Cleaning my bike

[mattian]

My brand new SFV 650 is my baby. My pride and joy and definately the biggest purchase I have ever made in my life so far.
As such I'm taking the best care that I can of her and am doing my damndest to keep her in as mint a condition as possible, which isnt that easy when it has to be ridden everyday.

My biggest beef is how do I keep the exhaust pipe in "as new" condition?. I'm talking about the copper coloured part that comes straight out of the engine. It has started its discolouration, which is normal of course but, I'm just wondering, is there any way to keep it looking new? without all the discolouration that the constant heating and cooling does to it?

[slofox]

Gold is worth more than silver anyway, so why worry....they're sposta look like that...

[george formby]

To keep it shinyish get some bailing twine & solvol autosol. Wrap the twine around yer pipe, add a bit of polish & floss it, pull twine back & forth around pipe. Clean thoroughly to remove any polish residue afterwards. Their is nothing you can do to stop your headers discolouring with heat, but they can be shiny & discoloured.

[mattian]

To keep it shinyish get some bailing twine & solvol autosol. Wrap the twine around yer pipe, add a bit of polish & floss it, pull twine back & forth around pipe. Clean thoroughly to remove any polish residue afterwards. Their is nothing you can do to stop your headers discolouring with heat, but they can be shiny & discoloured.

Brilliant ! thankyou sir ! I will give that one a go

[AllanB]

The Stainless will naturally yellow (or gold if one prefers) with heat - indeed it will discolor a lot more at the port end as well.
The extent of the discolouration depends to be relevant to the grade of the stainless - some colour more some less.

I've found on my Hornet that the easiest way to tidy it up is to use Autosol on a rag on a warm pipe - run the bike for 15 - 20 seconds or so and vigorously buff the rag onto the warm pipe - it will be hot remember, so care needs to be taken to avoid a burn.

It may take a couple of buffs by the colour removes a lot easier when the header is warm.

Once you have owned it for a while you'll like the yellow and only buff it every now and then to get a good shine, as it will yellow again on your next decent ride. Or give it heaps and really blue them up so people thing your are a seriously gun-ho rider

Other options are getting them coated in a ceramic silver (looks like chrome and will not colour) or covering them in a exhaust wrap so you can not see them!

If you are really anal about it you could occasionally attack them with some very fine wet & dry sand paper - be careful here as the metal will have a grain and you want to work with it - then buff with Autosol - this is useful when selling so it looks extra spiffy!

[george formby]

Worn out green scotch pads work lovely too. I'm talking about the plastic one's, when they are soft & thin after too many plates they are brilliant for lifting flies off the plastic & headlight etc, they polish alloy & remove tar without causing any scratching. Make sure you use them gently with soapy water.

[Chooky]

CB1300 has got stainless header too, and they discolour real bad.
I had mine cerachromed... its a ceramic coating that is sprayed on then baked and polished.... Not as shiney as chrome but doesn't discolour at all.
Others here may know more about it.......

[AllanB]

I had mine cerachromed... its a ceramic coating that is sprayed on then baked and polished.... Not as shiney as chrome but doesn't discolour at all.
Others here may know more about it.......

It's good shit - looks like highly polished alloy but will not colour. In fact it almost looks a bit surreal without even a bit of colour at the ports

The coating also allows the pipes to run cooler - apparently good for performance.

[Pwalo]

Give it a rub down every day with a clean cloth. Polish once a week with your favourite metal polish (I've got four).

If it gets really bad you can use Brasso on a plastic pot scourer.

I've had my SV for three and half years (use it every day), and the pipes still look pretty well like new, apart from the bit beside the rear shock.

Muc off stuff works pretty well for the rest of the bike.