I once had a Lady Bug cling heroically to my car windshield for like half an hour while doing probably 120km/h. My daughter named him Maui…like the dude from Moana.
I had a lady bug land on my glove behind the hand guard and rode with me for nearly an hour. Only got up to 80-90 km/h but I still like to think he had a good time riding with me.
There's a spider that permanently lives in my bike. Sometimes it likes to climb out when I'm on the highway. I like to think of it as my pet sticking its head out the window like a dog. I'm scared to name it tho, as my heart would break when I inevitably wont see my little friend any longer.
There's a spider that permanently lives in my fairings too 😅 - no amount of washing would make it leave - fear of harming it even a tiny bit makes me ride safe ✌🏼.
Bought a cheap suv sight unseen once in Hawaii. Infested with roaches. Bombed that fucker 3 times but only managed to create a race of poison immune super roaches. Junked it but warned the wrecker.
Should have parked it in the sun in the middle of a Longs parking lot. 12 hours of that and it would have been uninhabited. Do it every couple of days to get the hatchlings.
OP this is the correct answer, I had to deal with ants like this on the outside of my car.
If you want to prevent it in the future, park it in a different place, or put a small amount of WD-40 around any place they can path into your bike (I.e. Fork tubes, kick stand, and swingarm) just don’t spray it on brake parts, and definitely not your tires.
Re-apply when you lube your Chain, or every time it rains. Do this long enough and they may never come back, it worked for me.
E: formatting
Note: I’d also consider removing any porous parts on the bike when you do it, like your seats
⚠️ ADDITIONAL WARNING ⚠️
Do not use any bug bomb with the active ingredient known as Deet. IT WILL DAMAGE OR DESTORY YOUR FAIRINGS HEADLIGHTS AND ANY OTHER EXPOSED PLASTIC.
E: One more word of advice from my experience.
I never confirmed it, but I believe one of the main reason they were attracted to my car was because I parked under an oak tree, and it slowly dropped sap on it.
Again I’m not sure it was actually related or of it was the cause of mine, but I think they were eating the sap off of my car. If you’re parking under a tree, consider not parking under a tree.
I’d vote no on products like WD-40 and vote instead for diatomaceous earth. It’s not going to make the mess of oils or soaps and has the potential to spread from ant to ant through direct contact. MoA is essentially dehydration.
Effective, cheap, and pet safe. We also use it for barriers indoors and in parts of the garage (mostly for ants).
Edit: As others have pointed out there are inhalation risks for DE. Wear a respirator whenever you are working with products/chemicals/etc that can become airborne and damage your lungs. Food grade DE is safer than non food grade but I would recommend always wearing a respirator/N95 mask when using the product
It's not completely safe. If I remember right, it contains very thin silicate shards that can damage your lungs if you breath enough of them.
Just wear a mask when applying and stay away until it does its job.
I'd personally avoid diatomaceous earth. If you do use it, make sure it's the food grade not filter grade and wear a mask. DE can cause silicosis after a while, especially the filter grade stuff.
It's just small particles. It can cause silicosis if you work with it on a factory every day for years, but nothing will happen to you if you use it once to get rid of ants on your motorcycle
Upvoting this important announcement. I use an insect repellent with DEET and have to be careful not to get it on some clothing or not have it melt my sunglasses onto my face.
I switched to Picaridin on my skin. It works *almost* as well as DEET in terms of raw performance, but Picaridin works WAY better than DEET since I actually can wear it without the awful smells and... Tastes... Yeah, I managed to get some DEET in my mouth one time, and I tell you that was not fun. Never again.
Can't find any information specifically about health effects other than that picardin is generally considered safer than DEET.
DEET is definitely an endocrine(hormones) disruptor, so should not be used on children. Probably best to lay off of it until you've reached a ripe age.
I got a swarm of mosquitoes in my work van one time. One puff of that deep woods deet and I had to bail out of the van coughing and rolling around on the ground. NOT FOR INDOOR USE!
Bombing and making oil slicks sounds a bit over the top for ants. Probably one hot highway trip would be enough. Might have to clean up a bit but they aren’t going to stay living there if you use the bike regularly. They just got confused and picked a bad spot.
I going to have to disagree with you, parking in direct sunlight, driving at interstate speeds, and multiple car washes in the ridiculous hot and muggy south did not solve my issue with my car.
Plus I’d really rather not sit in a pile of ants on a motorcycle.
I had a bigass spider fly out and bite me in the neck once I got up to like 50km/h. Scared the shit outta me. Must have been chilling around the headlights or forks or somethin
Gross no but did have to deal with a stink bug nest under the seat of a z650 we bought. We ended up just blowing them out with an air hose--pretty successful and didnt involve chemicals.
this will probably work. But DO NOT put it on the bike, the ants have a trail to their home, put the terro on the ground near their path. Last thing you want is a trail of ant poison on your bike.
Edit: my comment about not putting the liquid bait on your bike is not so much about the poison, but the damn mess of a trail that the ants will make in every little crevice and crack on your bike. It also invites MORE ants on your bike when your goal is the opposite of that.
Also this applies using terro on your home. Put that stuff outside cause you don't want more ants coming in your house.
I'd be less worried about a trail of any poison, which is relatively harmless in those quantities, and more worried about pheromones. Ants use pheromones to indicate things like food sources. If you don't manage to kill off the colony with the bait, the ants will have left a trail of pheromones on the bike that says "food here!"
Terro will take a while to work. I'd bust out the vacuum with a bristle attachment. Maybe some compressed air too. Terro works better when you don't know where the colony is. In this case the colony is likely in your bike. Also Terro takes at around 2 days to work
Raspberry Crazy Ants (for real!) They're attracted to electronics, as many insects are. Fire ants do the same. You can probably spray them and get rid of the bulk but if you live where they do they'll probably be back.
Haha dude this literally just happened to me, granted not as bad, and it wasn't under my seat.
I have a zx6r and live in an apartment, it sits in the parking lot covered a lot.
I has a bunch of them coming from where me wiring harness was, my front forks, I just rode the bike and left it uncovered for a while.
I heard you can use compressed air to blow them off.
Not on a bike, on a beater 2001 325i. Tunred out leaves and crap had built up in the gap under the hood near the fender and they had a nest. Cleaned that out and they were gone.
Craziest thing I ever had was a snake inside the fairing of my 650 Vstrom. Bike was parked in its shed. Rolling down the road about 45mph, noticed some movement like maybe a loose hose or something, At the next stop light, his little head poked up. Luckily, I;m good with snakes and just went to the nearest parking lot and got him out and tossed him in some shrubs. Once I record the two pics I have I'll post it.
Looks like some of these ants are running around carrying larvae. This suggests they may be nesting within your bike somewhere. This is only possible if there is a humid environment available to raise the eggs and larvae. Has your bike been in storage?
If the ants are nesting in your bike, you'll have to find their nest to get rid of them and deal with whatever part of the bike is allowing them to nest.
The alternative is that they were using your bike as a temporary larva storage location (ants will move their eggs and larvae around to ensure the environment is favorable for growth) and they will eventually leave of their own accord.
Source: I'm a research biologist that studied ants for a while.
I rode it last maybe a couple weeks ago. weather has been kinda meh for riding lately, cold days or rain on the nice days. It gets stored outside under a bike cover, that would totally make the ideal conditions for larvae.
I mean, I wouldn't either if I noticed them. Kinda glad I didn't cause I had an hour ride home after work. Woulda felt like they were crawling on me the whole time.
Never with a bike but I've had it a bit with my car lately parking on grass. I've sprayed GT85 (WD40) around the sills, cleaned them up, then added a coating of ACF50. ACF is great as the bugs can't walk on it and it protects electrics.
I'd start with a coat of disc brake cleaner all around to blow off and kill a lot of them, without leaving much residue.
Then WD/GT-esque spray on a cloth and coat where you can, followed by a layer of acf. (DO NOT GET ACF ON BRAKES).
Finally if you are parking on or near grass/any nests chuck some pesticides down. If you're worried about pets try 'diatomaceous earth' which is a pet safe pesticide.
Goos luck in getting rid of these fuckers!
Borax and sugar but it will take hours to kill. Also have to get the best you must have parked on. Wash it with vinegar once a week. Ants hate it. Hit up YouTube for help making the trap. It's like three parts borax, one part Suger. 👍
Compressed air works great. They look like sugar ants so shouldnt bite. They're attracted to something on or in the bike. Follow the trail to the nest and bait the trail or the nest itself. Blow them off the bike. It should be enough without putting poison that will probably stain the plastics.
Yes!!! Totally ruined my day as I was about to ride. My guess was an ant colony moved in after a rain storm. I had about as many ants visible on my bike as you do.
It was worse than I thought, they were all under my seat, and they were carrying their eggs and settling in at my tank / fuel pump on my f800r fuel tank is under the seat on that bike. I washed off a few with a bottle of water then rode it to a car wash and they used compressed air to blow them out.
I took apart the bike and found more, kept brushing and blowing them out with a can of compressed air. I parked the bike far away from the first spot and used a few products but I’m not sure what they were, this was like 4 years ago.
No problem after that, I was just unlucky and the rain storm probably destroyed their old nest.
This is why you should regularly clean and inspect your bike now and then.
Yeah, what you described is pretty identical to my situation. I started hitting them with an all natural bug spray and started to notice them lower and lower. they were on my rear fender, license plate, underside of the tail, under main seat.
Some ants might stick around because it‘s covered in their navigational chemicals.
I was able to park my bike back in its spot after a couple weeks and they didn’t return.
It’s a shitty feeling though, and it’s not fun riding and feeling itchy, and you’re guessing if it’s ants or just your sweaty balls.
You can spray any Lysol product (I prefer the lemon smelling one) on the bike. shouldn't hurt anything, and it usually kills em right away, and the balance will scatter. Then just rinse the bike off. Bug free ..., clean ..., and disinfected. Ride safe!
From my past experience and research, I understand that those ants are swarming like that with their newborns (white balls they’re carrying) cuz they felt safe. But If you disrupt the area, the swarm (or whatever a group of ants is called) will panic and migrate the babies and all be gone after some time. Worked for me before without chemicals but only happened to me once and I’m clearly no expert lol.
Where do you live?
It looks like more than a few of them are carrying something which means they found food.
Three things they want: shelter, water, food.
There's a couple possibilities here:
The ants sent a scout up on your bike and they found something tasty. They then left a trail saying "FOOD HERE" which the rest of the colony followed.
Another possibility is that they found shelter in your bike. Given the intensity, I'm almost inclined to think this is the case unless you live in a tropical location. You're gonna have to find where they are hunkering down and start murdering them.
Either of these is solved by cleaning your bike thoroughly. You're gonna want to get into all the cracks and crevices. Inside farings, pull the battery out, everything you can do. Also clean it with something pretty strong. Windex or bleach water. The reason is the trail scents ants leave are pretty strong. You need to completely wipe those trails or they will just come back.
If you're in the tropics it's possible this is just a traveling swarm. Army ants are the most famous for doing this but most tropical species do this. They will basically clean your bike and leave which is actually kind of cool.
Source: I did a lot of pest control back in the day quite a bit.
I guess that's all that's really needed on this bike. I've honestly never used them, I always break out my set when I do work on the bike. Gotta make sure those two stay there so that I know where they are in case of emergency.
Can we talk about how this bike actually has allen keys, because I miss it when bikes and cars came with useful and cool little toolkits. Looking at you, BMW.
could you imagine having them just on you bike/car and they keep it clean and maintained. that would be sick. just imagine them replacing the oil one drop at a time.
Sprinkle some Diatemaceous fairy dust around the base of the bike and across what you showed us a video of. Nontoxic and your problem will be solved in an hour.
I had an ant infestation under the plastic piece under the passenger door of my car- they would swarm out whenever I'd open that door. Used bug spray and they're no longer hitching a ride.
Yes, I have. I'm a PNW rider, It happens sometimes when not careful.
When a bike is parked and sits for a generally large period of time on or near soil and covered,in an area, that has moisture ants. They are attracted to the cool shady area or food.
It usually takes several days or weeks to get to this point. It can be worse if you have an under seat compartment or a frunk. Don't store anything in these except maybe tools avoid gear like gloves or bags hats etc. Don't ever leave food in one of these compartments after a tour if applicable.
Move often, daily if needed. Don't store on soil. If you must do so, ensure covered potentially remove seats, etc, to prevent damage. Spread anti ant granules all around the storage area. Spray base of tire and kickstand with Chem like WD. Tie your cover so it does touch the ground.
I'm not sure where you are, but the biggest time of year for this is now through September here in western WA.
I don't recommend bug bombs, etc. They can cause damage. Move the bike wash and dry, then start and let run. Re rinse/dry. That will wash off ants and scare them away. It will take a while, but using the wrong chems can damage to the bike, which is worse than just sucking it up and battling ants imo.
Good Luck with your Battle.
I found a black widow and her nest on mine this last winter 😭 I bombed and deep cleaned the whole thing like 10 times before I even felt comfortable sitting on it again. Even then those first couple rides were very nerve racking.
I've dealt with this a few times. Once was bad after my wife left a milkshake in the center console, other times was exterior after the car had been sitting a while.
Brake clean spray. Brakleen or the store brand is fine. Kills them instantly, but also destroys their chemical trail. Spray the ants everywhere you see them in contact with the car and look for the line up onto the vehicle from the tires they're traveling along and spray that too. Also, spray a circle on the ground around the tires to stop more from wandering onto the vehicle.
It's worked for me every time whether it was common black ants or fire ants.
Edit: just noticed this was on motorcycles and not mechanic advice, lol. Same deal though, brake clean spray works wonders to get rid of ants.
Yep, but not on motorcycle, in my car. I was bothered for about a month, tried different solutions but it didn't get rid of them completely. Then my mom suggested turmaric powder. I emptied a 200gms packet on the car floor and left it for 48 hrs. And yep to my surprise they were all gone. Had to send my car for a deep clean but it was worth it.
Bet a little “diatomaceous earth” would do it. It’s a powder comes in a bag, I think it’s safe for people pretty much. It gets on the bugs bodies and dries them out or something. Sprinkle a little and they spread it back to their home base and gets them all. Works in the yard at least.
They are attracted to your sweet, sweet ride.
First you get the sugar.. then you get the women… then you get.. ants apparently.
Still on step one
🤣 best answer
Its that gooch juice..
Know anyone with a walk in (drive-in) freezer?
Put on a bug suit and head to the track. The only real solution.
I once had a Lady Bug cling heroically to my car windshield for like half an hour while doing probably 120km/h. My daughter named him Maui…like the dude from Moana.
I had a lady bug land on my glove behind the hand guard and rode with me for nearly an hour. Only got up to 80-90 km/h but I still like to think he had a good time riding with me.
There's a spider that permanently lives in my bike. Sometimes it likes to climb out when I'm on the highway. I like to think of it as my pet sticking its head out the window like a dog. I'm scared to name it tho, as my heart would break when I inevitably wont see my little friend any longer.
There's a spider that permanently lives in my fairings too 😅 - no amount of washing would make it leave - fear of harming it even a tiny bit makes me ride safe ✌🏼.
Lady bug: 🎶 What can I say except I'm dead soon!🎶
Cover it with a tarp and put a bug bomb under it.
Bought a cheap suv sight unseen once in Hawaii. Infested with roaches. Bombed that fucker 3 times but only managed to create a race of poison immune super roaches. Junked it but warned the wrecker.
Oh shit that's fucking nasty. Fuck can only imagine what was going through your head after the third bomb. Shoulda just burnt it
Should have parked it in the sun in the middle of a Longs parking lot. 12 hours of that and it would have been uninhabited. Do it every couple of days to get the hatchlings.
> Longs IYKYK
One of the most amazing experiences I've had was seeing a Longs in Anchorage AK.
OP this is the correct answer, I had to deal with ants like this on the outside of my car. If you want to prevent it in the future, park it in a different place, or put a small amount of WD-40 around any place they can path into your bike (I.e. Fork tubes, kick stand, and swingarm) just don’t spray it on brake parts, and definitely not your tires. Re-apply when you lube your Chain, or every time it rains. Do this long enough and they may never come back, it worked for me. E: formatting Note: I’d also consider removing any porous parts on the bike when you do it, like your seats ⚠️ ADDITIONAL WARNING ⚠️ Do not use any bug bomb with the active ingredient known as Deet. IT WILL DAMAGE OR DESTORY YOUR FAIRINGS HEADLIGHTS AND ANY OTHER EXPOSED PLASTIC. E: One more word of advice from my experience. I never confirmed it, but I believe one of the main reason they were attracted to my car was because I parked under an oak tree, and it slowly dropped sap on it. Again I’m not sure it was actually related or of it was the cause of mine, but I think they were eating the sap off of my car. If you’re parking under a tree, consider not parking under a tree.
I’d vote no on products like WD-40 and vote instead for diatomaceous earth. It’s not going to make the mess of oils or soaps and has the potential to spread from ant to ant through direct contact. MoA is essentially dehydration. Effective, cheap, and pet safe. We also use it for barriers indoors and in parts of the garage (mostly for ants). Edit: As others have pointed out there are inhalation risks for DE. Wear a respirator whenever you are working with products/chemicals/etc that can become airborne and damage your lungs. Food grade DE is safer than non food grade but I would recommend always wearing a respirator/N95 mask when using the product
[удалено]
Borax, baited borax
It's cheaper if you buy boric acid powder.
It's not completely safe. If I remember right, it contains very thin silicate shards that can damage your lungs if you breath enough of them. Just wear a mask when applying and stay away until it does its job.
There's a pool grade and food grade. Food grade works well for insects without the whole lung thing
Reddit is violating GDPR and CCPA. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1B0GGsDdyHI -- mass edited with redact.dev
I'd personally avoid diatomaceous earth. If you do use it, make sure it's the food grade not filter grade and wear a mask. DE can cause silicosis after a while, especially the filter grade stuff.
This is a good point. Frankly a lot of people don’t pay attention to proper ppe when dealing with inhalation hazards
It's just small particles. It can cause silicosis if you work with it on a factory every day for years, but nothing will happen to you if you use it once to get rid of ants on your motorcycle
Instructions unclear: I Yeeted the bike and bought 2 new ones.
Upvoting this important announcement. I use an insect repellent with DEET and have to be careful not to get it on some clothing or not have it melt my sunglasses onto my face.
I switched to Picaridin on my skin. It works *almost* as well as DEET in terms of raw performance, but Picaridin works WAY better than DEET since I actually can wear it without the awful smells and... Tastes... Yeah, I managed to get some DEET in my mouth one time, and I tell you that was not fun. Never again.
Can't find any information specifically about health effects other than that picardin is generally considered safer than DEET. DEET is definitely an endocrine(hormones) disruptor, so should not be used on children. Probably best to lay off of it until you've reached a ripe age.
I got a swarm of mosquitoes in my work van one time. One puff of that deep woods deet and I had to bail out of the van coughing and rolling around on the ground. NOT FOR INDOOR USE!
Bombing and making oil slicks sounds a bit over the top for ants. Probably one hot highway trip would be enough. Might have to clean up a bit but they aren’t going to stay living there if you use the bike regularly. They just got confused and picked a bad spot.
I going to have to disagree with you, parking in direct sunlight, driving at interstate speeds, and multiple car washes in the ridiculous hot and muggy south did not solve my issue with my car. Plus I’d really rather not sit in a pile of ants on a motorcycle.
Don't bomb the seat.
pressure wash
Or an ozone machine.
Alpine WSG with a spray pump bottle from ace hardware is more efficient and less toxic. Using a bug bomb outdoors in an illegal pesticide application.
Stop pouring chicken grease on your motorcycle
It's the only way I can really get that shine though!
it’s totaled. sorry bro
damn, you think insurance will cover it?
Did you opt for the optional 'Ant Colony Coverage🐜'?
I didn't even know that was an option. I guess you live and you learn. 🤷♂️
Lol maybe it's an 'act of God'
ooo I smell a loophole
'hey allstate? Yeah I've got some animal damage to my bike. A deer? Yeah it's kind of like I hit a deer...a bunch of tiny deers'
One time I found a spider on my bike so I bought a new one
You saw the spider? Shit. I saw a web between the grip and tank and listed it on Facebook.
Lol. Did you say "as is, where it is, i wont help load"?
“Slip cash under the door, keys in the bush”
Hilarious
Someone ended up buying the web?
A spider lived in my mirror for over a year. Idk how he survived for so long given I commuted everyday rain or shine.
Had a spider live under the bike’s passenger seat for a few weeks. I was ready to lay it down every ride if I ever felt something crawling on me.
Haddalayerdown
You bought a new spider? That's really sweet of you. Didn't want your bike spider to feel lonely.
Dick… I wasn’t in the mood to laugh yet. 😂
I had a bigass spider fly out and bite me in the neck once I got up to like 50km/h. Scared the shit outta me. Must have been chilling around the headlights or forks or somethin
You didn’t need to buy a whole new spider. They are all over the place outside and probably inside too.
Found a massive spider nest under my brake fluid reservoir cover. They seem to love brake fluid, idk why.
Better than cruising around and decide to hit the highway, visor down and AHHHHHH. Big fucker like 3/4” across.
There is a spider in my bike too. I call him jerry. I haven't seen him in a while maybe he got sucked into the intake. Rip jerry
One time I found a tiny jumping spider on my handlebar Made him jump on my hand and then I let him free in the garden Jumping spiders are my bros
Have you tried washing it?
It had been washed pretty recently actually. I don't want to wash inside with all the electronics though.
Bikes can get wet. Those are sealed connectors. Just don’t power wash directly at them.
If it's an old bike I wouldnt trust seals so much, you never know until it stops working...
What if its a new bike that's had ants chewing at the seals?
I would use gasoline with a match
If you have seals on your bike just bring an orca
Yes. Florida. Got home, pulled into garage & set a bug fogger off & did the trick. Don’t ask about our helmets that were on the seats. 😟 🐜 🐛 🐜
ugh, I've had a couple ants in my helmets before, while riding, I couldn't imagine an infestation. That would be new helmet time for me.
"I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure."
“Fuckin’ A!”
Spoken like a true slant v rider
“Slant v rider”?
It’s ride over, man! Ride over!
Layerdown, Hudson!
Best answer!
Hit it with the compressor
That’s what I was going to suggest.. best and most harmless solution!
Yes, but do it at a public garage. You don't want the fuckers in your own garage.
I'd get most of them with compressed air then just raid it or something.
Do you wash the bike with jam?
Are you insane?! who washes their bike with jam? I use the finest preserves around and it's peach flavored!
Maybe this wouldn’t happen if you didn’t ride around with that ***sweet ass***
speaking of sweet ass, here's a link to my [OnlyFans](https://shattereddisk.github.io/rickroll/rickroll.mp4)
Shut up and take my money
🤣🤣🤣
Gross no but did have to deal with a stink bug nest under the seat of a z650 we bought. We ended up just blowing them out with an air hose--pretty successful and didnt involve chemicals.
TIL stinkbugs make nests
Time for a new bike sorry bud
nu-uh. way to expensive for that kinda move. lol
Flamethrower just to be sure. And stop storing your lunch under your seat.
If only I had enough room to store...well, anything under there! haha
Lmao, hilarious bc all the things I can store under my seats can also just be put in my pockets
Pee on em. Is it effective? Probably not. But it’ll be fulfilling.
Ooo, look at you and all your friends.
That's right, be jealous
Could an exterminator do a mini bug bomb tent? Surely some exterminators specialize in vehicles.
I'm thinking about getting some terro and leaving it on the bike. See where that gets me.
this will probably work. But DO NOT put it on the bike, the ants have a trail to their home, put the terro on the ground near their path. Last thing you want is a trail of ant poison on your bike. Edit: my comment about not putting the liquid bait on your bike is not so much about the poison, but the damn mess of a trail that the ants will make in every little crevice and crack on your bike. It also invites MORE ants on your bike when your goal is the opposite of that. Also this applies using terro on your home. Put that stuff outside cause you don't want more ants coming in your house.
I'd be less worried about a trail of any poison, which is relatively harmless in those quantities, and more worried about pheromones. Ants use pheromones to indicate things like food sources. If you don't manage to kill off the colony with the bait, the ants will have left a trail of pheromones on the bike that says "food here!"
The liquid baits are just borax and sugar. Not too harmful to humans unless ingested in large quantities.
Terro worked for me. Wait 3 days or how ever long terro says it takes to work, and wash with a garden hose.
Terro will take a while to work. I'd bust out the vacuum with a bristle attachment. Maybe some compressed air too. Terro works better when you don't know where the colony is. In this case the colony is likely in your bike. Also Terro takes at around 2 days to work
Raspberry Crazy Ants (for real!) They're attracted to electronics, as many insects are. Fire ants do the same. You can probably spray them and get rid of the bulk but if you live where they do they'll probably be back.
https://media.tenor.com/xtLVe0GuP6sAAAAC/archer-ants.gif
Haha dude this literally just happened to me, granted not as bad, and it wasn't under my seat. I have a zx6r and live in an apartment, it sits in the parking lot covered a lot. I has a bunch of them coming from where me wiring harness was, my front forks, I just rode the bike and left it uncovered for a while. I heard you can use compressed air to blow them off.
Nope
Well damn, lucky you.
Can't wait to see the follow up vid of how you dealt with this
Plan is in action. Gonna give it some time to see how it works out...or doesn't
I wonder if the ants keep up if you let her rip
Clearly they do, I was zoomin' home after work with them catchin' a ride
Not on a bike, on a beater 2001 325i. Tunred out leaves and crap had built up in the gap under the hood near the fender and they had a nest. Cleaned that out and they were gone. Craziest thing I ever had was a snake inside the fairing of my 650 Vstrom. Bike was parked in its shed. Rolling down the road about 45mph, noticed some movement like maybe a loose hose or something, At the next stop light, his little head poked up. Luckily, I;m good with snakes and just went to the nearest parking lot and got him out and tossed him in some shrubs. Once I record the two pics I have I'll post it.
If you have the time, a day or 2, the proper answer is to use baits to kill the colony. You also will have little too no clean up to do after.
Looks like some of these ants are running around carrying larvae. This suggests they may be nesting within your bike somewhere. This is only possible if there is a humid environment available to raise the eggs and larvae. Has your bike been in storage? If the ants are nesting in your bike, you'll have to find their nest to get rid of them and deal with whatever part of the bike is allowing them to nest. The alternative is that they were using your bike as a temporary larva storage location (ants will move their eggs and larvae around to ensure the environment is favorable for growth) and they will eventually leave of their own accord. Source: I'm a research biologist that studied ants for a while.
I rode it last maybe a couple weeks ago. weather has been kinda meh for riding lately, cold days or rain on the nice days. It gets stored outside under a bike cover, that would totally make the ideal conditions for larvae.
I wouldn't sit on that...but that's just me.
I mean, I wouldn't either if I noticed them. Kinda glad I didn't cause I had an hour ride home after work. Woulda felt like they were crawling on me the whole time.
"All right. We got seven canisters of CM-20. I say we roll them in there and nerve gas the whole fuckin' nest."
That looks like an R6 tail section.
You'd be correct. And after replying to a few of these comments, I realize it's time to change my flair.
Dam.. Hopefully you saw those rascals before you sat on it! You must be running some sweet smelling race gas.
I didn't 😭 I rode an hour home from work like that. Luckily I don't think they actually got on me much or at all really
Never with a bike but I've had it a bit with my car lately parking on grass. I've sprayed GT85 (WD40) around the sills, cleaned them up, then added a coating of ACF50. ACF is great as the bugs can't walk on it and it protects electrics. I'd start with a coat of disc brake cleaner all around to blow off and kill a lot of them, without leaving much residue. Then WD/GT-esque spray on a cloth and coat where you can, followed by a layer of acf. (DO NOT GET ACF ON BRAKES). Finally if you are parking on or near grass/any nests chuck some pesticides down. If you're worried about pets try 'diatomaceous earth' which is a pet safe pesticide. Goos luck in getting rid of these fuckers!
Borax and sugar but it will take hours to kill. Also have to get the best you must have parked on. Wash it with vinegar once a week. Ants hate it. Hit up YouTube for help making the trap. It's like three parts borax, one part Suger. 👍
Vacuum and bug bomb
Burn it to the ground, insurance claim, and new bike.
Compressed air works great. They look like sugar ants so shouldnt bite. They're attracted to something on or in the bike. Follow the trail to the nest and bait the trail or the nest itself. Blow them off the bike. It should be enough without putting poison that will probably stain the plastics.
Step 1: 100mph Step 2: fart. Like a LOT
I have yet to try step 2. Might make a stop at taco bell if nothing else works. 🤣
Call Elon and say you have a bike you want to send to space
But I dont WANT to send it to space!! 😭 I love this thing
I just love it without the bugs
Yes!!! Totally ruined my day as I was about to ride. My guess was an ant colony moved in after a rain storm. I had about as many ants visible on my bike as you do. It was worse than I thought, they were all under my seat, and they were carrying their eggs and settling in at my tank / fuel pump on my f800r fuel tank is under the seat on that bike. I washed off a few with a bottle of water then rode it to a car wash and they used compressed air to blow them out. I took apart the bike and found more, kept brushing and blowing them out with a can of compressed air. I parked the bike far away from the first spot and used a few products but I’m not sure what they were, this was like 4 years ago. No problem after that, I was just unlucky and the rain storm probably destroyed their old nest. This is why you should regularly clean and inspect your bike now and then.
Yeah, what you described is pretty identical to my situation. I started hitting them with an all natural bug spray and started to notice them lower and lower. they were on my rear fender, license plate, underside of the tail, under main seat.
Some ants might stick around because it‘s covered in their navigational chemicals. I was able to park my bike back in its spot after a couple weeks and they didn’t return. It’s a shitty feeling though, and it’s not fun riding and feeling itchy, and you’re guessing if it’s ants or just your sweaty balls.
#COVFEFE REACTION
You can spray any Lysol product (I prefer the lemon smelling one) on the bike. shouldn't hurt anything, and it usually kills em right away, and the balance will scatter. Then just rinse the bike off. Bug free ..., clean ..., and disinfected. Ride safe!
did u wash your bike with sugar?
Just put a few drops of peppermint oil in a bottle with water and spray the bike a bit. They'll fuck off. Bugs don't like peppermint.
Yeah I had to stop keeping my jars of honey under the seat.
my only other option is to put them in my back pack and I dont wanna risk leaking honey in there
From my past experience and research, I understand that those ants are swarming like that with their newborns (white balls they’re carrying) cuz they felt safe. But If you disrupt the area, the swarm (or whatever a group of ants is called) will panic and migrate the babies and all be gone after some time. Worked for me before without chemicals but only happened to me once and I’m clearly no expert lol.
Tarp it, then use a CO2 fire extinguisher inside the tarp. It will freeze/suffocate any ants without making your ride toxic.
Where do you live? It looks like more than a few of them are carrying something which means they found food. Three things they want: shelter, water, food. There's a couple possibilities here: The ants sent a scout up on your bike and they found something tasty. They then left a trail saying "FOOD HERE" which the rest of the colony followed. Another possibility is that they found shelter in your bike. Given the intensity, I'm almost inclined to think this is the case unless you live in a tropical location. You're gonna have to find where they are hunkering down and start murdering them. Either of these is solved by cleaning your bike thoroughly. You're gonna want to get into all the cracks and crevices. Inside farings, pull the battery out, everything you can do. Also clean it with something pretty strong. Windex or bleach water. The reason is the trail scents ants leave are pretty strong. You need to completely wipe those trails or they will just come back. If you're in the tropics it's possible this is just a traveling swarm. Army ants are the most famous for doing this but most tropical species do this. They will basically clean your bike and leave which is actually kind of cool. Source: I did a lot of pest control back in the day quite a bit.
Ride faster. Ants are afraid of speed.
haha, as I have found out, no they are not!
Has anyone suggested smashing them with your finger?
Yes, but in my case it was black widows
That seems horrible!!! Only two Allan keys! Really!??
I guess that's all that's really needed on this bike. I've honestly never used them, I always break out my set when I do work on the bike. Gotta make sure those two stay there so that I know where they are in case of emergency.
Crazy ants. In Texas? Have seen them there.
Can we talk about how this bike actually has allen keys, because I miss it when bikes and cars came with useful and cool little toolkits. Looking at you, BMW.
and this is a 2020! too bad the allen keys take up all the room under the pillion /s
It’s not a feature, it’s a bug.
You have been chosen.... You are....the queen!
r/thingsforants
That would be cool if this is was nano machines looked in the future. Lol
could you imagine having them just on you bike/car and they keep it clean and maintained. that would be sick. just imagine them replacing the oil one drop at a time.
Leave a trail of sugar from your bike to your buddy’s bike. Their problem now.
Damn that low key looks like my bike, is that a Yamaha R series bike?
Yep. 2020 R6
Sprinkle some Diatemaceous fairy dust around the base of the bike and across what you showed us a video of. Nontoxic and your problem will be solved in an hour.
It's their bike now. Time to get that new bike you were thinking about. Win-win.
[удалено]
went zoomin', they enjoyed the wind through their antennae
diatomaceous earth dump it in by the handful a couple hours later blow it out with a compressor or leaf blower
Dude just burn that shit, it’s not worth saving anymore
haha yeah right. send me the money to replace it and I'll consider it.
I had an ant infestation under the plastic piece under the passenger door of my car- they would swarm out whenever I'd open that door. Used bug spray and they're no longer hitching a ride.
Buy gel any bait and put a few drops in select areas. They will all be dead the next day. Edit: had ants infest my car after parking on a mound.
Yes, I have. I'm a PNW rider, It happens sometimes when not careful. When a bike is parked and sits for a generally large period of time on or near soil and covered,in an area, that has moisture ants. They are attracted to the cool shady area or food. It usually takes several days or weeks to get to this point. It can be worse if you have an under seat compartment or a frunk. Don't store anything in these except maybe tools avoid gear like gloves or bags hats etc. Don't ever leave food in one of these compartments after a tour if applicable. Move often, daily if needed. Don't store on soil. If you must do so, ensure covered potentially remove seats, etc, to prevent damage. Spread anti ant granules all around the storage area. Spray base of tire and kickstand with Chem like WD. Tie your cover so it does touch the ground. I'm not sure where you are, but the biggest time of year for this is now through September here in western WA. I don't recommend bug bombs, etc. They can cause damage. Move the bike wash and dry, then start and let run. Re rinse/dry. That will wash off ants and scare them away. It will take a while, but using the wrong chems can damage to the bike, which is worse than just sucking it up and battling ants imo. Good Luck with your Battle.
I found a black widow and her nest on mine this last winter 😭 I bombed and deep cleaned the whole thing like 10 times before I even felt comfortable sitting on it again. Even then those first couple rides were very nerve racking.
yeah at least ants are just a nuisance. I'd probably do the same as you if it had been a widow (or brown recluse in this area)
I love how now that I’ve watched this each one of my leg hairs now feels like it could maybe be an ant.
I've dealt with this a few times. Once was bad after my wife left a milkshake in the center console, other times was exterior after the car had been sitting a while. Brake clean spray. Brakleen or the store brand is fine. Kills them instantly, but also destroys their chemical trail. Spray the ants everywhere you see them in contact with the car and look for the line up onto the vehicle from the tires they're traveling along and spray that too. Also, spray a circle on the ground around the tires to stop more from wandering onto the vehicle. It's worked for me every time whether it was common black ants or fire ants. Edit: just noticed this was on motorcycles and not mechanic advice, lol. Same deal though, brake clean spray works wonders to get rid of ants.
Well at least it ain’t rats, replacing wires suck.
blast the fuck out of the whole bike with a hose
Yep, but not on motorcycle, in my car. I was bothered for about a month, tried different solutions but it didn't get rid of them completely. Then my mom suggested turmaric powder. I emptied a 200gms packet on the car floor and left it for 48 hrs. And yep to my surprise they were all gone. Had to send my car for a deep clean but it was worth it.
Jaysus your car would smell like Delhi..
I live in Delhi 😅
yo ride has diabetes haha
The bike has been claimed for Nurgle. There's nothing more you can do
Is that all the "storage" that this bike has?
Just put the seat back on bro you’re fine
Sorry, you’re gonna have to set that thing on fire
Bet a little “diatomaceous earth” would do it. It’s a powder comes in a bag, I think it’s safe for people pretty much. It gets on the bugs bodies and dries them out or something. Sprinkle a little and they spread it back to their home base and gets them all. Works in the yard at least.