Riding through the winter


Gruffalo

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Do any of you guys ride through the winter what do you do to keep your baby in good condition?

Unlike many other people my tracer is mainly for commuting. My commute is 45 mins mainly main road, the road is very flat (Holland :) ) with only a couple of slight bends It's very open to the wind but I'm used to that by now. Luckily I have heated grips. I also ride whilst there is salt on the ground.
I rode my previous bike for 10 years through all sorts of weather (put 150,000 km's on it). My biggest problem is that my bike is always outside at home though it sit's in a bike shed at my work.

Which parts should I watch out for (excessive) corrosion? so I can take extra care in spraying them with anti corrosion spray.

Thanks, Martin :)
 
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stevecbr

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My MT09 has now seen 4 British winters, done over 25000 miles, and all is fine.
Its used when the council is gritting, but I do rinse it down every evening if it gets covered in salt
I use ACF50 and FS365, on every piece of exposed metal, and have done since new.
The only part that is starting to corrode is rear rear disc mounting bolts, which is one of the few places I dont apply the ACF50
 

Wynner

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Ouch!
Sorry, my baby goes away once the salt comes out!
Got a scooter covered in ACF 50 for winter commuting, only gets washed before MOT. Shame on me! Dry legs and no fiddling.. works for me.
 

Scaley

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FJR,XT1200 and Tracer all run through the Winter. Rinsed down and washed after each run. Fixings and exposed metals dressed with silicon wax. Also overspray with furniture polish occasionally. Make sure the discs and calipers are protected with cling film when preparing.
 

Toppie

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I'm lucky not to have to commute so my MT-09 Tracer's only used on dry, bright sunny winter days in Ireland.
I do have a winter hack though, a 2008 Kawasaki KLR 650.
It's great for keeping dirty winter miles off my nice, much newer, shiny bike......

And.........


Look how much fun you can have......

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bloggsy

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I have always ridden during the winter but only on dry days when there is no salt on the roads, but I have an old MT-03 that I can use and abuse so if the roads are salty I can ride that and keep the MT-09 in the garage.
 

bobh

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I have always ridden during the winter but only on dry days when there is no salt on the roads, but I have an old MT-03 that I can use and abuse so if the roads are salty I can ride that and keep the MT-09 in the garage.
The old 660 MT-03 makes a great winter hack. There aren't too many nooks and crannies to harbour salty deposits, and the side-mounted shock is out of the way of fling from the rear wheel.

The only things I've noticed are that the plating on the fork stanchions isn't the best, so you can get some pitting on the front (I turned mine round when I greased the steering head bearings) and the exhaust gets rusty quickly.

I got hold of a second pair of wheels on ebay and fitted semi-knobbly tyres for winter use.
 


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