2WF.com - Online and on the Gas - Bugslide spray-on and wipe-off cleaner

Bugslide spray-on and wipe-off cleaner

Posted by Kenn Stamp
Monday, 21 January 2008
If you're like me (which you probably aren't) washing your bike is something that happens about as frequently as a solar eclipse. I walk outside on a beautiful sunny day and lo and behold I see a dirty bike sitting there. Now most people would probably say; "Aack! My bike looks dirty and it's a beautiful sunny day. I must clean it!" or something to that effect. My internal dialogue however is more like this; "Aack! My bike looks dirty and it is a beautiful sunny day. I must ride it!" I mean who has time to clean a bike when you could be out riding it? Right? I've tried some of those "waterless" cleaner/detailers. You know the kind you spray on a really dirty bike and all that happens is that now you have a really smudged, dirty bike. I've tried washing it first and then using one of those types of cleaners and it took so long for the bike to dry that I ended up not using the spray cleaner/detailer and just rode the bike wet (chamois and I don't get along either). Isn't cleaning your bike a lot like making your bed in the morning anyway? I mean it's only going to get messed up again soon so why bother? Alright, I'm not that bad but I am a slacker when it comes to cleaning my bike on a regular basis. When I received this product called Bugslide I was skeptical, very skeptical. I tried these kinds of things before and while they do work (usually) on a clean bike as a final touch-up detailing, I never got them to work well on a dirty bike. Well there was nothing for it but to go out to the bike and start spraying. Since it was getting dark I opted to clean only parts of the bike so that I could see the difference and not spend the rest of the daylight cleaning non-important areas (like the bottom of the fairing, who sees that?). Bugslide is the first product that I've tried that comes with a micro-fiber towel for both applying (in my case scrubbing in) the product and for buffing after the dirt is gone (at least. And boy does the dirt go. My best friend used my bike for a week down in Miami and they have this crushed limestone, cement, seashell mix in the parking lot of where he works (I'm really not sure what the mix is but it seems like what I listed). Needless to say this stuff latches on and doesn't want to let go. It was especially thick down behind the front tire. Of course in the spirit of things that is what I tackled first. This is one of the most forgotten places on my bike as it gets the dirtiest (thus getting my rags and sponge dirty) and is somewhat hard to reach.I sprayed Bugslide on one half of the chin spoiler panel and wiped with the micro-fiber towel. As you can see from the pictures it works pretty darn well. There are some spots still on there but I had to basically chip them of as nothing was removing them (most of them are still there). I then moved onto my gas tank. As you can see in the pictures even in a low light environment (no sun, late afternoon) there are reflections in the paint. While the tank wasn't as dirty as the chin spoiler, it was dirty enough that the reflections weren't as crisp as they were after cleaning. I haven't yet tried leaving the product on and soaking a few pesky Love-Bug splatters on the front of the bike (Florida riders know what I speak of). If the product works on them as well as it worked on the rest of the bike though, I think I'll be spending some money and buying a larger size to use more often; unless I can convince them to send me a large bottle in the interest of a long term test. Hehe. Click here for more info and to purchase Bugslide.

< Prev		Next >