Two months of new Rocket ownership, first rust develops

Saddened to find a subpar metal used for decorative purposes on the radiator screen.

Pics: imgur.com/a/wibJHS8 Unfortunately, the camera made the pic too bright. When looking in person, the rust is easily seen.

Going to replace the strip with something else. I doubt it will stop rusting. I bit taken by $25K bike having first rust 2 months in.

Compressor, spraygun, 4L bottle of ACF50. To be applied over everything except the brakes after every wash.

Suggestion, instead of making a new piece, consider if the following might remedy your situation.
Take the cover off, if you can separate the centre strip from the rest of the guard so much the better. Either way, clean the centre metal piece with whatever you'd use to clean metal (scotch brite pad, soapy steel wool pad) Just get it clean & shiny. Once that's done & dry either put clear coat lacquer in several coats on it or cover it in "Helicopter Tape" & trim off the surplus. A Google search will show local sources of the tape for you. This is an easy home fix, granted it should not be necessary at all, but it'll work & restore the looks.

If the bike is only 2 months old, would this not be covered by warrantee?

I am blacking out my bike anyway, I'll replace with some plastic black strip.

Thing is, if it is made out of a wrong metal, cleaning it makes no sense, as it will rust ASAP again. I don't want to maintain it, specifically, if it can be replaced with a worry-free alternative.

Yes, I probably could make a case for warranty, but it being decorative, I think it doesn't rise to the inconvenience of driving to the dealer and waiting for them to swap it out. Even then, are they swapping it out with the same strip made out of the same metal?!? For the price of the bike, they could have done the strip out of 316 or 316L. Not that much over 304. At this rate of rust, not even sure it is even 304.

Consider UK being surrounded by salt water. I bet their engineers have a good understanding of rust.

Overall, it is NOT a big deal at all. I am just taken aback that on such a $$$ bike it took so little time for something to start rusting. Yes, I am happy it is not a major component, but my cheaper bikes took like 8-12 months to develop their first rust. This is a premium bike.

Fair enough, Hammerite black on it will sort it.

Rust?
Doesn't look like rust to me.
More like the metal has been chemically attacked. What kind of 'salt' do you have on your roads?
That area of the bike is very exposed to road rash due to the absence of a decent front fender.
You will likely begin to see pitting in the surface of the black plastic in the same area, also due to road rash.
It's just wear and tear.

I could be wrong, but my thoughts are that the bright metal strip is stainless steel. It should therefore be possible to polish out the tarnishing. Once that has been done to an acceptable level, the surface can be kept from going back to it's present state by one of two ways:

1- Regular application of ACF50
2- Use some clear film (like the stuff used to protect car paintwork) which I think is the best way because it will also protect the surface from road rash. It will however, also need to be periodically be replaced because it's a very exposed area.

There is a third way.......just don't spend so much time looking down there. Life is much more brighter when it's viewed from the saddle, just sayin'....

A1A Rider said:

Saddened to find a subpar metal used for decorative purposes on the radiator screen.

Pics: imgur.com/a/wibJHS8 Unfortunately, the camera made the pic too bright. When looking in person, the rust is easily seen.

Going to replace the strip with something else. I doubt it will stop rusting. I bit taken by $25K bike having first rust 2 months in.

Click to expand...

that’s a hard plastic strip to my knowledge, not metal.

No salt on the roads. Perpetual summer. Only two seasons. Summer and hot summer, pretty much dictates if you wear socks with flip-flops or not.

A1A Rider said:

No salt on the roads. Perpetual summer. Only two seasons. Summer and hot summer, pretty much dictates if you wear socks with flip-flops or not.

Click to expand...

Very strange. I've never seen that strip look so tarnished. My conclusion was that it must have been a salt or chemical etch of some kind.