SV in a right state!

Well, as we bikers do in this country. We see a tiny bit of blue sky and drying roads and its leathers on, pull the cover off the bike, turn the key and ride off into the winters horizon....Well, thats how it should go until I pulled my cover of my SV this afternoon and I could have cried! Where my freshly cleaned, polished, treated SV had been, was a rusted, corroded silver heap

Unfortunately, I have to store my bikes outside as I don't have a garage but do have it under a Stormex cover which to date I have been very very impressed with. But I can't believe what has happened to it in the space of a month. Its awful. The chain is rusted beyond belief, the rear sprocket is pitted and corroded. The front suspension arms tops are looking a bit worse for wear too! I thought I had been really good with her this winter, made sure when I took her out, I lubed trhe chain and then she was fully cleaned with Autoglym motorcycle cleaner and dryed before I put her too bed!

What do I do?

TO now add insult to injury, I decided (perhaps foolishly) to warm her up. Lube the chain and sprocket and take her round the block! Wish I hadn't bothered. The bike will now not change down from 3rd, which gave me a few embarrassing moments at junctions. The gears sometimes go in, but no guarentee but when the do, they don't feel strange. I would expect it to feel notchy if there was something up with them? Why is this happening? Its now actually very hard to find neutral. Seems to go past and won't click in...ARRGGGHHH!

Not only does this happen, but my speedo is crapped up! It kept either reading 0 mph or would jump between speeds...110, 76, 4, 56, 37 etc etc...it was like the lottery numbers on my speedo! Whats up with this?

I am absolutely gutted! Can you give me some pointers on what to do, what to replace and how to prevent this from happening again?

Thanks

[northwind]

If you're chain's more than superficially rusty that could be part of your shifting problem... But it sounds more like your clutch just needs adjusting. The cables can just stretch over time.

Hope you can get the problems sorted easily.

Looks like your speedo sender cable is corroded, I had the same problem. It's no fun watching your milage fly up when you are stationary at the traffic lights.
Cables about 55 quid

Buy some ACF-50 spray. Seems to work well at keeping the bike going rusty this winter. Clean it, lube/spray it and most of all *let it dry* before you stick the cover back on. A cover stuck on a wet bike can be worse than no cover at all.

It's likely that the gear change problem is due to the lever pivot stiffening up and not letting the lever return freely to mid position. Curing this is easy and has been covered somewhere by Sid Squid. Test by moving the lever by hand - if it's not free that's your trouble.
Ref. the speedo you need to clean up the connectors - follow the cable up from the sensor in the front wheel and you'll find a connector under the front of the tank ( you'll need to lift the tank to get at this) carefully separate the connector - don't pull on the wire itself or you may break it internally. Clean the connections with Wd or Contact cleaner grease with vaseline or silicone grease then reconnect. On my S there's another connector going into the instrument panel but this is harder to get at so try the easy one first. Don't know what happens on the unfaired bikes but I imagine the connector to the speedo head is easier to get at. If this doesn't work I can tell you how to test the speedo pick-up electrically but it involves a bit of hassle.(not too much though) but the fact the speedo moves erratically points to a dodgy connection.

Just found Sid Squid's advice - posted on Jan 12th under gear selection problems.

Sorry to hear about your ride mate, how awful

Condensation, is of course the culprit. Both me and the good lady have "new" bikes, and so they get washed and spruced up wherever possible. We recently took them out to find the very first signs of alloy corrosion on some areas. It's not impressive, but luckily it really is very minor for us. Fortunately enough, I'd bought a gallon of Scottoiler FS365 protection fluid. That afternoon after our blast, I made sure that a trigger spray was filled up and that, after a sponge down, everything metallic except the brake disks was given a right good squirt. Looking good so far and am happy to invest the money in keeping the machines tidy.

Many have good words to say about ACF-50, but it's pricey (on the face of it at least). Perhaps it long term effectiveness evens things out.

Get spraying now to halt the rot.

Cheers,

Garry

you might find it is the sprocket drive whatsit. see here. http://forums.sv650.org/viewtopic.ph...peedo+sprocket

has the front wheel been off recently? they're easy to break and is a common problem.

hth

you've probably done it allready but check your oil window and hope to god its full. i had the same gearbox problems when there was low oil in there and i hope this is not the case.

I have to store mine outside and I use a bike barn. I guess it allows more breathing space than a normal cover and is never in direct contact but I still get condensation appearing on the outside of the fuel tank etc.

I have been getting mine out every two or three weeks when it has been dry and salt free and taken it for around 50 to 100 miles to charge the battery, get it warm and get any damp out of the engine.

Not had any problems, the outside of my chain went a bit rusty during one three week spell but that was because I only had done around just under 200miles since last oiling it but the last time I had oiled it was over a month earlier. I quickly lubed the chain and by the time I got back from my ride it was all looking nice. Maybe its worth you getting a barn and if possible one of the barn heaters. Or take it out more often which I know can be hard waiting for a dry spell when it isn't salty - around my way they are salting even on warm nights when it doesn't drop below 5 degrees. Today I took half a days holiday and went out in the afternoon.