Dog on a bike?

[cowpower]

I've been a KB reader for a while and now I OWN a bike it was worth joining to ask relevant questions. The GN250 I bought is a bit rough cosmetically and I wanted to deal with the rust now before it gets hungry and eats the bike. Gonna try the tinfoil trick I saw on youtube for the flat parts but there are a few bits that annoy me and I was wondering if anyone knew anything about how to go about "fixing" them.

Front R/H fork and back springs are particularly bad. I am guessing that taking it off to fix up is more effort than its worth due to compression? Also a few bolt heads and screws are rusting and I'm not sure if I can just "take them out" and soak them in a rust killer to deal with it - how do I find out without finding out the hard way?

And lastly the exhaust and mirror arms need some TLC. Was looking at upgrading both since the factory ones seem less than awesome, coupled with the rust.

What do you use as a chrome buffer? I've heard of people using windex but what about for where its going a bit white? seems like bikes are more of a maze than a car is.

Also it gives me something to do while I learn how to ride.

[haydes55]

Pics would help. The rust on the forks, is it on the lower part or the upper part?

Tinfoil will usually get rid of rust, but its how you treat it after you remove the rust that matters. Use rust kill paint, prime and paint, oil or something to stop it coming back.

It's just a shitty GN. Don't get carried away, kill the rust, stop it getting worse, then ride the fucker. You'll probably drop it anyway, and when you do, you can scrub up the scratched bits and rust kill them as well before rust settles in again.

[cowpower]

The forks actually buffed up nicely with tinfoil who would have thought it would be that simple. I'll take a pic of the parts that are irking me tomorrow, I need to get the right sized sockets if I am to be undoing anything anyway. But I also need advice as to whether I can undo them!

Granted it's just a 250 but it's all I need and want, at least until I get better at riding and want more power. With getting OEM exhausts are the pretty standard or is it model specific? depending on the price I may upgrade.. prefer just taking mine apart and learning where all the bits go and why, as it means if anything goes wrong I'll have a better idea what to do that currently..!!

[george formby]

Been doing a bit of tidying myself lately. Cleaning up bolt heads and bits & pieces with a soft scotch brite scourer, the plastic pan cleaners, lubing all the moving bits & pivots with an oil can etc. I bought 4 ltrs of universal light oil/release agent/coating stuff from repco & put some in a spray bottle. Once cleaned I give everything a wee squirt to protect it. Works a treat but it has to be done regularly. I reckon 4 ltrs will last decades. Bikes are looking great.
If your tinkering with nuts & bolts always put them back with a wee dab of grease on the thread to prevent corrosion & make it easy next time you undo it. NOT brake parts for obvious reasons.
Will report back on exactly what the repco stuff is, I'm quite impressed, it drys but leaves a light film on the bits. Perfick.

[cowpower]

Inox? Been meaning to get some for my leatherman, wayyy better than WD40. Do you buff your bike also? I'm looking at getting a die grinder to get where I can't with a bit of guts, but I want to find what others are using.. at least then its tried and tested!!

I've had the screws I was able to undo sitting overnight in vinegar, but taking to the rest (heads rusted off) with a drill though its only on indicators and tbh I may replace them with LED ones, I like the GN250 shape and size but not a fan of the round lights - or massive back brake light either!

I'm going to go take some pics, and maybe drill those nasty as screws out / talk myself into replacing the indicators

[AllanB]

Autosol works good on chrome.