I hate stainless steel :-)

[everiman]

Well OK, I love my stainless kitchen sink, but IMHO stainless steel does not belong on motorcycles, especially for fasteners. I can make an exception for fenders, but little else. Being as I am in the SAE metric hinterlands, I am totally dependent on the VOC spares company for whitworth, cycle thread etc. bits, and most are only available in stainless steel. My unrestored comet has nicely patina-ed nuts and bolts, when one occasionally gets lost or bodged it must be replaced with tawdry stainless steel, like Soviet era Russian replacement teeth (apologies to offended Soviet era Russians, sorry sorry sorry).
Once upon a time I had to work with the evil stuff, so this is personal. For those who are replacing perfectly good as the Phils intended proper carbon steel Vincent fasteners with stainless trash, consider making a charitable donation of your used nuts and bolts to those far from the source of all those weird and wonderful British thread types.

 

[Vincent Brake]

Well, it doesn't hate u back....

 

[Robert Watson]

Well OK, I love my stainless kitchen sink, but IMHO stainless steel does not belong on motorcycles, especially for fasteners. I can make an exception for fenders, but little else. Being as I am in the SAE metric hinterlands, I am totally dependent on the VOC spares company for whitworth, cycle thread etc. bits, and most are only available in stainless steel. My unrestored comet has nicely patina-ed nuts and bolts, when one occasionally gets lost or bodged it must be replaced with tawdry stainless steel, like Soviet era Russian replacement teeth (apologies to offended Soviet era Russians, sorry sorry sorry).
Once upon a time I had to work with the evil stuff, so this is personal. For those who are replacing perfectly good as the Phils intended proper carbon steel Vincent fasteners with stainless trash, consider making a charitable donation of your used nuts and bolts to those far from the source of all those weird and wonderful British thread types.

Just post up here what you require, There are some of us that have acquired various of those original steel fasteners over the year and have kept them. They are out there.

 

[Peter Holmes]

I agree that back in the day cadmium plating did have a certain allure, well when it was new and pristine anyway, but sadly the process is no longer readily available due to health concerns, and in reality it is not a particularly durable a coating, which is probably why Mr Vincent favoured stainless steel in a few places on the original Vincent anyway, including the kickstart crank I believe. I believe some folks out there get rid of any lettering that is on the heads of stainless bolts and blast them with some medium to dull them down, with apparently fairly good results.

 

[everiman]

Well, it doesn't hate u back....

Actually it does:-(

 

[Bazlerker]

The galvanic action between some grades of stainless and aluminum alloy leaves much go be desired..

 

[LoneStar]

I agree that back in the day cadmium plating did have a certain allure, well when it was new and pristine anyway, but sadly the process is no longer readily available due to health concerns, and in reality it is not a particularly durable a coating, which is probably why Mr Vincent favoured stainless steel in a few places on the original Vincent anyway, including the kickstart crank I believe. I believe some folks out there get rid of any lettering that is on the heads of stainless bolts and blast them with some medium to dull them down, with apparently fairly good results.

Cadmium plating is available in the US. I believe its specification on certain aircraft and military equipment components has sustained the market for it.

Billmark in Fort Worth Texas does a good job at modest prices; not sure about the cost or feasibility of shipping in parts from other countries for plating, though.

 

[Cyborg]

Well OK, I love my stainless kitchen sink, but IMHO stainless steel does not belong on motorcycles, especially for fasteners. I can make an exception for fenders, but little else. Being as I am in the SAE metric hinterlands, I am totally dependent on the VOC spares company for whitworth, cycle thread etc. bits, and most are only available in stainless steel. My unrestored comet has nicely patina-ed nuts and bolts, when one occasionally gets lost or bodged it must be replaced with tawdry stainless steel, like Soviet era Russian replacement teeth (apologies to offended Soviet era Russians, sorry sorry sorry).
Once upon a time I had to work with the evil stuff, so this is personal. For those who are replacing perfectly good as the Phils intended proper carbon steel Vincent fasteners with stainless trash, consider making a charitable donation of your used nuts and bolts to those far from the source of all those weird and wonderful British thread types.

I suppose you could take some comfort in the fact that you’re not alone. There is a plater in Victoria that still does cad plating at least as of a few months ago. Personally I haven’t tried him because I’m a little paranoid about things getting lost. I just ( a few days ago) started using a CopyCad system. Mixed results so far, but I’m still trying to figure out which way is up. Happy with some results and some really suck. Have been trying to do it without bead blasting first which is part of the problem. In the process of organizing a blasting cabinet, so hopefully things will improve. Plus I want to try blasting some stainless, which may be the best way to go? I’ve played with chemically etching the stainless and have had encouraging results so far, but need to fart around with it some more.

The brake arm was done with CopyCad. The shift arm is as it came (cad plate) from the factory. The part of the brake arm that has a bit more shine is where I was buffing it a bit just to see how it would look. The rest is a mixture of original and stuff I plated. You can probably figure it out.

 

[Cyborg]

 

[vibrac]

I nickel plated just those (well the Grey Flash)version) of those parts in electroless Nickel but it not quite right I think you can be too precious about plated finish as opposed to a dull stainless (i am reminded of the joke "Its real wood!", "Never mind it will polish up like plastic" With my racing background and aversion to heavy bikes in my dotage I am more interested in a supply of good quality alloy imperial fasteners (in appropriate places) I see there is appropriate hex bar but I doubt its 7075