I wipe it down before every ride. I try to anyways. That includes the wheels too. Clean wheels are the final key to a clean bike. People roll around on clean ass bikes, but their wheels have 6 months of brake dust and crap on 'em and it kills me. Every chance I get, I tell/show buddies what I use to keep my bike clean.
I never wash with soap and water. Before I get into it, I gotta take pics of what I use and I'll post them up later...
Here's an example of what my old R6 looked like w/ 12,000+ miles on it.
