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Rust report: 17k km, almost 8 months in on a 2022 AT DCT

4216 Views 78 Replies 30 Participants Last post by  Little Bill Daggett, 
akitatwin
8
TL;DR: few spots of rust on frame and a couple rusty bolts. One spot where the paint chipped. Most bolts on the bike have no rust.

Winter is now over, even though here in Holland it's not so much winter as it is just a 'cold & wet season' from november to now.
When temps drop to around freezing point, they start salting the road. So most of the time to and from work (200km round trip) I'm riding in salty highway slush.
I've never cleaned the bike after riding it all winter, and it also doesn't stand under a roof at my house here close to the beach.

I thought I'd start documenting the appearance of rust on the bike.

Starting with the front of the bike: we have some rusty spots on the upper half of the frame, near where the Heeds crash bars mount. The rust seems to focus in this area. Rest of the frame is not affected. Marked in red is where the paint flaked off.

Electrical wiring Gas Cable Audio equipment Auto part


Automotive tire Grey Font Motor vehicle Automotive design


Wheel is unaffected except for the tube valve nut:

Tire Wheel Bicycle wheel Bicycle Bicycle wheel rim


Skidplate: 2 rusty screws. Screws on bottom seem ok.

Vehicle Automotive tire Aircraft Motor vehicle Automotive lighting


Moving to the left side of the bike:
only footpeg area is affected, and one washer on the crash bar mount.

Wheel Tire Vehicle Motor vehicle Automotive tire



Moving to the right side of the bike:
Bolt on the exhaust butterfly valve servo, and the crashbar bolt at the footpeg.
Minor spots on bolts and washers.

Automotive tire Motor vehicle Automotive fuel system Vehicle brake Automotive exterior


Automotive tire Bicycle tire Bicycle frame Automotive lighting Bicycle part


The crashbars where they fell and the paint scraped off:

Automotive tire Motor vehicle Automotive lighting Automotive exhaust Tread


And that's pretty much it for now.

I will clean the bike sometime soon, and will also need to address the chipping on the front frame.
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DoubleThumper
Decided to remove all the orange rust off my chain today. (not my favourite past time - 19th century tedium)

Anyway, back in form again. Found out why it seemed worse than normal this past winter season: The auto oiler hose was disconnected. :rolleyes:
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akitatwin
Xer4n said:
Main thing to prevent rust on steel is protection. In colder climate as in Norway its highly suggested to rust protect any vehicle used on the winter roads. For cars this is normally not an issue, their outside pannels are of Aluminium. They dont need to be protected, as aluminium does not rust the same way steel do. But they do need it on their steel underframe and all the hidden steel beams around. As rust protection like Tectyl is black and thick like rubber, this is a problem for bikes. How would the AT look if the main frame that is steel was covered in black rubber when the paint was white :p
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Most cars have steel body panels, it's mostly some sports cars that use aluminium. You'll see when you get a scratch that it starts rusting underneath right away.

Car manufacturers just can't afford to cheap out on painting them as badly as Honda did with the AT.
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Hood
Lots of cars nowadays have zintec body panels so don't rust so easily and paint on car bodies nowadays is not the best either, the last few we have had, Audi, Volvo, Subaru all seem to have poor paint. Doesn't flake like the paint on the white framed CRF but still not as good as they once were.
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L
I think that BMW started the trend with all this environmentally friendly paint bullshxt.
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DoubleThumper
Little Bill Daggett said:
I think that BMW started the trend with all this environmentally friendly paint bullshxt.
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Yeah, weird. Doesn't seem to be up to the task.

What's next? Environmentally friendly welded joints?
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Bill J
DoubleThumper said:
Yeah, weird. Doesn't seem to be up to the task.

What's next? Environmentally friendly welded joints?
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Good for 30 minutes or until the tail lights are out of sight? ;)
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jondotcom
My 2019 ATAS still looks new and rust free. I’d give my bike regular baths of WD40 before I let it get like that.
I baby and over maintain though. The same could have been done by the OP
bdalameda said:
Definitely salt related corrosion. I used to go to the Bonneville Salt Flats every year for land speed record attempts and this type of corrosion was common from riding on the salt surface.
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I couldn’t believe how sticky that salt is in places. Corrosive stuff for sure.

Whoops
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B
In the northeast they use a salt brine solution as a base before the harsh weather then good old rock rocksalt is used. Problem is in the spring the solution is reactivated with rain, reeks havoc on car brake calipers. Have to replace them x2 for 1 pad wear. Important to neutralize the acidic salt, rinsing alone is not enough.

Industrial car washing use neutralizing technology with there different wash cycles. I'm not sure what you would use at home.
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DoubleThumper
Bfair said:
In the northeast they use a salt brine solution as a base before the harsh weather then good old rock rocksalt is used. Problem is in the spring the solution is reactivated with rain, reeks havoc on car brake calipers. Have to replace them x2 for 1 pad wear. Important to neutralize the acidic salt, rinsing alone is not enough.

Industrial car washing use neutralizing technology with there different wash cycles. I'm not sure what you would use at home.
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Yes, it is brutal.

So far after three harsh, salty nor-eastern region of Canada/US winters has not caused any obvious Matt AT black paint to peel.

Will try to remember to take a deeper dive inspection.
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M
A good product to address the type of rust you're experiencing is Gempler's rust converter. It turns black on the rust and stays clear where there isn't any. It's easy to use and will by you time before it gets worse.
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DoubleThumper
MDA1775 said:
A good product to address the type of rust you're experiencing is Gempler's rust converter. It turns black on the rust and stays clear where there isn't any. It's easy to use and will by you time before it gets worse.
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Interesting product.

Note: Has a nine month shelf life.
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jondotcom
“Ospho” is probably the same stuff. It’s simply phosphoric acid.
I still think a regular wd-40 bath is a great way to preserve metal. I used that method for years to preserve jet skid that were regularly run in salt water.
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Xer4n
akitatwin said:
Most cars have steel body panels, it's mostly some sports cars that use aluminium. You'll see when you get a scratch that it starts rusting underneath right away.

Car manufacturers just can't afford to cheap out on painting them as badly as Honda did with the AT.
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I stand corrected, you are correct about most regular car's using steel panels. I was a bit to fast at the trigger saying all cars. Thanks for the correction. I have changed my original comment to correct it.
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akitatwin
5
Since I'm still waiting for my rear wheel to get new spokes (2 of them broke off, took them over to Haan), I decided to do some cleaning on my bike and replace the Heed crash bars with some lighter SW Motechs that I picked up used for 50 bucks. .

Wheel Tire Automotive tire Automotive lighting Vehicle


Tire Wheel Vehicle Automotive tire Automotive lighting


Noticed some new spots where the paint has come off, behind the plastic heel guards. Red paint on the subframe is also affected where the plastic has rubbed it:

Automotive tire Vehicle brake Motor vehicle Crankset Bicycle part

Motor vehicle Automotive tire Bicycle part Rim Tire



But much worse than that, is the engine rusting under the paint (or paint just separating itself from the metal?):

Automotive design Automotive exterior Carbon Vehicle Auto part


This is not something a little Hammerite can fix up. I will need to take it to the dealership and let Honda sort it out. Not acceptable in any way for an 18k new bike.
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R
We only get a 1 year warranty in the USA so we’re all definitely going to be screwed on the rusting issue.
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akitatwin
Rjupiter said:
We only get a 1 year warranty in the USA so we’re all definitely going to be screwed on the rusting issue.
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We get 5 years here, it was a big reason for me to buy a new bike for this much money
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DoubleThumper
akitatwin said:
We get 5 years here, it was a big reason for me to buy a new bike for this much money
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Crazy. Five years. What's that? Incredible.
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akitatwin
DoubleThumper said:
Crazy. Five years. What's that? Incredible.
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I just hope it will lead to some action on Honda's part
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Dado
akitatwin said:
I just hope it will lead to some action on Honda's part
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That "engine rusting" is shocking 😳
A picture should be sent to HONDA Motorcycles Japan, and also circulated on ALL bike forums.
It will be interesting to hear what is causing this "rust,flaking,pitting,bubbling"

P.S. don't have my '22.atas dct near me at the moment, so I can't compare, the bolts in your picture look a bit warn, like someone used oversized tools on those ?
Font Automotive tire Material property Tool Bumper
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akitatwin
Dado said:
That "engine rusting" is shocking 😳
A picture should be sent to HONDA Motorcycles Japan, and also circulated on ALL bike forums.
It will be interesting to hear what is causing this "rust,flaking,pitting,bubbling"

P.S. don't have my '22.atas dct near me at the moment, so I can't compare, the bolts in your picture look a bit warn, like someone used oversized tools on those ?
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White stuff on the bolts is zinc corrosion.
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