DAMN i wish people were as anal as me.
 

Had a 10mins job today of doing the cushdrive rubber 'fix'

While the wheel was out i noticed how much crap was on the back of swingarm and inside of it.... then i also noticed how much on the underneath of swingarm...

Carrying on around that, i noticed the shock linkages were barely existing and the mounts looked like a ball of chainlube... then onto the bottom of the shock, the back of swingarm between the shock/wheel and also the gear selector etc. The more i looked the more crap i found to get off there. Even the bottom of the shock spring was terrible.... Don't start me on the rear caliper mounting bracket or i may scream LOL.

I now dread to think how my previous bikes look after even a month of riding with the new owners... every bike i seem to buy has unacceptable levels of cleanliness for me.

Is it just me or is anyone else as bad ?

Better not come 'oop norf' then......


There is a term for your condition..... OCD ! :bbeer:

I wonder if it's also part of my 'condition' that i think everyone SHOULD keep there's spotless?

That could be difficult at times ...

http://www.smokingtailpipes.com/Gallery/081109-01.JPG

When faced with some of the roads up here.....

Yeah indeed they are for riding... dunno about 'all weathers' though :)

In a word yes. I am and in my case it really does detract from ownership as I am more bothered about keeping it clean than using the bike.

OCD is a real pain in the ass.

You should maybe have two bikes, one for polishing and one for riding? You could keep the clean one in the living room, just in case it got dusty in the garage...! :005:

Tried that with the wifes 600SRAD... i keep cleaning that too even though it has 45,000 on the clocks LOL

Excellent... welcome brother :)

I'm that bad that i bought an engine mount guard and sent directly to the powdercoater just because mine is horribly rusty

If you think you are anal with a clean bike you have not seen mine. I don't mind getting them dirty & ride in all weather conditions, but do spend a bit of time cleaning mine, with not one rust spot or bit of corrosion on them.

My best mate KLR is the worst, his bikes look like they have come off the show room floor with one of them being 7 years old.

So there are a few of us out there.

Sadly for me, as someone (well 4 others actually) previously owned my bike it will never reach the status of 10/10 IMO. The best i can realistically expect is an 8.

Well i'm now up to over 5 hours of cleaning to get this right and i rekon i'm getting hear the end of the job.
Only real tasks left are to get the wheels off and discs off so i can give the hubs and spokes a proper clean. That will probably wait until i get some new rubber fitted and do both jobs at once.
Today i whipped the exhausts off and managed to get access to a lot of little places i couldn't get before... Also the front sprocket cover... JESUS there was a lot of crap in there... more than i thought possible... even on the engine side, i was amazed the sprocket actually moved LOL.
So just waiting for my exhausts to arrive, my bracket to come back from painting and my tank decal to arrive and we're once again good to go

Your not the only one. I've come to the XT from sports and muscle bikes and even though I bought mine online after seeing a couple of pictures where it looked good it still wasn't my kind of clean. I've a way to go with it but as she'll never be used off road or in the rain (like any of my bikes) she'll get severely tidied up.

My cars get just the same treatment. I'm a clean and tidy nut. Always have been. My bikes previous owner liked his maintenance but didn't like to wipe excess lube away leaving it to just attract more grit. That kind of thing nags me to high heaven along with poorly maintained drive chains and so on.

My dear old Granddad used to say "Look after her and she'll look after you" something I've never forgotten to this day. My wife thinks I'm obsessive as I spend more time cleaning than riding but I find it kind of therapeutic too.

I don't suffer from this infliction...
My XTR is a dirt/ADV bike & thats where it lives..
The only clean roads it sees is getting to the dirty ones..
80% clean & 99% mechanicly perfect and I'm a
happy camper...
All the scraps/scratchs etc are proof of good times...

You really don't want to see my bike... :D

I'm a pain in the arse when it comes to fettling a bike, after 4 previous owners my XTX has its fair share of 'commuter' wear & tear battle scars & accumilated crud filled nooks & crannies. All will have to be replaced, re-painted, stripped, polished & cleaned. Yep.......pain in the arse.

France can be damp to
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-M...o/P1000130.JPG

Does any of you find these bikes harder to keep clean than other models? I have bought three brand new bikes in recent years and the XTR is much worse to keep tidy.
Is it surface finishes, bad materials, additional spray due to the D/S design, rough tires etc?
There was never as much or as sticky grime on my Honda Shadow or Yamaha XJ6 as on the XTR. Same commuting riding, same speeds, same weather.

Starting from when I first took it down a muddy trail within 30 miles of buying it, my XTZ has only ever been really clean when I took the engine out last winter and built it back up again from a bare frame.

Drowning the bike in ACF50 every winter, it's not corroded/bad finish/bad materials.

It's just there's so many nooks and crannies in and around the engine that it's impossible to wash all the dirt off without taking the entire bike apart.