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True grit - How to ensure your bike survives winter riding

Road salt: how bad is it really?

Road salt is a bike’s worst enemy – it’s the main cause of bike corrosion during the cold months and not cleaning your bike properly after a ride will soon have the salt eating away at your bike’s metal parts.

Unfortunately, there’s no getting away from the evil brown stuff – over two million tonnes of halite, commonly known as rock salt, was spread on UK roads during last winter at a cost of £150 million. However, the estimated cost of delays caused if roads were left untreated would be a massive £2 billion, so that’s why road gritting is here to stay.

Here in the UK, rock salt reserves are extensive (in other words, cheap), with three main mines supplying the country. Rock salt is used on roads because it lowers water’s freezing point to below zero Celsius. The amount the freezing point is lowered by is dependent on the concentration of the salt to the water. This means the salt can dissolve existing ice and snow, or help stop frost or ice forming in the first place.

That’s all well and good, but the more the salt is driven or ridden over, the more effective it becomes, as it forms a salty water, or brine. And yep, you’ve guessed it, diluted salt is the worst possible news for your bike. This is because as you ride on salt treated roads, the front and underneath of your bike in particular is coated in salt.

If your machine has any chips or nicks in the paintwork, or holes in pipes etc., this allows the salt to immediately attack the metal. The moment the salt makes contact with the exposed metal parts, a chemical reaction starts happening with the oxygen present in the air, leading to oxidation, or rust and corrosion.

Thankfully, there are things you can do to minimise the destructive properties of rock salt, and it starts with knowing how to clean your bike properly, and with what. Do this right and come spring, you shouldn’t have to worry about how much value the dreaded road salt has knocked off your pride and joy.

How to clean your bike properly

Most people haven’t got the time or inclination to give their bike an hour’s rigorous cleaning every day after work in the cold and dark... but just five minutes daily can help keep the corrosion at bay.

Before the bad weather even starts:

Use ACF-50 (Anti-Corrosion Formula, 13oz aerosol, £13.50) all over (including metal parts, wheels and electrical systems). It works by applying a thin clear film that chemically neutralises road salt/dirt/mud, so that water will bead on contact and just bounce off, so corrosion can’t form.

On relatively protected areas such as under the seat, one application can last 12 months; more exposed areas will need more regular re-application (when the water stops beading is a good indicator for this).

Every day:

After getting home wait for the engine to cool down. Then use cold water and hose the bike down. Don’t use hot water as this will react with road salt and facilitate corrosion.

Avoid using washing liquids as these often contain salts which hasten corrosion too. Cold water simply rinses the salt away rather than mixing with it.

Then spray the bike with either Scottoiler FS365 (1 litre £6.95), WD-40 (420ml spray £5.49), or GT85 (400ml spray £3.99), to displace water and help inhibit corrosion.

Once a week:

A more thorough clean, using a high-quality bike cleaner. Some of the best on the market are Sdoc100 Motorcycle Power Gel Cleaner (1 litre £13.99), Castrol Greentec (1 litre £8.49), Autoglym Motorcycle Cleaner (1 litre £8.99) and the Yamaha Pro-Active Cleaning Gel (1 litre £9.83).

These may seem expensive but not only do they effectively remove dirt, road grime and grease but they are non-corrosive (acid free), act as rust inhibitors and contain polymers that give a spot-free sheen.

Once a month:

Time for a fairings-off wash. This may seem a pain but it will allow you to clean and treat tucked away surfaces/nuts/bolts and prevent long-term corrosion.