what's the best way to wash the bike?  does it matter if it's running or not?  do you have to protect the plugs or other electronics.  my guess is no, since the bike can get rained on, but soapy water can sometimes travel where dirty water doesn't...

Dont worry about it...just get her nice and soapy...then hose her down, then dry it off.  Everything important is sealed off.

I've found that spraying the bike down with Simple Green makes the job very easy, it gets in between the fins on the head, and cuts grease and road grime very well.  A cloth, a toothbrush, and some clean water is all you will need to complete the job.

cool!  thanks guys.

I work at a Suzuki dealer and we have and sell Suzuki bike wash. IT IS AWESOME! you wet the bike down... spray on some wash, let it sit a few mins and spray it off... the stuff works GREAT! I cant wait until my bike is out of winter storage so I can wash it 

Hey... thread resurrection.    In my manual it says to cover the airbox when you wash the bike... does anybody do this?

I don't use a hose...  Mostly 'cause I don't have one in my Apartment...

I use:


It works pretty well...  Just uses a lot of papertowels.

Here's the review of it:  http://www.totalmotorcycle.com/reviews/KitBikeCleanReview.htm

Dish soap with water works too. I use a dish brush to go over all the parts, then rinse with more water 

Hmm, thanks Vertigo, I'll have to check that out...  I actually like the Simple Green ('cos it's "green")... but they compare it to that so I'll check it out.

Quote from: nightrider on April 26, 2007, 02:49:23 PM
Dish soap with water works too. I use a dish brush to go over all the parts, then rinse with more water 

Dish soap take all the wax off... I guess this is ok if you rewax your bike everytime you wash it

Wow, 3 new posts while I was typing this !

I goto the carwash. 30 seconds of 'hot prewash', 30 seconds of messing up the brush, the rest is rinse and 'wax'. Just don't use the preasure of the wand.

All it really does is knock off the road grime and give me a chance to clean things proper with WD-40.

No, I don't spray the bike with wd-40, just wipe it with a towel.

best way is to wash your bike with hose and water as little as possible.  forget about a pressure washer.    use spray cleaners or waterless cleaners as much as you can.  of course if it's caked on, use a hose and water, but if it's just a little dusty, don't.  it's the stuff that you can't see that will thank you long term, with minimal water usage.

There's lots of different ways to wash a bike and most are fine, however both dish soap and simple green will remove wax from your paint so while they work well fro removing grease and oil from the engine, wheels, swingarm etc. I try to keep it off of waxed paint.


It's best to use a car or bike wash on the waxed areas, none of them should take the wax off.

I just went up to the dollar tree and bought 1 20oz bottle of ArmorAll PowerWash and ArmorAll Wax It Dry and did both my bike and my friends bike with them... It worked really well I think and the bikes both shined up nicely.... I wish the previous owner hadn't crashed it and put 2 dents in the tank and some chips 

I did not know that about simple green and dish soap taking wax off. Seems like the moto cleaner I have is five times as powerful as the concentrations I was using of the above, so it would be more harsh.  I guess I will change my ways and then give it a new wax job.