Product Review from Just Ride Magazine

If you’re like me, you’re always wishing you had more time to ride.  And like you, I take real pride in the way my bike looks and spend many hours cleaning and polishing it.  So after hearing how this product claims to be a cleaner, polish and bug remover all-in-one that’s safe for all surfaces - well I just had to try it for myself. 

BugSlide comes in three sizes; a 4oz travel bottle that retails for $8.00 and is small enough to carry with you, a 16oz garage size that retails for $20.00 and a 32oz refill that retails for $35.00.  Both the 4oz and the 16oz bottles come packaged with a high quality microfiber polishing cloth.  I was told the directions are simple; just spray and wipe.  The distributor told me it was not necessary to wash my bike first, that BugSlide was designed as a waterless cleaner and presoaking or prewashing would just be a waste of time (and water).  Let me tell you I was more than a bit skeptical and I told them my concerns about scratching.  They assured me as long as I use the microfiber polishing cloth that came with the product, it would not scratch.  BugSlide is a blend of polymers, detergents and surfactants.  When sprayed on the surface, it dissolves existing contaminants allowing them to float on the surface.  Then the microfiber towel soaks them up deep into the fibers.  Since the mircofiber doesn’t push the dirt around on the surface like other towels, it can’t scratch.  The product then leaves behind a microscopic protective finish that repels future contaminants like dirt, bugs, oil, and corrosives like salt and magnesium chloride.  But would it really do what they said?  I couldn’t wait to try it. 

My bike had a few hundred miles on it since the last time I washed it, so there was plenty of bugs, road grime and dust.  I decided to start with a small area on my windshield that was loaded with bugs.  The directions say to let the product dwell on the surface when removing bugs.  So I sprayed on the BugSlide and waited for about 45 seconds or so and was shocked to see some of them look like they were dissolving.  A quick wipe with the microfiber polishing cloth and about 90% of them were gone.  The couple of stubborn ones that were left were history after another quick application and wipe.  The surface was left smooth and slick, but not at all greasy. 

Next I tried it on paint.  My tank had some road dust and dirt, so I again sprayed the product directly on the surface but this time I wiped immediately.  I flipped the polishing cloth over and with just a light buff my dirty tank looked like it had just been washed and waxed – but even better because there are no worries about overspray.  BugSlide is crystal clear and won’t affect things like rubber and plastic.  In fact it’s actually good for those things because it contains a UV filter.  So it prevents dry-rot and black things stay black.  It left the surface smooth, slick and really brought out the depth of color in the paint.

Finally I tried BugSlide on my chrome.  I tested it on my pipes and on my chrome wheels and let me tell you it did just as good a job here as elsewhere.  It removed the brake dust with ease and left the chrome sparkling.   I got so excited I was looking around for other things to try it on, when I remembered what the distributor had told me – “the product will not fingerprint”.  Well, I had to give that a try.  I touched everything I had just cleaned and no fingerprints, no smudges!   I was sold.  This product did everything it claimed.  And I could really see how much time I was going to save.  Now some people might say that BugSlide is a little on the pricey side.  But think about it.  Now I only need one product instead of five and frankly, my time is priceless.  I guess sometimes you do get what you pay for and with results like this, I think BugSlide is worth every penny.

In conclusion, if you like your ride to have that showroom look and not spend all day getting it, I think BugSlide is the product for you.  On the other hand, if you’d rather invest the better part of the afternoon and use several different products to achieve similar results, then go ahead and get your wash bucket.  I’ll wave to you as I ride by.