Steam Cleaning

[Rich82GS750TZ]

I've been curious about using a steam cleaner to clean parts of my bike that are really grimy and hard to clean. I haven't found any posts here about it, but I have seen a number of youtube videos. After convincing my better half that I would certainly use this machine to clean many other things around the house , I got this.
I spent a few minutes with it tonight on the front wheel and the front of the engine since the forks and exhaust are not in the way. I did spray both down with Simple Green and let sit for a bit before putting the steam to them. It did a nice job on the wheel and got the worst off the front of the engine. This bike will never be a show piece but I don't want gobs of grime on it either. I think I'll play with it some more, it's kind of fun and who knows, maybe if I get bored working on the Z, maybe I will get around to steam cleaning those god-awful glass shower doors.

[Cipher]

thats actually impressive and a whole lot nicer than using tons of solvents.

[LAB3]

Not shabby! Pine-Sol has been my go-to cleaning solvent for over 30 yrs, you might want to give that a try.

[Alan Schlosser]

I've used Purple Power for the last few years on the Bandit. Spray down the front of the engine and radiator, let it sit and hose it off. Amazing how much road grime washed off.

[michaelj_444]

Hate to admit it but my next door neighbor turned me on to some pretty good stuff. Yes he`s a Hardley guy but S100 seems to work pretty good. I love it. Hard to find I had to get it online but totally happy.

[fixmybrokecomputer]

Hate to admit it but my next door neighbor turned me on to some pretty good stuff. Yes he`s a Hardley guy but S100 seems to work pretty good. I love it. Hard to find I had to get it online but totally happy.

The only thing about S100 is you have to make sure you get it rinsed off well.

[Gorminrider]

thats actually impressive and a whole lot nicer than using tons of solvents.

yes! and even detergents... Thanks (Rich82) for bringing it up...I've thought about these in passing as a "great idea" to loosen up greasy crapola in the crannies

[Rich82GS750TZ]

I'm not against using solvents. Lord knows I've gone through a few cans of Brake Clean recently, with overhauling the MC, front caliper, and forks. While I was cleaning brake parts (and stupidly not wearing safety glasses), I took a ricochet shot of Brake Clean right in the eye. Not fun. If steam alone gets the crap off, that's great. If it needs a little help from a solvent, that's fine too. Just have to be smart about it. Definitely use as least something like mechanic gloves while using the steamer. The nozzle gets pretty darn hot.