They say you learn something new every day. I certainly seem to learn something new every ride.
Recently, I was waiting at a petrol station meeting point, when a vintage Triumph rider came over to admire my bike. I'm always happy to chat about how lovely she is, but at the time, she had melted tar and cover marks on her exhausts, which detracted somewhat.
I mentioned the need to try WD-40, and he pointed out that I'd lose the shine of my pretty chrome.
He suggested an old armourers' trick: soft steel wool and oil.
Steel wool? On my pretty shiny pipes? What?!
But I did some fairly intense googling, and then I tried it. If you use the very ultra soft extra fine steel wool (not all that easy to find in the UK) - the stuff that feels like stiff candy floss - and baby oil, then the marks come off and the pipes stay smooth and shiny. You just have to be careful to do this when the bike is cool, and also to ensure there are no little bits of oil-soaked wool hiding on the bike before you start it up again.
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