Cleaning
A motorcycle is a pile of different materials touching each other, and one of them cannot be polished back.
Matt paint. There is no clear coat. Anything that etches or leaves a residue cannot be buffed out, and the panel is finished.
Carbon. Its lacquer is thin and some chemistry dulls it permanently.
Powder coating. Tougher, and still attacked by strong acids and some solvents.
Three cleaners in this catalogue name the surfaces they suit — one names powder coating, carbon and matt paint specifically; one names carbon fibre and disc brakes; one names seven materials including magnesium, which corrodes differently from aluminium.
One names none at all.
A dwell time with a maximum. One maker publishes 5 to a maximum of 30 minutes, then rinse.
That ceiling is the point. A cleaner left to dry concentrates as the water leaves, and that is exactly when it marks.
A motorcycle is almost entirely vertical surfaces. A liquid sprayed onto a fork leg runs to the floor in four seconds; a gel stays on it for the time it is meant to work.
Drying. Water left to evaporate leaves everything dissolved in it behind. A large absorbent towel is the cheapest fix for the most visible problem, and one bundle in this catalogue includes one.
One cleaner publishes its own preservative and states it may cause allergic reactions — in the listing, not only on a back label. It is a reason to wear gloves, not a reason to avoid it.
2 L · gel formula · acid-free · safe on powder coat, carbon and matt paint · dwell 5–30 min
A two-litre acid-free gel motorcycle cleaner that clings to vertical surfaces, published as safe on powder coating, carbon and matt paint, with a dwell time of 5 to 30 minutes.
Best for: A machine with matt paint or carbon that a general degreaser would ruin.
≈ €25
750 ml · gel · acid-free · lacquer, rubber, plastics, aluminium, magnesium, chrome, carbon
A 750 ml acid-free gel cleaner published as compatible with mixed materials, with the maker stating that it contains benzisothiazolinone and may cause allergic reactions.
Best for: A machine with mixed metals, where a single cleaner has to meet magnesium as well as aluminium.
≈ €10
1 L · fully biodegradable · alkaline · acid, solvent and CFC free · safe on carbon and discs
A one-litre fully biodegradable alkaline motorcycle cleaner free of acids, solvents and CFCs, published as safe on all surfaces including carbon fibre and disc brakes.
Best for: Regular washing where the run-off goes onto a driveway or a drain.
≈ $17 / £11 / €14
5 items · S100 cleaner 750 ml + wheel cleaner 500 ml + 40 × 60 cm towel + 2 brushes + mitt
A five-item motorcycle washing and drying bundle combining an S100 waterless cleaner, a wheel cleaner, a 40 × 60 cm drying towel, two chemical-resistant brushes and a chenille wash mitt.
Best for: Setting up from nothing, where buying the right five things separately would take an evening.
≈ €60
1 L · biodegradable · short dwell time · dissolves dirt, oil and grease
A one-litre biodegradable motorcycle cleaner published for high washing action and a short dwell time, dissolving dirt, oil and grease residues.
Best for: General washing on a machine with conventional gloss paint and no carbon.
≈ €17
Matt paint above all, because there is no clear coat to polish — anything that etches it is permanent. Then carbon and powder coating. Three cleaners in this catalogue name the surfaces they are safe on and one names none at all.
A cleaner left until it dries concentrates as the water evaporates, and that is when it marks. One maker publishes 5 to a maximum of 30 minutes, and the maximum is the useful half of the instruction.
Water left to evaporate deposits everything dissolved in it — which is what a water spot is. A carefully washed machine left to air-dry can look worse than one that was not washed.
For : A machine with matt paint or carbon that a general degreaser would ruin.
Main strength : Publishes a dwell time with a MAXIMUM, which is the instruction that prevents damage
Main limitation : Two litres is a large bottle to store
For : A machine with mixed metals, where a single cleaner has to meet magnesium as well as aluminium.
Main strength : Publishes its allergen and the reaction it may cause — the only cleaner here to do so
Main limitation : No dwell time published, only that the gel does not run during it
For : Regular washing where the run-off goes onto a driveway or a drain.
Main strength : Names what the formula does NOT contain — acids, solvents, CFCs — which is checkable
Main limitation : No dwell time published, where the cleaner beside it gives a range and a maximum
For : Setting up from nothing, where buying the right five things separately would take an evening.
Main strength : Covers washing AND drying, which is the half people skip and the half that leaves marks
Main limitation : The most expensive item in this family by a wide margin
For : General washing on a machine with conventional gloss paint and no carbon.
Main strength : Biodegradable, published plainly
Main limitation : Publishes no surface compatibility at all, where three cleaners here name specific finishes
The models here come from the catalogue of this site. Specifications are those published by the manufacturer and on the Amazon product page; prices are what Keepa reported on the date below, and both move. The ranking uses declared specifications, the balance of stated strengths and limitations, and price. No product on this site has been physically tested, and nothing here claims otherwise.
Last checked on
Nothing written into the text below is a current price. Where an amount appears in a sentence, it is the reading taken on the day that sentence was written; what a shop is asking at this moment loads beside the product itself, and that is the figure to go by.
Helmets and riding gear are discounted over and over through the year — hardest of all in the weeks when nobody is riding, which is months away from when most of it is bought — and a struck-through figure on its own says nothing whatever about what the same model was charged at four weeks ago. UniverTrack holds a week-by-week history for every retailer, which means a reduction is judged against a price somebody actually paid rather than one dreamed up for the sale — and it tells you when the moment to buy has genuinely come.
