What a nightmare!

I rode to work most of last week in spite of rain everyday. So of course I wanted to wash the bike this morning now that the forecast looks dry for this week. Got a very unpleasant surprise in the process! I have no idea when this happened during the week, but can only assume it was during a rain, as there's no other way I could have been totally oblivious to it happening. It would appear that some thoughtful, cautious, considerate fellow citizen must have somehow dumped a large quantity of what appears to be some type of paint or adhesive on the roadway and left it there for all to enjoy. Based on where it was on the bike, I'm going to have to assume that the vehicle ahead of me ran through it and sprayed me with it, followed by me running through it to splatter a nice heavy coat in all the typical splash areas! I was mortified, as it was everywhere! I have some commercial bug and tar remover that I bought from the guy who supplies our dealership with detailing products. So lots of time and effort spent with a rag, a stiff nylon brush, and a spray bottle of this chemical got it off most of the external surfaces, thankfully. But I still have a lot of work ahead of me...just can't do it all today. Here's what the undertail still looks like...



The entire chin fairing looked worse, but I got it all off there. Thirty minutes with a nylon brush and lots of bug remover hasn't helped the radiator at all!



I got it off all the leading fairing edges and fork legs. There are still a few spots here and there on the wheels as well, but it's not horrible at this point. I should have taken a pic of the chin fairing before cleaning...it was unbelievable. Fucking people.

 

Looks an awful lot like road line marking paint. The stuff they use to paint the yellow and white lines on the road is almost rubbery and is a HUGE pain in the #$& to remove. Not sure about the US but normally they out up signs here saying "road marking in progress" but they are quite small and if you miss the sign there are generally no further warnings and there is no real way to tell whether the stuff is fresh or not other than it might look like new paint. If done early in the spring when temps are lower the stuff can take forever to cure and if you cross the lines while they are still tacky you wind up with a huge mess to clean up. Same thing happened to me a couple years back. I saw the warning sign that said they were doing marking and I remember asking myself "WHY, the lines were just done last year and they still looked almost fresh. I went along the highway for about 10 minutes and never did see a truck or anything and I didn't want to cross the line just in case it was fresh. Not long after some guy in a Porsche passed me like a parked car on the freeway and when I got home I noticed little yellow dots all over the front of the bike. Apparently the lines were fresh. I asked around at one of the local body shops and he suggested that I try using some clay detailing bar and it worked like a charm since it was still relatively fresh.

 

That was my first thought, but the color is kind of a dingy tan, and the weather has been far too damp for them to paint lines anyway. It had to have happened while riding in the rain this week or I would have certainly seen it coming. At least it's coming off, just really tedious to do so.

 

Poly grip is still pink isn't it. Or have they tried to come up with a flesh coloured goo. Where is gramma anyways?

Here, same province as Zoom-Zoom, when they mark the roads there is signage everywhere and those mini traffic cones set up every 30 or 40 meters so there is no reason to miss the fresh paint. But each area of BC has different road maintenance contractors who are private sector so up in Zoom - Zooms beautiful Okanagan Valley, the contractor may be cheaping out in the marking process.

If it is a paint, there should be solvents that you could use to remove the fresh paint without damage to the paint below. I just don't know which ones to use. Typically when I am cleaning something off with a solvent, I try it very gingerly on an inconspicuous place first and see what happens.

 

Looks like construction adhesive or something in that family to me.

 

this stuff is great !!

 

My thought exactly...based on the color and texture. Haven't had any more time to work on it so far this week, but maybe this coming weekend I'll go at it again. I got all the top surfaces clean with a lot of work, still have to work on the rad and the undertail. Those can wait.

 

Maybe some Acetone would work on the radiator.
John