[RubberDown]

are they worth it? I've seen several different ones and have been curious about them for a long time. Also any chance that someone makes a "magic brush" to get all those little areas a towel or sponge doesn't?

 

[EZE RIDER]

I have heard of people using leaf blowers instead. I just use a microfiber towel and then start her up to dry out the rest. As far as the real dryers go, I dont know anyone who uses one but I'm sure they work.

 

[TexRod]

+1 for leaf blower! Don't waste your $ on a glorified hair-dryer.

 

[Kainam]

No dryer here either, I just use one of those Absorber microfiber chamois that comes in a tube you find everywhere for like $10.

 

[TexRod]

No dryer here either, I just use one of those Absorber microfiber chamois that comes in a tube you find everywhere for like $10.

The leaf blower blows the water out of the nooks and crannies, though.

 

[Kainam]

The leaf blower blows the water out of the nooks and crannies, though.

Yeah, but the Absorber is synthetic, good for atleast 5 hp I bet!

 

[TexRod]

5HP or 5MPH?

 

[Kainam]

You do bring up a good point tho, about getting water out of the tight spots. The only real spot on my bike that seems to pool water is between the push rods, but that is easily reached with a chamois.

But most of my engine/transmission is wrinkle black, maybe it just doesnt show water spots like chrome or aluminum would?

<shrug>

 

[TexRod]

I use one of those Mr. Clean Clean Machines which ionizes the water. It works extremely well to stave off the spotting on chrome and gloss paint. The dryer accelerates the drying time and blows out the pools.

 

[Kainam]

Yup, I use one of those Mr Clean things as well, and S-100 for extra dirty spots. I like it.

 

[vlade]

are they worth it? I've seen several different ones and have been curious about them for a long time. Also any chance that someone makes a "magic brush" to get all those little areas a towel or sponge doesn't?

I 'd get a cheap electric leaf blower, basicly the same thing, only if you pay for the "motorcycle drier" label its gonna cost ya. Hats off to the chamois crowd but the blower wins out for me to many nooks an crannies that a towel cant get to. I wouldnt neccessarily take the same leaf blower you've been creating a dust storm with in the yard and use it on the bike as it may have some grit and s$$t in it that could only ding up your paint an chrome.

 

[RubberDown]

Sounds good. I'll try the electric leaf blower.

Heck if it works well, I'll sand off the name and make some "motorcycle blower" stickers for it, maybe team up with that sham wow guy on tv and become a millionaire!!
(sorry couldn't resist

 

[Darien1965]

Yep, used to hand dry- got a cycle dryer from jp $50 couldn't see spending $150 on one or I would've got a leaf blower. Gets all the tight spots easy and cuts drying time to ??? 1/4 maybe. Have a soft bristle brush from auto store w/rubber coated wire and tip for a few $. It works great esp. on the spoke wheels.

BIG"D"

 

[Nathang]

I've seen a dryer do something I don't think you're going to get leaf blowers to do. These cycle dryers look like a re-labelled dryer I used to see when my kids were little and showing livestock in FFA. There were lots of calf dryers around, I repaired some of them, it was two, two stage 18amp commercial vacuum cleaner blower modules in a tube, one pushing air at the next. There wasn't any heater, the motors just made the air warm by cooling themselves with the air they were pushing. They used them to blow dry a 1000 lb calf, some of them woolly as a bear, cause they'd been raised in a refrigerated barn specifically so they had a heavy coat, they get washed thoroughly right before the show, even in below freezing weather. One of those blowers would dry a dripping wet calf in 5 minutes, to say it was drying them is the wrong impression, it would blast the water right off them and I mean with a quickness. I planned to build myself one of those blowers, and still might sometime, I priced the blower modules thru the Grainger catalog, they were over $100 each. But I had another use for them, excavation.

I have had several occasions to to some serious digging for some project, and I hate digging. Fact is I consider ANY digging serious. So I mechanized it, by the ingenious misuse of a good pressure washer, and a good shop vac, the vac part is where my use of the calf blower would come in. The pressure washer will do a fine job of making a slurry out of the hardest dirt, and with enough vacuum power, and a suitable sized container, the dirt slurry gets sucked up and stored until it needs dumping back into the hole. For a big enough job, I was going to use 3 or 4 55 gallon drums with removable tops and two fittings on top, one to the blower/vacuum module and the other to a suction hose and wand to suck up the mud. 4 55 gallon drums would hold a good sized pile of dirt.

Anyway, if you're thinking about buying a leaf blower to use as a dryer, I might suggest a good shop vac with a removable blower section as more useful way to have the same capability. Mine is from Lowe's, they have a variety of sizes but all seem to use either 5.5 hp or 6.5 hp motors which are easily removed from the vacuum canister to use as a dryer. And you get a kick ass wet vac to boot. In the $69 to $89 range.

With a pointy snozzle attachment to use as a dryer I have to duck-tape the tube and nozzle to the blower or it will throw them across the yard, could dent a tank maybe, but there's good pressure to work with.

 

[GAZOO!]

I'm with Nathan. I had a leaf blower then invested in the purpose built motorcycle dryer and am much happier with it. Like Nathan says, it doesn't so much dry it, which would result in spotting, as blast the water clean off the bike. The trick that makes the motorcycle dryer work so well is it takes a large volume of air developed over a large diameter and forces it through a much smaller orofice. This results in a lot of air, moving relatively fast.