Tedious, that is the best way to describe cleaning old bike bits.

Because our Honda has spent a few years upside down in a sandpit we'll need to use our years of cleaning experience to restore it to concourse condition - Ok so we won't bother with that, so how can we get it looking reasonable for the minimum effort...

	Start by getting a few basic cleaning products like gunk and some de-ruster plus some paint stripper etc.
	Now, here is our sophisticated parts cleaning plant - otherwise known as a tray with some gunk in and a yogurt pot. A lot of the bits on mx bikes are alloy and can be easily marked with steel wire brushes, plus you can't get into a lot of the recesses with a tooth brush, so some good brass bottle brushes are always useful.
	Given the fact that the gearbox was full of metallic sludge it makes sense to thoroughly degrease all the internal components - before storing them. Carefully give them a quick squirt of WD40 or clean engine oil to stop them rusting once cleaned and rinsed (note: don't spray WD40 on the clutch plates).
	With the gear cluster it is often better to put it back into the crankcase so that you know how it goes back together - there are lots of little things about the orientation of washers and pins that can make reassembly a nightmare - nobody wants to put the gearbox back together and find that it doesn't work.
	Hmmm, the frame is pretty cruddy and all the electrics look a little tired. Unfortunately we can't test the electrics as the motor won't spin - be careful when cleaning the coil and CDI don't soak them in water, use a contact cleaner.
	The frame is very rusty, as you can see. As with most frames they are a nightmare to strip and clean properly. You can always get it done professionally, but that costs money. Frames will rust in places where moisture can accumulate. As our bike looks like it has been buried in sand that means everywhere...
	The rear frame rails are well rusted, in fact the seat mounting brackets have fused to the frame. We had to hacksaw the bolt off. We bought some hammerite rust removing gel, which proved disappointing (unlike the dip, which we use on smaller items, see RM125) - the bottom line is you need to attack rust like this with a decent wire brush.
	After many hours with a wire brush and some rust removing gell we got down to this...as long as you remove all the loose rust scale and the metal is black as opposed to red you should be able to paint it successfully with a rust inhibiting paint like hammerite.
	Now, you don't have to strip all the paint off a frame, but with one that is in this poor a state it is a good idea, we do it so that we can thoroughly check the frame for cracks. This is important on a competition motorcycle as it will undoubtedly have had a hard life. Simply apply the paint stripper and leave it for 15 minutes then attack the paint with a wire brush.
	We also stripped the swing arm - more because it is a tricky shape and would be difficult to get a decent finish by rubbing down the existing paint.
	One product we can recommend is Auto Glym Vinyl and Rubber care, it works well on rubber parts like carb manifolds and fork boots and also restores plastics like the airbox - a good product which does exactly what it says on the label.
	Problems - we haven't quite figured out how to clean the inside of the tank yet. We managed to get the bulk of the sand out but there seems to be sand embedded in the plastic. As the tank is plastic you can wash it out with water, but even this isn't shifting the sand...any ideas let us know.

plastic renew costs £15 for a bottle which will treat a few complete sets of plastic and comes with some application cloths and a wire pad and some wet and dry paper (which won't be enough to go with the bottle's content).