The SV in winter

[Red ones]

Originally Posted by northwind

You hear of people who wash after every wet ride

Where do they get the time from? I am out of the house at 7 - go to work - get back at 6. Have a fondness for eating dinner - then it is dark in the winter - ergo - bike gets and stays dirty!

When it comes to selling it I scrape all the dirt off and shock the paintwork by polishing it.

i keep my sv cleaner than a royal doulton figurine!
and i only ride in the dry and never wash it down with a hose or jet wash!
and the bolts still furr up! its a suzuki on going battle

I think it is relative as to where you spend your winter! :P

I guess that didn't help too much did it? :P :P

I wash mine when it gets dirty and stick on some polish as well but have yet to use WD40 maybe I need to get a few cans. What areas should I be spraying?

Originally Posted by lynw

you could always do the lynw method of keeping an SV going through 2 winters, and just not clean it. :P

Any salt or grime just sticks to the mud and dirt already on there and rarely corrodes bolts. Only had a problem with one bolt holding the exhaust in recently.

my method too, I have more corrosion from summer bug splats than anything else

the only bad thing I have found about letting it get gungy is that when it comes time to rebuilt brake calipers, forget that just buy new calipers

Thanks for all the helpful advice and suggestions. It looks like I am going to have to change my lazy ways and get out there and do some preventative maintenance. Where are the cleaning /oiling fairies when you really need them?