Cleaning the pipes

[Dandy D]

Just wondering - does anybody have some specific cleaning method to keep the pipes black? That reddish brown rusty look is not really a good thing    I tried a couple of searches but found nothing. Tried the WD40 - works great on the wheels but the smoke off the pipes isn't very attractive either.

Rubber side down...
Dandy

[Kerry]

I don't know about cleaning the pipes.  But mine are starting to go the same route, so I'm planning to get all of the rust off and repaint.  Of course, that means using a high-temperature paint.

For related info, see the Exhaust temps? thread.

[Dandy D]

Hey Kerry - thanks for the link. I never thought that this problem would require painting but if that's the fix then I'll just have to warm up the garage - well, maybe in the spring  :lol:
I'll just keep riding 'til the snow flies here which may be only weeks away. Depressing thinking about the end of my first riding season. (8300km so far this summer - including a 3400km - 5 day tour to Oliver, BC for the Sport Bike West Rally) Bike show in January - I'm there!

thanks again  
Dandy D

[Dandy D]

PS to the SBW rally - I had to do some hard brakin' to avoid the HERD of COWS I encountered around a bend (I thought about you). What the heck were cows doing on the road in the mountains of BC anyway ?!!  :dunno:

Dandy D
eyes wide open....

[Kerry]

I had to do some hard brakin' to avoid the HERD of COWS I encountered around a bend (I thought about you).

Wow - I'm honored!  

Kind of a scary experience, eh?  Especially the "things that might have been" that you dwell on afterwards....

[weaselnoze]

i live in the suburbs and on my first day of riding i encountered 3 sheep, yes sheep in the suburbs, going around a bend.  apparently they get spooked reaally easily too

[Kerry]

Speaking of sheep, and to bring this thread-within-a-thread full circle....

About 3.5 years ago I was taking the long way to Moab.  I was about 90 miles from home, riding up a long, gentle incline.  My attention was drawn to quite a few small groups of sheep behind a fence on the opposite side of the road.  Each group was ambling -- single file -- in the same direction I was going.  I looked at them more than at the road as I pondered what prompts animals to DO such a thing.  "How do the sheep 1/4 mile back know about the general exodus happening way up here?"  (It was hilly country, and the sheep couldn't see from one end to the other.  Had the terrain been flat I wouldn't have been so kerflummoxed.)

This went on for a minute or two, at which time I crested the rise ... and had to brake hard because of a couple hundred sheep that had gotten through the fence and were milling about on and near the road.  After wondering what to do (this was about 5 months AFTER I hit the cow) I decided to use my puny little GS horn to cut a path through.  And it worked!

I would gladly have told someone about the mess, but there was nobody around until I pulled into the next town.  I figured whoever owned the sheep would find out soon enough!  I just hope none of the animals got smacked by someone coming the same way I did.

[Dandy D]

Oh yeah - paint ... ahhhh black yeah that was it and high temp resistant!
:lol:  
BTW avoiding the cows is one thing; avoiding the CRAP they leave on the road is a whole 'nother story  :mrgreen:

Thanks again Kerry

Dandy D.

[Rema1000]

Kerry didn't mention it, but I think that most people sand the exhaust before painting (or is that just me?).  I use a stainless wire brush (I tried a wire wheel, but it didn't get into the tight spots at all).  Some people use a sandblaster or bead blaster.  

The key is to catch the rust before it causes pits.  Sanding the pipe is easy when the metal is smooth; but when the surface is pitted, then it's very hard to sand.