Anyone had stanchions rechromed, with or without nitriding, and have any recommendations? I think I'm correct in saying that nitriding is only possible on unpitted tubes.
I had some old 400/4 forks reground a couple of years back....cost about 200 quid (then) i did keep the receipt but not got it to hand (at work) if youre interested ill dig it out....that being said i might have put it in my build thread on here...
I have had a number of fork tubes hard rechromed by Philpots in Luton for old classic Italian motorbikes. Can recommend, but lead time is often 6 weeks as they have a batch production system. Cost is around £240 pounds a pair if you dismantle and give them the bare tubes. Also a company Mansfield way (HARD CHROME PLATING & GRINDING), which I haven't used. I don't know anything about nitriding processes. What are they from? In my experience it is often cheaper to buy new spare parts than have old ones hard rechromed if you can get them.
It's off my daily - the Cagiva V-Raptor and after a quick check pricing looks to be around the same. This will be part of a long awaited refurb I'll be giving him so was also wondering if a fancy gold nitriding could be done at the same time. At the moment I'm just seeing what my options may be.
Titanium Nitride ( the shiny gold coating) is a coating that goes directly on steel. It's not a process that goes on top of chrome. It's only 2 to 5 microns thick so doesn't work with pitting. DlC (diamond like coating ) is the same or even thinner. If you have pitting your only chance is hard chrome. They grind the stanchions down so all the pitting is gone. They then build up the thickness with chrome and grind it back to the original size.
I reckon you are right on that point , or at least find good quality used ones , that are dead straight and have no pits . There are various "repairs" shown on Youtube vids , including a home-made rig for plating zinc onto the pits . Mine have a couple of pits which are low down , near the axle end . I've recently done a complete fork overhaul including a bit of bodgery on the pits . But only time will tell if the new fork seals don't get cut up ....
Who said anything about a farty little skin of araldite in the pit & then smoothed down.... well it worked for me, ahem...
These guys are brilliant. http://dynasurf.co.uk/motorcycle-forks/ Very fast turnaround, helpful and friendly on the 'phone and £220 for a pair. They can straighten small bends, or will make new fork legs if yours are too far gone. Highly recommended, I sent them my Honda stanchions, and they told me that rechrome and straightening mine was the same cost as them remanufacturing a new pair. They added that they probably could straighten my originals to the point that I would never know the difference, but there could have been an issue so why not get brand new instead...
HCP&G have been doing this for decades, they mostly do hydraulic rams and the like https://www.hardchromeplating.co.uk/forks-rechroming
Thanks guys - lots of good suggestions there. I've bought a pair of used complete forks for the V Raptor because the ones on the bike are 70k miles old and pretty much destined for the bin.The tubes are heavily pitted, the caliper foot mounts/casting are knackered, pinch bolt thread gone awol, mudguard lugs oxidising away etc. Plus the upper stanchions are well pitted & scratched. So they have arrived today and they look pretty much brand spanking new and in much better nick than expected - even the grub screws holding the tubes in the lower casting undid easily enough. The seals are gently weeping but I was expecting to replace them anyway. However.... there is one farty little pit on one of the tubes and the other has 'burn' marks on it. Could the latter be caused by perhaps a old seal that had stuck to the tube from years of no use?
