My son is currently restoring his 1994 916 Strada, yes it is a Varese built one. But a stumbling block is trying to find a source for the original type of rivets that were used to hold the fairing halves together. Anyone know where they can he had?
No, those are dzus fasteners. The rivets are fairly hard to find, I think. Also, they fell to pieces on the original bikes fairly quickly, which is why Cagiva upgraded them to torx screws.
The main fairing fixings are Dzus fasteners. The fixings holding the top and bottom fairing halves together are rivets on the very first bikes, well nuts and screws on the later bikes.
Scroll down to post 18, https://www.ducati.ms/threads/correct-fairing-rivets-for-early-916-strada.717061/
So Suzuki part is the same. I wonder if they are still available? The Tinnerman rivets and flat plates look the part as well. That given me some ideas for alternative sources.
Suzuki are quite good with classic parts for restoration. Have a look on line at Robinsons Foundry or just Suzuki classic parts. Quite surprised at how many parts are still available for a friends GT380!
Or https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/hapages/solidalumrivets2.php and https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/hapages/tinnerman.php?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIrunivq-M3gIVDIhpCh217gZaEAQYByABEgJGAPD_BwE
Brilliant. And I've fUK supplier for the flat plates to locate at the back of them. https://www.lasaero.com/products/article/G3U5NYJH
Hi Derek, I have some info that may help you and your son, my bike came with the original fairing clips on the fairings and windscreen. Some people claim to have exact copies of the rivets and clips but the ones I've seen are slightly different sizes and made of different metals to the OEM ones, so they are obviously not the original ones and may detract from the bikes value instead of enhancing the value. Here's a couple of photos to help you find rivets and clips to match the originals - As you can see the copy rivets and clips I got were smaller than the originals, also the original rivets were anodised a bronze colour whereas the copies were painted, also the OEM rivets are made from a very hard metal where as the copies are of a soft metal and likely to loosen a little after fitting. You'll need 23 rivets and clips (7 x each fairing half and 9 x screen) Hope this helps
That is fantastic information Mike. Thanks a lot for that Edit. Given your comments about the originals being very hard, I'm still wondering if they were made from mild steel with a passivated zinc plate.
It's a pleasure to help Derek, I've had some great info off this forum and it's good to put back. I've just checked with a magnet and the rivets aren't mild steel (they are none magnetic), it's the bronze plating/anodising on the rivet that seems hard, once under the plating/anodising the rivet is softer and appears to maybe be a brass alloy. You can see on the photo below how the bronze plating/anodising on the rivets varied in colour - If you do find an exact match Derek please could you put the supplier and part details on this thread as I need to replace 4 to 6 of my rivets and clips, thanks.
