Cleaning your bike

[nplenzick]

A few weeks ago there was a thread on how to clean your bike. Since I have a business that sells products for maintaining motorcycles I felt it was improper to post in a general forum . So here are my suggestions.
Never use any products like Simple Green on your bike, unless your following a leaking V twin and you need to clean the oil residue off. These products will strip the wax right off your motorcycle, they will also get into places you really don't want them to get into, like switches, bearings and other area's that have lubricants on them. Some of these product are really bad for aluminum and anodized metals. So unless your doing a restoration and the motor was a leaker stay away from these products.
Never use a pressure washer........never. You'll create electrical woes that will haunt you for a long time .
This is what I do.
Make sure the bike is cool.
If the bike is really, really, filthy. Like ridding on salted, cindered, or muddy roads and there is so much crud on your bike that you can't tell what color it is, that's the only time I will use a hose and water. I just simply use a moderate spray, and a bucket of a good automotive wash ( never use dish soap). Spray it down so you knock most of the loose stuff off, soap it up and rinse. Towel it down and take it for a spin around the block. I've found that this gets most of the water out of the little crevices and heats up the motor and dissipates all of the moisture around the motor.
Now would be a good time to use a protectant. Since I sell Protect All guess what I'm recommending? Yep, Protect All Polish. You use it on everything, plastic, metals, paint, windshield, seat, whatever. Spray a little on the item, or on a rag. Wipe on, wipe off. No white residue! Its really that simple really great stuff.
Most of the time I rarely use the car wash method of cleaning, instead I use another product that Protect All makes.....Quick and Easy Wash.
I mix some up, put it in a spray bottle, spray a part of the bike, and wipe off with a clean rag. Great for for cleaning bugs off the front, brake dust off the wheels, or when you don't want to use a hose. Great for cleaning your steed in the garage.
I take great pride in everything I own and I confess to being on the anal side when in comes to my motorized vehicles, however I have found over the years cracked frames, wheels, brackets broken, loose wires, bolts, oil and coolant leaks. All when cleaning my vehicles.
So that's my two cents I hope it helps some of you. Ride safe.

[varoom]

Nick,

Have your tried the Protect All Polish on different windshields? Course if the stock windshield can take it I image most of the others can...;) Any experience applying the polish to an Parabellum? And if it shines things up that pretty - pictures are in order :)!

[nplenzick]

Richard,
I've only tried it on stock windshields I don't see why it wouldn't work on any other type. I've even used it on glass with great results. As for photo's; we tried to do some before and after shot's of bugs splattered on the front of my bike and the results of using Quick and Easy Wash . We had two problems with it. First, I really couldn't capture how bad the bug splatter was and second what point would it have been, you see a dirty bike in one photo and in the next you see a clean one.
Protect All products are not new, they have been around for quite sometime, their chain lube has been around since the late 60's. Their widely known in the RV industry, just catching on in the motorcycle area and are pretty much an unknown in the automotive field basically because there would be no reason auto parts stores to carry anything else since Protect All does it all. No need for vinyl protectents, tire dressings and the like.

[tmgs]

( never use dish soap)


Ok I have to ask why not?
I'm guessing it removes the wax?

Tom

[nplenzick]

Yep, your right Tom! Dish soap is a great way to remove the wax from just about anything. When I use do allot of spray painting the first thing we would do is wash the panels down with dish soap even before using thinner. If I remember I think we got the best results using Dawn.

[Malki]

I believe that Dish Soap is full of salt, used as a thickening agent, hence the reason never to use it on any vehicle. The brand we use here in the UK is brilliant, lasts longer, does more...blah blah, also keeps your hands as soft as a baby's bum.....so my wife tells me :D

[tmgs]

hmmm, never knew or heard there is salt in dishsoaps, I've used Dish soap quite a few times on the bikes and cars over the years

Tom

[nplenzick]

Yea thats new to me also. The only thing I know is that there very good at striping the wax off of paint. I'll have to metion this to a friend of mine who is the head scientist for a large chemical company. He's pretty good at explaining things in layman terms.
I wonder if that could be the reason why some people have complained about foggy windshield?

[Malki]

It may well be an old wives tale, or indeed a ploy by the manufacturers of vehicle cleaning products to disuade us from using liquid dish soap, I don't know, but it is top of the list in the FAQ on this site.

http://www.turtlewax.com/

Malki

[Kirk1111]

Hi All:

I'm new to this forum but have used Lemon Pledge, yes, Lemon Pledge furniture polish since 1977 on every motorcycle I have owned. It cleans every part of the bike. It makes the bugs come off easier as well. I have not used it on the stock windshields of the K1200LT but on all other surfaces. This includes all the tupperware, chrome, exhaust and wheel (careful not to get on tires). It's cheap and you can buy small bottles (anywhere) with plunger spray or aerosol for $3.00. That and a rag/towel does the job everytime. It also never leaves a build-up in nooks and cranny's like paste type wax.

Thanks for all the great info. on this web site.

Kirk1111

[ez_rdr55]

Roger that on the Pledge, and the lemon makes the bike smell good too.

[bluebeam]

A few weeks ago there was a thread on how to clean your bike. Since I have a business that sells products for maintaining motorcycles I felt it was improper to post in a general forum . So here are my suggestions.
Never use any products like Simple Green on your bike, unless your following a leaking V twin and you need to clean the oil residue off. These products will strip the wax right off your motorcycle, they will also get into places you really don't want them to get into, like switches, bearings and other area's that have lubricants on them. Some of these product are really bad for aluminum and anodized metals. So unless your doing a restoration and the motor was a leaker stay away from these products.
Never use a pressure washer........never. You'll create electrical woes that will haunt you for a long time .
This is what I do.
Make sure the bike is cool.
If the bike is really, really, filthy. Like ridding on salted, cindered, or muddy roads and there is so much crud on your bike that you can't tell what color it is, that's the only time I will use a hose and water. I just simply use a moderate spray, and a bucket of a good automotive wash ( never use dish soap). Spray it down so you knock most of the loose stuff off, soap it up and rinse. Towel it down and take it for a spin around the block. I've found that this gets most of the water out of the little crevices and heats up the motor and dissipates all of the moisture around the motor.
Now would be a good time to use a protectant. Since I sell Protect All guess what I'm recommending? Yep, Protect All Polish. You use it on everything, plastic, metals, paint, windshield, seat, whatever. Spray a little on the item, or on a rag. Wipe on, wipe off. No white residue! Its really that simple really great stuff.
Most of the time I rarely use the car wash method of cleaning, instead I use another product that Protect All makes.....Quick and Easy Wash.
I mix some up, put it in a spray bottle, spray a part of the bike, and wipe off with a clean rag. Great for for cleaning bugs off the front, brake dust off the wheels, or when you don't want to use a hose. Great for cleaning your steed in the garage.
I take great pride in everything I own and I confess to being on the anal side when in comes to my motorized vehicles, however I have found over the years cracked frames, wheels, brackets broken, loose wires, bolts, oil and coolant leaks. All when cleaning my vehicles.
So that's my two cents I hope it helps some of you. Ride safe.
just a heads up also guys...I used armor all's aluminum wheel cleaner on my fatboy's solid aluminum wheels once. apparently I had the first run on the bottles before they put a warning on them DO NOT to use it on coated wheels, it will take the finish off and stain the wheel. Well I was only told this when I called the company to vent and wanting some action taken, at least pay for buffing them out professionally, I really wanted them chromed.. needless to say they did noting even after I sent them the bottle, so I took the wheels off that fall and worked on them all winter, they looked like chrome when I was done, but they did not have a coating on them, now the new owner has to spend half the weekend rubbing them clean. I know LT's dont have much for aluminum but tell your buds with bikes that might, if it says dont use on aluminum, take it from a guy that found out the hard way. dont!!

[HammerLT]

So do I. I use it on anything on the bike. It works best on front end critters. Several years ago I lived in Arizona. I was waxing my bike prior to going on a putt. The guy that painted my bike showed up and said he was insulted. He pointed out the benefits of Pledge. I have had 4 bikes since then. They all looked great and you can't beat the price.
Chuck