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Best Dirty Bike Wash?

Clean bugs off headlight lens & ride. Repeat.
Clean bird poop off seat if neccessary.
Anything above and beyond is for a rainy day.
 
Concur.

Clean bugs off headlight lens & ride. Repeat.
Clean bird poop off seat if neccessary.
Anything above and beyond is for a rainy day.
"Cycle Bright" softens all the bugs so they are easily rinsed off. I want to ride my bike, not worship and pamper it. Maintenance yes; great efforts at cleaning....NO! To each his own, but no special brushes, cloths, towels, and various compounds for me!
 
Wax attracts small dust particles that don't wash out of / off the wax very well. So removing the wax once or twice a year doesn't bother me a bit. So using Dawn doesn't bother me a bit.

I'm positive that the more benign stuff sold for washing gargantuan car hoods, doors, fenders, trunks, and roofs is better for cars. Those surfaces also don't have nearby wheel bearings, engine gaskets, seals, and other sources of oily grime needing to be removed. I have exactly one small front fender, two small side panels, and one gas tank to re-wax on my bike. So I use Dawn. At least twice a year.
 
Bike Soap

Dawn removes the old wax so if you use it, wax needs to be applied after the bike is dried. Blast all the old dirty off with a good stream of water so when you wash it with a sponge, you don't scratch the surface with the large pieces of dirt. For wax, Zaino which can be ordered on line is, in my opinion, the very best there is. Goes on easily and comes off easier. Your bike will look like it just came off the showroom floor. Again, Dawn removes not only dirt and grease, but also wax.
 
Cycle Wash

S-100 products are excellent. They make a concentrated spray-on cleaner for wheels and a separate spray-on cleaner for the rest of the bike. I use a soft nylon bristle brush on the wheels and simply hose it off with water.
 
S-100 products are excellent. They make a concentrated spray-on cleaner for wheels and a separate spray-on cleaner for the rest of the bike. I use a soft nylon bristle brush on the wheels and simply hose it off with water.


+1:thumb
 
Go to a HD forum for tips on cleaning. Essentially, clean & polish 23 hours for every
hour riding. Only ride on nice days. Better yet, put the bike in the back of a truck
and drive it where-ever. Save's alot of polishing time.



Easy words from a guy who rides a 23 year old, self proclaimed, rat bike. :)
 
Here in the Big Bend it rained early last September. Not since. Bugs are rare.

I just cleaned my bike by blowing the dust off it with an air hose. It isn't polished, but it also isn't dusty anymore.
 
A few products that I use to keep my motorcycles showroom looking...and almost 20 years later...

  • Facto AT 30 Mass Transit Vehicle Cleaner (the best water-based commercial degreaser & cleaner around - safe on all surfaces)
  • Seafoam Bugs B Gone (washes away bugs)
  • Lemon Pledge (for daily use)
  • Meguiar's Swirl Remover and Yellow #26 paste wax (for twice a year applications - also keeps windscreen looking new)
 
I've been using some stuff made for car-washing (I forget the brand). It works really well and something like 1 capful to a gallon of water is all you need. BIG bottle is $3 or $4 at Target.
For windscreens, headlight lenses & instrument glass/plastic, etc. I use a solution of Simple Green and a microfibre cloth.

I've also found that the coin-op car washes are great too for getting the bike really clean quickly and easily. That green engine-goop they have really cuts the crud.
 
I use Simple Green, ridiculously diluted. I hose down the motorcycle, then spray Simple Green over the particularly grungy areas to let it soak. Then, in ~4 gallons of HOT water, I put about a cup of concentrated Simple Green. I use a sponge, rag, brush or whatever to scrub the motorcycle stem-to-stern, and then rinse thoroughly. I hit the instrument cluster and mirrors and a few other nooks and crannies with compressed air to blow out the water. Then I towel-dry whatever's still wet. I gave up on waxing motorcycles years and years ago.

Compressed air,seriously?Everything I read says just the opposite.:scratch
 
Thanks for all the great bike cleaning comments-I feel guilty as my bike has been cleaner than it was for several days. I took it to the car wash and doused the lower parts with degreaser and blasted it off then home for hand car wash on the top end and it is now waiting for shop space to service and polish off the exhaust junk. I don't worry about the blue, just the surface junk with some rubbing compound. Hey, I need to change out my clutch/brake fluids-thanks for the ON reminder Paul!
 
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