New canvas bike cover

My old canvas motorbike cover had seen better days when it disappeared. I can only assume that the cover blew off the bike in the wind and someone threw it away, mistaking the dirty and ripped cover for a discarded rag, and I can't blame them for that. It may be an unexpected cost but at least the cover going missing makes me buy a new one. This time, I get a cover not made of canvas but space-age materials! Unfortunately, the space-age happened forty years ago.

The new cover has an elasticated skirt, pulling it snug at the ground and making it less likely to be tossed around by the wind. The material is also more effectively waterproof. Whilst the canvas cover kept the water off well enough, it would eventually waterlog and the bike would get wet underneath. Not so with the new material, which repels water like duck's back. The problem is that it tears at the slightest stress.

The new material needs to be damaged before tearing becomes a problem, but all it takes is a single snag for a hole to appear and then the tear cannot be stopped. Snagging is easy when a cover is removed from and replaced on a motorbike every day. It isn't long before a couple of inevitable small rips turn in to foot-long tears in the fabric, and there is not much I can do to fix them. The material cannot be repaired with stitches, as that would only multiply the number of minor holes ready to be torn open. Needless to say, the cover becomes rather worse at keeping rain of my motorbike.

My only option is to buy a replacement cover and I move away from the modern material back to a canvas cover. It may be less effective at keeping all the elements off my bike, but it is likely to last several years before needing to be replaced, not a measly six months.

Posted in Personal |
Tags: motorbike, weather