Finally got a ride out

Finally today the weather picked up a little & the roads dried as the sun almost shone. At last i got out for a ride & loved every minute of the 15 mile cold blast. The bike started first flick of the starter, pretty remarkable for a nearly 9 year old bike that has not run for at least 6 weeks.

Excellent - I'm starting to see more and more bikes on the road

nice one way braver than me

hopefully yake the beast out tomrrow weather permitting
pete

After the short ride yesterday the bike looked fairly clean but on closer inspection this morning revealed the white dry traces of salt here & there. 3 hours spent cleaning, drying & polishing today. The joys of a sneaky winter ride eh

Mine is so dirty, I doubt I'd be able tell the salt from the dirt

Was very close to doing a lick and a promise (sort of a wash) after todays ride - can see traces of rust starting :( but with the threat of rain, I thought I'd do more damage covering the bike when is still wet - so she went to bed yet again dirty. I'm banking on the liberal coating of ACF50 I applied before the salt came in to protect most of the metalwork.

SteveCat wrote:Mine is so dirty, I doubt I'd be able tell the salt from the dirt

Was very close to doing a lick and a promise (sort of a wash) after todays ride - can see traces of rust starting :( but with the threat of rain, I thought I'd do more damage covering the bike when is still wet - so she went to bed yet again dirty. I'm banking on the liberal coating of ACF50 I applied before the salt came in to protect most of the metalwork.

forgive the obvious- but what is acf50?

Woody wrote:but what is acf50?

I am not sure - but i think it is a Corrosion-Block :idea:

Toni wrote:

Woody wrote:but what is acf50?

I am not sure - but i think it is a Corrosion-Block :idea:

That's right, it is supposed to protect the bike from salt, water and therefore stop new corrosion forming.
I have read that the best way of applying it is with a spray gun, but I just buy a can of it from Hein Gericke.
Some areas, like the engine will require re-coating from time to time, also will need to eventually reapply if you wash the bike after each ride. The road gunge will stick to it, so the bike looks like it has been on a Motor-X track after a while.
To get off, put on the degreaser / muc off or whatever you use and wash off. After last winter I could see where I hadn't applied the acf50 properly and some corrosion has set in, so was enough to convince me that it does do some good.

The manufacturers website.

Got out again today for a very cold but enjoyable 25 mile run & even better the bike is clean.
Anyone else venture out in the winter sun?

yep pop out just over 2 hours round the dales & a quick coffie in matlock
pete

Let the side down this weekend :(

Yesterday managed to get the bike through the snow in the courtyard, only did a few miles to the shop and to Pam's - felt a few spots where there was ice

Decided not to chance it today, ice all around the bike - see it only cleared off at 4PM - Cover came half way off, so I could photograph the cracked rear fairing for a repair quote and the swingarm got a couple of squirts of ACF50. Chain is looking very much worse for wear - rusting even though I have a Scottolier and am spraying chain lube on it. It was due for replacement a while back, but have held off till the road conditions get better.

I about 200 miles earlier this week , but then the roads were starting to get a bit icy -not good.

Will not be riding today it is dull foggy & very damp here. Hope some of you have it better.

Yeah, it was better for me. Only did about 40 miles though, through my least favourite part of the country to the Bike show at Excel. Bit cold going there and what I thought was a slight drizzle coming home. The bike was keener into the corners than I was - quite slippery. When I got home I found my leathers were quite wet.

Hope the bike will be OK, I put the cover on as soon as I got home (in the dark) not realising it had been so wet, and now it is chucking it down with the white stuff :(

Was the bike show any good steve?

I suppose so, it isn't as big as NEC (not that I've been for a couple of years), place was packed so I guess it was deemed a success.

I don't really enjoy these events much, and wasn't going to go. I saw the author of the book I reviewed [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] was there and have been wanting him to sign my copy so changed my mind. Found Sam and was very surprised he remembered the review, having done it two years ago. He seemed very happy and appreciative of what I'd done, so much so he has asked me to doing another for his current book and also invited me to the launch of his next book later in the year! What have I done!!! That made the visit worth while for me.

I had made a list of things I wanted to do, but found I'd gone through it in just over half an hour. Autocom couldn't help me with my sick bluetooth dongle and gave me their phone number, Scottolier weren't there (need a part for mine) and got a Bagster tank bag at a nice reduction.

There was the usual clothing items on sale, which I didn't think were priced to tempt. Mind you I could have bought a pair of different sized boots for £80!!
Some stands were smaller than before, like Autocom - in the past they were selling units like hotcakes, they seemed dis-organised and I doubt they sold anything from the stand (that might be because they have just been taken over by Starcom's parent company).
There were many conspicuous by their absence, no satnav companies, didn't see Honda or Suzuki. Kawasaki and the European makers were big, Yamaha had a dealer there.
Plenty of tour companies and I decided to go and 'have some fun' with them, went into the Nick Sanders Cinema and had a chat to him afterwards (his staff were good, they extracted £20 from me for some DVD's).

Then I went and plonked myself on some bikes as I usually do and thinking how awful they all feel , I'm not changing bikes, so no point in thinking there is anything nicer Mind you I was surprised at the Ducati's, they did feel good.

Sounds like a fun & interesting day you had nice one.