Wow, I gotta say this: Hauling the bike on an open trailer through 8 hours of hard rain, on roads previously salted and sanded for ice prevention, sure does a nasty job on a bike. I literally was shocked when I went back over to the garage and saw it after it dried off.
After staring for a few minutes, I realized I needed to get the corrosive stuff off kinda soon, so I decided to get the bike to a car wash for a fresh-water spray. A couple minutes of riding in sub-freezing temps knocked that idea out of my head, so I opted to try a weak solution of dishwashing detergent in warm water, mixed up in a weed-sprayer bottle. There's no hose/water at my rented garage, so my options were limited. I figured if my dishes didn't have streaks and spots (you use Cascade too, right?), the bike wouldn't either.
Soon I had the grit sprayed off, but the grit was quickly replaced by a streaky, chalky-white film left over from the dishwashing soap. Fuck! Double-fuck! It took hours of hand cleaning to get this residue off, and it looked maybe worse than the salt! The bike still looks rough, but it's not nearly as bad as it was.
So now I'm revisiting the decision not to cover it while towing. I found a Geza cover that seems like it might work without doing any damage, and maybe wrapping the tank and other painted stuff with soft material before covering might limit the abrasion resulting from the cover being buffeted by the wind, rubbing on the paint. We'll see.
The decision to buy the open trailer was still a good one, but there's definitely a downside.
Cowboy
PS I still need to polish the back wheel. It's in bad shape....Looks like it's been painted white. Looking at lifts to help ease the task. Will let folks know what I get.
