powdered fork tubes (new pic on page 3)

[redial]

spray paint will show rock chips when on the leading edge fairly early/often IME. but your methods may be superior to my own

[He Man]

Powdercoat generally doesnt crack. you and PC a piece of sheet metal and fold it on itself and it wouldnt crack. but thats only if you get it thick enough, as in the 2-3mm recommend level that most powder require.

since you only have a very thin layer, that might be more likely to happen. HOWEVER, if you torque it down to much, it can easily crack the PC (ive done it).

my recommendation, would be to use paint stripper and strip the area that contacts the triples, so you can apply normal torque on bare metal.

[acemoney]

I would be worried that if you hit a hard bump, the powder could crack and the forks would slide up in the triples....

worried because you seen that happen before or just another "i heard from someone that that could happen"? i REALLY don't understand this whole "powder crack and forks slide" theory. can someone please explain how that could possiby happen?



for the sake of argument,  say the powder cracks (i guess possible, but not likely) under the triple that is held tightly on the fork.....how does a fork slide over the powder located right below the the triple that is just as big IF NOT BIGGER than the stuff that cracked under the triple to make it loose. since powder is flexable the narrowest part of the fork should be under the triple and even if it not any narrower it's still not sliding.  you follow?

[NAKID]

No experience or even "heard of". Just a "could happen" in my head...

[acemoney]

No experience or even "heard of". Just a "could happen" in my head...

fair enough, all my thoughts and theorys are in my head too......and in my mind it'll be fine and no worries. i obviously thought about worse case senarios and what "could" happen and than factored it with the "chance" of it actually happening and then looking at the totality of the situation as a whole and am betting (and praying to the bike gods) that nothing bad will happen.

wheather nothing happens and my happy ass is riding his powdercoated forks for years to come OR wheather my shit cracks off and slides down the triples people here will always have someone to refer to about coating their forks. it will either be "acemoney tried that once and his shit cracked off" OR "acemoney did that and his forks perfectly fine". ONLY TIME WILL TELL.

[He Man]

for the sake of argument,  say the powder cracks (i guess possible, but not likely) under the triple that is held tightly on the fork.....how does a fork slide over the powder located right below the the triple that is just as big IF NOT BIGGER than the stuff that cracked under the triple to make it loose. since powder is flexable the narrowest part of the fork should be under the triple and even if it not any narrower it's still not sliding.  you follow?

Heres a bunch of reasons why it could happen, powder coat gets it strength from encapsulation, if it cracks, the shell is much weaker then it was before..so if it cracks under the triple, and you hit a pot hole, those little ripples on the fork will scrape the now fragile PC and continue to crack. Now take into account that hitting a pothole seems like it can equate to 1000lbs of force easily if your going at highway speeds, with that kind of sudden force, it sounds very plausible that if you didnt keep an eye on the coating, hitting a pot hole could very easily push the forks up slowly, if it began to crack in the first place.

not saying it will happen, or it wont happen, but i wouldnt count it out. Id still feel more comfortable stripping that part of the fork and just letting the metal clamp on metal.

[acemoney]

Heres a bunch of reasons why it could happen, powder coat gets it strength from encapsulation, if it cracks, the shell is much weaker then it was before..so if it cracks under the triple, and you hit a pot hole, those little ripples on the fork will scrape the now fragile PC and continue to crack. Now take into account that hitting a pothole seems like it can equate to 1000lbs of force easily if your going at highway speeds, with that kind of sudden force, it sounds very plausible that if you didnt keep an eye on the coating, hitting a pot hole could very easily push the forks up slowly, if it began to crack in the first place.

not saying it will happen, or it wont happen, but i wouldnt count it out. Id still feel more comfortable stripping that part of the fork and just letting the metal clamp on metal.

understandable in theory. personally to myself there's too many "IF's" going on with that to actually worry about it. CAN it actually happen, YA (i guess). WILL it happen, i say HELL NO (i hope so).

[He Man]

hoenstly if it doesnt crack to begin with, then it probably wont happen, but if it begins to, id begin to take counter measure to make sure it doesnt.  good luck!

[acemoney]

hoenstly if it doesnt crack to begin with, then it probably wont happen, but if it begins to, id begin to take counter measure to make sure it doesnt.  good luck!

well ya.....i'm stupid but not that stupid

[TiAvenger]

spray paint will show rock chips when on the leading edge fairly early/often IME. but your methods may be superior to my own

Not 5 coats of engine paint and 7 clears.    I didn't see my first chip for  8 months (I ran no fender)

[DarkStaR]

http://www.springerlink.com/content/v72274qj6460w0u4/

[ProTeal55]

Not 5 coats of engine paint and 7 clears.

HUGE fan of using engine enamel for bikes.
I have sprayed about 5 frames with Duplicolor ow glodd engine enamel with great results.
Stuff goes on thick, and if need be can be touched up easily..

[NorDog]

What is "ow glodd"?

[acemoney]

ok i read that article posted above, like i said before i'm not the smartest guy, i'm not sure if they are saying it's fine, or not fine, or fine if done right. i guess i'll find out when my "study" of road testing is done.

[ProTeal55]

My fork tubes (which are Powdercoated) went together in my powdercoated tree's without issue.
I will get some pics up once the exhaust is installed and the thing gets a a good wash/detail...