question on detailing motorcycles

M

marvin salud

New member
My sister-in-law's husband owns a Harley, Anyway he asked me to detail it for him. Since I have never detailed a bike before, I was wondering if any of you could give some pointers. Also How much would you charge on Bikes? Any special products I need to know about?
 
Go to your Harley dealer and pick up the S100 bike cleaner and follow the directions. This stuff flat rocks and it will clean the entire bike. You can also pick up some S100 SEC and paste wax. You can use the SEC on the chrome to polish it up. You should also have some Q-tips to get into the small areas.



What to charge? It will take about 2 hours, so whatever you think two hours of your work it worth. I charge $60-75 for most bikes unless they are really nasty. Normally I am done in about 1.5-2 hours.



Here is a Softtail I did last Saturday:
 
NY detailer said:
I hate doing m/c, they take forever for me. All that chrome polishing. i hate m/c and car windows
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What some cheese to go with that whine, Brian?



:p ;) Just messing with ya!



I don't mind doing bikes and a lot of my customers have them. Some days I'd rather sit on my a$$ and detail a bike than spend half the day on a ladder cleaning a Suburban. Anyway, look how happy the customer is with his cleaned up bike:
 
That's pretty fast work, Scott, with all that chrome. I am a sport bike guy, and even with all the body work covering the bike, there is still lots to clean inside the bike, and it normally takes me 3 hours or more to do one of my bikes.
 
nice bike scott.



I just wanna say if I ever piss you off, i didnt mean to and it wasnt me.......:scared
 
Myles said:
nice bike scott.



I just wanna say if I ever piss you off, i didnt mean to and it wasnt me.......:scared
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Actually, that is my customer who is on the bike. He was raring to go with his biker friends on a ride when I got done.





2wheelsx2-most of my customers keep their bikes in tip top shape and don't put a lot of miles on them-mostly weekend cruisers. The key is the S100 Bike Wash. It really works great at getting everything clean so there is a lot less straining to get into every nook and cranny with Q-tips because the wash is so effective at getting all the dirt out in the first place.
 
Scottwax said:
2wheelsx2-most of my customers keep their bikes in tip top shape and don't put a lot of miles on them-mostly weekend cruisers. The key is the S100 Bike Wash. It really works great at getting everything clean so there is a lot less straining to get into every nook and cranny with Q-tips because the wash is so effective at getting all the dirt out in the first place.
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Thanks, Scott. I am going to have to go out and get some and try it out. I find that I always have problems with the rear shock area, particularly after a track day.
 
Well,



I guess I need more practice at motorcycle detailing. It took me about 3.5 hours. The bike came out great though. Thanks Scott for the heads up on the S100 stuff. They did a great job.
 
Another vote for S100

It brightens up the aluminum and cleans where the o-rings seep oil. Spray it on --let it sit--hose it off. Use compressed air to help dry the hidden spots that collect water.
 
millikan said:
Well,



I guess I need more practice at motorcycle detailing. It took me about 3.5 hours. The bike came out great though. Thanks Scott for the heads up on the S100 stuff. They did a great job.
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It just takes practice. It seemed to take forever the first few times I detailed bikes also. If you remove the seat, saddle bags, etc first, it is a lot easier since you have better access to the bike's innards. Like I said, most of my customer's bikes are in pretty good shape. Every once in a while, I get one that needs more work.



A tip for cleaning the melted rubber from riding boots off the pipes-Easy Off Oven Cleaner. Spray it on, run the bike for a minute or two to get the pipes hot and the gunk should come off a lot easier. Make sure you rinse them very well to make sure all traces of the oven cleaner are gone. Thanks to North Texas Harley for that suggestion!
 
Just yesterday I was looking around here for some info on detailing a bike to help out a friend. He stopped by yesterday and asked me what he could use to get his chrome exhaust pipes clean. The rubber on the bottom of his boots will rub on the hot pipes and melt on there. We tried a few cleaners and nothing would touch it, but I found a couple websites where people used SOS pads to clean that and rust off chrome. The idea terrified me, but it seems like a lot of bikers use it and they all said just rub gently, straight back & forth lines, and if it does scratch you can polish them out.



With his permission and promise not to hold it against me if it scratched, I gave it a try and that thick black rubber came right off. I just wet the SOS pad in hot water and used very light pressure and the pipes were spotless in a couple minutes. I couldn't find any scratches, so no need to polish. I put on some AIO to see if that would protect at all, but I assume that will melt off the next time he rides it. 303 looked great on the seat too, brought the black back.
 
edschwab1 said:
Scott,

What did you use on to clean the seat? What did you use on the chrome besides S100?



Eric
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I used the S100 to clean the whole bike-works on the leather also. I treated the seat with Tanner's Preserves because it soaks in without leaving the seat slick. I polished the chrome with Vanilla Moose. Stuff works great on metal and chrome.
 
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