In the last three years, I have moved to less than a mile from the ocean, and bought a Harley with a ton of chrome. 90% of my riding is within 5 miles of the sea. Thats the good riding here. Since I actually RIDE my bike, I may have an issue... I've never lived next to the ocean before so I need advice.

The riding is great and the scenery is awesome, but... Lots of people around here see the chrome, and go "Oh boy, you are going to have a problem with that".

Most of theirs have corrosion issues, but are not garage kept. Mine is garage kept.

QUESTION: If I wash this bike down at lease once every two weeks, OR whenever it gets sea spray on it, will the chrome be OK?

Should I treat it like a BOAT, and rinse it off after every ride whether it gets sea spray on it or not.

Where is the trade-off between washing it too much, and not getting it wet.

At a minimum, I at least wipe it down after a ride. I can actually see a filmy residue buildup on all of the leading edges after a mere 20 miles of riding.

Sorry, I'm old school, and a Harley (in MY book) is supposed to have a lot of chrome. I'm not going to get rid of it.

 

The dealer says to use vasaline.



A young man has always dreamed on owning a Harley Davidson. One day he has finally saved up enough money so he goes down to the dealer. After picking out the perfect bike the dealer warns him that if he leaves his Harley in the rain the chrome has a tendency to rust. He tells the young man an old biker's trick is to keep a jar of Vaseline handy and smear it on the chrome if the bike must be left out in the rain.
A few months later the young man meets a woman and falls in love. She asks him to come home and meet her parents over dinner. He readily agrees and the date is set. At the appointed time he picks her up on his Harley and they ride to her parents house. Before they go in she tells him that they have a family tradition that whoever speaks first after dinner must do the dishes.

After a delicious dinner everyone sits in silence waiting for the first person to break and get stuck doing the dishes. After a long fifteen minutes the young man decides to speed things up so he reaches over and kisses the woman in front of her family.

And no one says a word...! Next he decides to take a more direct approach so he throws her on the table and has sex with her in front of everyone. And still no one says a word!

Now he is getting desperate, so he grabs her mother and throws her on the table. They have even wilder sex. But no one says a word!!!

By now he is getting very worried and is wondering what to do next when he hears thunder in the distance. His first thought is to protect the chrome on his Harley, so he reaches in his pocket and pulls out the Vaseline.

And the father says, "Okay dammit, I'll do the dishes."

 

I live 3 miles from the ocean, and ride along the beach frequently. So far, so good as I:
- put 2 coats of McQuires ( one step) on chrome every 6 months.
- keep the Trike in the garage
- quick rinse off if it looks like I got a haze on it after a ride. I use the Mr Clean spray gun that filters the rinse water for as pot free rinse. Too bad they discontinued this as it worked well.
- use McQuires Quik Wax, after rinsing.

I still had/have, the following:
- some mild rust on the crash bar where I moved the pegs from. I need to take care of this.
- my uncoated Aluminum wheels got trashed by something in Sturgis. I just swapped them out for chrome. Put 2 coats of McQuires on them. I'll have to watch how they do.

Keep an eye on all the chrome. You might find some that wants to rust or oxidize before others.

 

A mile away in a garage I think is fine. I've lived in Fort Lauderdale since 1989, about 5 miles from the beach, and I've never had any problem with any bike I've owned. It's not like you're bike is parked on the beach where it gets sea spray. There isn't any salt in the air 1 mile away from the ocean. If it was a problem, car owners would be required to undercoat their cars like people do up North to protect against road salt in the winter. 1 mile is far.

 

It's not just salt spray from the ocean, it' the humid, tropical climate in FL that also causes corrosion.
Salt spray and it's intrusion onto land depends on ocean waves and wind direction.

 

Nah, like I said, I've lived 5 miles from Fort Lauderdale beach since 1989 and have never had a single problem with any of my bikes. The heat and humidity is far easier on metal than the salt and road rock from up North. I've had cars rust when I lived in PA. I've never had a car rust down here.

Up North, after time the paint would start to bubble along the underside of the door and the quarter panel behind the tire, toward the bottom. The paint would bubble because rust would form underneath the paint. This was a problem with all my cars. It's caused by the salt and road rock they plough the streets with in the winter.

You have to worry about that stuff a lot more than some humidity.

Oh, and it doesn't get hot in Florida. It gets hotter in New York City. Max temp down here is 92.

 

Thanks for the information so far. While a PITA, I am leaning towards a rinse off after every ride where I even imagine sea spray hitting me. This is where the filmy residue is coming from. When I said most of my riding is within five miles of the water... THIS is not uncommon. We always have an on-shore wind pattern here. (salt air)



This will be a good informational thread. Thanks!

 

Use Blue Magic metal polish on your chrome...it leaves a perfect shine, but what you don't see is that is leave a silicone film behind that protects the metal from this kind of stuff. I swear by it on chrome & bare or polished aluminum.

 

That's the Atlantic. Where are you?

 

LOL. Good one.