Trailering through rain and worried about rust

[DennisJ]

Probably too late to be of any use but ACF 50, available from Aircraft Spruce (https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/cspages/acf50.php?clickkey=211998) is reported to be very good at preventing corrosion.. On the other hand I ride my '09 in the rain here in Seattle a fair amount and have never found any rust. I wouldn't put a cover over it because of the dirt that will be trapped under the cover and will abrade the finish where ever it contacts. About the most I would do is take it to a self-service car wash and rinse it off using the Rinse function.

 

[Bugnatr]

Don't do it in an open trailer. If the roads have been salted over the passes and it's wet the vortex behind you vehicle will totally waste your new beauty with salt mist off the road. I own both open and enclosed trailers and after hauling my KLR over Donner pass in a snowstorm I learned my lesson. Never had any rust on the bike until I did that. SUCKS!!!

Now you know why I have an enclosed trailer, plus no one can give you **** about hauling a bike they can't see.

Rent an enclosed trailer and protect you bike- worth every penny in rental fees.

 

[ANZAC]

Do what you think is best. I would get an enclosed trailer and your worries are over. Just secure the bike well and check her periodically.

 

[HotRodZilla]

And to address one other point...IF it made enough difference to get my wife to ride with me (she absolutely will NOT) not only would I be willing to trailer the bike anywhere she would be willing to go, I would be willing to paint the bike pink and put a custom license plate that said "LUV2SUK". Although I understand there is already one like that in Albuqueerke, New Mexico...

And yes, if I had the little Honda CRF250L dual sport I want so badly, I would be trailering all over the place.

I don't like to trailer anymore but I am not going to seriously be mean to someone who does. Since I have done so in the past, that would make me a hypocrite. I may joke a little, but I have no meanness regarding trailering.

Lastly (I hope!) Dad and I actually had this discussion today in response to Cousin Harley wanting to trailer, AGAIN. Dad says that if he cannot ride his bike all the way from his driveway, he is not riding it at all.

If you're trying to involve me in your little love fest, don't. You're just jealous that my hot wife will ride on my bike with me...But I have a man's bike. Not that gurly Honda thing you pilot.
As far as trailers go, use 'em or don't. And if you can touch your brown eye with your pecker, good for you!

 

[SoCalFJR1300]

Well, some folks may not trailer their FJR's but I do and quite happy doing so. We' ll be trailering the bike to AZ in April for a 21/2 week visit and I can take my wife and dog and golf clubs and do day rides or over nighters on demand. Also stopping in Shasta Lake on the way down to custom up a new Russell seat for a 60 day ride this fall. I've been riding since the mid 60's, both dirt and street and have had many bikes and put on a boat load of miles on all of them. So to those who mock trailering, go **** yourself.

I think I read this before in a article called "Confessions of a Trailer Queen".

To the original poster.....talk to riders in Washington or in England who ride in the rain half the year OR MORE.

If rain caused rust they'd be riding around on rust buckets.

I really don't think this thread is serious.

 

[ionbeam]

Aluminum and plastic don't rust so your FJR is pretty much good to go. Salt will corrode bare aluminum. The only metal on the FJR that may rust are fasteners, rotors and rotor bolts.

 

[Intech]

Well I have you all beat! I tow a trailer with my FJR and the wife rides with me everywhere. As for trailering, I would definitely procure an enclosed trailer to transport it in winter conditions. At least a quarter of my miles have been in rain and I have no rust. I am not even that anal about washing it either.

 

[Redfish Hunter]

This is awesome! A good old my-****-is-bigger-than-yours brawl! I wish you guys hadn't ruined it with apologies n ****. I was gonna offer up my Fat Max and settle this mess once and for all!

Uh, what the heck is a Fat Max? Or do I even want to know? And to be fair, no apologies have been made. Well, except for the one to HotRodZilla but that is because he is soooo sensitive.

 

[jim oneill]

Question? If you don,t wash your bike and get it wet then how did you expect to clean it?

 

[Redfish Hunter]

And I thought I was in a thread with MEN!

It's a tape measure. It's beefier than most tape measures so it will remain 'erect' with the tape further out. Comes in handy in my line of work and I imagine many others as well or they wouldn't make 'em.
But like anything, even the Fat Max gets droopy after a while. When mine needs a shot of Viagra to do it's job properly, I just trade it in for a new one. Just like... Oh wait, you didn't ask that, did you?

Good Lord, my mind was so far into the gutter...

Okay I actually do know what that is then. In fact I have used one often. Dear old Dad keeps one in the back of his truck because of its uhhh, long distance stiffness... We are so far off topic now I can almost feel Ignacio's anger from here.

 

[Fred W]

@jim oneill. You must not have been to too many of the Owners Meetings. Some of the bikes there are quite easy to pick out as the ones with hydrophobic owners. I mean, Yamaha has never produced a brown FJR in the US, yet there are always a couple at each gathering.

I will admit to washing mine once in a while (not obsessively), and would probably trailer it if I needed to for some reason with little worries.

 

[henwil]

As a new rider I know that some of my questions will be considered not serious by some. But I will rather ask a dumb question than later wish I did ask. Thanks for all the useful replies.

I was not worried about the plastic and aluminum parts, but mostly fasteners and whatever other metal parts. I have a high end road bicycle and although I don't ride it in the rain much it does have some rust on some fasteners. I have also seen rust on some used bikes at dealers, but those must have been sitting out in the rain I assume.

It sounds like the water is not an issue, but rather the salt on the road in the passes. A closed trailer would be the way to go, but it will be too heavy for the type I hitch on my sedan. What I will probably do is make sure I rinse her off well when I get to Redding and Santa Cruz. She should dry off in no time in the CA weather.

 

[Hello Kitty]

I'm not big on bike washing, but my husband thinks I should because then you see if stuff needs attention. I tell him that it's better if he washes it and he does. Who am I to argue?

However, on trailering, sure, I'll put my bike on a trailer if it makes sense. My FJR was in the back of a pick up year and a half ago because of a complicated story of loaning it to a friend and it getting dropped off somewhere else and me needing to get it and would be passing through the place where it was with a truck and tie downs. Now, if anyone says "Oh well you should have waited until another opportunity where someone would drive you the 2 hours each way so you could ride it home." Then I will tell them to go **** themselves as well. See what I did there? I got us back on topic.

Hi Iggy!

 

[Hello Kitty]

Good attitude, henwil! Really. Ask your questions, dig through the garbage (I contribute) and make your decision.

Enjoy your new baby. Russell seats are the best there is, you'll wish the bike were in the living room.

edit, you're not getting a Russell. I hope your seat works out for you. I've tried many seats and seat accessories. Never found anything as good as a Russell. But I also don't have one on all bikes, only ones I plan to spend all day in on a regular basis.

 

[PhilJet09]

I understand the desire to keep something you like in new condition for as long as possible, but here's my philosophy. The real joy, for me, in owning an FJR is riding it. That surpasses any desire I might have to keep it looking perfect. So much so that I ride it anytime there isn't ice on the road. Since I live in the snowy north, that means I have to deal with salt and brine, which leads to corrosion, it's the way it is. I combat that using standard corrosion control measures I learned as an aircraft mechanic, including washing my bike (gasp) and fixing the stuff I find.

No offense to anyone here, but I don't see the FJR becoming one of the world's great collector bikes, so I don't stress over rain, sand, rock chips, etc. Life's too short for that. I'm going to ride it until it completely wears out and then maybe send it right to the scrap heap...then go buy another one, or maybe something else.

 

[Redfish Hunter]

henwil, I had a Laam built for my ST1300 and had to do the e-mail picture thing instead of a ride-in. There was no way I could have made the ride from my home to California on the stock seat. I had tried some minor LD riding and knew the stock seat and my behind were not going to make it. I wanted to do a ride-in so badly that I ALMOST put the bike on the trailer and headed out there. I can assure you that it was time and money, not trailer embarrassment that kept me from doing so.

I hope you enjoy your Laam seat. Seth is a great guy and his customer service is first class.

 

[Old Guy]

As a new rider I know that some of my questions will be considered not serious by some. But I will rather ask a dumb question than later wish I did ask. Thanks for all the useful replies.

I'm sometimes frustrated at how quickly an old rider is to point out how stupid he thinks a new rider is when they don't know something he, himself, had to learn when he started riding. Maybe it helps him to feel better about himself to paint himself as an all-knowing guru while everyone else is just an dolt. I know that when I bought my first motorcycle in 1965 I didn't know a damn thing about it. None of my friends rode, so until I found some friends who rode, I was on my own. I was lucky to meet some fine people who taught me a lot; one of them even let me marry his daughter

As far as I'm concerned, ask away. There's an excellent chance that I remember when I didn't know the answer to your question myself, and if I've got a good answer, you'll get it with no ridicule.

 

[ANZAC]

Hey neighbor - you guys have any snow up there in Olympia? We got almost a foot down here in Vancouver and its been snowing since Thursday

Now I know that's not a big deal for you Midwest or East Coast folks, but you have to remember that this is the PNW and we don't always get this crap in the big cities and if we do everything comes crashing to a halt.

 

[henwil]

Hey! Not as much snow as you. We got about six inches yesterday afternoon and evening. I need to get out of here and head south! I grew up in South Africa and will never get to like this stuff.

 

[Fred W]

As far as I'm concerned, ask away. There's an excellent chance that I remember when I didn't know the answer to your question myself, and if I've got a good answer, you'll get it with no ridicule.

That's just ridiculous!