Uhhhh... Welll..... maybe I should not admit to it, but, I use a leaf blower... if it is any consolation my bikes have always been very shiny.
Don't know of anybody that's using a leaf blower.......I'd think they'd only do that once. Or they don't really care about the gloss finish on their bike.
I doubt I would use a compressor unless I had no other option. The "oilless" versions might be OK, assuming you get all the moisture and rust and dirt drained out of the tank, but the volume of air is going to be rather low unless you have an industrial setup. As for the leaf blower, might be fine right up until the time it picks up some type of debris like sand and peppers your paint job. May never happen, but without a filtered air intake I wouldn't trust it. And it tends to be a little unwieldy trying to get into tight spots.Speaking of those... if you want to save a few dollars go to a pet supply store and get a pet dryer (kind they use to dry dogs/cats) it's the same thing and w/o "Motorcycle" in the name they are a lot cheaper. ;)
If you have a shop vac, see if it has an exhaust port that you can attach a hose to. If you attach a 1-1/4" hose to the exhaust port of a vac, and add a crevice tool as a nozzle, you will have higher volume but lower pressure air that is filtered by the vacuum bag and warmed a little by the motor. Similar to those specialty bike dryers, without the expense (except for the hose, I recommend a dedicated hose for drying rather than using the one you use to suck up dirt and debris). I've been doing it this way with my Craftsman shop vac for ages, and it works every bit as well as the dedicated bike dryers.
Jerry
I've used a leaf blower for years, never had anything but air hit the bike.Same here, I have a "dedicated" leaf blower only used to dry motorcycles/cars.
Uhhhh... Welll..... maybe I should not admit to it, but, I use a leaf blower... if it is any consolation my bikes have always been very shiny.
Mostly accused of being to shiny by riding buddies.
My only comment is that too much air pressure focused too close to the bike could have the same ill effect as pressure washing too close. I have talked to many HD techs that spend time fixing problems created by pressure washing. That being said, IMHOP all of these techniques can be safely used if some common sense is applied.
What`s the ill effect? How you describe it? How HD techs are fixing the problems? This maybe sounds stupid question but I never pressure wash my bike so don`t know. ;)
Is it washing bike that causes corrosion in the gas tank?
I see a tiny rusty point when I remove my gas cap. It`s not inside the tank, but right there where`s no paint anymore..