I use my bike all year round pretty much as long as its not to cold out there and I don't let salt on the roads put me off.I have had to clean it and polish it after most rides in the winter and give it a regular clean in the summer.Look at it.Its fucked now as I have cleaned and polished it away lol .Despite all the doom mongers I even use a Karcher pressure washer and guess what its been fine. I was under the impression if you leave your bikes caked in shit then you will cause more wear to many parts and if you leave road salt on for long periods your bike wont look the best for sure.
The biggest killer of bike finishes is lack of use. Combine that with the seeming OCD of Ducati owners and its a recipe for disaster. The worst offenders are the people who claim to clean it after every ride - I thought it was a fallacy, but they do exist, and they spend a king's ransom on wheel bearings and fork seals for their folly, forever jetwashing and blow-drying their bikes. The honest intentions are there, but the common sense is missing.
I've not "washed" my bike since I got it in April last year and I'm about as ocd as you can get. Polished and waxed it when I got it and put a sealant on the wheels and all its needed since is the odd wipe down with some quick detailer to remove flies, dust or chain grease etc. You will only damage the overall finish if you push all the dust, grit, dirt around with a dirty sponge. If you pressure wash it that won't happen so much but it doesn't always get the crap off so you may damage it when you dry it. A good tough wax will give a glossy wet look all year without the need to wash and Polish after every ride. I don't rate muc off stuff and don't use it myself. I'd go with a ph neutral all purpose cleaner or a degreaser you can dilute yourself. Unless your engine gets filthy and oily a weak mixture will clean it fine without damage, providing the engines not hot or you don't leave it on to dry. If you've got black plastic wheel nut covers on your car and you have taken it to a local polish car wash you will know why strong cleaning agents are bad!
Don't rub them when dirty with sponge is a easy solution.Spray SDOC on leave for a bit and rinse off.I get what your saying Figaro about more cleaning than use not being a good thing. I have used a Karcher pressure washer (I don't use jet wash as too powerful) with no negative effect on electrics,fork seals.ECU or wheel bearings.As soon as im done I fire it up let it warm up and give it a good going over with a shamy leather.Then I just cover it in WD40 or GT85.Maybe not needed so often if you only ride in summer time I guess which is most ducati owners.
Not sure how true this is but when my sister was shopping for a bike in December she was told bikes built 10 years ago are better quality than new bikes as they used to be built by engineers, now they are built by accountants.
Just out of interest muc off is ph 13 and jizer biodegradable cleaner is ph 14, tested both with litmus paper.
When you wash a car or bike use two buckets, one with detergent, the other plain water to rinse the sponge. That way you keep the dirt out of the detergent and don't put it back on your bike.
I was a big fan of Muck off when i first began using it, it is a very good cleaner but would not touch it with a barge pole now. Agree completely with Nelly's comment earlier on, its evil corrosive stuff. After very many years of Ducati ownership with no corrosion issues ever i began to notice furry bolts and other fasteners a couple of years ago. Funnily enough, just after starting to use Muck off.
I use bottled water only, never use the stuff you get from the tap. Quality just isn't the same :Cigar:
I used to use Muc Off. I noticed "dirty" pitting started to appear on some of my black rear hugger on my Speed Triple late last year. Anyway, I took it for a professional seeing-to from an ACF50 franchise polishers about a month ago. He took one look at the spots on my hugger and said "Do you use Much Off?". I told him I do and he said the dirty spotting is almost certainly caused by Muc Off. I don;t use the stuff anymore. But I am considering getting myself a pressure washer so I can wash and apply both bikes with ACF50 in the years ahead
Didn't Hellcat have a disaster with her bike using muc off I use bottled water to clean my car windows
