Windshield Cleaner

[CamelToeJoe]

I have never had a windshield until now on a bike.  The one that came with my Valk looked like it was cleaned with a Brillo pad.  I was given a new 21 inch one today and it is covered in bugs and I don't want to scratch this one up.

Although it's GIANT it was a dream riding on the interstate tonight.  Easily cruise at 90-100 and not even realize it, no wind and it was so quiet.

[Jersey mike]

Ok...before you do anything, spray it down and get the loose stuff off.

Then, a nice warm solution of dish soap but not very strong mixture and a very soft and clean sponge, you do not need a lot of soap. If you want, you can use car wash soap too. Remember dish soap will strip wax off any surface. When drying, do it softly with a nice soft clean towel. In no time you will become an expert on cleaning it.

To get a nice clean and shiny windscreen, use a product called Novus, you can order it from Clearview or find it online some other place, or a local glass shop may carry it. It is wily used in the glass business to clean, remove light scratches and leave a nice polish. This will help when riding and smashing bugs and road dust.

The # 1 is for polishing

The # 2 is for removing light scratches and general cleaning and leaves a nice polish...this one is my favorite, very easy to use.

The # 3 is for "heavy scratches" this one takes a little getting use to.

I've been using this stuff for decades and it's nice product.

[Moonshot_1]

Get a refillable spray bottle. Go to the store and pick up a couple bottles of Hydrogen Peroxide.
Fill the spray bottle with the peroxide. Spray on the windshield, chrome, paint, plastic and wherever bug goo is present. Let stand a moment (5 seconds or so) and wipe off with soft cloth.

The bugs just fall right off. The bug goo foams up and it wipes off easy. Like magic.

Use it on the windshield. You will be AMAZED!

It is a pure medical quality product so no residue.

It usually takes just one application but on occasion a couple applications on real thick stuff.

No damage to chrome, plastics, paint, or rubber at all.

I'll spray the front of the bike before a wash and that works great too.

Find it for less than a buck a bottle.

[Bighead]

Just a simple wet micro-fiber cloth will work as well as anything. No detergent or peroxide needed.

[2odd]

The above sound good.

Take a bath towel big enough to cover the front of your windshield and soak it in the hottest water you can stand to be able to pick up without burning yourself.  You can wring it some so you don't drip all the way to the windshield, but you still need it hot and damp.

Drape it over your windshield and leave for 5, 10, 15, 20 min.  You'll have to experiment here.  Start with 20, next time less.  Mine does good in about 10 min., unless Springtime and really buggy.

Bugs and their belongings just wipe off with towel.

[Jess from VA]

It will clean up with almost anything; water, hydrogen peroxide, spay cleaner, detailer, wax, lemon pledge, plastic polish, etc.  Do not use windex, ammonia, bleach, or any corrosives.  Also do not use paper, as in paper towel.

The number one thing is to use perfectly clean wiping materials.  I keep windshield microfiber cloths, that don't get used anywhere else on the bike.  If you pickup grit, dirt, tiny objects in your wipe cloth,  you scratch the shield.

The other thing is to clean it as soon as you get home.  Bugs harden up like rocks, and are full of acids, and it's twice as much work to clean the next day or a week later.  And the harder you have to rub, the bigger chance for scratches/swirls.

With a lot of bugs, you waste a lot of spray cleaner.

I've used it all, and what I find most effective is a clean microfiber wet with water kept in a disposable plastic tupperware.  As soon as I pull in (or at breaks during the ride, cause I don't like looking at dead bug and bird poo), I pull it out and gently rub it down (water running).  If it's really filthy, I'll get my microfiber soaked in hot water and a few drops of liquid soap.  Then I get a dry microfiber and polish/dry it off.  Then if it's been awhile, I'll do a quick polish with detailer, pledge, or plastic polish, because this makes it easier to clean next time.  When I wax the bike, I wax the shield (but if it's cleaner wax, don't push very hard).

If you keep wiping rags on the bike, have two; one for the shield and one for everything else.

Costco 24 pacs of yellow microfiber cloths is the best deal out there.


Plexus is my favorite plastic (really whole bike) spray polish, but it's too expensive.  So I use Novus Number 1 (NOT 2 or 3), but it comes in a pump bottle and wastes product all over the place.  So I take my little empty eyeglass cleaner atomizers, and pour them full of Novus.  These put out a nice fine mist which is all you need, and the little atomizer will last a long time before refilling.  Most every bike dealer (even Harley) sells Novus plastic polish, and it is good on the whole bike, not just the shield.

[Alpha Dog]

All great ideas tried and true.  I have always used spray bottle of very light dish soap and every so often novus no. 1 ,  but I like that idea of hydrogen peroxide.  Its a good day learned something new.
Chuck

[R J]

On long trips, I carried a 'T' shirt in a damp plastic bag.

Get to the Motel, check in and grab the 'T' shirt.

Run HOT water over it and wring some of the excess water out.

Slide the 'T' shirt down over the windshield, let soak for 15 to 20 minutes.

Pull the 'T' shirt up slightly and rub easy.

When the bugs are gone get some Lemon Pledge or Plastic wax.   Do a spray and rub into the shield.  Let it dry and polish it out.

This also makes the bugs easier to remove the next day, and if ya run into rain, it works kind of like Rain-X.     DO NOT PUT ACTUAL RAIN-X ON ANY WINDSHIELD.  If ya do, dig deep into that pocket for $$$$ for another shield.   Rain-X will ruin one in very short order.

My dear friend Frank (RIP Buddy) learned the hard way after I had warned him.  He gave me to understand he knew how to protect and clean his windshield.    I just shut up and walked away.

After he ruined his W'shield, I never said anything about it again.     He learned his lesson.   Wingshield Care 101.

[hubcapsc]

I mostly roll my bike over to where I wash it, spray it down good all over
with the hose, and wait a minute or two while the water, the universal solvent,
works on stuff, in particular, we're talking about windshields...

If my bike was particularly crusty, I'd spray it down again to make the big parts
of the now-soft bugs and other stuff fall off.

Then, plaster an opened up soaked microfiber cloth on the windshield.

The one that came with my Valk looked like it was cleaned with a Brillo pad

People use paper towels and all kinds of stuff on their bikes. I saw two nice yellow
goldwings pull into a gas station on a rainy day and whip out some of those
cardboard gas station paper towels and start cleaning away on their windshields
in a circular pattern.

Always stick to microfiber cloths, and always move the cloth in an up and down
pattern, and you'll avoid the swirly brillo pad marks. Once, in one of my many
duh moments, I put hydrogen peroxide (a fine thing) on a bounty paper towel
(a bad thing) and cleaned a bug off the middle of my clearview... it left
a cloudy place where the bug was. Clearview told me to work on the cloudy
place with Novus #2, and it fixed it  

Anywho... no swirly marks, and no scratches, mostly due to me mostly using
just water and microfiber cloths and an up-and-down cleaning pattern, and
no yellowing, mostly due to Clearview shields being good shields... around
seven years old... around 70,000 miles...



I say mostly a lot here... I've used Joe's Juice some, it's good, but costs more
than water.

I've used that aerosol plastic spray cleaner some that people like, its good,
but costs more than water.

Some windexy rainxy things you might think of to spray on your windshield
are bad for it and will cause it to yellow and get foggy... water is safe...

-Mike

[Ramie]

I use Plexus spray cleaner then RainZip

[Dark]

On long trips, I carried a 'T' shirt in a damp plastic bag.

Get to the Motel, check in and grab the 'T' shirt.

Run HOT water over it and wring some of the excess water out.

Slide the 'T' shirt down over the windshield, let soak for 15 to 20 minutes.

Pull the 'T' shirt up slightly and rub easy.

When the bugs are gone get some Lemon Pledge or Plastic wax.   Do a spray and rub into the shield.  Let it dry and polish it out.

Similar technique here, I wet down an old bath towel & let it sit/soak on the windshield for 30 min or so then lemon pledge

[Alien]

Lemon Pledge works like Rain-X (which you absolutely cannot use on your windshield).  When I stop for fuel, I take a towel from my saddle bag, soak it with water and drape it over the windshield.  By the time I fuel up, grab a drink, use the restroom etc, all I have to do is remove the wet towel, wipe off the windshield and go.  That's if it's really buggy, otherwise I just shoot some lemon pledge on a microfiber cloth, wipe it down and hit the road.

Ride Safe,

Alien

[Chrisj CMA]

Water.

[Valkjerk]

Sounds like nothing but good suggestions on this thread CTJ. These are voices of experience. I used all of these methods but peroxide. That's new to me but worth looking into.

[Patrick]

http://www.clearviewshields.com/blog/keeping-clearview-clean/

[Willow]

You've gotten some really good suggestions, Joe, especially the ones regarding hydrogen peroxide but perhaps the most effective solution would be to trim that windshield down to a more reasonable size.   

[wiggydotcom]

You've gotten some really good suggestions, Joe, especially the ones regarding hydrogen peroxide but perhaps the most effective solution would be to trim that windshield down to a more reasonable size.   

I agree with what Willow says. If you have a tall shield and get no wind, that kind of defeats the purpose of having a bike, imho. I now have an F6b but bought a Baggershield converible windshield. It's normally a 12 inch height which gives me just the right amount of breeze. But it also has an 8 inch piece that could be swung up from it's rest behind the regular shield and put the total shield height to 20 inches. That's too tall for my preference as I feel no wind at all but it might be the better choice if you had a rider on the back that was getting blasted by buffetting.

[Chrisj CMA]

There goes another perfectly good thread ruined.  So, having a full size shield is now somehow  so uncool I should get rid of my bike?  Lol.  I used to hate windshields, but I never told folks that they should get rid of them, now I like mine, but I don't feel less of a biker for it.

Ride your ride, let others ride theirs.  It's ok

[MarkT]

Have used peroxide for a couple years.  Nothing like it for bugs. Even dried on ones.  I've also used the Costco yellow microfiber rags for years, and learned long ago, vertical wipes only, with a CLEAN microfiber.  I used to use Plexus but they went crazy on the cost and it's way less effective than peroxide anyway.  Which is so cheap it's nearly free.  You need to keep it out of the sun, and if it doesn't bubble, time to get a fresh bottle.  It does break down but generally not before I use it.

Thanks for the tips on the Novus #2.  I have some chafes on my new shield for Jade which was damaged by the USPO - could have been packed slightly better, but it was ALMOST well packed. (Jade is STILL not here, but the shield is - they required it to be removed.  Thanks HAULBIKES)

[wiggydotcom]

There goes another perfectly good thread ruined.  So, having a full size shield is now somehow  so uncool I should get rid of my bike?  Lol.  I used to hate windshields, but I never told folks that they should get rid of them, now I like mine, but I don't feel less of a biker for it.

Ride your ride, let others ride theirs.  It's ok

Sorry you got your feelings hurt. I suffixed my statement with a "imho". You can do what you want with your bike, get rid of it, keep it, put a 50 inch shield on it, or even run it into a lake.

Perhaps sensitivity training is in order?

[Chrisj CMA]

There goes another perfectly good thread ruined.  So, having a full size shield is now somehow  so uncool I should get rid of my bike?  Lol.  I used to hate windshields, but I never told folks that they should get rid of them, now I like mine, but I don't feel less of a biker for it.

Ride your ride, let others ride theirs.  It's ok

Sorry you got your feelings hurt. I suffixed my statement with a "imho". You can do what you want with your bike, get rid of it, keep it, put a 50 inch shield on it, or even run it into a lake.

Perhaps sensitivity training is in order?

Feelings?  I have no feelings.  I saw yer IMHO did you my lol?

[3fan4life]

I use this at home:



http://www.summitracing.com/parts/fiv-843?seid=srese1&gclid=CjwKEAjw7O6vBRDpi7O-8OWSkwESJACNFsgxOnJlaKUH5UUsSN5WgAvzOnj-1uFpaoceUAcumDeJTRoCXsTw_wcB


It works very well and is about 1/2 the price of Plexus.


I still like to keep a small can of Plexus for traveling because it takes up less room in the saddle bags.

[wiggydotcom]

There goes another perfectly good thread ruined.  So, having a full size shield is now somehow  so uncool I should get rid of my bike?  Lol.  I used to hate windshields, but I never told folks that they should get rid of them, now I like mine, but I don't feel less of a biker for it.

Ride your ride, let others ride theirs.  It's ok

Sorry you got your feelings hurt. I suffixed my statement with a "imho". You can do what you want with your bike, get rid of it, keep it, put a 50 inch shield on it, or even run it into a lake.

Perhaps sensitivity training is in order?

Feelings?  I have no feelings.  I saw yer IMHO did you my lol?

Yep, saw it...I just couldn't believe our opinions even prompted a reply---especially one that thought we were admonishing anyone. Now THAT's an LOL!

[Willow]

There goes another perfectly good thread ruined.  So, having a full size shield is now somehow  so uncool I should get rid of my bike?  Lol.  I used to hate windshields, but I never told folks that they should get rid of them, now I like mine, but I don't feel less of a biker for it.

Ride your ride, let others ride theirs.  It's ok

All the words are yours, Jeff.  None of them you referenced were mine.

You go ahead and feel how your words make you feel.  I'm not at all concerned about it.

Incidentally, I don't know that I've ever ridden to be cool although it does have that effect on a hot Summer's day.  I ride because I enjoy riding.  Others will do well to do the same.  

[Chrisj CMA]

There goes another perfectly good thread ruined.  So, having a full size shield is now somehow  so uncool I should get rid of my bike?  Lol.  I used to hate windshields, but I never told folks that they should get rid of them, now I like mine, but I don't feel less of a biker for it.

Ride your ride, let others ride theirs.  It's ok

All the words are yours, Jeff.  None of them you referenced were mine.

You go ahead and feel how your words make you feel.  I'm not at all concerned about it.

Incidentally, I don't know that I've ever ridden to be cool although it does have that effect on a hot Summer's day.  I ride because I enjoy riding.  Others will do well to do the same.  

None were yours Carl...seems pointless what you have just posted .

I feel happy, had a good day of riding and looking through that big shield was very enjoyable

[Tundra]

 I highly recommend Bike Spirits on everything. I can't express how much I like this stuff. I use it on the whole bike, paint, chrome, windshield, seat, wheels. It's not slippery and doesn't streak at all. Leaves the shield absolutely spotless. I used to use this for quick detail after riding now it's all I use on the whole bike. It's quick, easy and looks GREAT

[john]

   "  a bath towel big enough to cover the front of your windshield and soak it in the hottest water you can stand to be able to pick up " .....           
          already in the house ...      just a few minutes ....  steam will clean anything       
 

[CamelToeJoe]

Well I am going to try the windshield for awhile before I cut it down.  So far it's nice and ibam so tired of the buffeting, it is nice to actually read street signs again.

Thanks for the tips.  Got an hour till its time to ride here in Madison.

[Xtracho]

Mobil 1 10W-30.....oh hell it's not an oil thread.   

Drape wet towel over screen to soften things up & always have one or two micro-fiber towels for nothing other than cleaning the screen. I also use lemon pledge.

Saw something interesting at Wally World yesterday. RainX for plastic. Anyone tried that to repel rain on your screen?

[old2soon]

The same soapy cold water I use to wash the bike BUT I take a clean cotton towel and soak it in the wash water-BEFORE I even put the wash rag in the water-and when the towel is as wet as it's gonna get I drape that dripping wet towel over the W/S and let it soak while I commence washing the Phatt Ghurl. I have a micro fiber cloth that gets used fer NUTTIN but washing the W/S. The W/S gets waxed along with the rest of the M/C. After reading other replies here going to try the hydrogen peroxide. Thing to remember I M H O is NOT to attempt to rub too hard on stubborn bugs on W/S. AND DO NOT use any paper towels on W/S. I use paper towels when polishing the aluminum. RIDE SAFE.

[DK]

Saw something interesting at Wally World yesterday. RainX for plastic. Anyone tried that to repel rain on your screen?

I've been using it during rainy conditions for about 6 months on my ClearView shield - probably six applications total.

It has worked well and has not affected my shield in any way.

(I would almost swear that I read that RainX for plastic was ok although I just tried to find the statement again to no avail)

Dan