Newbie rider here. During the winter (and part of Fall and Spring) I live in wet/damp/humid/foggy conditions. My bike is stored in a carport with a cover over it.
I didn't ride for about 3-4 weeks. During that time, it has rained quite a bit and when we had one of the few nice days we have during winter, I decided to take the bike out for a ride.
When I pulled the cover off, I noticed aluminium oxidation around the carb, engine fins, even my gauges got a little foggy. And, because of how humid and cold it is, even though the bike was covered, it still had condensation on it. I don't really have much options on storage, and I thought under the carport under its own cover would provide best protection I had available.
So, if this is something I'll just have to live with and deal with, what methods, techniques, products can I use/do to try to keep the oxidation (alum/iron/steel) to a minimum? I have a dirt ground. I have a multi-layer sheet of thick plastic sheeting on the ground, and I have a piece of plywood on top of that. The bike is parked on the plywood on its center stand, and is covered. I made sure to not let the bottom of the cover hit the ground, so underneath the bike, there is open space/air for ventilation. The cover is also vented. Not sure what else I can do.
If this is something I'll just have to always keep polishing/rubbing out, I understand--but I would like to know from you guys what you do when you have flaky oxidation around engine/carb. Or, how you remove rust from the center stand, or a bolt on bottom that looks rusty. Wire brush? WD40? MMO? After cleaning it up, anything I should spray on the bike to protect it from happening again? I haven't done anything yet to try to remove it because I don't want to mess anything up. I do have the cover off the bike, mainly because I was thinking about going out for another ride today. Any help, insight, and/or wisdom would be most appreciated.
On another note, I did my very first oil change on the bike yesterday! QSAD 10w40 with a hiflo filter was in the bike originally, and I took a sample to send to Blackstone, which I'll post when I get the results. The prev. owner changed it every 1k miles, and the oil was a nice light amber color--prob had around 100-500 miles on it, maybe? I decided to go with Shell T4 Rotella 15w-40 and a Wix filter, and the bike seems to run and shift a little more smoothly. I also got a jug of GTX 10w40 to try as well at some point.
I didn't ride for about 3-4 weeks. During that time, it has rained quite a bit and when we had one of the few nice days we have during winter, I decided to take the bike out for a ride.
When I pulled the cover off, I noticed aluminium oxidation around the carb, engine fins, even my gauges got a little foggy. And, because of how humid and cold it is, even though the bike was covered, it still had condensation on it. I don't really have much options on storage, and I thought under the carport under its own cover would provide best protection I had available.
So, if this is something I'll just have to live with and deal with, what methods, techniques, products can I use/do to try to keep the oxidation (alum/iron/steel) to a minimum? I have a dirt ground. I have a multi-layer sheet of thick plastic sheeting on the ground, and I have a piece of plywood on top of that. The bike is parked on the plywood on its center stand, and is covered. I made sure to not let the bottom of the cover hit the ground, so underneath the bike, there is open space/air for ventilation. The cover is also vented. Not sure what else I can do.
If this is something I'll just have to always keep polishing/rubbing out, I understand--but I would like to know from you guys what you do when you have flaky oxidation around engine/carb. Or, how you remove rust from the center stand, or a bolt on bottom that looks rusty. Wire brush? WD40? MMO? After cleaning it up, anything I should spray on the bike to protect it from happening again? I haven't done anything yet to try to remove it because I don't want to mess anything up. I do have the cover off the bike, mainly because I was thinking about going out for another ride today. Any help, insight, and/or wisdom would be most appreciated.
On another note, I did my very first oil change on the bike yesterday! QSAD 10w40 with a hiflo filter was in the bike originally, and I took a sample to send to Blackstone, which I'll post when I get the results. The prev. owner changed it every 1k miles, and the oil was a nice light amber color--prob had around 100-500 miles on it, maybe? I decided to go with Shell T4 Rotella 15w-40 and a Wix filter, and the bike seems to run and shift a little more smoothly. I also got a jug of GTX 10w40 to try as well at some point.
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