Here's my frame with brace on. Its the triangulated piece (that the tank strap hook screws into) that causes the problem as under braking it sends all the forces to the 2 edges. The 900SSie frame doesn't have that little triangulated piece. My frame has been welded and I deliberately left the weld undressed as testament it to having already been done. With the Brace on, the forces are nullified.
The frame cracking problem as JohnB quite rightly says is caused by the tank strap brace.........it is actually a p*ss poor bit of frame design considering it is supposed to be bracing the frame........the forces are transmitted through that plate right to each of the ends at the widest part (ie at the points) where the crack is always found, because the points are punching into the tube wall. If a brace plate had been slightly longer and applied so it sat on the top of the frame tubes (or underneath), the issues wouldn't arise. Steve Bailey's excellent design in a way is similar to the tank brace, but because he has introduced the sleeve clamps, the loads aren't really point loads and are spread over a longer part of the frame tubes............IMO if it was just a tube welded in there instead, the same cracking issues would occur.
Actually, the best way of bracing the headstock is to combine both Steve Bailey's design, using sleeves and a 'triangular' plate (instead of a tube) on top between them, all welded to the frame tubes like cycle lugs, with the plate welded to the main headstock tube as well.
I'm confused ( not difficult ) does this mean the earlier white frame SS's were not susceptible to frame cracking as they don't have the triangular piece as in JohnB's post ?
Vtwin, I sprayed the Hycote directly onto the bare metal. Spent ages getting the original paint off and cleaning back all the salt attacked areas. Between the cooling fins I had to trust the use of a dremmel type tool with thin brush attachments. Could not see clearly if I had completely removed everything there but looks OK to the naked eye. Having finished project about a month ago and not ridden the bike in wet or on dirty roads it may be early days but the paint is absolutely stuck to the engine and rock hard after running the engine to gain full cure. I respect what Aquebus says about the resistance to white spirit and petrol but I have not found the same problem. Agree with you though there must be a tried and tested and trusted method and materials out there. Just look at some of the examples in the gallery of superbly finished bikes. The engine side casings and rocker covers I painted using the RS high temperature system in Ducati dark bronze. Worked a treat and so easy to use.
There clearly is a difference between Hycote Engine Enamel and Hycote VHT........ I haven't used the enamel, only the VHT mainly on my exhaust headers and that's where it seems to suffer badly.......apart from the fact it gets grit blasted by the front wheel. I did try some on a small area of an engine casing, but that obviously didn't get burned on as hard as it should.........it wiped off first time with WD40 on a cloth. Personally, if it were my engine, it would be blasted clean so a sand cast effect was on the rough areas and polished ally on the smooth casings.....much easier to clean. Its a damn sight better polishing a bit of smooth ally every so often, than it is to watch your new engine paint slowly discolour and peel off.....
The early white frames were probably worse for cracking. Those little manufacturer plates on top of the frame were drilled and pop riveted on, and I've seen photos of frames cracking at the holes. I got mine welded before painting.
Got my frame powder coated by a company in Birmingham, colour plaque was called Tyco and is a very good match. Frame had a small crack in the usual place which I welded up then fitted brace from Steve.
Iguana If you don't mind what was the powder coaters name? I think my 97 frame (pic in the startof the thread) looks a darker bronze colour, did they do that as well? vtwin
I'm pretty sure someone could get the right bronze colour if it's important....... .......have a look at what can be done here............ Maldon Shotblasting and Powder Coating
Hi VTwin, This is the company : Powder Coatings Ltd Powder Coatings :: Home 215 Tyburn Rd, Birmingham 0121 250 2145 Mine is a 96 model, I didn't get the instrument panel frame done and they match up pretty well, also for blasting and powder coating it was only about £75 which I thought was very reasonable, certainly not worth doing yourself for that price.
Also the photos I posted do look lighter, in reality the frame is more bronze see another photo below, if you look at the headstock and compare to the inst panel frame it's quite a good match.
