ACF50 - am I doing it right?

[Alimarsh]

I've recently done my CBT and bought a CBF125 to get some practice in over the winter with a view to doing DAS come spring, and selling the bike on - hopefully for what I paid for it.

The bike is in great condition, and obviously I want to keep it that way, and I've seen alot of people mentioning online that they can rust very easily in wintery road crud, so I've given it a liberal coating of ACF50 after a thorough wash.

What's the best way to approach looking after it over the winter? I went out the other day when the roads were abit wet and it got covered in crap, but the ACF seemed to be doing its job in that it seemed to sit on top of the greasy layer and I could easily just wipe it all off with some kitchen roll. Is this OK or will this be wiping the ACF off too? I've seen people saying to coat and literally leave it for the winter, am I ok to give it a dry wipe off or do I literally have to have it covered in ste all winter to best protect it? Obviously want to make sure it's protected as best I can but at the same time would prefer it not to look a complete dog if possible.

Any advice/experience much appreciated

[Scobblelotcher]

Could I recommend this from the excellent Missenden Flyer?

https://youtu.be/jjx5gqBZLfk

[Stuart70]

Great video, really useful, thanks for posting that.

[Scobblelotcher]

Stuart70 said:

Great video, really useful, thanks for posting that.

No worries, all of his content is top notch. He also has a few other AFC50 related videos if you're interested.

[jdearauj]

I'd also suggest a look at the Bennetts Bike Social which offers up some great reviews. The video below is a very thorough comparison done on various products which can protect your bike throughout the year.


Best rust inhibitor: ACF-50 vs XCP vs WD40 vs S-Doc vs FS 365 vs ACS TC vs Muc-Off review

[A500leroy]

Do not get it any where near the wheels, types and brakes.

Perfectly acceptable to rinse and reapply once a week.

[Alimarsh]

Scobblelotcher said:

Could I recommend this from the excellent Missenden Flyer?

https://youtu.be/jjx5gqBZLfk

Thanks for that, I actually used that as abit of a guide when I was applying it, very useful info.

I was more trying to see whether me giving the bike abit of a dry wipe down when it's particularly crudded up would mean I'd then need to reapply the ACF or whether I'm OK to do that and still expect it to do it's thing without needing to apply it all the time? Ended up being abit of a messy job when I applied it so would rather not have to do it all the time, but if it's necessary then so be it.

[Gixer968CS]

I put ACF50 on my G21200 last winter as people speak so highly of it. Never again. What a hideous mess and took hours to get the nasty oily greasy mess off in spring. Dirty was ingrained in the stuff and I had to use white spirit to get it off. Maybe I did something wrong but I won't be doing it again!

[Scobblelotcher]

Gixer968CS said:

I put ACF50 on my G21200 last winter as people speak so highly of it. Never again. What a hideous mess and took hours to get the nasty oily greasy mess off in spring. Dirty was ingrained in the stuff and I had to use white spirit to get it off. Maybe I did something wrong but I won't be doing it again!

I wonder if your batch was somehow bad? I've used it for years and never experienced that and it's really the industry standard for this stuff.

[outnumbered]

I apply ACF50 selectively with a brush in November, then don't wash the bike until March. I had a quick look at the TMF video, and he seems to put way more on than I do. You'd spend ages cleaning the excess off if you do it his way I reckon.

The bike ends up looking terrible by the end of winter, but underneath the crud, it always seems to clean up OK. I haven't found any particular difficulty with washing the ACF off, it's certainly easier than washing the thing every time you go out...

[Yogioes]

Another vote for ACF50
I sprayed my RT at 3 weeks old, Sept 2019.



I use it occasionally all year and it certainly gets used when there is salt on the roads. Currently on 8,500 miles.
I washed it fairly often with a bucket, a sponge and a mitt but never thoroughly cleaned it.
It did look a bit mucky around the engine etc.
A few weeks ago I sprayed it with No Nonsense Degreaser followed by a thorough wash and it cleaned up very nicely.
I then resprayed it with ACF50

This time I have also carefully brush painted the outside of the calipers and the associated bolts and any bits that were covered by the rags that were over the wheels.

I wish I had done these extra bits last year as the untreated bolts all have a bit of corrosion.

[Dr Jekyll]

Why is there a rag over the windscreen?

[Yogioes]

It was a bin bag.
I didn’t fancy getting it on the screen.
It doesn’t seem to do the plastic panels any harm as nd they look quite good when wiped over.
However, the plastics are fine with a normal wash and polish

[Seight_Returns]

I asked a similar question about how to use ACF50 on the "Friendly Dumb Questions thread" and got some helpful replies.

[Donbot]

My Ybr gets washed twice a year. Before winter with acf, and after winter to get the crap off. I've done that for 5 years and it hasn't hurt it.

[Chainsaw Rebuild]

I did a very similar thing op - I ran a CBF125 over the winter and did the DAS in the spring. I washed the bike thoroughly in the autumn, basically you want it as clean a possible.

Then I liberally coated the bike in ACF50. To be honest I got a bit too keen and the bike was drenched in it, excluding the brake disc, seat, peg and grips of course.

Then I just rode it all winter, then cleaned it in the spring. It came up really well.

[Weso]

I've used both acf50 and xcp and by far the best way to apply them is with a compressor and a gravity gun. You can really atomise it and get a nice thin film everywhere.
Couldn't say which is better really, both seem to do a good job.
Wes

[Donbot]

Weso said:

I've used both acf50 and xcp and by far the best way to apply them is with a compressor and a gravity gun. You can really atomise it and get a nice thin film everywhere.
Couldn't say which is better really, both seem to do a good job.
Wes

The acf cans work well if you put them in a bucket of hot water before use. Otherwise they tend to spluff gloop.

[Alimarsh]

Thanks for the replies all, sounds like I need to leave it be as much as possible then, will just keep a close eye out and maybe recoat at some point if I think it needs it

[Iminquarantine]

To put things in context, I bought a bike new and used it all year, for 8 years. Including winter. It was washed maybe twice a year. I did not apply anything. It did not rust.