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Keeping the Bike Looking Good on Long Trips

4K views 52 replies 43 participants last post by  jimfrompa 
#1 ·
How do some of you guys keep your Wing clean while doing long distance riding? How often do you take time to clean the bike while on the road or do you wait to get back home to do a through cleaning and wax? Do you use facilities at biker friendly locations, car washes, carry waterless cloths, or use a spray cleaner? I try to at least keep the front clean to keep bug splatters to a minimum using a spray on wax and cleaner and then detail the bike when I get home.
 
#2 · (Edited)
KISS... Keep It Simple Sir!

All I worry about is the front usually unless there is a nice, biker friendly hotel that offers buckets and rags and such. But for the front of the bike, including the windshield all I use is Peroxide 3%. The kind that comes in a brown bottle, that you can buy anywhere! Spray it all over the front, let it sit while you have a drink of a socialable nature! Bugs are protein and the Peroxide turns them into foam. Then simple wipe off with a 100% cotton or micro fiber cloth. Side to side or up and down motions only on the windshield. Then finish off with Honda Polish on the Windshield! Done! :grin2:
 
#3 ·
Other then windshield and lights I don't worry about it. If in the buggy south and east...
I'll ask the hotel clerk for a couple old towels they use as rags. Soak one in the bathroom sink with a couple drops of shampoo and hot water. Drap it onto the windshield. Let it soak and soften the bug guts. After 10 mins wipe away the grime. Use a clean wet towel to get the soap off.
A riding buddy of mine uses the same old towels trick and the bathroom trash can as a bucket. Washes the whole front of his bike. Ferries out buckets of clean water to rince. Works best if you park right in front of the motel room.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
 
#8 ·
I pretty much only worry about the windshield and lights as well. When I'm home I almost always use a wet microfiber cloth, water only, on the windshield and headlights, then dry it off with a dry microfiber cloth. I've thought about using Pledge, or Peroxide as others have mentioned, but I have found just plain water seems to do the trick, even for dried on bugs as long as they haven't been stuck on the windscreen for an extended amount of time. At my height of now only 5'7" i mostly look through the windscreen, although I can sit up higher and look just over it, so I want the windscreen as clean as possible. For trips where I might need to clean the windshield while away from home, I keep a small freezer plastic bag with a wet but clean microfiber cloth in the small storage compartment by the passenger seat. If the bag is sealed, that cloth will stay wet and usable almost indefinitely. I also keep a dry one there as well for drying off the windscreen. I also keep an absorbent towel, one of those "Shamwow" type towels, in a plastic bag in the trunk for drying off the seat and other parts of the bike if it has been sitting in the rain (like in front of a motel overnight). I just hate to have to ride with a wet seat under me, and a small chamois like towel can be used to dry off the entire bike if needed.
 
#11 ·
#12 ·
Have used the free motel stuff many times, but other than the free stuff it's pretty rare that my bike gets washed while on a trip. Last year we had to wash our bikes (I was riding Yamaha Tenere) at the North Pole car wash because the calcium chloride from riding to Prudhoe bay was baked on so thick u could barely see the headlights and exhaust, the stuff seems to kinda bake onto anything that gets hot.
 
#13 ·
I bring a sponge, chamois, rags and some peroxide. Clean the bugs off with the peroxide and use a motel trash bucket filled with water and clean the entire motorcycle every night. Not a great job, but probably an hour or moreeach day cleaning, then throw on the cover and done for the day.
 
#16 ·
We like to travel for months at a time and are camping out during that time. Traveling this way one needs to take a day off now and then from the stresses of constant movement and sightseeing. We take one every week to ten days and call it a "maintenance day". We repair what broke, install what's new, launder the clothes, wash the bike and just relax in camp for a day. Then we are ready to hit the road again.
 
#24 ·
I also heard those clean red bikes get more tickets compared to the darker colors. Cops seem to like red as well. Ride safe my friend.
Hey careful there ... I resemble that remark lol.

Donnie
 
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#22 · (Edited)
If I could figure out a way to clean my bike from the seat, I would have the cleanest bike around. I used to clean it all the time and then it went to every Sunday and then I just got tired of cleaning it, only to ride it in the rain the next day. I give it a good cleaning in the spring and then a couple times over the summer maybe. During the riding season I ride it every day. Below is my average on my wings, but that doesn't count my VStar, or my dirt bikes. I also owned an FJR for a short time last year and sold it, Albeit the miles on the other bikes are nowhere near the mileage of the wings, but they are miles. I sold my Vstar last year also, so that one is over. I enjoy meeting and talking to people at gas stations and rest stops and will not be cleaning my bike then. When the weekenders tell me I need to clean my bike, I just smile and tell them they need to ride theirs, LOL

Stats on my wing riding.
Date of purchase: March 15, 2008
Initial miles: 5
Total miles: 325,009
Total days: 3,263
Miles per day: 99.60
Miles per month: 3,032.19
Miles per year: 36,386.23

EDIT: Still hold down a full time job. @Monk, @Donnieontheroad, LOL!
 
#26 ·
Stats on my wing riding.
Date of purchase: March 15, 2008
Initial miles: 5
Total miles: 325,009
Total days: 3,263
Miles per day: 99.60
Miles per month: 3,032.19
Miles per year: 36,386.23

EDIT: Still hold down a full time job. @Monk , @Donnieontheroad , LOL!
But your full time job is to RIDE .... right? Not fair.

Donnie
 
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#23 ·
On the road I generally have room for Plexus or Sprayway glass cleaner on the trike, use Sprayway only on the car also, safe for tint and it sprays out somewhat foamy and if not sprayed to heavy it don't run, Great Stuff !! .... on the outside I use Lucas Oil Slick Mist ($9 at Wally World),, it's the bees knees, simply the best I ever used, along with the cheaper micro fibers from Wally World, maybe $3 for 5 ? (never tried the more pricey ones) ,,,as they do absorb and then use another to buff shine up, so many don't. ie: bought some @ Harbor Freight and actually threw em away, pure junk. / this is the results on black & under fluorescent lights in the garage,,, plus I'm a retired autobody, owner etc ,,, so I type from experience, take this as the gospel. /// I do my dusty or rained on Trike all over in 10 minutes
 
#25 ·
clean the fork tubes

I don't want any leaking front fork seals on my rode trips from dried on bug guts. I always clean the wind shield when I gas up on rides and then use the same micro rag with the plexus cleaner to wipe off any road dirt or bug guts on the fork tubes .So far I haven't had any problems with a leaking seal.. knock on wood! At night before I cover the Wing at the motel I give it a good once over and then cover it for the night. I really like to start each day with a clean ride. Just makes me feel good .. Regards Eldon
 
#27 ·
We clean the bikes in the morning when the dew is on them, or don't clean them if it looks like rain for the day. Hotel rags and garden hoses are best because they are free and can be used for other needs. I like the peroxide idea and plan to try that this year. Thanks for the idea.
 
#48 ·
A riding buddy turned me on to the Lucas on last years trip on the Alcan. I use it just like the Honda spray or Protectall or Meguires. I use it on everything, paint, chrome and windshield. After a coat or two the bugs come right off.
 
#30 ·
#31 ·
I like to keep the windshield and head lights clean on a trip. Other than that, hope it gets rained on at night. What is this 'cover for the night' thing?? I have micro fibre towels to dry the seat in the morning after a rain or heavy dew. Cover??? How do you get the darn thing back into the little bag it came in?
 
#32 ·
Windshield, lights is enough, however if there are a LOT of bugs I usually hose them off at hotel or carwash, helps keep the hornets away when I stop for gas/coffee. Spray Away for the windshield, and a small bottle of peroxide water mix for really tough baked on bugs. Could careless about looking pretty, those years have long ago past.
 
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