Anodizing fork uppers

BD233
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BD233
Edited Date/Time 10/27/2014 8:00pm
Hey guys, where is the best place around Fort Worth to get some anodizing work done. I'm doing a 2003 KX250 rebuild and the uppers are faded really bad. Thanks
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JBernard_401
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JBernard_401 10/24/2014 4:48pm
10/24/2014 4:48pm
any shop will work. should only be 15$ to ship anywhere and i got mine done local in houston at Surface Techniques.
they MUST plug the inside of the tubes.
also keep in mind your color may vary. best guarantee of color accuracy is 6000 or 7000 alum. i dont know the composition of fork tubes but have heard 2000 series. that will sometimes alter the look of the color (say you do them red they may turn out pinkish).
2 Stroke Beast 10/24/2014 5:02pm
10/24/2014 5:02pm
JBernard_401 wrote:
any shop will work. should only be 15$ to ship anywhere and i got mine done local in houston at Surface Techniques. they MUST plug the...
any shop will work. should only be 15$ to ship anywhere and i got mine done local in houston at Surface Techniques.
they MUST plug the inside of the tubes.
also keep in mind your color may vary. best guarantee of color accuracy is 6000 or 7000 alum. i dont know the composition of fork tubes but have heard 2000 series. that will sometimes alter the look of the color (say you do them red they may turn out pinkish).
Why would you plug the inside the major reason for anodizing is because the stock hard anodizing wore off because of the inner bushings constantly wearing on it. Therefore once the hard anodizing wears of it hits the soft aluminum increasing friction and also wear.
JBernard_401
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JBernard_401 10/24/2014 5:57pm
10/24/2014 5:57pm Edited Date/Time 10/24/2014 5:57pm
well he said the reason for anodizing was cause the color was fading. hardcoating can only be done in olive drab/grey/black/tan variances.
if he's wanting to do any other color than that, it would be a bad bad idea to put type II ano inside the tube. would wear off quickly and also throw the ID of the tube out of spec prob causing major issues internally.
hardcoating would last inside, but the ID of the tube is done pretty precisely. if the internals are worn then sounds like needs to replace the tubes. i dont think you could hold tolerance of the tubes that well with re-coating which is sometimes like +- .003

long story short- dont coat the inside of the tube.
2 Stroke Beast 10/24/2014 8:59pm
10/24/2014 8:59pm
JBernard_401 wrote:
well he said the reason for anodizing was cause the color was fading. hardcoating can only be done in olive drab/grey/black/tan variances. if he's wanting to...
well he said the reason for anodizing was cause the color was fading. hardcoating can only be done in olive drab/grey/black/tan variances.
if he's wanting to do any other color than that, it would be a bad bad idea to put type II ano inside the tube. would wear off quickly and also throw the ID of the tube out of spec prob causing major issues internally.
hardcoating would last inside, but the ID of the tube is done pretty precisely. if the internals are worn then sounds like needs to replace the tubes. i dont think you could hold tolerance of the tubes that well with re-coating which is sometimes like +- .003

long story short- dont coat the inside of the tube.
I agree it would be a bad idea to put type 2 on the inside but hard anodizing is 1.8 thousands of an inch thick the tolerances aren't that high I don't even believe its that high on a kit suspension so there's no problem re hard anodizing it. After all most suspension company's offer the service and on some bikes from the factory the stock coating will wear through after 10 hours!!!!!

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JBernard_401
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JBernard_401 10/24/2014 9:47pm
10/24/2014 9:47pm Edited Date/Time 10/24/2014 9:47pm
doubtful that the inside of the forks are worn out. i think the bushings would go before the tube coating. thus bushings wearing out and needing replaced. no reason to get them coated, put back together and give you issues, then have to end up scrapping the tubes and suspension labor $.
plug em and be done.
2 Stroke Beast 10/24/2014 9:55pm
10/24/2014 9:55pm
JBernard_401 wrote:
doubtful that the inside of the forks are worn out. i think the bushings would go before the tube coating. thus bushings wearing out and needing...
doubtful that the inside of the forks are worn out. i think the bushings would go before the tube coating. thus bushings wearing out and needing replaced. no reason to get them coated, put back together and give you issues, then have to end up scrapping the tubes and suspension labor $.
plug em and be done.
I guess we have to agree to disagree
JBernard_401
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JBernard_401 10/24/2014 9:58pm
10/24/2014 9:58pm
yep. you can ruin a set of tubes and i'll be riding. hehehe.
joking.
2 Stroke Beast 10/24/2014 10:03pm
10/24/2014 10:03pm
If tolerances were that tight there would be very high friction.
Sprew
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Sprew 10/25/2014 12:04am
10/25/2014 12:04am
2 Stroke Beast wrote:
If tolerances were that tight there would be very high friction.
Tolerance............or Clearance?
BD233
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BD233 10/27/2014 6:11am
10/27/2014 6:11am
Thanks guys, I called them and will be sending them out for anodizing. I asked to have them plugged. I wan't going to have the insides done, they are in great shape inside. I appreciate all the advice.
Tokyo_Tiddler
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Tokyo_Tiddler 10/27/2014 6:11pm
10/27/2014 6:11pm
I sent my tubes and shock body to Japan to be kashima coated which is a very hard coating and they coated the tubes inside and out just like they do for the factory suspension and A-kits. I will say that this suspension took a long time to break in compared to other suspension redo's I have had done. I was wondering if it was the coating.

mike
2 Stroke Beast 10/27/2014 6:15pm
10/27/2014 6:15pm
How did you set it up to go to japan? what business? How much?
Tokyo_Tiddler
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Tokyo_Tiddler 10/27/2014 7:17pm
10/27/2014 7:17pm Edited Date/Time 10/27/2014 7:25pm
2 Stroke Beast wrote:
How did you set it up to go to japan? what business? How much?
A company called Miyaki corporation does it. They have an office in Kentucky and will coordinate with you. I think it cost me about $1000 for the fork tubes and shock body. They polish the shock body resevoir for you for a nicer finish.

mike
JBernard_401
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JBernard_401 10/27/2014 7:33pm
10/27/2014 7:33pm
Tokyo_Tiddler wrote:
A company called Miyaki corporation does it. They have an office in Kentucky and will coordinate with you. I think it cost me about $1000 for...
A company called Miyaki corporation does it. They have an office in Kentucky and will coordinate with you. I think it cost me about $1000 for the fork tubes and shock body. They polish the shock body resevoir for you for a nicer finish.

mike
i thought about doing mine like that. but after thinking thru the logistics of shipping cost and such, never inquired on a price.
out of curiosity, why not the extra cash for used A kit vs doing that amount of work?
Tokyo_Tiddler
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Tokyo_Tiddler 10/27/2014 8:00pm
10/27/2014 8:00pm
They were very efficient and had my sutff back to me in 2 weeks. I spent $3500 on front and rear suspension including DLC for lower fork tubes and shock shaft, some factory parts on the internals and bling anodizing of the small parts along with the RG# Diamond kit revalve. An A-kit (not pro circuit kit) is $10k, if you can get it, as the only produce so many each year. I thought about it and thought that the Diamond kit with a few extra mods would be good enough. I have Showa works forks on my CR250 which I brought back from Japan and I think they are a little better in terms of being able to set it up soft and still really hard to bottom, but other than that, not a huge difference.

Is the DLC and Kashima really worth it? Not really.. only small improvement.

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