Wheel cleaning

I have just started a project to clean up a 1996 'P' reg CB500 that has been sitting idle for the last 9 years & to get it back on the road.

I am starting with stripping down & tackling surface rust that has affected various parts of the bike / frame.

The wheels have become quite badly marked (as have the lower part of the front forks). What is the best way to clean these up?

Also, the engine cylinders have become badly oxidised. Anmy help on tackling this would be much appreciated. Thanks

Hello, glad to hear you have a CB500. You should post a picture and then we can all see the task in hand!

The wheels ususally clean up quite well. I suspect you will need some kind of degreasing cleaner - I bought some 'car plan' engine degreaser in a big orange can from my local motorist discount place.

If you can't get this then parafin works in a similar way - whichever you use you'll need a stiff brush, an old toothbrush works well but is rather small.

Best to wash either of these off with a normal detergent after use.

The engine paintwork is more difficult - it really should be sanded before being repainted. The best way of doing this is to take the engine out, however you understandably don't want to do that, so you will need some course wet and dry paper and a fair amount time to work it into the nooks and crannies.

You can buy silver (or black if you fancy) engine paint from places like Halfords which, if applied carefully after sanding/preparation, can make your engine look better.

I couldn't get my forks to look any good so I cleaned them and then painted them with Hammerite 'special metals' primer followed by normal satin black Hammerite... seems to be lasting well.

I'm not really the best person to ask about this as my bike is perpetually rusty/corroded and covered in grime, oil and/or grease and filth.

Plus this post might have been better in the general section (maybe one of the mods can move it?).

Moved to General section, you should get a few more views now!

Excellent advice from ET as always, personally I've always used WD40 & a brush/rags to get the grime off the wheels (not that it gets done very often )

Thanks guys.
Would a fine grade wet & dry be good to use on the wheels 7 if so, presumably they will need some sort of waxy protection applied afterwards to prevent oxidisation?

By the way, an excellent site, with really helpful advice. Thanks again

I should think fine wet and dry should be OK, but you might well want to start with the finest grade and only in a small area (in case you don't get the results you expect!).

As I recall the wheels are laquered aluminum, so if this laquer has failed (and you have corrosion) you might be better sanding them down and repainting (assuming you want a 'perfect' finish). If you don't mind a few blemishes you could probably do a lot worse than normal car wax in terms of protection (would also make it look shiney :)

You are right, these were obviously (once) lacquered aluminium. The rear wheel has actually cleaned up pretty well, probably because it has been covered in all of the grease thrown off by the chain.
The front one however is not too good. The lacquer has clearly failed & the wheel looks very pitted in places. I tried two different good quality alloy / aluminum cleaners & whilst it caused a small improvement, it didn't touch the pitting at all ... hence the comment about trying the Wet & dry.
At the end of the day the bike is 16 years old so i am not expecting it to look like new. A good balance between cost, effort & appearance is fine for me!
Great idea about the car wax protection & trying a small area first. Thanks for the help.

If you can afford it , get the alloy components blasted. Either bead or soda, and then powder coat. The time taken to do any decent job is just not worth it when it can be done so quickly. The engine can be blasted - assuming you have covered every possible hole and orifice and then painted after blasting. If you give one item to a blaster the cost is a mortgage, but a load of bits can come down to only a few pounds per piece. I got my pedal brackets, grabrail, side and main stands, luggage rack done recently. All like new for £40. Worth it.