Well it’s that time of year again where the motorcycles are becoming a more prominent form on transport on Britain’s roads. People are relishing the tropical climate of 8C (55F) and are grabbing their wash cloths to break out their summer toys. For those of us who ride through the Winter months your bike is probably coated in salt, sludge and rust is most likely to be creeping in the corners – at least that is the case for mine. Over the past year I have owned a cruiser, which may be leaving my back open to sniggers, but I bet that I could most likely toast any summer “sports” rider that thinks he has me. Anyway enough of this childish gloating!

Nevertheless my motorcycle, as with most, has started to get rusty, particularly on the rims. How can I possibly keep up with this relentless onslaught of orange? The answer is simple. Aluminium foil! It may sound rather stupid but Aluminium foil is the best rust curer I know. Grab a small sheet, roll it into a small ball about an inch in diameter and scrub those rust patches. You will be simply amazed at the results. After the rust has been removed then coat the surface with wax or even oil (careful not to get any on the tyres).

It won’t take long for the rust to clear and it isn’t even hard work either. It is particularly useful to me as I will (most likely) be getting yet another motorcycle next month and in its former state the retail value would have been seriously affected. That’ll be three bikes in three years so I guess that’s pretty good going.

I was going to take some pictures but the rust never came back haha. Here are the step by step instructions:

1: Tear some 5 inch X 5 inch sheets of regular kitchen Aluminium foil off and roll them into a small ball.

2: Find the rust spot and scrub away. It may be a better idea to wash the motorcycle first as this will avoid rubbing dirt and scratching the chrome. Also do not rub wet chrome, it will still work but will look messy as the rust will turn into an orange watery substance and it will need more cleaning afterwards.

3: Rub as soft or as hard as is needed. That’s what she said. KCHING!

4: Get a towel or paper towel and just rub the orange powder off.

5: Lather with wax or oil. I find that regular car wax/polish works best.

6: Repeat the process if all the rust cannot be removed in one go.

There are so many double entendres in here it is awesome!

The other day i started up my bike to let it run while i was giving it her a Winter polish. The temperature was around 0C (34F i believe) and after the bike had been running for a couple of minutes the engine suddenly started to run rough and uneven. A few minutes later and some fiddling around and the bike was starting to only use one cylinder (V Twin bike). This is commonly referred to as Engine Misfire and is easily and cheaply resolved. Generally engine misfire is caused by spark plugs which have become black and worn out (basically), although this is not the only reason for engine misfire – 99% of the time it is. So what do you do?

My Used Spark Plug

Simply take out the spark plug and check to see whether the thread is black (you’ll probably need some sort of specialised spanner). If not then you have another issue on your hands which may be more serious. However if your bike has gone for a length of time without the spark plugs being changed then it is most likely going to be this anyway. How do you fix it then? Buy some new ones. There are kits which can clean the plugs but for the price it is much better to simply buy some new ones. They are usually around £6 each ($9) so it is not the end of the world. A more troublesome problem if you use your bike as the only form of transport like myself is that parts take a couple of days to ship in and while the engine is misfiring it is not advised to run the bike as damage could incur to the engine. Just don’t do it. Well, luckily most motorcycle shops keep a wide range of spark plugs already in stock so all i did was go out the same day and buy two. Problem solved. Fitting the plugs takes all of a minute so no worries there either.

A New Spark Plug

I know that this information may not be helpful to those arm chair critics out there but i hope it can help some people and i hope that others will add to it below if you have any alternative advice. I’ll be back to normal writing asap but for today that is all!

P.S. Feel free to email me, message me on twitter (preferred) or comment below for advice or any other grievances.