Ah it's DLC coating they use on fork tubes....http://www.richterprecision.com/dlc-coatings.html

 

I know not many of you are fans of rockets... but i am building a street fighter... i powdered the down tubes... here is how i am making them work

they are ready to be reassmbled now, wetsanded with 900m,1200, 1500, and 2000. then turned on the buffing wheel with polish. this makes sure that the coating is perfectly smooooooth and the fork seals will not leak at all, and they fit right into the trees. here are some pics of that

before being wiped down but finished


brakes cleaned and reassembled, started wet sanding the down tubes (water and 2 drops of dish soap)


polishing





on these i used a specific powder made to withstand chemicals... i will let you know how it goes... they now slide right into the trees without any problems, ar eprefectly smoooooooht so they will not leak... will be a win win

ooh ya just cause i have not posted any pics of the fighter... here is the color combo i am doing

 

I would think they would stick more than a proper coating. Also should you wind up getting them chipped there could be some problems too...then there is dirt. riding down the road your powdercoated fork tubes will get dirty, as the seals rub against the surface, the dirt will scratch the surface of the coating and adhere making it's way into the tubes and also causing surface imperfections that will allow for oil leakage, less sealing, and some harsher surface contaminates will flat out start sanding away the coating. Next thing you know your forks are not responding right, are leaking and the oil is loaded with contaminates because the powdercoat has been slowly stripped away.
powdercoat just does not have the chemical hardness and low friction that these other coating that are used for fork tubes do.

 

what about black chrome? or do you think that will that be dark enough?

 

although i see what you are saying, the seal is no different than it would be with chrome. how will dirt get in there wiht the powder ano not with the chrome? Powder that is laid right will not chip, i took the time and did propper prep so i am def not worried about that, plus we are only talking about a 4-5 inch area of travel here not a big deal, fork seals are rubber and most have a compresson spring on the inside of the seal to give as tight as a seal as possible, this powder will withstand 3000 hours of salt spray, so the small amount of friction that is created as I ride should not creat any type of wear, if there is it will be so minimal. I will post progress as i finish assembly and keep you guys up to speed on how it work... for all i know it may fail completely... but then again, just may work out great!

 

Got to agree with all of that, I honestly can't see p.c being a suitable bearing surface for the fork sliders. My money's on the seals blowing out PDQ. All kinds of potential problems spring to mind. It'll be interesting to see how it works out Joe - keep us posted.

Traditionally fork sliders are nitrided not anodised. A friend of mine has a Moto Guzzi with factory nitrided / teflon black sliders, that coating pretty much wore away within 12 months - and nitride is pretty hard!

Derv

 

lets hope it works out..

 

take the salt, put it in a paper towel and rub it up and down your powdercoat...now it's all scratched up I bet...

 

ill let you know... just spoke to a buddy of mine in KC he powdered his last year on his enduro and they are still holding up great... so that gave me hope! we will see, i have an extra set of down tubes... anyway... worst that can happen, takes me an hour to swap tube and cost me 8 bucks in seals... i do not thing i will loose any sleep over that