I'm confused about the differing viewpoints on this issue. Everyone seems to be against steam cleaning, everyone saying it will "wash away" oil and cause "rust". Except half the people then say "use a degreaser/detergent" .....which obviously washes away oil too, in fact degreaser will wash away your lube better than any steam will. Put in a ultrasonic cleaner! That would get even the grease out that a steam cleaner couldn't get out, so that would seem even worse, yet it is offered as a better alternative than using steam?

This is why I'm not buying all the "anti-steam" comments on here as there appears to be a lack of knowledge/logic in lots of the responses. Again, my understanding is the steam cleaning is NOT a high-pressure steam jet, but a soft way of applying clean heat which reduces viscosity of oil so excess oil (and grit trapped in it) fall away. The benefit is that is very gentle method of cleaning (no scrubbing or chemicals) but can still get your bike very clean.

To those who say "water causes rust" You obviously have to re-lube after any cleaning, so when you re-lube it will push the water off of all metal surfaces since oil has strong surface tension than oil.

I've always understood the concern over cleaning past rubber O-rings, but I still can't picture anything like that on my bike (bike chains don't have O-rings like motorcycles), except maybe on the wheel hubs??. IF that is it, then just don't clean the wheel hubs, but that still leaves a lot of bike that is perfectly steam-cleanable, and steam is the the MOST gentle of any cleaning, requires no scrubbing brushes or detergents.

I still have not heard anyone list a specific area of concern on a bike, only generic fears like "it will take grease out of places it shouldn't" ....like where? Can anyone give examples of places with sealed O-rings on a bike that soft steam would knock out?