I'm planning to ride through the winter and intend to treat the bike with ACF50. All metal parts and painted metal are vulnerable to being attacked by salt, but are there any specially vulnerable areas I need to look after in particular?
Only the bits made by or assembled by Ducati....... On a serious note, I’ve used allyearbiker to prep my DVT for winter. They deep clean then airbrush the acf50 on for deep penetration. Best £70 I spend each year. The wheel spindles, rear sprocket and banjo bolts on my last DVT showed slight corrosion as they weren’t acf50 protected.
Thanks. I asked them already for a quote for doing the job. I have a can so might do it myself maybe or top up with it or possibly the XCP rust blocker. So after treatment did you get no corrosion spots at all and how did you wash it?
1st bike, no corrosion where they treated. Washed it with a mild shampoo weekly. Used Scotoil FS365 on the engine areas. Come spring it came up like new. Only the spiders and rear carrier showed any corrosion. Sadly it got nicked. New DVT has had its treatment and I asked for him to include these areas. Which he did.
In my opinion, the parts that suffer worst from corrosion are: the chain the rear wheel nuts, rear sprocket flange and nuts brake line banjos just about all the fasteners horizontal cylinder head cover The paint on the main stand get chipped and is prone to rusting. Next time your at a Ducati dealer, take a look at any older Multistradas they have for sale. To help reduce corrosion problems, fitting the longer front mudguard section and a fenda extenda help as does a cylinder head guard. Some head guards can foul a fenda extenda (e.g. Evotech) however its not a major problem (the fenda extenda gets a bit worn by the front tyre).
have you bought the bike for investment only? Ride it Corrosion is only for the next owner to worry about What are your issues? Re-Sale value. then you should have bought a shitter like a 600 Bandit and not worried.
Gosh, is riding still a passion? Bikes are a bunch of metal and plastic put together to serve me not the opposite. Spending 10 min a month rubbing a piece of rag to clean old grease and spreading new one on the chain is about the preparation it needs. The rest of it, ride and rust will go away.
For me my bike is both a passion and a big investment. It has taken me a lot of years and plenty of hard work to be in a position to buy a new 17k Ducati. I do about 10k annually and ride all year, so your damn right I put time and effort into looking after it properly, and also happily spend £70 getting it ACF 50 treated.
Couldn’t agree more. Plus, for me, there is real pride in having a tidy/well maintained Ducati. It’s an aspirational brand and others (bikers and non bikers) like to lust after them. Keeping my bike in tip top shape helps to keep the brand there.
The bike is bought to ride. It is possible to do that and simultaneously protect the investment. It is definitely, very definitely not a financial investment. The issues are I enjoy a tidy bike for one. For two I don't want to devalue the bike, so corrosion is actually my worry, not the next owner's. I agree about not wasting life polishing and cleaning. I don't think it takes very long to keep it nice though. If you ride your bike and cover it in a layer of mud, you might not be able to see the rust, but that doesn't mean it is not there.
Chain, sprockets, exhaust, all nuts and bolts, discs...erm have I missed any metal parts? All connectors under seat and fairing..Buy a BIG tin ACF50....
