Road salt bad?

So my buddy and I were talking about winter riding here in Iowa. Locally the salt on the roads is terrible. I washed my car, by the time I got to work, ~20 mins, it was covered again. I really want to ride, if it gets around 30, but he said it would be terrible for the bike to get covered in the salt. I know it wouldn't do it any favors, but if I clean it afterwards would it be much worse than my car? I want to ride sooooo bad after seeing all the posts here of people riding daily. Thanks all.

 

That would be a big YES road salt is not a good thing for your bike. It will get in all of the nooks and crannies, and rapidly further corrision on just about all metal that it touches. Road salt is bad for your car, truck, bike, bicycle, etc... If you really want to ride, and don't give a damn about what happens to your bike, then by all means have at it. IMO, for the fun of riding it, it is just not worth what it does to the bike in the long run.

 

road salt = bad

take off all fairing, wash, wax bike after road salt = good

:drool:

KC-10 FE out...
lane: :usa2:

 

How much road salt is really on the road if they are dry/clear?

 

Lots and Lots. The roads here are stained white from October to April.

You can see the swirl of salt dust behind you on the highway.

Doesn't it snow in SD? :lol:

Salt will destroy that exposed chain pretty quickly.

 

salt + aluminum is not so good (anyone near the ocean or with bare aluminum wheels can attest to that).

When back in Michigan for Christmas I saw someone out on a CBR on the 27th, when it was 60 degrees out. Salt everywhere, and the roads wet... not good for the bike (or wise for the rider).

You'd want to pull the fairings and DRENCH the bike after, hose down everything you can, with lots of LOW pressure water, to dissolve and flush away the salt, but not pushing the water through any seals.

 

It's terrible for the aluminum on the bike and every chain manufacturer warns to clean any "rock salt" immediately from chains.

None the less I'll ride in the winter in Michigan if the roads are dry. Bike gets washed every couple of rides with low pressure water from the hose for a good half hour.

Frown upon if you choose, but you can either stare at your bike in the winter or enjoy your bike in the winter up here. It's a choice everyone makes if they have more than one vehicle up here. You can try to make that sucker last forever if that's what floats your boat or you can accept the fact that it's a consumable resource and at some point it's just not going to cut it anymore.

If you're a fair weather fan then keep your crap in your garage all nice and polished. Hell, you might as well buy a Harley Davidson and keep on posing.

As for me, I'll be on the road enjoying my VFR while it lasts...

 

Hell it is supposed to be 40 this saturday, I am thinking about taking it out for a little bit. Has not snowed in weeks so nothing is on the roads for the most part anyways.

 

you suck. It's hitting 31 here Saturday but we get to have an inch of snow on Friday. Hurrah!

Middle of the state yet I still get lake effect snow regularly...bah!

 

One reasonable thing they do here in cali when it snows: sand instead of salt.

Of course, it does mean that when the snow melts, the mountain roads are covered in sand, but that goes away after a bit in the spring (or after they sweep it off, here in the scruz mtns, since it snows only once or twice a year here).

 

At my location in central MN it looks like we're gonna get through January without breaking the freezing point (I mean getting above). The roads are not only salt covered but packed ice is abundant. The road in front of my house (in moderate sized metro) has snow and ice packed on it 100% since early December. I haven't seen anyone on a motorcycle since November...it's just out of the question unless you're hopelessly macho or don't have a brain. Good snowmobile Winter though.

They get snow in SD...If I'm not mistaken they don't use salt though...just sand.

 

snowmobile smoooooooooooomobile ---check out this fellow Michigander on his VMAX

YouTube - Vmax on ice

or these crazy bastards in Sweden...

" Iceroadracing " -advanced winter training camp in Sweden. (official site)


btw- MI double whomps winter with salt AND sand depending on conditions...

 

Thanks all. I think if it gets to 36 like they say it will saturday, I will get the bike out. I need to replace the chain and sprockets anyway.

 

You guys should try Denver sometime. Here, as a pre-emptive, we use magnisium chloride which renders what looks like dry pavement into a road surface that's "slicker than whale sh!t in an ice flow!" Then after it snows, the city just covers the streets in sand. This can sometimes take untill the beginning of summer to be swept up, especially in the mountains. The good thing is that it's not corrosive, unless you happen to catch some of that mag chlor while it's wet!

 

Up here in NH it's pretty much the same story... There is a VFR rider around here who used to have a video blog...He bought himself a POS bike for winter riding...I want it say it's an older 80's vintage Suzuki GS500 or something like that... I have toyed with the idea of getting a Dual Purpose bike for winter riding...