You're going to laugh, but while I haven't gotten around to actually painting my carbs yet, while I've had them off the bike this winter I covered them with condoms. I couldn't find anything else to use and didn't want to spend the time/money looking for something to do the job, and had a few lying around (been a lonely lonely year). They actually worked great, I only had one break on me, and they've been sitting for about 8 months now.