GT85 smells nicer  

ref washing off salt - thought the current wisdom was to use cold water rather than warm/hot...

if you're serious about using the bike through the mucky weather then ACF50 (or similar) as mentioned above is the best bet... in the summertime, unless you really dont take the bike out in the wet, or if its parked up, a quick squirt of WD/GT then wipe off the residue will help keep the bike shiny, till it gets a proper clean... works for me and the shiny bikes..

ACF50 is the best at protection, but also the most expensive and it is a lot harder to clean of......if you thoroughly clean the bike and apply with a cloth and spray into hard to reach areas it does all that WD40 does and more.....but as long as you wash the bike down regularly..... Mine gets hosed after every trip in the salt and is clean as a whistle....even if it's a bucket or two thrown under to get the worst of it off between cleans...

Bottom line if you can afford ACF50 fine, if not WD40 GT85 will work with regular cleaning....

Ehmm.. Ehmmm.. Ehmmmmm!!   Okay.. bizarrely I have the spongebobssquarepants song "who lives under the sea" in my head after reading all that...   I live on the Northumberland Coast.. will be riding on the roads.. country and alongside sea.. she is parked up outside constantly but with a huge huge cover on her.. but in the two weeks she has been home and all the awful storms and rain we have had.. already her front wheel needs attention because the cover keeps being lifted off in the middle of the night...   I think.. I shall do a mixture of both... WD40 for hard to reach places but I am "old school" and hard work never killed anyone.. I will get as much joy and pleasure from washing and polishing her properly as I will riding her...   Soooooo.. this weekend along with new bike gloves.. I shall get WD40 for hard to reach bits.. and read the pro's and cons on the ACF50 and GT85.. and yes budget is a considerable primary factor in this.. so if we're talking £20 or more.. I will buy her a tent   Thank you to Everyone who contributed to this discussion.. whilst my head is a little battered at your toing and frowing between each other I think I get the general gyst.. Bless ya's   Oh... and I like that she is a "Steed" ~ Nice!!                                                                                                                                                                             

now if want a real in depth discussion rockchickie-d, then you should start a thread asking which is the best oil or tyres to use!!!!   every bike forum has one of those, and they normally run and run...                                                                                                                                                                               

She has tyres hun.. one at the front and one at the back...   Although.. Oil.. yes... that's gonna crop up sometime soon.. the only "Oil" I can think of is Castrol GTX.. and yeah yeah.. I know you all expected me to come out with "Olive" ~ Am not that blonde.. yet!                                                                                                                                                                             

mmmm how about religious debate polish yes or no and if yes which polish ?                                                                                                                                                                             

" I will buy her a tent" pmsl...                                                                                                                                                                              

Niel.....ref oil n tyres...

I have found that the furthest they apart the better!

oil needs to be slippery and tyres sticky!!!                                                                                                                                                                             

*sniffs* and wipes away a tear...   She has little dots of rust on her exhaust on the inside... It rained so bloody much some must have got in and was left there and *sniffs again* am worried the rot has set in...   What to doooooooooooooooo????                                                                                                                                                                             

Polish with solvo auto sol it will remove the rust spots and leave a good polished serface and slitely oily residue on the pipes                                                                                                                                                                              

JP.. you are an absolute Diamond  Bless your heart for that.. Thank you!!!                                                                                                                                                                                 

now spay it with WD40                                                                                                                                                                             

If you want to keep the exhaust chrome nice and shiny, as JP says give it a good polish with Solvol Autosol (not cheap but you don't need much it goes along way ) using a fairly hard cloth (old denim jeans are good) work it well in till it goes BLACK keep rubbing till all the polish has dissapeared  Then BUFF it as vigorously as you can [till your arm aches] with a clean DRY soft duster/teeshirt/old cotton knickers till it shines Then start the engine and and get the pipes/silencers warm {not hot} and turn the engine off  Then, whilst it's still warm take another clean soft cloth and smear the exhaust with 3 in 1 oil and leave it to cool off When cold you can wipe off any residue and re-buff to leave them sparkling The exhaust will stay shiny for a lot longer than just a "standard" clean and polish When its warm the chrome expands and the "pores" open up so the oil gets "absorbed" and helps to repell moisture and the chrome will last a lot longer Once a week if you ride a lot, once a month if you don't Enjoy                                                                                                                                                                              

Its the attention to detail in this reply that I love.. can't go far wrong following those wee pearls of wisdom... thinks that a "demonstration" as some folk learn kinetically wouldn't go amiss lol   Seriously though.. thank you EmZed and everyone else... and at the mo.. it's a once a month job.. but in a few weeks time.. it's gonna be a once a week job... Whoooooooo hooooo!! In advance like...     now.. where' did I leave my wee Ellieminx.. she has little fingers.. can get into hard to reach bits...                                                                                                                                                                              

If you're a GOOD girl   You might get a PERSONAL demonstration of the technique   That's NOT an invitation to get it mucky on purpose     Em                                                                                                                                                                               

LMAO!!!   Okay.. on that happy note... I'm outta here again... till Sunday