The VOC is nothing if not populated with people with firm opinions who have no hesitation sharing them.
I hate stainless steel :-)
- Thread starter everiman
- Start date
Living where I do on the cliff edge in Cornwall (S.W.section) with salty sea mist's months at a time I remade all my external fastenings in S/S determined to get more stainless on my bike than Eddy (S/S) Stevens had on his even made a s/s G50 plate but not actually fitted yet as it feels so heavy. My days in HMD Devonport were spent looking for this magical material and my visits to the factory material store scrap bin were numerous and an friendly old fitter working on a milling machine when I asked him if this piece was s/s he would put it to his nose and sniff, yes or no would be his answer so my son grew up learning how to sniff out stainless !!! His new house out on the cliff edge has all fittings in s/s even the screws holding down his recycled plastic decking and stanchions holding up his balcony.
bananaman.
bananaman.
Please don't confuse me with the facts as I have already made up my mind!
One thing that disturbs me is that you rarely get information about tensile strength on stainless fasteners.
So I usually fit carbon steel fasteners on my bikes. And I hate the SS nuts hiding somewhere and ignores my attempts to extract them with a magnet.
So I usually fit carbon steel fasteners on my bikes. And I hate the SS nuts hiding somewhere and ignores my attempts to extract them with a magnet.
Not knowing any better than to serve as a concours judge, being so foolish as to want an as-original Vincent to ride, and disliking bead-blasted SS despite its perfect resemblance to cadmium from 6 feet away in dim light. Forgive me, I know not what I do.
I think I said everybody to his own as you are certainly free to do with your bike as you like. Some aspects in classics have become religion unfortunately and that is overwhelmingly true when you expose your bike to concours judges - which leads to rivet counters finding ridiculous criteria for failing your bike to get max. points. And that is the real non-existent freedom to have your classic as you´d like it to fulfil your dreams. You are simply limited in all components to factory specification - or so the present times make us to believe, the proof is not always quite so proof. You are certainly free to decide in going concours with all consequences - or be free and enjoy yourself and fit what you think is cool and racy . The public will love to find all those bits they remembered from their younger times at the Ace or so. Nobody with a sports heart kept his bike bog-standard - ahmmm concours - but spent his last penny for goodies. Today bikers get scared to leave their classics as they were rescued from these times and go for 1000 percent restauration to "original" . A shame as the biker´s society has lost a lot of colour by returning the specials to standard. So as I know a lot of bikes well enough when I see an "original" from a distance I save my time and look elsewhere , nothing to be found interesting on the common original - sorry.
And carbon or stainless, my choice is clear, I hate rust, on threads as well, I hate having to deal with paters. So simple decision, go stainless and once finished it will last infinitely, more or less. The material is not cheap, with 18 percent chrome and 10 percent nickel it can not possibly. And machining it is for experienced mechanics, when you deal with higher strength alloys. So when some here do remarks about cheap stainless - unlike carbon steel miserably plated, now that is religion in a bad way.
In the metric world, 6 billion people , a few hundred million in imperial, a quality ss bolt got head marks like A 2 -70 or A 4 -80 for the type and tensile strength of the fastener, so what is unknown here ? Hex bar easy machinable is min. 500 N/mm2 , bolts 700 resp. 800 N/mm2 strength, will stretch more than carbon steel but tough and no brittleness at all. Could not find old photos of a test I did once. Yes, religion is belief, not knowledge and stainless is one matter in classics forums. Well , we got forums for info , but discussions as well I was thinking ?
Vic
And carbon or stainless, my choice is clear, I hate rust, on threads as well, I hate having to deal with paters. So simple decision, go stainless and once finished it will last infinitely, more or less. The material is not cheap, with 18 percent chrome and 10 percent nickel it can not possibly. And machining it is for experienced mechanics, when you deal with higher strength alloys. So when some here do remarks about cheap stainless - unlike carbon steel miserably plated, now that is religion in a bad way.
In the metric world, 6 billion people , a few hundred million in imperial, a quality ss bolt got head marks like A 2 -70 or A 4 -80 for the type and tensile strength of the fastener, so what is unknown here ? Hex bar easy machinable is min. 500 N/mm2 , bolts 700 resp. 800 N/mm2 strength, will stretch more than carbon steel but tough and no brittleness at all. Could not find old photos of a test I did once. Yes, religion is belief, not knowledge and stainless is one matter in classics forums. Well , we got forums for info , but discussions as well I was thinking ?
Vic
I love reading these posts and just holding off to see were it goes........Strong opinions on here about fasteners.........Stainless........My pet hate.........It is actually well known in this country at least that you should not use stainless fasteners on any vehicles brake or suspension components......If you need a good point of view look at it all this way.........What do manufacturers use........Never seen a bike or car covered in stainless from the factory.......... Stainless seems practical, as Marcus pointed out living close to the ocean........yes that is of benefit.........Vic with your background in aviation you should know what stainless fasteners do to aircraft sheet metal.......... Not good.........Hey to each his own........Don't start me on metric fasteners.........If you want that, then buy a Jap bike..........Cheers.
What, you've never seen Back to the Future, just saw one on the road the other day
Deloreans rule
Written without irony?