Corrosion?

The white powdery stuff you have there (will likely be basically a powder under the lacquer) is aluminium oxide. Get aluminium and oxygen together, with a bit of salty moisture and it oxidizes like a pig. Only thing to do with it really is to strip back the lacquer, polish it down and immediately re-lacquer it. May work, but the ****ed stuff almost always comes back.
 
Personally I'd rather strip the lacquer, polish it and apply a wax. When it comes back, a quick polish and wax and you're good for another couple of months. Much rather have untreated aluminium that's easy to polish up than crappily treated aluminium that has corrosion under the lacquer. Which is basically what Rocket wheels are like.
 
As I have now seen this in the same spot on two bikes, can anyone also confirm if they have this in the same area on their bikes? (top aluminium plate above front forks).
 
I have the Touring model which is differently constructed in a lot of ways, only aluminium corrosion I've seen is the wheels. They make up for that by having a lot. Maybe people with the original style bike can comment.
 
The lacquer is only applied to the top and sides, not the unpolished bottom. I found a used one on ebay and had it show chromed then replaced my original one. The many other steel and aluminum parts that have "oxidized" I have had powder coated. I live on the East coast of Florida and corrosion is the price for paradise!
 
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Then ACF-50.
 
JM2C..... back in 2001 when i bought my RK i was using the recommended S-100 cleaner on my bike. I found out the hard way how abrasive some of these cleaners can be especially S-100. Over time it actually striped the chrome off my spokes. A friend turned me on to Simple Green and it works magic taking off dirt and grim without hurting the finish.It works great on cleaning guns too.It's also biodegradable.

 
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Yeah, the idea of constantly rubbing on the bike to clean it with some product has never sat well with me. There are discussion threads that pop up about cleaning in various places, and there are always some guys who go "meh, just spray this on and scrub it off!" without even using common-sense methods to first lift most of the grit off gently. So I just use normal car shampoo and do the two-bucket wash system thing and ignore most "miracle products".
 

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