Age Old Question: Ride or Shine?

[desert_max]

Well, it was bound to happen. We have had this discussion in various forms many times on this board over the years. I have tended to lean towards the shine crowd. Not that I don't ride, I ride a lot! But I used to shine a lot as well. Used to?

I just stepped out into the shop for a bit to retrieve tool, and while I was there looked closely at several of the machines that have been doing yeoman street duty for the last 6 months of our intensive Arizona riding season. Shockingly dirty. All of them! Not just in the nooks and crannies, but wheels and other glaringly obvious surfaces.

So, what has changed? Have I been ignoring it? Maybe. Have I thought about it? Surprisingly for me, the answer is no!

I think there are a couple of things going on here. One, I am getting older and prefer to spend my time enjoying the machines in their native habitat. On the road. Not scrubbing them. Also, since I've got the room, I've slowly added a few machines to the fleet. So, I'm spending more time wrenching the needy ones, and dividing my remaining riding time between more candidates. Hence, less polishing time.

But after this evening's eye opener, I do believe I will spend some time over the next couple of weekends detailing these machines before they get semi-idled for the summer.

Does that mean I'm still a polisher?

 

[Marauder03]

Hi, I also ride quite a bit. I will ride every day weather permitting actually but I try to keep my bike pretty clean too. I used to be very ocd about my last vmax and polished it more than I rode it. It was in mint condition and the one I have now is pretty clean but not pristine like my last one, the thing is I ride this one so much more and I’m really enjoying so much more than the one I would polish instead of ride. So I’m not a polisher any more, I like when my bikes clean but I’m no longer a fanatic. I’d rather ride it but when I do wash it I feel like it’s also a good time to see if I find anything wrong with it, so inspecting and washing go together. I plan on getting a Gen 2 one day and I’ll probably be going back to a polisher.