Finally bought my first Harley today 2000 softail heritage and after a ride in the trailer from sydney up the coast its covered in shit.  my question is what do you guys use to clean your bikes, what polish do you recommend and any little cleaning tricks you have found along the way. The beer fridge is full so i have no excuse for not spending tommorrow cleaning my new toy ( unless i fire it up and piss off for a few hours 

A little while ago I bought a pressure cleaner, just a cheaper Karcher one from Bunnings. We have a few cars & 6 bikes, so lots of cleaning is required now & then.

 I use the "truck" wash liquid from the service stations. they all seem to sell their own brand. Bunnings sell a huge variety of various shaped brushes, you could clean every nook & cranny on you & your bike with at least one of their brushes. I use the pressure cleaner to spray on the wash liquid (it has a little tube you put in the container & it sucks & mixs the detergent), do some brushing if you need to. Then pressure clean the bike. But be careful to not hold the nossle close to anything that may get damaged by the pressure, like bearings, fork seals etc. Then I wipe off with a rag & the bike looks great again.

It is quick & easy to do so. if you do it often it does not take much to do & the bike always looks clean.. But be real carefull these pressure cleaners can do damage. I bought the cheap one so that it does not have too much pressure, so when the wife does it even if she is not too careful (which she won't be) then she cannot do much damage. If you hold the nossle at least half a meter from anything you should be ok.

If you have a Deniem Black bike like I have, heres what I do.

1. Fill a bucket with hot water, as hot as you can handle.

2. Wash bike in with hot water and a micro cloth, no detergent required, do a section at a time including the chrome,

3. To aid drying I use a micro or 2 to wipe of all moisture and this includes the chrome.

4. Polish chrome if desired.

Very easy to maintain these Deniem Black bikes as no polishing is required

 

 

OK here's my version.
It use to take me 4 to 5 hours to do a full detail....thats a lot of riding time.

Now days I would say around 2-3 hours max.

1. Rinse bike thoughrly removing any sand road grime or abrasives that are realy nasty to chrome and paint. ( Pressure washer is good to blow the sanding stuff of in those hard to get areas).
2. With a warm bucket of water (55 degrees helps to soften those bugs) and Meguiars Gold Class detergent in it, mix so it feels slippery, soak sponge and squeeze soap suds on area to clean.
3. Soak spunge again a rub gently
4. Rinse off and continue with the rest of bike.
5. Blow-dry the bike with an "Air Force Blaster" heated & humidified blower/dryer, they are expensive but a good asset.
6. For first time round use Gold Class Wax with foam pad applying a liberal amount to area, after wax dries to a haze polish with micro fibre cloth. (your paint will love it).
7. For the crome Mothers chrome polish is good but I have now change to Meguiars QUIK WAX with Carnauba wax for the crome and paint for touch ups before a rewax is required.

Simple and quick.

Until someone can show me real data that Mr Sheen is no good, I will stick to it. Have been using it on bikes, cars, car bra, Karts and everything else for over 20 years. Good stuff, bugs are easier to get off, grime and tar does not stick as much. Only disadvantage is dust loves it..

No, it does not leave a coating that stops you repainting. I used to do a paint job on my bikes every second year, never a problem.
Goes on easy, wipes off easy
Fills little scratches and swirls
Cheap
Presents a very good shine, as good as any Mequires I have used (have a cupboard full of mequires, Mothers etc)
Lasts a good 4 washes

Riders in the US of A would be interested to hea about MrSheen farkin your paint job..... they have been using "Pledge" for years which is the same ch1t as MrSheen....

I use MrSheen for interim cleans, but wen it needs a wash CT18 truck wash (ph neutral and bio-degradable) in a spray bottle does the job. Spray on, leave on for 10 minutes (or as long as you want to up to 24 hours) and hose off, followed by hi volume air blow dry, then wipe with chamois in a few spots to get water spots off. Takes about 45 minutes including the 10 minute soak time for the CT18 to work.

Then back to MrSheen in between......followed by 12 monthly McGuires 3 step clean, polish, wax treatment.

(late edit to correct smelling pistake-- change 100 minutes to 10 minutes)

Can someone please enlighten me as to why not to use Mr Sheen on paint.

Harley Dealer told me to use it 5 years ago & been using it for 5 years on the Fatty, 8 years on the Ducati & after 12 years of using havn't noticed a single blemish on paint

Cheers

Mal

Totally agree Phantom, do not use it on your wrinkle black. But for chrome etc it's perfectly fine.

I bought some gear from guys selling outside my local super market, it's in a spray can and is carnuba wax and other shit, they use it on NASCAR and V8 super cars etc, great stuff.

 What are you guys talking about, cleaning is woman's work... why aren't you out riding?

 

 sounds like to much "Polishing" going on...   hehehe

Guyz & Galz

Great tips, hints and advice.

Horses for Courses - it is all an individual choice based on hints, tips and advice

Agree with Destroyer, been using Mr Sheen on my paint for 16 yr house of kolor candy an WD40 on everything else no problems, so whats the issue?

Sorry...i mean the wife has been using the above products.

The silicone was an issue mostly on old acrylic paints as the paint never really cures as it kinda drys as the thinner evaporates. The 2pak and urethane paints rely on a catalyst to fully harden and when cured are very resistant to contaminants and such. Most new paints are 2k and should not be affected by silicones in that the will not be "absorbed".

My stealer told me from day one just to use morning fresh dishwashing detergent, in warm water,  rinse bike, soap  all over with soft cloth, ,spray alloys with mag clenaer,rinse off, chamis, quick ride around block to shake out water,meguires gold on tin and meguires metal polish on chrome, end result half  to three quarts hour tops and looks  show room, just keep the polish off the wrinkle black as it goes white and is hard to remove

 

G'day I just bought a 2004 XL1200R Sporty it's in good nick but the mags wheels need a good clean I am a bit weary of some of these spray on mag wheels cleaner's I heard some of them have like a acid based compound in them that could affect the rubbers and other parts on our bikes so anyone found one that works without doing any damage to the bike cheers.

Use S100, the best bike cleaner on the market,spray on wait a bit then hose using hardest water pressure... a bit pricey...but awesome...i been told what ever you do don't let it dry a world of hurt

I use wd40 on the wrinkle black motor with old toothbrushes,and their free. Scrub the black parts of motor with toothbrush/wd then wash the whole bike with washnwax type stuff,hose off,chamois off water, dun.Go for a ride to dry hard to get at bits. Solvol Autosol on the shiny bits. Use other end of toothbrush with a bit of rag wrapped around to get to tricky areas. When I hose down I do it quickly,similar action to a spraypainter painting a car, and use the spray setting on a basic hose nozzle (Nylex?) and not a direct jet of water. Too harsh and can get into areas that are hard to dry out.
I keep the shiny (not chrome or polished) bits good looking on my '69 flh with a rag that has the slightest trace of kero or oil on it. I dont polish the dresser at all,especially the original paint. It's amazing how the original '69 chrome comes up with soapy water and chamois then dry cloth, no polish. Maybe a bit here and there on the chrome but only if it really needs it. P:S Mr Sheen is excellent on fishing rods!!

Does anyone know how to get the cloudy/white colour off your matt black night train caused from using Mr Sheen????

I use a cheap arse STEAM CLEANER to remove all the dried on bugs & grime from the chrome ( NO SCRATCHES) & black engine cases & barrels, heads etc...

( mine cost $30 at GODFREYS the vacume mob... I've been told they have put the price up to $40 )

then wash the bike with a mild car wash... chamois dry...  spray a Silicone spray on the black bits & polish the chrome with autosol..  JOB DONE

( DONT POLISH  spoke wheels...  it removes the GALVANISATION & they will rust.. )

I blow the excess water off with an electric garden blower/vac. Never tried it on the garden so dont know if its any good for that!!