powder coating fork tubes

[kokopelli]

so would powder coating the top part of my forks hinder their operation or seal? i want em done flat black like the rest of the bike but u couldn't pay me enough to paint them... that just seems like an all around bad idea and all though i have had my share of those (and then some) this won't be one of em
figure powder coating is bout the only option i have, so will it work? is there another way to go?

also anyone know of a good powder coating place anywhere nearmyrtle beach, s.c.?

[jmanz6]

If you are talking about the shiny part where the seals are then NO you can't powder coat them or even paint them. The seals are designed to work with the hard chrome that the fork legs are plated with. If you add another layer to that the seals will wear it away if they will fit at all. You can powder coat the lower legs that don't have any wear surfaces.

[Agemax]

very very very bad idea. as jmanz6 says. the fork tubes are chromed and their exact diameter is for a purpose to fit the fork tubes and the seals as well. chrome is nice and slippery, powder coating is rough and nasty for oil seals. bad bad bad

[kokopelli]

yea the shiny part lol

i knew paintin would be bad but didn't know bout powder coatin. i had figured it would changee the outside diameter a bit but didn't know how much... o well, guess they gonna have to keep shinnin lol

[distraction628]

At one time there was a shop in Cali that would stip the Chrome off and do them in black chrome to specs. I'm sure there gone due to the EPA standards on chemicals now.

[jmanz6]

I'm not sure if the black chrome is a hard chrome or a decorative type chrome. If it's just a decorative chrome (normal chroming is decorative) then it wouldn't last long on a bike that is riden. Hard chrome is an industrial chroming process that is made for wear areas. It doesn't peel off like decorative chrome can. It creates an extremely hard surface that is resistive to scratching and wear. I haven't looked into black chrome for anything but decorative items so I'm not sure if there is a black hard chrome process. I would imagine there is, just don't know where to look for it. You could look on the internet for chromers and see if any of them do black hard chrome. There are a lot of them around to support the car restoration folks.

[distraction628]

They have hard chrome in black ox and brown, ect....
It's all in the mix.
We have compressors screws done in both and I will say , there isn't a motorcycle fork that will ever wear like a screw compressor. 3000rpms for hundered of thousands of hours and they never wear through.

[bwringer]

You could also just install fork boots.

[kokopelli]

You could also just install fork boots.

talkin bout dust seals?

[jmanz6]

Dust seals, Gaitors, fork boots, all the same. They look like accordian bellows.

[bwringer]

Yup, if you just want to hide the shiny, fork gaiters as found on dirt bikes or old Triumphs should do it:

http://images.google.com/images?q=triumph%20fork%20gaiters

You can find them in the dirtbike section of Dennis Kirk and other places.

[kokopelli]

yea, dont know how well they'ld go with the rest... besides it's got a couple other shiney parts any way so not like i'll be able to make it COMPLETELY flat black... but it would be awsome if i could lol