Don’t know how a Kove arrives from new if its factory assembled or DIY, but have been dismantling everything to check for damage and one of the rear mudguard bolts is so tight it has spun the brass insert in the rear fuel tank. To make things worse its a shoulder bolt so can’t even see the insert to try and stop it spinning. I had to carefully cut around the bolt to get the mudguard free. I’ll need to think on a good way to remove the bolt without causing major damage.
I then removed the rear inner mudguard/rear light to find more corrosion on the bolts. If this is from the factory then its piss poor, if not then its lack of knowledge. Also the rear shock bolts weren’t greased and the shock preload adjuster was stuck on the spring.
If you have a Kove then I’d check the rear mudguard bolts and grease them plus pull your shock out and grease the spring to preload adjuster. I also found there’s a steel spring clip holding the spring in place another potential issue as steel and aluminium react, so will see if I can get a stainless one.
Front fuel tank mounts were all loose and when I removed the exhaust the exhaust to cylinder head gasket fell apart.
I’m lucky that I’ve managed to get hold of a used, but pretty much brand new, set of fuel tanks, but after 10 months I don’t expect the fuel tank inserts to be spinning.
I clean everything with ACF50 and use their corrosion block grease as required. When I bought the GSXR1000 new as soon as I got it home I removed all the bodywork and treated the underneath with ACF50 and never had any corrosion in the 10 years I had the bike.
Its not something you spray all over the bike, I spray onto a cloth and wipe it over, it only needs a minimal coating to work.
When removing the rear tank I left the electrics tray in place just unbolted it from the tank and supported it with a tiedown to take the strain off the loom.