Step one: Preparation:

Once you’ve set two hours or so aside, there are some things you can do to make sure the cleaning goes better. First of all, make sure the bike is cold. Applying chemicals to a hot bike will do one of two things – they’ll either evaporate or they’ll burn onto the bike. You don’t want either, which is why you should either clean the bike on a cloudy day or in the shade as well.

If the bike has a centre stand use that, otherwise get it on paddock stands if possible. It makes it much easier to turn the wheels to clean right around them.

Next, make sure you cover any vulnerable electrics like alarms, CDI and so on, to keep the water off. Either a latex rubber glove or cling film from the kitchen is good for the job.

If you’re laying the bike up for the winter, it’s worth taking as much of the bodywork off as possible to get right under the skin. Gaps between panels also accumulate dirt, so this is a good time to get in there.

Make sure you’ve got the right tools for the job, too. An interior sponge, available at decorating stores, will make a great job of cleaning cast wheels as it’ll get right into the surface. In addition, an alloy wheel cleaning brush is good. It’s like a nylon bristled paintbrush, but it has no metal on it at all, so you won’t scratch the paintwork. Finally, remove all rings, bracelets and watches as these can also scratch the paintwork. Rings that won’t come off can be covered with a waterproof plaster. Gloves keep chemicals off sensitive pinkies and will also help prevent scratches from rings, if you keep them on.