Electrical gurus...help please

So, my RIII is trashed dirty. I have a foamer gun and a power washer. Air dry with a leaf blower.

How do I get it clean without damaging stuff? Specially the electrical components.
What must not get wet and what can? What can be sprayed with any cleaning or cosmetic products.
Can the bike be sprayed if it is hot?

At the rallies I watch chicks spray the heck out of the HDs. They seem to take it well.
How about out the RIII?

BTW I love my KeyLess RIII mod. It's pricy but sooo Kool. Just walk up to the bike, you can tell she sees you switch on pull the clutch and you are ON. The bike even says bye, see you later bud, with a double wink.

1K9 said:

So, my RIII is trashed dirty. I have a foamer gun and a power washer. Air dry with a leaf blower.

How do I get it clean without damaging stuff? Specially the electrical components.
What must not get wet and what can? What can be sprayed with any cleaning or cosmetic products.
Can the bike be sprayed if it is hot?

At the rallies I watch chicks spray the heck out of the HDs. They seem to take it well.
How about out the RIII?

BTW I love my KeyLess RIII mod. It's pricy but sooo Kool. Just walk up to the bike, you can tell she sees you switch on pull the clutch and you are ON. The bike even says bye, see you later bud, with a double wink.

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I personally would never power wash my bike. I prefer to just flood the surface with an un-nozzled garden hose or very fine gentle spray nozzle, wash down the grim with just a soapy mit as I further flood the grime away to remove dirt and avoid scratches. My bike never gets that dirty unless I have been on a trip and had to ride in the rain. I have the touring so I always remove my hard bags so I can get to the rear wheel area better with some spray wheel cleaner and a brush. I also remove my windshield and remove the bolts holding the seat so I can take it off after washing. As I mentioned, I cover the controls with some plastic Walmart bags. They say to cover the exhaust as well but I usually don't. I would avoid spraying under the side covers to avoid the ECU and relays...hand wipe under there only. I can lightly flood the top of the engine with a garden hose, but I never spray with a nozzle under the tank. When it's all clean I take the electric leaf blower to remove most of the water. I like to use engine bright (kind of like pig snot) to make my black engine shine. I wipe everything down, put things back together, and go for a ride to finish warming and drying everything out. Polish and detailer optional. There are a few other things I do but that's the gist of it.

I don't actually wash my bike that often. I find wiping it down with a frequently rinsed out damp cloth does a good job followed by some lemon pledge or my latest preference "bikers choice" does the job. CORRECTION....not "biker choice" but rather.."Original Bike Spirits"

NO! NO! NOT lemon pledge!

Whenever I wash a bike it is with a garden hose and nozzle. NO car washes or high powered sprayers. Lightly sprayed and then bucket and soap. After the soap is rinsed off the seat comes off and the engines is turned on. The sooner the better especially with the Harley. I ride every day so washing is done a lot. Hate a dirty bike. Never had a problem but I never aim the water directly at electrical components or the controls on the Handle bars. I personally like turtle wax wash. Some detergents like dish soap is full of degreasers. Not a real good idea when you think about it. The Harley can take a few hours to clean especially with all the Chrome. The Rocket X is a breeze to clean. I hand dry the bikes with a cloth and at the same time am keeping a sharp eye open for anything out of the ordinary such as loose bolts and nuts. Really just about anything that does not look right. A lot of preventive maintenance has been done during a bike wash. LEMON PLEDGE

sonny said:

Whenever I wash a bike it is with a garden hose and nozzle. NO car washes or high powered sprayers. Lightly sprayed and then bucket and soap. After the soap is rinsed off the seat comes off and the engines is turned on. The sooner the better especially with the Harley. I ride every day so washing is done a lot. Hate a dirty bike. Never had a problem but I never aim the water directly at electrical components or the controls on the Handle bars. I personally like turtle wax wash. Some detergents like dish soap is full of degreasers. Not a real good idea when you think about it. The Harley can take a few hours to clean especially with all the Chrome. The Rocket X is a breeze to clean. I hand dry the bikes with a cloth and at the same time am keeping a sharp eye open for anything out of the ordinary such as loose bolts and nuts. Really just about anything that does not look right. A lot of preventive maintenance has been done during a bike wash. LEMON PLEDGE

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All good stuff! I no longer use a wash and wax combination as I decided it might make for a tire grip issue. Probably not, but why risk it. I usually do the "Original Bike Spirits" anyway to make it shine! Same here...my bike is never dirty and I catch a lot of flack from the guys I ride with. They away ask how I keep my bike so clean. They want me to detail their bikes, but I refuse. My luck I would put a scratch in it somehow and that would be a problem.

1olbull said:

Thinking I should wrap wires under tank and under seat in prophylactics.

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what are prophylactics , they make you **** don't they ?

I wondered why Triumph includes a section in some owner's manuals about washing the bike. They go into details about bagging control switches, plugging exhaust pipes, etc. It made no sense to me that it would be necessary to tell folks this. But I see I was wrong.

I don't bag switches or plug exhausts. But I also NEVER hose down the bike, even with a garden hose.

I get a bucket of luke warm water, I use a capful of BMW Car Shampoo (or equivalent from Turtle Wax or others), I get a real sponge, and I literally wash the bike with the sponge.

When I'm done with the soapy water, I clean it out of the bucket and sponge, fill the bucket with fresh water, and use the sponge to get all the soapy water off the bike.

Then I chamois it dry ... with a real chamois, and with micro fiber wash / polishing cloths.

For touch ups between washings, I use that Honda Spray Cleaner and Polish with micro fiber cloths. Barber Museum acknowledged that they use that product for touch up cleaning of the bikes in their collection. I can't think of their name, but the original company that made the product for Honda is also offering it now in their own brand name. You can find it in the pink, black, and white spray can at many UJM dealerships.

Thank you all that have responded to my request for advice. I have been using the spray cleaner for many years. Quick and easy and leaves a protective film behind but there are swirls to be had when we wipe off the bike that has microscopic dirt gathered from a ride on it. I have become aware of this after being exposed to process car washing.

Bikes have many places where water can cause electrical problems. Some more that others.
My original question was along the way of where is the RIII most vulnerable to water/soap overspray.



This is my routine. Takes about 1 to 2 hours.

For the top of the bike; With Precautions on handlebar switches and such. Now to be covered as recommended by Mr. Bedifferent
1. Water Spray off dirt all visible. This is where a fine water mist with pressure comes in.
2. Foam with a good car wash let is sit few minutes and do it work and rinse the foam. Reapply foam if necessary and re-rinse.
3. Re-foam and double bucket hand wash with microfiber cloths.
4. Rinse again
5. Pressured Air dry or chamois or dedicated microfiber towel. Then detail surface depending on what they are.
6. Polish and protection. For the painted surfaces, clay with surface decontaminant, if necessary swirl correction followed by sealer or top wax. Cold chrome gets wax. Hot chrome gets engine brightener.

Now for the bottom of the bike and the rear drive area one can be more aggressive with the pressure water. Have even used engine degreaser in the past. On the motor, once clean Engine Bright provides a penetrating protective layer. It is sprayed and painted on with small camel brush to get in the nooks and crannies, brake calipers and any exposed bolts. Under the seat and side covers, I use a moist camel hair brush do dust off what I can reach.

Last but not least rims and tires. Have used S100 with brushes used just for that. Pricy but effective. I don't dress my MC tires, just clean them.

Hey, my bike is cleaner just talking about all this stuff. It's nice outside, let's ride Yeah... Someone here said " A clean bike rides better".

One more question... How should I lube the brake and clutch cables? Do they need it?

Clutch and throttle cables every six months. Any decent cable spray will work. I disconnect the cables and spray until the garbage runs out the other end. Then I allow it to set overnight and clean up the mesh and reassembly. There are times where I soak the living #hit out of the bike with a garden hose and really have not had any problems at all. After a 100 plus miles in the rain ,the bike can be pretty much trashed. One thing that i figured out a long time ago was directly after a good wash run the bike and let everything dry up. The back tail light on the Rocket X did show moisture after a good ride in the rain or a good wash but after removing the cover and resetting the cover that problem has disappeared. When I do the cables all electrical connections get greased with the proper lubrication. You would be surprised at how quickly some of the connections can become corroded. Then again I ride in good weather and bad. I have kind of figured out that attempting to wash the bike in 20 degree weather is not really very practical at all.

sonny said:

Whenever I wash a bike it is with a garden hose and nozzle. NO car washes

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You've taken yours through the car wash....... Soft cloth or brushless?