Took my white tank & silver side covers in for respray and the rust under the tank near the two forward location points surprised me. I was aware of rust around the filler neck on the tank and had it under control, also the rust on the steel fork brace and the oil cooler lines.
The aftermarket grab handle has rust on the welds also the rear view mirrors are both rusting and are covered in ACF50.
Fin rot on the engine continues to creep and is now appearing on the left hand side of the cylinder barrels. And, now I see rust on both ABS discs.
The bike was stored in a heated garage last winter and my wife wax polishes it twice a year.
It seems a rat bike is evolving before my very eyes with no help from me.
Still wouldn't part with her.
John in the UK
You're supposed to ride your bike down *to* the ocean, not *in* the ocean...
Never been near salt - but has been wet a couple of times.
I've recently found rust on the triple clamps, fork tubes and front turn signal bases. The rusted turn signal bases were treated with a solution that stopped the rust and formed a paintable surface. Other rust areas were cleaned up and treated with some AC50. Rust is a weakness with some CB's I believe. BTW, my bike stays garaged and has rarely been ridden in rain.
I'm picking up spots of surface rust as well. It's the curse of having no garage, I suppose. The wife feels like building a $25k garage for my $6k bike might be too much. Harrumph.
However, I am thinking about a smaller shed for just the bike. It'll need some heat and a fan to keep it dry, though. Gotta think on this...
Well it can't just be Honda's work if the aftermarket stuff is rusting too, although I must say some CB's are certainly rusting more than they should. Never seen anything like that spotted cylinder/head though. I have seen some CB's where the paint on the fins is chipping off.
That's a shame WK
My CB tends to show sort of the same cosmetic mutation as your bike does right from the start. But not that hard and in a way shocking. Honda did something wrong with the first series.
All I do is to paint some heat resistant silver car paint on the concerned motor parts
and take care of them with a ballistol oil wipe very often. The optical mutation is going to stop somehow, but I always be aware. Otherwise the ugliness will go on....
But it's only an optical problem, the machine runs well.
Wisedrum
There was discussion once, either here or on the UK board, that a batch of engines didn't get prepped properly before painting. I don't know if that is true or not as there was, not supprisingly, no official word from Honda.
Why should Honda admitted this so called fact?
Some German users tried a regress within the guarantee.
All I remember was an result open and long process of getting a beautiful again.
I don't care about it that much and take care of the Honda by myself.
There are ways to keep the CB looking good with a certain amount of work.
Or as some other drivers did, they sold the CB because of these faults....
I don't have this in mind. There are bigger problems in the world than
not well painted engines and other parts.
Wisedrum