Winter weather protection

[Prof Prolapse]

Fair enough, I remember my old man's Kawasaki was like that. All the bolts furry as hell and it lived in a well looked after garage.

[Dare2Fail]

Prof Prolapse said:

I use sea salt.

ACF 50 on an unused track bike in a garage? Seems a bit OTT?

I mean I live near Liam and my bike lives outside (admittedly not ridden much in winter) and it's been fine for years. Just cleaned properly and greased.

I'm really not sold on this ACF 50. It's just expensive grease with a rust inhibitor isn't it?

My KTM developed a crazy number of electrical problems due to connectors being rotten, and then rhere was the rust that popped up anywhere and everywhere. That was despite hosing the bike down after each ride and using fs365. I think some bikes may stand up to the rigours of a winter commute better than others.

[Prof Prolapse]

I clean out my block connectors and use spray on white grease when I inevitable get access to them whilst working on the bike.

I don't use ACF 50, but I do stuff like that and re-grease and clean most moving parts as I go. I mean it lives outside but its not abused or anything.

... but yeah I don't think all bikes are created equal in that regard.

[thatdude]

ACF 50 is great stuff, but you cant have it everywhere - you're still going to have issues with calipers and chains / sprockets.

So for those parts:

Calipers: these should be cleaned before winter sets in. Replace dust seals if need be. When the caliper pistons are pumped out and cleaned up nicely, use some rubber-compatible grease on the pistons as this keeps out the st from the parts where seizure can occur (castrol used to sell a red rubber grease but I'm not sure its avaliable, but there are similar products out there). Use antiseize grease (copper slip or similar) on pins, bolts etc.

Then be in the habit of rinsing the bike down with fresh cold water, a gentle rinse from the hose (anyhting powerful will rinse away the grease, you just want to rinse off the road salt).

With your chain, clean it well before winter sets in (kerosene / liquid parrafin) then coat it with some really good lubricant, all over the rollers and the sideplates (all sides) - I like using the castrol chain lubes, they seem to be really good. Fit a scottoiler to keep a good dribble of oil. rinse off with cold water when you do your brakes to get rid of the salts, and with dry with a rag. You can use a bit of WD40 on a rag to wipe the chain down, then reapply some lubricant.

Dont forget to keep an eye on things like footpegs, shocks, forks, radiators etc etc. Again, rinsing gently with cold water regularly really helps, especially when you get home from a ride in wet conditions (dont leave it till the next day as more of the salt would have dried on, especially on hotter parts)

[s2kjock]

theshrew said:

EvoBarry said:

This. It's kept my bikes in good condition for the past few years, amazing stuff.

And you get some funny looks the first run you do after putting it on sitting at a set of lights in a cloud of smoke

Even more entertaining when you pull into a fuel station to fill up