What I'll suggest in your case in a weekend full frontal assault for a thorough cleaning and detailing of the nooks and crannies with chrome cleaner to kill any beginning rust and a heavy old fashion wax job on everything . Use that spray regular for the upkeep and preventive thing . Just makes the bike look nice anyway using it , we had to wipe down all the bikes after a service and that can be a real pain getting greasy finger prints off . Used the dealers stuff one day and said fug it and brought a can of that in for myself by the end of the week they had 2 cases and selling it out of the show room , give you and idea how popular for results it gets .

 

Do you live RIGHT on the beach? I live on mainland in Ormond (3 miles west of the beach), no corrosion problems. I guess if your bike is outdoors...east of the river....you might have corrosion trouble...but you DID know the ocean brings in salt air?
Don't invest in chrome when you live on the beach. (Rat bikes are cool!)

chuck

 

learned that little lesson after a week on the beach in Corpus Christie during spring break way back when . All the drunk willing college nookie in the world wasn't worth two rusting wheels when I got home . Took a month or more to get the frigging sand outa everything too .

 

Put a blanket down. It keeps the sand out of the important stuff!

 

One of the posters mentioned the use of Amalguard. Speaking from experience, that stuff is a major PIA to remove. We used MEK to strip it off. There is a real light corrosion preventative spray you can use, it's sprayed on and excess wipe off. I think it's MIL- C- 41306, guys stationed down in Key West swear by it. Go buy a small airport and see what the mechs recommend. After maintaining uncle sam's jets at sea on six different cruises, salt air is a killer to most metals, the worst is magnesium. A rigorious corrosion prevention program is your only answer. Good luck.

 

Do the blacked/no chrome bikes fare much better in these environments, or are they just are susceptable?

 

Until 2 months ago I lived with the Gulf of Mexico on three sides.
Nothing special cleaning, just wash, rinse and blow dry.
The trick is you have to control moisture.
Bike parked in an enclosed trailer with a marine dehumidifier.
About 80 bucks, the dehumidifier, not the trailer.

 

You can buy them at West Marine or Camping World

 

I don't have a problem with rust where I live but I recently rode to the arctic circle and got mud and whatever chemical crap they put on the Haul road all over my bike. The paint and chrome surfaces cleaned up pretty good but the crevices and the black engine in between the fins are stained or the dried dirt won't wipe off. What is good for cleaning the engine surface? I thought about Simple Green but worry that it might make it worse.

I need help.