You guys (including Glider) have it all wrong...
Although he uses the darned lemon one too.
I always use an airhose to blow off my bike after washing to get rid of the water that hides in the crevises, otherwise sure enough it will find its way out after you have just polished or as your polishing. The key to using Pledge (as everyone has stated) is use sparingly and on a dry surface!
The secret is using two rags the second to buff to a shine , the buffing rag has to be to be completely dry, works great on the chrome hardly any buffing required I also just use old t-shirts but after reading some of the posts Im gonna try the micro fiber rags just not sure where you get them at.
harbor freight, rite aid, cvs, shoprite, etc etc.