perfect grease applicators or whatever.

You might want to get a decent buffing cloth as well. Once dried with the Kent towel, I like to then go over with a buffing cloth and my wax which gets any missed spots of dirt plus gives a nice shine.

Do check Halfords for the Meguiars and AutoGlym stuff. They had 3 for 2 on for ages on cleaning products, so I managed to get 2x Meguiars + AutoGlym for 'free'.
Click to expand...
 
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