Rusty Stelvio crash bars

[cmice]

The crash bars on my 2010 Stelvio NTX are hella rusty, and I'm wondering if they can be cleaned off - or if they have to be removed, stripped and powder coated?

 If removed, looks like the bolts that hold them on also hold the motor in. Any guidance?

[Seagondollar]

I've seen impressive results with Evaporust on TV (yeah, they were almost ads), but it claims to be environmentally safe and do a good job.  Ads on the internet have it at Amazon and Harbor Freight.

[John A]

Wax and fine steel wool does a good job on rusty chrome. Also helps retard further corrosion.If the rust is not too bad anyways.

[Wayne Orwig]

The crash bars on my 2010 Stelvio NTX are hella rusty, and I'm wondering if they can be cleaned off - or if they have to be removed, stripped and powder coated?

 If removed, looks like the bolts that hold them on also hold the motor in. Any guidance?

They can be removed without dropping the motor. Though the rear upper mount bolt does need to be pulled. I don't think you even need to put a support under the motor when you do it, but it wouldn't hurt.

I would pull them off, lightly steel wool them, then lightly dust then with rattle can flat black.

Odd that mine have no rust after setting outdoors in the rain often.

[cmice]

et voila...

[pauldaytona]

these are the stucchi ones, I have the black ones and let them powder coat, very nice. Better then new.

[nc43bsa]

Is there a homebrew way to chemically remove chrome from a rusty piece?

I have a method to remove the rust, but not the chrome.

[Wayne Orwig]

et voila...

Ah, you don't have the "NTX' bars. those are after markets.
Pretty poor looking chrome plating.

[grebmrof]

I think you could have someone blast the rust off and them have them powder coated - I think that can be done.  No doubt if it can't, someone will be along shortly to correct me.  Another choice would be to wire brush the rust off and use an Eastwood product that seals and coats rusty surfaces - see this page on Eastwood:  http://www.eastwood.com/paints/rust-solutions.html
 

[cmice]

Ah, you don't have the "NTX' bars. those are after markets.
Pretty poor looking chrome plating.

Interesting - I'm 2nd owner, so I'm not sure where those came from.  Some items on the bike are a bit whacky, so I'm sorting them out now.  That would explain why the rust is so prominent there, but nowhere else on the bike.

I've got the facilities to bead-blast and powder coat (a friend does anyway), so I think that's what we'll do.  Have to decide matte black or silver.  Any photos of what others have done?

[Wayne Orwig]

The factory bars are flat black. Likely powder coated.

[pauldaytona]

I have them half shinny powercoated black. Then easy cleaning. Looks nice. I have same from STucchi like you have. They were black, but coating was as bad as your chrome.

[cmice]

Took advantage of a quiet couple of hours, and wrestled them off.  Not too bad, shy of seized button-head screws (all came out eventually).

Bars are sound, with quite a bit of surface rust.  They should strip and coat ok.

However, I also noticed that the sidestand-side bar was holding water when I tipped it over.  Clearly, that's the downhill side of the bike when parked, and water can get inside the bar itself.  So who knows what's going on inside there.

Part of me wonders - do these things do any good anyway?  They certainly add weight and get in the way.  And, given how these bars are bent and welded, they wouldn't stop damage in anything more than a tip-over.  Even then, not convinced the bars wouldn't do more damage than protect.

Anyone have experience re. whether these bars are functional, or just for looks?  This bike will never go off road during my ownership (no interest).  Tip-over may happen, so the protection would be nice - if, in fact, they do protect.

These are a significantly better design...but are $420AUD more than the bars I have now. :-/ :)


Chris