Exhaust system tarnish: help is at hand!

You can guess how it went: some bean-counter in the bike industry said "Why don't we make exhaust pipes out of stainless steel? No need for expensive and toxic chroming and the riders will thank us cos the pipes will stay shiny forever!"

OK, major rust is no longer an issue but hot stainless of the type used does slowly corrode and will eventually look like it's been plated with cocoa. The best way to slow the process down is to polish the pipes and get rid of the tiny pits in the surface, but even professional polishers hate the job because stainless is so tough. Even polished, the metal will still gain an amber tint but there is a low-effort way to keep it at bay.

Hydrochloric acid magically removes the tarnish, returning the pipes to something that resembles metal. And the best, cheapest source of HCl? None other than Harpic Power Plus Max 10 lavatory cleaner! It comes as a natty green gel that can be painted on. Any drips hitting concrete will rapidly demonstrate its limescale-eating properties but it doesn't appear to harm stainless at all, just removing the tarnish of oxidation. After a couple of minutes, perhaps with a bit of scrubbing, just wash the Harpic off. Yes, you can get busy with metal polish too, but the acid treatment is much easier! Give it a go. Yucky pipes are a major eyesore on a tasty bike!