Hi All,

My bad for not keeping the new Ultra a bit cleaner... but if you want to ride in Washington state during the winter, you're bike will get dirty. Anyway, yesterday I gave it a good bath and 2 hour detail and about sh** when I saw the leading edge of my fork lowers and the front rim. Corrosion!!! No pitting, just spots. Yikes! I've seen some of the used bikes at the dealer with fork lowers that look like they got sand blasted with 60g, others (like my 07 RKC with 48K miles at trade-in) without so much as even a spot. Dealer man says "Oh, those are from the coast where they salt the roads". Horse hockey! The only thing I can think of is the possibility of me riding on a road (all super slab) that had been "de-iced". But I rode my RKC year round, no corrossion. Has anyone else suffered this? Has anyone gone back to Harley?

Dave

 

I did read from one guys posting that he had corrosion/rust on his forks and the dealer replaced them under warranty. I think i remember him upgrading to Chrome and paying the difference. I don't know how to tell you to search postings but maybe someone will chime in. Good luck

Ride safe

 

Normal, I had it on my King before I swapped out to chrome.

 

So, let me get this straight, you are riding in corrosive material (salt and other de-icing agents) and you don't expect it to have an effect on the bike? What you can see is just the tip of the iceberg. When your bearings start going because of it, you will probably want them replaced for free too.

In Wisconsin, most of us would not think of taking our bikes out from first salt to first good week of rain in the Spring. I don't even like having my bike sit in the same garage as the vehicles that have been out in the salt, but that is a little crazy. I have corrosion and some rust all over my 2006 F150 from being out in the salt in the Winter and it gets washed every two weeks.

 

Between my old glide and my buddies 95 RK and another friends 90 Ultra - the forks, wheels and any other aluminum will look like complete and total crap after years of service and no polishing or maintenance.

I've seen multiple early 2000's 'glides whose forks and rims also look like crap (dull, milkey, some minor pitting) after multiple years of use and little to no polishing and maintenance.

From what I know it's either switch it all out to chrome, maintain it and it will look nice, live with all the aluminum looking like crap and just ride it ( that's my buddy's plan with his ultra) or get friggin busy sanding, polishing and making all the aluminum look better than when it left the show room , and just live with the fact that you'll have to stay on top of it and spend the time to polish to keep it looking good ( my plan ).

 

Hey Dave. i had the same thing happen to my 06 Ultra. Only thing is, I never had it out in that crap. I was guilty of parking the bike in the same garage as my truck and car. By the time the first winter storage was over and I removed the cover, the damage was done. AAARgh! The rims were ruined and the fork legs looked like garbage. From now on, the bike goes in the shed out back for the winter. I guess that if you are going to ride your bike on freshly salted roads you should wash it imediately when you get home. I have a friend who works on ATV's and snowmobiles. He says that the salt is also getting into the electric sh@@ and is raising havoc with that stuff. I can only guess what the salt is doing to your bike's electrics. I'm not trying to talk you out of winter riding but the salt is another level of maintanance that you should pay attention to.

 

OK, maybe I better clarify. I DID NOT RIDE IN SALTED ROADS. This is Washington State.... we don't salt roads. Would not knowingly ride on freshly deiced roads... doesn't sound like you would either. Sorry you Dudes in Wisconsin HAVE TO put your wheels up for the winter, I used to live there, I remember.

H-D did warranty them, as they had no explaination. And no, it's NOT normal, as I stated, my 07 RKC with year round riding and 48K miles, didn't have so much as one spot on them. Considering paying the difference and having chrome put on.

 

I was in Daytona for a week in '09 on my other bike. We stayed in a condo on the beach, and the wind blew there constantly. I would get up in the morning and go down and wipe the white film off my bike every morning. When we started back to Knoxville, the intercom didn't work (it had worked all the way down, but we didn't use it while there).
When I got home, I started trying to give the bike a good cleaning and it had rust on everything that would rust. The intercom connectors were corroded. I had to take the bike apart and clean it with WD-40 and a toothbrush.
All this after 1 week!

 

My old Road Glide with 55000 miles had pitted/corosion looking fork tubes.Even the wheels had some spots.

 

I hear this time and time again, about parking in a garage with cars coming in and out salt covered all winter. My bikes have always been parked in front of the garage just a few feet in front of my rig. Some weeks the salt is so thick on the floor after a week, I have to scrape it off with a flower bed edger, and then I mop and rinse the floor. I do this every Saturday morning all winter. I've never had pitting on any of my bikes? I cover them with a flannel sheet and thats it. I do have a built in dehumidifier that can be set for summer or winter use and in the winter I run it at 30% humidity? Maybe that does the trick?