Specialized satin black finish care?
 

Just bought my first plastic bike. The flat black color is impossible to keep clean. Is pleadge safe on the bike? I assume it has a thin clear coat that does not have a gloss to it and the furniture polish will not hurt the carbon frame any? Looks bare but it must have some sort of coating to protect from UV.

Wipe it with a damp cloth.

Are you going to ride it or hang it in the living room?

Seriously all it needs is a quick wipe - it will get dirty every time you take it out, which hopefully is every day

I can't speak to the specialized, but I can tell you that my Guru is flat black and there is no way I would go near it with polish of any kind.

When I got the bike the company rep told me that I could not polish the frame. He told me that pedro's bike lust should not go anywhere near it and I should avoid anything that smacked of rubbing. Cleaning it was ok though. To date I have not had to scrub anything off the bike. A wipre or two with a wet towel takes care of any dirt or debris.

This may not apply to your bike though. The process Guru uses is to paint the bike clear coat it and polish it, and then to tape off anything that they want to remain glossy, and effectively sand-blast off the glossy finish. Not sure it is actually sand-blasting, but that's the general idea.

Just wiped down with furniture polish. Looks much better, I figured the benifit is greater than the slight risk of damaging the carbon. It would not get clean with just soap and water, and yes I both ride it and hang it in living room when done.

Any decent car wax. Pledge will work but car wax is better. I have a '12 Roubaix SL3 with matte silver/charcoal. I use Mother's carnuba but any name brand wax will work. Matte clear coat is not quite as smooth as gloss clear coat surfaces and hence dirt tends to stick to it and is harder to clean. Wax helps alot. Btw, Pledge or equivalent will work as well but I would use a product designed to work with acrylic clear coat like car wax.
HTH.

Do you need to wipe it off? thats what I like about pledge, just a quick wipe down every now and then.

I use the pink bike wash stuff. Cant remember who makes it, comes in a spray bottle. but it works great on my new tarmac

I use Meguiars Gold Class automobile wax. Keeps it shiny and sheds water and road dust very easily. Have to reapply bimonthly.

I have the 2012 Specialized Tarmac SL3, and they also told me to clean with Pledge. I wipe it down every once in a while because I also hang it, but in my home office.

pretty sure you're supposed to just replace it when it gets dirty.

And we will gladly take the dirty bike off your hands :thumb:

When you guys are waxing and polishing these matte bikes the finish (i.e. the matte quality) remains the same afterward? That expressly what Guru cautioned me not to do. (Again, may be comparing apples to oranges here, but I'm curious.)

Don't understand the idea behind waxing matte finish but... I guess. OP wet rag and done.

I just wipe the matte bits on my Madone with a Thief glass towel (ultra soft) and Meguiar's Ultimate Detailing spray. I'm a littled worried about waxing the matte parts just in case the finish becomes uneven but it sounds that that isn't a problem.

I use a quick wax spray detailer on my bike for cleaning it. After every ride, I just spray a micro fiber cloth with it, wipe the entire bike down. That puts a minor waxy type coat on the matte finish, plus gets it clean.

Otherwise, not much more you need to do, it isn't a car with clear coat on it and needs waxing/buffing. I did this with my last painted frame also, works great. Quick/easy.

I try to avoid riding in the rain and getting it dirty, and as I said, I wipe it down after every ride, takes less than 5 minutes to make it like new again.

Yah, this is what i got from the Specialized rep with my matte black Tarmac SL3. No polish, just use cleaner like some foaming Simple Green.

Really? As in - you have another bike for the rain or wet days? Because it seems that someone with HTFU in his signature would not have any trouble with rain and dirt.

I'm not sure I'd use Simple Green on a non-clear coated surface (assuming you're talking about their bike cleaner/degreaser product) - I know they say it's safe for painted surfaces but I'd be concerned that it would be too harsh.

A while back someone on this forum suggested formula 303. Its at <www.303products.com>. I never tried it but a bunch of people said that they swear by it.

I have a Specialized Roubaix sl3 in matte black and just wipe it down with a slightly damp cloth occasionally. I'm not sure, but I've heard that a lot of companies void warranties if their frames are polished. I'd be sure to check this out.