Corrosion Problem

[sv650blue]

I am looking at buying a 2001 SV650 that is in great mechanical condition with only about 35,000 kilometres on the clock, but the bike has quite a bit of superficial surface corrosion as it has been garaged and parked quite close to the ocean.

It has some of that white patchy surface corrosion on the bottom section of the forks and engine casing, also quite a few components and bolt heads. As I said it is going cheap because of this and I am actually quite interested in rejuvenating the bike to its former glory as a project.

The larger patch on the engine casing has me more concerned as I am not sure if these can be successfully treated and removed so the casing looks good. Can anyone offer any experience on this?

Thanks

[Talking Heads]

Check the fork stanchions and the shock damper rod for corrosion, these are costly to sort properly.
Any other surface corrosion can be got rid of and painted over (or if alloy polished) but its all extremely labour intensive and time consuming.
You're probably going to have to strip/clean/lubricate the steering head and rear suspension linkages and brake calipers as well.
And it'll probably need the carbs professionally de-gunked and new brake hoses and chain and sprockets and tyres and coolant...
(once you start it never stops...)

[sv650blue]

Originally Posted by Talking Heads

Check the fork stanchions and the shock damper rod for corrosion, these are costly to sort properly.
Any other surface corrosion can be got rid of and painted over (or if alloy polished) but its all extremely labour intensive and time consuming.
You're probably going to have to strip/clean/lubricate the steering head and rear suspension linkages and brake calipers as well.
And it'll probably need the carbs professionally de-gunked and new brake hoses and chain and sprockets and tyres and coolant...
(once you start it never stops...)

Sounds pretty full on if you wanted to go that far, but everyone has different perspectives and extremes of how they see things. Thanks for the feedback

[Craig380]

Is the bike currently running and being ridden? Or has it been stored in a garage and not run for a while?

If it is currently being used, there's a good chance that the engine and brakes are in reasonable condition - or at least in a condition that's relatively easy to improve - so you can focus on the cosmetic external corrosion. Restoring components like the fork sliders and engine covers will usually require their removal, stripping paint and repainting (or simply finding used parts in better condition).

If it's been stored and not used for more than a year, all bets are off ... depending on how badly it has been stored, there could be internal engine corrosion, carbs gummed up with stale fuel, sticking / seized brake calipers ...