Drying after rain?

Craig321

Craig321

Craig321

Soldato
Joined
2 May 2004
Posts
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I've always given my bike a quick-ish dry after rain with a clean microfibre cloth. But thinking about it, especially with winter coming (and a new bike), is that going to do more harm than good? Am I effectively just spreading around the dirt and salt?

My bike gets put in to the garage, so I've always thought leaving it wet is going to eventually cause rust (little airflow going to a wet bike overnight), whereas drying it off quickly is going to help... am I wasting my time?
 
all I do is wash it with soapy water,rinse off with clear,thats after a heavy bout of rain/salted roads

you could dry it off after that I suppose but I don't bother,good spray of wd40 on any fasteners should stop them rusting
 
wazza300 said:
all I do is wash it with soapy water,rinse off with clear,thats after a heavy bout of rain/salted roads

you could dry it off after that I suppose but I don't bother,good spray of wd40 on any fasteners should stop them rusting
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But do you still bother with that after it's rained every day for the week and it's pitch dark when you get home?! :D
 
no,but I try to do it as soon as I can

the worst of any corrosion comes from stone chips I find,my front wheels paint is bubbling bad in places and a few marks on the end of my swingarm,apart from that the rest is still fine

EDIT: depends on the age of the machine aswell I suppose,being new id wash it religiously,but once it starts to age you tend to become less bothered
 
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Yeah I'd love to be able to wash it properly in the evenings after rain, but realistically I can't, especially when it starts getting dark at 5pm.

Sometimes when I wipe it down just with a cloth it feels like I'm just moving the dirt around, rubbing off the wax and not actually drying/cleaning the places that matter.
 
Don't forget that your engine and exhaust is self drying ;)

But tbh in the UK you'll be less drying it and more moving grit and muck around.

Get a winter hack and keep the nice bike, nice. :D
 
Yeah that's the worst thing to do,just wash it down with soapy water to wash all the road grit away and leave it,far better than wiping it down/scouring the paintwork

If I had a new bike today I'd stick as much of that clear protective film on as I could,in all the vulnerable areas
 
wazza300 said:
Yeah that's the worst thing to do,just wash it down with soapy water to wash all the road grit away and leave it,far better than wiping it down/scouring the paintwork

If I had a new bike today I'd stick as much of that clear protective film on as I could,in all the vulnerable areas
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Ventureshield? I've seen a few bikes have that now, is it any good? I saw some on a white bike and it looked like it has discoloured a bit.
 
Just had a quick look at Ventureshield. Nice idea, but I can't help but think it'll eventually peel, discolour and dirt will appear at the edges, regardless of how good anybody says it is!

It feels wrong just leaving my bike wet in the garage, but at the same time, thinking about it, it can't be that good for it wiping it down when it hasn't actually been cleaned. I guess I'll just start leaving it wet at night and keep up my SDOC, Meguiars, wax, lube chain, ACF50 etc routine up every weekend - those three should at least leave a protective layer so it shouldn't matter if it stays wet.
 
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Have you had the speed triple professionally done with ACF50? If you're riding it through winter I'd highly recommend it, they can get the stuff everywhere, although it does mean you can't wash properly as that takes off the ACF50, but a weekly rinse down would get rid of most of the crud.

£60 for an allyearbiker treatment is money well spent.
 
Ain't used ventureshield but I've used the 3m stuff

I swear by wd40 aswell,its a mixture of oils and displaces any water or moisture
 
Oh idk,I just bought an a4 sheet of it off eBay

On my bike you can see where its started as a stone chip and the aluminium surrounding it and surface paint has started to bubble and corrode

I've stuck some carbon look square patches where the frame is next to the brake lever and gear levers aswell
 
I'm wondering what to do about these salty roads I've been hearing about. My bike lives outside, I don't have a hose or anything as I'm in a flat, I'll be using the bike all winter. Will a pump spray do for a rinse? I've given it the first wash since I bought it in February :D and gushed ACF-50 all over it last week so hopefully that will keep the rust away but I guess I'll still have to rinse the guff off.
 
Instead of rubbing the bike dry just pat it, obviously you don't want to be applying pressure to it and you really don't want to be dragging crap across the paint.

I use a waffle weave drying towel which discourages rubbing due to the way its made.
 
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