I hate stainless steel :-)

Vincent Brake

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"Work hardening" of stainless is not a suitable expression for its behaviour so it is misinterpreted for obtaining high hardness. It just cannot, not enough carbon for hardening, just gets higher tensile strength from deformation , like drawn profiles or forged steel. Work hardening on ss pushrods is not quite so as you´d imagine, my guess a lot less than 50 HRC, maybe 30-40 at best. But ss is great for girder fork spindles when paired with low wear no lube high tech plastic bushes. Again, no choice for me to have bronce plus grease for girders when there are modern alternatives. No concours limitations in my mind, so biiig freedom to do as I like - but while keeping the classic looks so no clash in styling from adding obviously modern components. But certainly that´s the choice for anyone to have his bike as he likes. No necessity to raise old motorbikes up to untouchable national monuments when there are thousands of them left.
You may have overheard, one can STAINLESS chorme in, by diffusion. But not very deep. 0.05 max. (mm, marcus) But extremely hard. It reaches the hardness of Al2O3
I am running a sets of forks spindles with it. On Ph bronze bushes. I hope to write the review here in my lifetime.
 

Robert Watson

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The original B SS kickstart levers were chrome plated. the one I talked about was one that had been in the family since new in 1949.
 

Gerry Clarke

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Thank you Cyborg. I'm familiar with linseed oil and beeswax, but the cold blue process was new to me.

Gerry
 

oexing

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Sorry, I don´t believe that story about chromed SS levers. We know the prewar types had ss tank panels, unchromed. So why should someone do the lever in ss steel when it is meant to be chromed then? Completely unlogic . They later got the carbon steel levers as being less costly to buy in and had them chromed - even though Phil V. hated chroming.
Your cutlery at home is most likely polished stainless for many decades and unchromed at that and has to endure the aggressive dish washer all the time. The grade of that stainless is exactly the 4301 or similar type with 18/10 chrome/nickel as the metric A2 or A4 grades for bolts. In that sort of forums there is a lot of scaremongering about stainless on classics even when in rare cases it was original like here.
Vincent S. , hardchroming ss spindles for girders looks a bit over the top. I use 4301 or 4305 stainless with IGUS or Permaglide bushes, no lube for sure. In my link below scroll down to a diagram about a few materials to go with IGUS J type, not a big difference in very low wear between hardchrome and simple stainless spindles unlubricated. On the Vincents I will have IGUS type J on stainless - ahhmm, got titanium this time - because I can. Not quite as good as stainless but I like the low weight - and it will outlive me many times I believe.

Vic
IGUS J wear diagram

titanium spindles
P1090294.JPG
 

Robert Watson

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Vic. it is not a story, it's a fact. That particular one had been ridden for about 11 years, never been apart, and stored in a basement from 1960 ish until the grandson obtained it and brought it to me for restoration.

You can believe it or not.
 

oexing

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But tell me where is the logic to have stainless at high expense when they meant it to be chromed later ? Maybe your lever was sent for chroming when they changed for carbon steel at that time and did not know ? How did you find out about your ss type ? My levers are both magnetic so only my water drop test detected the stainless type, similar to kichen sink stainless cheap type. I just got mine mirror polished as I did with numerous other parts on the 1935 Horex. The Devon rim company does same with their ss rims, the Vincent SS pushrod shrouds and shock absorber shrouds are Devon as well as I got them 30 years ago from Doug Richardson directly before the Spares Co had them.
When trained for ss I can see that it is a fraction different to chrome, not so cold blue but a golden shine from all that nickel but I prefer it over chrome. Maybe somebody in the past did not see it that way ?
Another photo of the 600 cc Horex, Devon SS rims and spokes, foot brake lever, all oil lines ss and so on . . .. Not one second thinking about chroming these parts, would be ridiculous in my mind.
The blackening procedures in the clip look nice in a way but only the hot oil burn job may provide a bit of rust protection as there is a coat of burned oil on the parts. The blueing chemical job is standard in gunsmith trade, did that myself. But for deep black finish send it to companies which do this professionally. You better not put items out in the rain for a week without oily/greasy corrosion sprayed on. No alternative for bike parts I´d say. Better way have ss fasteners and paint them matt black after assembly, no rust then, nor on threads. But then, not my business . . . . .

Vic

Horex 600cc 4 valves.JPG
 
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Monkeypants

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But tell me where is the logic to have stainless at high expense when they meant it to be chromed later ? Maybe your lever was sent for chroming when they changed for carbon steel at that time and did not know ? How did you find out about your ss type ? My levers are both magnetic so only my water drop test detected the stainless type, similar to kichen sink stainless cheap type. I just got mine mirror polished as I did with numerous other parts on the 1935 Horex. The Devon rim company does same with their ss rims, the Vincent SS pushrod shrouds and shock absorber shrouds are Devon as well as I got them 30 years ago from Doug Richardson directly before the Spares Co had them.
When trained for ss I can see that it is a fraction different to chrome, not so cold blue but a golden shine from all that nickel but I prefer it over chrome. Maybe somebody in the past did not see it that way ?
Another photo of the 600 cc Horex, Devon SS rims and spokes, foot brake lever, all oil lines ss and so on . . .. Not one second thinking about chroming these parts, would be ridiculous in my mind.
The blackening procedures in the clip look nice in a way but only the hot oil burn job may provide a bit of rust protection as there is a coat of burned oil on the parts. The blueing chemical job is standard in gunsmith trade, did that myself. But for deep black finish send it to companies which do this professionally. You better not put items out in the rain for a week without oily/greasy corrosion sprayed on. No alternative for bike parts I´d say. Better way have ss fasteners and paint them matt black after assembly, no rust then, nor on threads. But then, not my business . . . . .

Vic

View attachment 43828
Well done, looks like the Rapide is finished and ready for the road!

Glen
 
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