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[dcigar]

i have read with interest over the last few months about this polish , that polish, glare this ......  etc etc
guys seriously , the harley davidson factory goes to an awful lot of trouble to use the best paint, apply it correctly , put clear coats and we try and analyse the crap out of it.
it is pretty simple wash the bike when it is dirty, pretty much anything will do , if you have got the harley wash , use that, that is what the factory deems to be the best, i have used it and it doesnt foam as much , so easy on easy off,
i have used on my 96 fxstc with 100, 000 km on the clock every sort of wax from furniture polish to macquires gold, whatever appeals at the time, it has been around australia, and toured the united states with me, and has even accompanied dave barr on his great southern cross ride .  it has gone months on end without washing, had mud caked on it, has been usually washed with a bucket and sponge, but has now graduated to a lambswool mitt,
so as you can see the paint has had a hard life , usually it sits in the garage next to my new cvo, so it doesnt get much use , but when it does i sparay any thing that is handy from harley glaze to mr sheen, an australian waxy furniture polish, and the paint looks still as good as the day i bought it .
so remember , dont be to precious just ride it hard, wash it when its dirty and keep the shiny side up.

[Twolanerider]

Tellin' this crowd not to be so anal retentive about their bikes.  That's funny.

[TIF2]

^^

No, THIS is what is funny:

" ... the harley davidson factory goes to an awful lot of trouble to use the best paint, apply it correctly , put clear coats ... "

Almost spit out my coffee when I read that one    
Wish it were true though ...

[GregKhougaz]

Cigar,

       I love the Aussies but I think I have to say you're "upside down" on this one.  Harley paint is good but not the best.  Their polish products are the ones they can make the most money on.  Not that there is anything wrong with them but there are certainly better products available.  Reading your post, I guess I just have to say:

GK

[Midnight Rider]

Tellin' this crowd not to be so anal retentive about their bikes.  That's funny.

X2!

[dcigar]

decided on the weekend to give my bike its first full wash and polish, as sunday was going to be a cold windy rainy day, and the day before was a sunny perfect winter riding day, and melbournes biggest harley dealer harley heaven had a 30 % off sale on all parts and accessories and cleaners etc, so i relented and bought harley sealer and polish, about $10 , some hd chrome polish, and even a microfibre cloth.
after washing , rinsing, and drying, i gave it a top to bottom full detail,
chrome now has a beautiful deep shine, paint is as smooth as glass.

i found the products very inexpensive and of good quality

[Chains]

X2!

X3

[HogBreath]

I'm with ya. Ride the bitch hard. Wash it annually whether it needs it or not.

[HogBreath]

Oh, and a little mold in the TP never hurt nobody.

[miker]

Own a silver bike and no washie worries at all...

[DesertHOG]

I'm with ya. Ride the bitch hard. Wash it annually whether it needs it or not.

Well, now that I have a CVO my routine might change a little but this has been my basic philosophy in the past.
Ride the bitch hard and let the dealer wash it every 2500 miles as part of my service (pre-paid 3yr plan). The only
exception is when I am on extended trips and the bugs start collecting way too fast.

[Midnight Rider]

Oh, and a little mold in the TP never hurt nobody.

Ken carries an on board Penicillin culture with him in his TP at all times...

[grandpadoc]

I'm often jealous of the folks who never wash or detail their bikes, boats, cars. Life would be so much simpler. Its damn frustrating sometimes. My Buddy Norm is like that and he had never washed his Harley for five years and when he had it serviced he told them not to clean anything. When he sold it we gave it the Glare treatment with Spyder and the Polish and it cleaned up real nice. Just shows you that the MoCo does use the good stuff when finishing our bikes.  Doc

[HogBreath]

When it's all said and done, it's just a pile of nuts, bolts, and sheet metal. They'll make more next year.

[spydglide]

I gotta disagree on Harley's paint not being good.  My experience with the late model Harleys (Evo's, etc) has been excellent paint with lots of clear that is very durable.  No 'cracking' from age on my '94 and with 100K + miles, the paint looks brand new.  I don't see any better paint on other bikes that are that old and with that amt. of use.  Harley has cut corners in a lot of areas, but my experience has been that their paint is not one of the shortcomings.  Now, our CVO's are not factory painted and lots of the problems we've experienced with these paint jobs are due, in part, to trying to replicate trick/custom/candy/flake/hand-striped/gold-leaf/etc one off paint schemes and that's hard to do in a consistant manner.  I just wish the rest of the bike was of the same quality throughout as the paint.  JMHO.  spyder