Protection

Originally Posted by shutdown

i bought one of those power jet washers from a boy racer car accessories shop for £30

Careful not to blast the wheel bearings, you can wash the grease out with a pressure washer.

Originally Posted by burner

Careful not to blast the wheel bearings, you can wash the grease out with a pressure washer.

Or the tyres. My machine had warnings about tyre damage if used too close.

Originally Posted by BigApe

I have covered my forks in black gaffa tape to prevent the salt from doing its nasty deed. Seems to be working so far.

How do you know? Been peeling it off for a peep perhaps?

Nope but the gaffa tape has stayed in place

my forks are forked ( ) already so don't think it can get worse.

AS for the washer i'm careful not get into the wheels and other workings. it's got an adjustable jet so when getting onto swingarm and stuff i turn it down a notch or two

someone in my local garage told me he had a spray which he used on the forks and other parts which put a film over the area. then when he washed the bike the muc had stuck to the film rather than the actual bike surface so just fell off.

any clues as to what he had?

[northwind]

Scottoiler stuff, sounds like. To be honest I've never found it works that well, but I've heard other people say it does for them. Maybe I'm not doing it right

Anyway, if you want to keep your forks looking nice, stop mucking about, get them powdercoated. It costs not much, is easy to get done, and looks much better (plus you can delude the ignorant into thinking you have aftermarket forks) The only downer is inevitable time off road, which I avoided by getting a spare set of fork lowers.

who does this then? and how much for?

how long will be bike be off the road?

[northwind]

Loads of places'll powdercoat, just look in the yellow pages or bike mag adverts... You'd be better to go for a place that specialises in car and bike parts, you'll get a better range of colours and probably a better finish (powdercoating's also used for industrial finishes where attractiveness isn't key)

How long it's off the road will depend on the shop- mine were done overnight, but that's unusual, most people I spoke to said it could be up to a week (I think they do it in batches to keep costs down?) Plus you'll probably need to dismantle and rebuild your forks yourself, which isn't difficult but took me a while.

Cost isn't much, mine were £10 a leg in gloss black. Other colours can be more... You'll also need new oil seals and I think there's a copper washer you have to replace as well in each leg? Plus you may as well replace the dust seals while you're at it if they've done any notable distance.

I don't suppose you have a decent pick of your lowers do you northwind?
I think I like this idea, mine are starting to look a bit, well, kack.