Sensible motorcycle babble since 1999
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We’ve tried it all – Mothers, Meguiar’s, Turtle Wax and more. So who’s the best? None of the above.

Store bought waxes, cleaners and polishes can’t touch the little upscale catalog company in Tacoma - Griot’s Garage.

Griot’s Garage specializes in creating top quality detailing products, primarily for the custom car market. They aim for a high income customer who will pay for quality – and quality is what they deliver, hands down over any of their competitors we tested them against. Unless you hang around with the Porsche or Ferrari crowd, you may not have even heard of this product as it’s not available at retail stores.

In 2002, founder Richard Griot (a motorcyclists himself) figured out he could combine a number of products into a single kit for motorcycle detailing. The original kit was a bit overblown for a typical user and priced at $150. In 2003 the company scaled the kit down to the essentials and priced it right at $99.

The kit comes into play once you’ve given your bike a thorough washing with mild soap and water.

For starters there’s a wheel cleaner which is safe on all types of rims whether they are chrome, alloy or powder coated. The stuff is wonderful at getting rid of chain grease, brake dust, tar and other things that may attach themselves to your rims while on the road. Just spray it on, scrub it in and wash it off during the final bike rinse.

Once you’ve toweled down your bike, you can get into the other products.

Begin with Griot’s Fine Hand Polish. The polish is specially made to be used by hand, to remove minor scratches and prep your paint surface for waxing.

Nothing else we tested came close to waxing with Griot’s Best of Show Wax. 12 months after an application of this product, the paint on our test bike was still beading water as if the wax had been applied yesterday. It was contagious and I’ve since done several cars with the product too.

If you have a plastic windshield (and this goes for the face shield on your helmet too), you’re in for some stunning results with Griot’s plastic polish. We tested the product on a number of shields including a gunky Harley Electra Glide that hadn’t been cleaned in well over two years and was ailing from too much weather and not enough care. Bingo, the windshield bounced back like new. The polish also removed some minor scratches from the face shield of a two-year old Arai Quantum F helmet. You should know we also tested Meguiar’s and Novus’ three step cleaners. The results were pitiful in contrast. Griot’s also makes a spray cleaner you can carry to keep the clarity tip top while you’re on a ride.

Finally Griot’s includes a bottle of their Speed Shine, which is a universal cleaner you can spray on just about anything on your bike, wipe off, and keep the bike looking great between washings.

The kit also comes with all the applicators, mitts, swabs and micro-fiber cloths you’ll need to spiff up your bike

In its reduced version, the kit appears to take into consideration that you may already have the essentials at home to give your bike a typical washing and doesn’t provide you with wash soap, a wash brush or any plastic or metal detailing brushes essential for removing grime from nooks and crannies. Griot’s however makes an excellent detergent to start with and also sells a number of high grade washing and detailing brushes – all sold separately.

Also missing from the scaled down kit is Griot’s Paint Cleaning Clay, which is exceptional at getting rid of hardened bugs, tree sap, over-spray and buildup on paint surfaces - before you start with the fine hand polish.

The other missing ingredients are Chrome Polish and Vinyl and Rubber Dressing which Griot’s can provide as separate line items.

Griot’s is committed to not just providing great products to the detailing market, but making sure you’re educated in the best ways to use them. While it seams a bit self serving on the surface, Griot’s Detailing Handbook, now in its third edition, is an excellent way to learn a lot of tricks to detailing your bike.

If you’re ready to try something new when it comes to cleaning your bike, Griot’s is well worth a look.

PT/Summer 03

The Imaginary Sound RIDER!/Griots Motorcycle Detailing Kit.

As much as we’d like to create a kit of our own Griot’s products to sell in the Sound RIDER! store, that won’t be happening anytime soon. Griot’s has no resellers, choosing to keep their sales in house only. Nonetheless, after all our testing we came up with a combination of our own. If we were to advise Griot’s on what to have in a motorcycle kit, here’s what we’d choose.

* denotes items in the existing Motorcycle Kit. Other items are sold separately through Griot’s Garage.

For more information visit the Griot’s website at www.griotsgarage.com. There you can request a free catalog and browse al their goods.

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