Cheers mate,

just waiting on the Administrator to activate the account:)

Al, loving the pics mate, are you stalking me? I'm in loads of those pics, didn't realise I was so fuggin ugly- just as well we invited some even uglier people along to make me look good!!

Cheers man, that will make life a bit simpler.  Have had a look on there and so far there seems to be quite a wealth of knowledge.

I wouldn't want to go anywhere without 'em.  Once did 350 mile journey without any and had a whistling in my head for 3 days afterwards.  I took that as a warning.

Failing that, Yorky is doing the best thing. Pump-up bottles work really well, have one with mild car shampoo in it and one with water. Radiator brushes (for painting down the backs of house radiators) and soft emulsion paint brushes are good, one gets into difficult to reach places, the other is good for bodywork, neither scratch the paintwork like 'proper' bike brushes. Use Halford's tar remover for heavy oily deposits.

Things to avoid: Wonder Wheels (it will corrode your bike before your eyes), Muck-Off (far too aggressive leaves streaking everywhere, if it's all you have water it down to a 5:1 mix), Washing up liquid (again, far too aggressive and has salt in it to soften washing-up water, repeated washing with this WILL cause corrosion problems).

When the bike's dry, a wipe over with a microfibre cloth that's damp, NOT wet with ACF50 will help keep your metalwork and unpainted plastics looking good. 12000th of an inch is the desired coating, if you can see an oily shine where you've just applied it then you have too much on, wipe it off with a clean microfibre cloth, it should look like a satin sheen. As a guide of how much to use, a 1 quart bottle should last you a year of regular washing.