Hard coating lower fork legs

[cantrell24x]

I know you guys have seen the titanium nitride on some of the pros forks. I remember a mag article recently on the subject and they opted to hard anodize instead of TiN for cost reasons. I didnt think this part of the fork was aluminum. Is it? Is anyone here familiar with how they get that dark colored coating? Thanks for the help

Chris

 

[SFO]

Perhaps they were reffering to TiCn its a dark coating that can be put onto steel.
It is all metal cutting tool technology.
Trivia bit....
TiN coating was an industrial secret stolen from the Russians in the 70's!

 

[Jeremy Wilkey]

SFO,
Thats a really intresting fact.. Do you have any more history on that? I allways think of the Russians as stealing from us, but of course thats a very lopsided view...

Did you ever here the story about the "concorski" tire ruber?


Regards,
Jer

SFO,

Don't waste your time or money on coatings, unless you do everything else first. or your only out for looks!

 

[cantrell24x]

Actually I was hoping to cater the service to those who are out for looks.

Chris

 

[Bulto]

HI. From what I understand,after working at a coating facility, that ti coating was developed for lubricity problems related to the space program. Seems that grease does not stick in zero gravity!

 

[Jasle]

TiN is almost a golden brown. We do a TiN Ti-Nitride coating here at work. We coat Aluminum and Tungsten with it. Hard anodize is a darker color.
Jason

 

[hjgird]

I also read an article on the subject in one of the mags a while ago.

They wore going for the works look rather than works performance. They did mention that their is less sticktion with TiNi coating, but not so much that normal folks can tell the difference.

They had quite a time finding someone to do the coating for them, and ended up with the White Bros suspension department. White Bros recommended the Titanium Nitrate coating above the Aluminum Nitrate coating, as they said it's a lot easier to do.
White Bros charged US$550 for coating the lower fork legs.
The Mag also black anodized the lower pinch clams, red anodized the fork caps, and also gold anodized the triple clams. White bros also revalved the forks.
The end price tag was about US$1100 as far as I can remember.

 

[SFO]

Originally posted by Jeremy Wilkey
SFO,
Thats a really intresting fact.. Do you have any more history on that? I allways think of the Russians as stealing from us, but of course thats a very lopsided view...

I was at a Kenametal training school for machinists in '85 and the lecturer presented that fact.
I can double check it for more details with J&L supply the kenametal distributor.
I didn't here the one about the rubber, do tell.
Another good one is the basis for stealth technology was also gleaned from an obscure Russian engineering pub that they didn't take seriously.
Lockheed did.
The skunkworks is an excellent read for tech nerds like us.