I've beenwinter riding in the sloppy Notheast -- thus the name "splatter." In January and February although there were days I could ride, there was no way I could wash the bike. Now it's milder and I've been washing after every ride. I notice I have some salt maks on the polished aluminum places. It's my first new bike, so I guess it's the first time I ever cared. Can they be polished out? Or is this why there's a big after market for chrome-plated bike bits?

It's not like I'm going to stop riding because of it, I just want to know if it's going to be worth trying to clean it up.

Thanks.

 

Well, I guess folks who detail their bikes don't ride in salt spray and folks who ride in salt don't detail their bikes. That's fair. On the off chance that someone like me ever does search the forums for some reference to removing salt marks from aluminum, let me say that it takes a little elbow grease but not an outrageous amount.

After washing and drying I used "Harley Bright" to polish up one of my tripletrees and it looks all shiny and new. The worst mark left a little outline that can be seen at the right angle, but that may well fall to a second application. It's not anything a normal human would notice. I'll do the rest of the bike this weekend and never fear winter riding again.

 

There are several things you can use other than HD brand. For the cylinders, use a toothbrush and WD40. I use either Flitz or Never Dull on rocker covers and engine covers, etc...If there is spotting that won't come out, I use 0000 steel wool and it works good.

 

000 steal wool for the tough spots that don't come off. If you have "white film" on your black powdercoat use "Mr Clean Magic Earser" otherwise maybe some Mothers or Boms Away to polish your chrome. Best thing is rinse the bike off really good right after a salt road ride. Yeah its a PITA but worth it in the long run. Once weather breaks take one nice beautiful day and field strip your bike and get it a nice "Bubble Bath" then dry it off nicly and follow with a good waxing. Sounds like taking care of a woman don't it....

 

I do a lot of winter ridding, but if there's salt on the road I watch the weather channel before I leave to see if in a couple of daysthere will be a warmer up. So I can give myRK a good bubble bathusing a sponge. I found just a good spray with water doesn't get all the saltoff and just activates the salt to do it's thing. [/align]