After commuting three days last week and a big ride yesterday it was time to clean my Vivid Black Sportster Custom today. The bike had a fair amount of dust build-up detracting from the overall shine.
I wasn’t sure if I should leave the seat on for the wash or remove it first. The ECM for the fuel injection is under the seat and I didn’t want that to get wet. At the same time, I did not want to get the seat wet unnecessarily. I ended up removing the seat (easily done by removing the lager screw at the back and pushing forward off the center mount), placing the ECM in a ziplock bag, and wrapping the large wiring connection with plastic wrap.
With the electronics protected I rinsed the Sporty lightly and washed her down with Meguiar’s Gold Class Car Wash. Being mid-afternoon it was pretty sunny out and the tank and fenders spotted quickly. The Sportster was overall very easy to clean and I highly recommend the stock Custom rear mag wheel over the upgraded spoke wheel. The mag is very easy to clean where a spoke wheel would be a pain.
Once washed and dried with a microfiber cloth I idled the Sportster into the garage and closed the door to keep the sun out. Meguiar’s Gold Class Liquid Wax was applied to the tin with two application on the tank to really bring out the shine. ScratchX was used lightly on the rear fender to remove some of the blemishes where the seat comes in contact.
Griot’s Garage Leather Care was applied to the seat (not even sure it’s leather but what the heck) and that cleaned it up nicely. I finished up by applying a little Purple Slice show polish to the bright work to remove a few water spots. Start to finish the job took about three hours with a result that while not show perfect looks mighty nice.
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