Scooterotica

ive just bought a tv175 with an original exhaust, the bike doesnt like to rev and ive decided the exhaust needs de-coking, what is the best method, ive been told caustic soda will attack mild steel as happily as coke and i dont want to damage the exhaust
cheers
dave

Back when I worked at Dunlop, I used to shove my TV exhaust in the hot caustic tank for a couple of days. This was an Ancillotti so bits were already thin. Never noticed any problem. There was no noticeable erosion of the tanks after "n" years of holding near boiling hi strength NaOH.
Had a quick google, there was a study on steel erosion, but they were using caustic at high temps, high pressures and high flow rates over a long period of time.
Wikipedia mentions its ubiquity in all sorts of domestic products notably for cleaning and also food and water preparation. Of greater concern is its ability to dissolve aluminium, zinc and lead - so watch out when shoving your cases through the dishwasher.
I think for the time scale you would be using for a de-coke, it would be ok within the expected life of a scooter exhaust.
Unless an adult knows some facts?