Bike Cleaning

Found this on the Total Motorcycle reviews site, thought you might find it interesting. I have heared of bikers using pledge polish for years

Product:	Pledge Furniture Polish
Manufacturers Website:	http://www.pledge.com/
Manufacturers Description:	Wear and tear from everyday use can cause your wood furniture, cabinets, and surfaces to lose their luster--that healthy look and feel that add so much to the ambience of your home. Pledge® Aerosol Furniture Polish has gentle cleansing conditioners that remove dust, smudges, and dirt and help protect against water damage and stains. And it leaves no residue build-up. Actually repels dust; leaves no waxy buildup. Excellent on wood furniture, cabinets, paneling, vinyl and leather. The good qualities in Pledge®, such as better scratch resistance, can be used to a refinisher's advantage
Suggested Uses:	Polishing wood (pine, teak, oak, and walnut). Vinyl and Leather - For couches, chairs, seat covers, and more. Marble - Polishing marble is quick and easy with Pledge®
Our First Hand Review:	Ah, yet another weird product for a motorcycle site to review! Yes, you can use it on your motorcycle vinyl and leather seats, but what is the other great purpose we found for it? You will just have to keep reading to find out... Telling anyone you are going to use Pledge wood polish on your motorcycle is a guaranteed way to get them to look at your wierdly. First thing they think is, you got wood on your bike? What year is it?.... We tried different versions, but buy the Lemon aerosol version only. Others may not work as well or leave a buildup. The lemon one is the yellow can, common version you'll find forsale almost anywhere. We found amazing results on rubber and plastic bike parts. Even on black painted parts it worked well! Plus, it leaves a nice lemony scent as you clean the bike! haha. Spray directly into a very soft cloth and run in on your rubber and plastic bike parts. It works, it works great! Better in fact than Armor All, Simonize and other rubber/plastic products we have tested to date. As I've said, it works great on plastic of any colour and even on windshields and helmet visors as well. No, it doesn't turn clear plastic a yellow tint, it leaves no waxy buildup. It works like Rain-X in the rain and makes bugs come off easy as well as the dirt and dust. Rubber and plastic become more rich and dark in colour and the richness in uniform. Make sure you polish it into the surface and don't leave areas of buildup or runs. The only problem with using this product in this way is after you wash your bike, you'll have to reapply it again. But then, it smells great... The cost is on the lower side for what the product is and does compared to other competing products. Seen how much windshield plastic cleaner/polish is lately? This product is very easy to find and any disount store most likely will carry it.
Overall:	We found amazing results on rubber and plastic bike parts. Even on black painted parts it worked well! Plus, it leaves a nice lemony scent as you clean the bike! haha. People might think you are crazy when you tell them you use Pledge on your motorcycle, but then they will stand back and admire the results!
Availability (out of 5):
Our Rating (out of 5)

WD40 has a similar effect on rubber and plastic and is great for cutting through grease and chain lube etc (Not that chain lube is an issue for us sensible types who buy shafties) but don't get WD40 on your tyres or seat!

I have used WD40 for cleaning my bikes for years, I buy it from Ebay by the gallon for less than £25 delivered!

Cleaning your bike - now there's a good idea guys!

I have used Pledge to clean my bikes for many years, but I would have to wouldn't I. Never put it on exhausts though don't know if it's ok to but never have.

I use Mr Sheen on paintwork and plastics ( but not on the seat as it makes it really slippery ) and a spray on window cleaner, the thin green stuff, on chrome.

Brings everything up a treat and the window cleaner is non abrasive so doesn't scratch the chrome as some proprietory chrome cleaners do and dries to leave a completely streak free and film free finish.

Having said that I do wax polish my paintwork / frame every month or so just to give it some protection

Give it a try, it really works

Will give that a try. A much cheaper way.

Since I've only done 200 miles on my new M800, it's not had a proper clean yet (just a bucket of car wash followed by a liberal coating of ACF50 since I use my bike all year round).
I did buy a tube of Autosol since that is what I have used in the past on any of the shiny bits on my old bikes. However, a mate at work who has a Triumph Thunderbird says he swears by some stuff called Belgom as it is very smooth as opposed to the Autosol which he thinks is gritty.
What do you guys clean your shiny bits with?

Autosol is gritty. I use Autoglym but a guy in our club says that Belgom is the best polish.

Have used W/D on my bikes for years but never thought of looking on eday to save £££ .

And Mr Sheen is great,but is very slippy on the seat.

When cleaning wheels i always spray them on the cloth first to avoid over spray on tyres,silicon and rubber dont mix again very slippy .i know I'm stating the obvious but if it helps one member,its worth a post.

Spot peter, common sense is obvious to one person but not always that common to the next one.
Good point tho to spray the cloth, I do that and it is surprising when doing that how far a little will go!

I bought some Pledge a few weeks ago and use it for a quick clean down in-between washes. Works well.