General topics » How do you dry your bike after washing?

I have a motorcycle specific hot air blower (Sidekick Blaster or something like that) which I have been using for a few years, but I’ve never been totally satisfied with it. Al it really does is blow the residual water from one spot on the bike to another in stead of blowing it off and away from the bike. It takes forever to get the whole bike completely dry, although it’s not short of power. I’ve been thinking that a vacuum would be a more effective and way faster way to remove water. Anyone tried a vacuum method?

Wipe with an abosrbent cloth and then finish off with a leaf blower to remove drops from difficult to reach parts.

After drying with a towel, I hop on and go for a 3 mile ride. This dries out any hidden water in engine crevices, and dries the brakes. Simple and effective and doesn't require any special equipment.

If you live on a dirt road, this method may not be ideal. But if you live on a dirt road, I figure you'd have a dirt bike, not a sport-touring bike.

After washing, I dry it first with a cloth, and if the weather permits (the road is dry) I usually ride it dry by driving to the gas station so the bike is all ready for the next ride.
Since last year we have a dog with somewhat longer hair. To dry it after a walk in the rain we have a "dog hair dryer blower", this also works quite well to blow the motorcycle dry.

Zitat von wessie im Beitrag #2

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I leave it outside whilst I have some coffee.

Does time and evaporation not work in the southern hemisphere?

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Zitat von Grumpy Goat im Beitrag #8

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Zitat von Steady Eddie im Beitrag #1

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I have a motorcycle specific hot air blower (Sidekick Blaster or something like that) which I have been using for a few years, but I’ve never been totally satisfied with it. Al it really does is blow the residual water from one spot on the bike to another in stead of blowing it off and away from the bike. It takes forever to get the whole bike completely dry, although it’s not short of power. I’ve been thinking that a vacuum would be a more effective and way faster way to remove water. Anyone tried a vacuum method?

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I think that for any vacuum to be effective it would have to be very powerful indeed to vacuum up the water from all the nooks and crannies on a motorcycle. I think that the blower is more effective and one just has to figure out, as I eventually did, the order in which you have to proceed when drying your bike. That, and you have to have a blower that also has a strong heat function so that you are blowing a powerful jet of heated air - hot enough to heat up parts if left pointed at them for any length of time.

I have been using one for a while now and love it. It gets most of the water out from all the nooks and crannies and dries the flat panels in jig time. But yes, I do get the occasional drops blown back onto a previously dried area, but like I said with practice that is reduced. Here is a video of what I use.

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I have the same bike and the same dryer and have no real complaints about the dryer. It works quite well IMO. I could imagine an air dryer that would work better, but it'd large and expensive (those Dyson hand dryers in public restrooms could be a model). As it is, it takes me 5-10 minutes to dry the bike and I can live with that.

A vacuum of any reasonable power will need to have the nozzle very close to the surface and really, touching the surface. That means it'll probably cause scratches. Additionally, it'll never work on all the nooks and crannies. You'll also be using a wet/dry vac and you'll then need to empty the bin. If you use the same vac for normal purposes, you'll have dust and dirt in there which will mix with the water to create a big mess.

I'd say get a bigger air blower.

Zitat von Steady Eddie im Beitrag #1

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I have a motorcycle specific hot air blower (Sidekick Blaster or something like that) which I have been using for a few years, but I’ve never been totally satisfied with it. Al it really does is blow the residual water from one spot on the bike to another in stead of blowing it off and away from the bike. It takes forever to get the whole bike completely dry, although it’s not short of power. I’ve been thinking that a vacuum would be a more effective and way faster way to remove water. Anyone tried a vacuum method?

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I start with a leaf blower to get water out of the nooks and crannies around the engine plus blow out the radiator fins. It's surprising how much water the radiator holds.
After that I wipe down everything with microfiber towels.

I'm lazy- I just park the wet bike in front of a big fan and it do it's thing for a couple hours. In the heat of the Midwest US, the water is evaporated pretty quickly. A shop towel takes care of any spots that are particularly egregious.

I wash my bike then hose it down and leather it down. Then stick it on the side stand to drain other areas. Finally I blow out the nooks and cranys, especially the top engine fins, with a compressed air line.

Leaf blower, micro fibre cloth, quick trip to local hill to ‘dry the brakes’ and engine heat does the rest. Can’t imagine why you would wipe it off and then blow it? Just blows the water all over the bit you’ve just wiped. And yes Lee, it’s amazing how much water collects in the radiator.