Washing Away Winter: XCP Degreaser

Each year, as winter approaches, there is always a deluge of articles about winter protection for motorcycles.

The subject then goes forgotten for another year, even though with the first vestiges of a warm weekend, motorcycles across the land are pulled into the sunshine and fired up, still covered in winter protection.

Chomping at the bit to get out there, we often quickly check the tyre pressures, ensure everything still works, but skip cleaning off the protective layers we applied as the cold and damp months arrived, all in favour of feeding our need to ride.

And, having now quietened the demons that had been screaming for seductive bends on dry tarmac, it is time for a little graft, and to strip away the winter coatings that have been protecting our motorcycles.

XCP Degreaser

In 2023, I spent a month on the road on my Ducati Multistrada 1200S. In hindsight, I’d say the trip was a great idea, but the bike, not so much.

Before I departed, I had 4,000 miles before the next Desmo service was due. Riding those 4,000 miles brought every worn-out part into focus.

It was almost as if it was timed that way. The chain reached the end of its life. It became evident that the suspension needed rebuilding, and when I got back, I discovered that the rear hub was a congealed mess of 36,000 miles of road crap, to highlight just a few of the niggles and issues.

Back in my garage and getting to work on the Ducati, I fell in love with XCP Degreaser. I got through two litres of the stuff, cleaning the Ducati, and it was an absolute marvel.

It was a lucky choice. I only bought it because it was on offer at SportsBikeShop at the time. And Yes, I spent my own money on it.

Spray and Forget

The concept of a spray-on cleaner that will make the dirt, grease and road crap fall off would also eat at the paint as well as the dirt. Some physical effort was required, along with the liberal applications of XCP Degreaser, but I never had to scrub; just gently encourage the grease, oil and road crap to part company with the Ducati.

I must have destroyed a pack of microfibre cloths over the long weekends in the garage cleaning and upgrading the Multistrada, but I never found anything that XCP degreaser couldn’t shift.

What’s In The Box

All of this is how I ended up with a selection of other XCP products arriving from MotoHaus, the people behind SW-Motech, Sena, Ventura luggage and now XCP products in the UK.

I had mentioned that two of our bikes had been in storage over winter, covered in a selection of protection products and that this weekend’s activity was to drag them out, degrease, clean and prepare them for the sunny days ahead.

The first can I pulled from the box was XCP Rust Blocker, which wasn’t what I needed to clean the bikes. Next was a can of clear coat, again going to be important when the weather turns damp, soggy and cold again [Next week then ~ Ed;] but not for right now.

The next three cans were precisely what I needed – a litre of XCP Degreaser, a can of Universal Parts Cleaner and a can of XCP ONE, which, according to the tin Loosens, Lubricates, Cleans, Protects and displaces moisture.

The Purple Africa Twin

Roger went over the top with the quantity of ACF-50 he drowned his Africa Twin in before putting it away for the winter. He had layered it on so thick that, in places, the bike looked purple.

With the Africa Twin jacked up on the MPW paddock stands, we soaked the bike in XCP Degreaser and then did the decent thing and drank tea.

Where Can I Find

First Pass

XCP Degreaser can be diluted 50/50 with water to make a cleaner rather than a degreaser. It sounded like a good idea for the first pass, and whereas some of the cleaner dripping off the Africa Twin had a purple tinge when we hosed it off, we could see the water pooling on the remaining ACF50.

The second time, we used the XCP Degreaser undiluted, which quickly cut through the remaining ACF50.

In both cases, we did very little in terms of actual cleaning. Mostly, it was drinking tea, talking, and occasionally applying some effort if there was an obvious spot of dirt needing some help to detach itself from the Africa Twin.

Rinsing away the XCP Degreaser with clean water and leaving it to drip dry in the sunshine, we spotted a couple of areas where the water had dried, leaving a light residue on the surface.

The seat had the most residue, which, considering that it isn’t a smooth surface compared to paint, isn’t surprising. After two minutes with some leather cleaner, the residue was removed.

For completeness, we snow-foamed the bike, broke out the sponges and jet-washed off the suds.

Chain Cleaner

If there is a downside to using XCP Degreaser, it is that it does a pretty good job of cleaning the oil from the chain. As there was a can of XCP Universal Parts Cleaner in the box, we decided we might as well do the job right and got grubby deep cleaning the chain.

We almost didn’t try it as the chain looked pretty clean, but watching the crap that dripped off the chain and the way the XCP Universal Parts Cleaner cut through the old chain lube around the sprocket nuts, we are glad we did.

The ultimate challenge for any chain cleaner is the layered-on chain lube fling found on the back of the number plate, and the Africa Twin was no different.

The first test was to try wiping the caked-on crap with a rag, which shifted some of it but wasn’t going to win prizes for quick and efficient cleaning. So we sprayed on a relatively generous coating of XCP Universal Parts Cleaner, and the old chain lube was wiped off with minimum effort.

According to the back of the can, XCP Universal Cleaner contains Hydrocarbons, Isoalkanes and Cyclics. My schoolboy chemistry can’t remember any of those, but they are highly efficient at removing chain fling from a motorcycle. Interestingly, my chemistry teacher never mentioned this important fact.

Bottom Line

We spend a lot of time preparing our motorcycles for winter, and the draw of the first run of sunny days, without cleaning away winter, is hard to resist.

We clean our bikes less in summer, yet road salt can hang around – as grit in the gutters – long into spring. Ensuring the sticky winter protection isn’t giving whatever rock salt is left a way of fixing itself to our motorcycles is well worth the effort.