Preventing rust General Motorcycle Discuss Preventing rust in the Motorcycles forums; Trying to keep a brand new Harley from rusting but have no garage. I purchased a Cycle shell which seems to be doing a great job keeping the elements out, ...

[sglide50]

Trying to keep a brand new Harley from rusting but have no garage. I purchased a Cycle shell which seems to be doing a great job keeping the elements out, but there is still air in there, air has humidity, which equals.....rust. I heard about a product call Damp Rid which is like desicant. You can buy a couple of small buckets, they are pretty cheap, that you can put in the shell to absorb any moisture. Once the Damp rid you full of moisture, you throw it away. Worthy endeavor, or just wasting time?

[shovelmike]

I am familiar with Damp Rid, my mom and step father lived in an old house with a crawl space and no vapor barrier in the floor. They used a lot of the stuff, it really soaks up the moisture, I'm sure if you changed them regularly it would help.

[Gas Man]

Try something like these
GoldenRod Dehumidifiers - Moisture Control like Magic - Oxnard, California USA

sold here
Drytheair.com: - Goldenrod Dehumidifiers

[stephenw]

Where I live is very damp and I ride my bike in the rain as much as in the dry. No rust at all thanks to WD40. I am forever spraying it on my bike (except for discs of course!) and my bike is like new as a result. It's great stuff.

[sglide50]

Thanks for responding Mike. My last question on this issue would be the fact that Damp Rid uses soidum crystals, which once water goes through it, creates salt water. Since I put the damp rid in my cycle shell which creates a kind of greenhouse effect. does the water evaporate at some point and create a salt air environment, something like being near the beach. Now I'm splitting hairs, maybe we need a chemist at some point, but seems to be a good day to visit the forum

[shovelmike]

I'm not a chemist but generally the water should evaporate as pure water vapor leaving the salt behind. You would, even so, have increased humidity in the enclosure once the salt has absorbed all the moisture it can, thus the need to monitor and change them out regularly.
The alternatives offered by Gas Man and StevenW are worth considering too.

[HarleyCruiser]

Yea I have used wd 40 to prevent rust, also used silicone spray all over the bike, both work great, make the black crinkle a little whitish, but the best thing to use is Pig spit. Spray it every four to six months and no rust, no pits. My bike is a 01 chrome still looks great, at least when it is clean.
Used to use the damp rid works great, but only can gather so much water. Agree with shovel about the water only evaporating.
Also use a dehumidifier it works the best, but in such a small place I would just use a light bulb to warm the air, dry it out.

[sglide50]

Thanks Steve and all who have responded, i think i will just use a combination of everyone's advice, wd40, silicone, damp rid, etc. it'll be like riding a greased pig but there won't be any rust! with winter coming and humidity levels dropping, i suspect damp rid may not be as necessary. i will google pig spit, that sounds good. i am also using s100 protector for the first time, dunno how good that is, but everyone swears by it.
Rick

[Trigger87]

I've used WD40 on my Heritage since new and have never had rust.

[tommyglide]

So where would you NOT spray WD 40 on the bike? I have a very damp garage for 2 weeks in the spring.