ULTIMATE SCRUBBER: FIVE STEPS TO CLEANING YOUR BIKE

I’ll hold my hands up; I’m far from perfect when it comes to keeping my bike clean and shiny. Unlike Boothy, I’m not one for getting my hose out, and then there’s the question of knowing where to point it? I’ve watched too many videos of experts over time, each preaching their tried and tested techniques of ‘detailing’ and such like, which normally either puts me to sleep or makes me angry… or sometimes both. But I’ve also seen the tenacity of the industry’s best cleaners in action, the real ones, which typically base themselves in professional racing paddocks. You must have seen the clips on TV of technicians tentatively removing every crumb of muck from a bike that’s just been cartwheeled nine times through a gravel trap, meticulously ensuring the weapons they’re rebuilding are fit and ready to return to the track once again. I spent quite a bit of time in Honda Racing’s garage this season, and that determination for cleanliness and perfection was ever present. I was both in awe, and embarrassed, and wondered exactly how these cleaning gods and goddesses go about getting bikes so sparkling? Lucky for me, my mate Marsh (who’s a Honda BSB technician) kindly said he’d show me the ropes by giving my Suzuki GSX-R1000 the cleaning of its lifetime.

In case you’re not familiar with my bike,