Since everyone is much more aware of hygiene these days, it is equally important for motorcyclists to keep their gear and bikes clean from germs. But this also includes keeping track of what you touch or come in contact with as you usually would with habits from riding your motorcycle.
Overview
In this article, we discuss how you should clean up your bike and gear and also what habits you should rather stop in order to stay clean and safe. This doesn’t mean that you can go riding if you are instructed not to. Instead, it’s for those that are allowed to ride to be on the safe side.
We’ll discuss the following:
- Habits that you should stop
- How to keep your bike hygienically clean
- How to keep your gear hygienically clean
Habits that you should stop
There are a few habits that you might find yourself doing which might be better to stop or minimise.
Opening the garage door
So there are two possible scenarios here. The first one is that you have a garage door that you open manually and the second is that your garage door opens automatically using a remote.
The first scenario is pretty obvious. Since you are touching the handle or lever, you clean the handle and your hands after using it. If you were wearing your gloves, you need to wipe them.
The second scenario is less obvious but still just as important. Remotes can accumulate a lot of germs just like keys or your cell phone. So be sure to clean it every once in a while.
Walking with your boots inside the house
Since you don’t know what you are stepping in when you stop at an intersection or when you walk around the gas station, you should take your shoes or boots of before entering a home.
This is actually applicable to everyone and not just motorcyclists. If you think about it, kids like playing (or even napping) on the floor where you were walking. Even if you don’t have kids, a pillow or blanket or whatever drops and gets some stuff on it.
Is that overreacting? Maybe…
Generally, I just keep a pair of slippers around the front door to use inside while my boots chill out.
Touching the gas pump and keypads
Jip, hundreds of people go through a busy gas station every day and everyone has to use the keypads to pay for the gas. All you need to do is wipe it before and maybe after you use it.
Also rather pay with a card than using cash to pay or when buying anything. Physical money notes and coins can accumulate a lot of germs over time.
Borrowing or lending helmets
I usually wash my helmet on a monthly basis or even twice a month depending on how hot is was lately. But if you lend out a helmet, be sure to wash it before using it again.
If you don’t have removable padding, you have made one of the worst life choices imaginable. This doesn’t have anything to do with 2020; you just don’t buy a helmet with fixed padding.
If you are one of these poor souls, you can still clean it with a lot of effort but I recommend you get some masks to wear under the helmet. No not medical masks, helmet masks or ski masks (the normal ones).
This just keeps sweat and mouth fluids more contained in the mask instead of going into the padding. I don’t ever go riding or wear a helmet without wearing a mask underneath.
Using the window scrub to clean your visor
Here we call the thing you use to clean the car windows at the gas station a “window scrub”, just so you know what I’m talking about.
I would avoid using something that goes through so many hands and windshields near my face. Whether this could actually be bad for you is debatable but still something to think about or be aware of.
How to keep your bike hygienically clean
You still need to wash your bike as usual to keep it nice and shiny but there are some things you might have to wipe off on a daily basis:
- Handlebars
- Levers
- Seats
Basically, anything that you or anyone else touches should be cleaned. You don’t really need to worry about this too much as you’ll be wearing gloves most of the time and probably fully covered from head to toe in gear.
How to keep your gear hygienically clean
Your gear is what is most important after the habits we looked at earlier.
Refrain from lending out or borrowing gear that come in contact with your face. This would include helmets, face masks and neck buffs.
As mentioned before you’ll need to clean the padding in your helmet. If you can remove the padding as most helmets are able to, you can wash them with your clothes in a washing machine. No problem.
The same goes for face masks and neck buffs, just toss them in with your clothes.
For helmet padding that can’t be removed, you’re going to have to clean it by hand and this could take a long time to do. It takes even longer for it to dry so you might consider getting a decent helmet that has removable padding.
Gloves can also be washed even if it’s leather, though some may have some kind of soft cotton type of padding inside that can’t be washed so check to make sure. You don’t have to wash them too often but you should wipe them on a daily basis.
Washing them is just to get the insides clean.
Final words
This is not my usual style of article that I like to write and I feel like a hygiene freak recommending all of this. But hey, you can’t be too careful at a time like this. If you liked this article, you can always sign up for the monthly newsletter.
Featured image by @exagon_moto on Instagram.
I always try to keep my articles interesting and informative. And I’m always thankful when they are shared on social media platforms or Pinterest.
