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Cleaning bike before transport


jacuerro
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Hi,

Noob question.

Do you clean your bikes after riding (especially now when there is a lot of mud) and before puting in into the car? If so, do you carry some water and battery powered jet-wash?

I mean this is probably less of an issue for van owners. But if you use a car (like Berlingo) then it ma get very messy very quickly.

Just thought that it may be easier to clean the bike pre-trasport rathen than clean the car later on.

 

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I usually take a stiff hand brush, spatula, sponge and a gallon of water so just before I load up the bike I scrap off all the thick mud, brush off the loose dirt and then just sponge where I can. This stops the van from getting too dirty and only takes ten minutes or so at the end of the trial/practice to complete. It also saves me sweeping up off my driveway the thick lumps of mud after jet washing the bike off properly. 

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I use a portable jet wash (pressure is more like a hose) at the practice ground where they're ok with it and use a barrier mat (like you get in shop/office doorways) on the van floor. Elsewhere I try to have a quick blast near the van to clear the tyres then scrape the mud off the underside of the rear mudguard and both sides of the bash plate, that gets rid of the majority of it.

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Clean the bike???? oh no no no.  every time I clean the bike something is broken.

No clean the bike = nothing broken.

:D

 

I transport my bike(s) either in the bed of a pickup or on a trailer.  So I never really thought about a need to clean the bike before transport, but I can see in certain cases where it would be a concern.

Have you considered a hitch mounted carrier?  (assuming your vehicle will accept one)

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In the U.K. I think you will find cleaning of your bike at the event is not allowed ( other than removing large lumps of mud in the woods ! )

It’s all about protecting the ground from greases, fuels, detergents etc as once one competitor starts doing it everyone will turn up with cleaning gear and the once nice field then becomes spoilt and the sheep and cows don’t like it.

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In the UK we are not meant to be cleaning our bikes with hoses/pressure washers, etc

i've seen a few riders do it recently with the advent of small battery handheld pressure washers

conversly over in mx, everyone washes the bike at the end of the day, often after each race (200Litres / 45 gallons of water)

 

from a venue owners point of view, we have never been worried about oil run off (lucky in some respects) and find the (UK) trials communites aversion to doing so odd to say the least (we use the same parking field as our MXs). to us it a bonus as we get all our soil back!

but conversly if you had a venue where runoff of oil would be an issue (esp MOD / Forrestry Commission land) then this ban is allows you to keep using venues

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Whatever you use for transport it makes sense to leave as much muck as possible at the venue. A quick blast on the cleanest area you can find near the car park area will clear a fair bit off the tyres, then take a spatula/brush or even a stick or your hand, and scrape off the thickest from under mudguards, around exhaust, swingarm etc, & all the nooks & crannies. It saves a lot of crap on your drive when you wash it at home. A bit of time spent getting some kind of tarpaulin or sheet to be a good easy fit into your particular vehicle is time well spent. I used a Renault espace as bike transport for years and got a few old curtains that could be installed in a few minutes to protect the remaining seats, (I just took out the middle one for bike transport use), and a old strip of carpet rolled out on the floor. Never had any mess that didn’t just come out with those protectors ! They just dried in the garage, quick shake, ready for next week.

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Sometimes I used to get anything loose off with a stick and then drive to a garage with a jetwash on the way home.  With a trailer it was nice and easy to do the bike in-situ ... with a van it was more of a PITA so I got a 12v water pump, 20L water bottle, and hosed the bikes wherever wouldn't cause a ruckus, which worked for all but the stickiest of muds.

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What about non pressure washing/cleaning? Bit of water and a brush just to get the mud off the bike.

It takes a lot of work and care to obtain permission to use a farmer's land for our events, the fields and farmyards are not our back gardens or patios. If you can't wash them at home go to a garage with the right facilities  

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38 minutes ago, micm said:

What about non pressure washing/cleaning? Bit of water and a brush just to get the mud off the bike.

It takes a lot of work and care to obtain permission to use a farmer's land for our events, the fields and farmyards are not our back gardens or patios. If you can't wash them at home go to a garage with the right facilities  

Exactly

  • I think it's specifically against ACU rules
  • Very disrespectful to the kind farmers & landowners who have allowed to use their land to ride your bike at a trial
  • Frowned upon by other riders

Our club did a trail riding weekend, held at a proper campsite (owned by a very pro biking motorsport owner, who is chairman of a local Trials club, he allows Trials on his land etc)

On the Sunday afternoon, some lads from down south, flashy motorhome...........got their pressure washer out, used their onboard water tanks to work the pressure washer and promptly cleaned off their bikes, after the 2 days riding........all over his pristine campsite grass🥵

Guess what?

When we asked to use the venue the following year, for the same event...............permission was denied and we were told to FRO - because these muppets had messed up their campsite grass

 

Just don't do it, washing your bike at the event venue is anti-social and plain bad manners

Edited by johnnyboxer
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7 hours ago, johnnyboxer said:

Exactly

  • I think it's specifically against ACU rules
  • Very disrespectful to the kind farmers & landowners who have allowed to use their land to ride your bike at a trial
  • Frowned upon by other riders

Our club did a trail riding weekend, held at a proper campsite (owned by a very pro biking motorsport owner, who is chairman of a local Trials club, he allows Trials on his land etc)

On the Sunday afternoon, some lads from down south, flashy motorhome...........got their pressure washer out, used their onboard water tanks to work the pressure washer and promptly cleaned off their bikes, after the 2 days riding........all over his pristine campsite grass🥵

Guess what?

When we asked to use the venue the following year, for the same event...............permission was denied and we were told to FRO - because these muppets had messed up their campsite grass

 

Just don't do it, washing your bike at the event venue is anti-social and plain bad manners

Totally agree (although we’re not all bad darn sarf 😉) - no way should you jet wash at an event.

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