Scooterotica

as the stainless steel stuff seems to be the largest scooter trend in the last years and i wonder why. aesthetically one can argue pro or contra. i don´t care.
but for shure some things are technically pure nonesense / damaging / life endangering:

1. stainless steel exhausts: obtainable at every corner, they crack after some miles and are hardly repairable. they will crack again and again. frustrating money-waste.

2. steering / brakes / wheels : its forbidden by law in germany to use parts (e.g. bolts) made of stainless steel on vehicles, as shear forces can damage stainless steel stuff much easier and can lead to serious accidents. i do not understand why reputable dealers sell that stuff. incredible.

3.nuts and bolts for the bodywork are also questionable, as the oxidation process won´t be on your screws or bolts and nuts, but on your expensive bodywork the corrosion progresses...





stainless steel is ok for some nuts or if you think you can "customize" your scooter with floor runners or a rear carrier that doesn´t rust so fast.

Excellent & very true specially the SS use on brakes :baddevil:

Apparently, according to my old dad, who was a chemistry teacher: Stainless steel acts as a catalyst and speeds up the oxidisation of mild steel, when it comes into contact with it. So if you bolt all your bodywork on with S/S, as the man says, the mild steel parts will rust quicker. Bummer dude

A stainless tank at least makes sense

wax wrote:Apparently, according to my old dad, who was a chemistry teacher: Stainless steel acts as a catalyst and speeds up the oxidisation of mild steel, when it comes into contact with it. So if you bolt all your bodywork on with S/S, as the man says, the mild steel parts will rust quicker. Bummer dude

Yeah, but it'll be easier to take apart to replace all the rusty parts

Cant pick the buggers up with a magnet and with fourteen side case washers to deal with, it can add a lot of time. Smallframe head nut washers can be a pain to put on with the motor still in if you can't use a magnet.
Saw some cadmium plated stuff today at the platers, looked good. The man said you can polish it up if you want. Wish I had seen it before getting a bucket load of levers and such zinked

As far as i'm aware, Stainless steel is also adversely affected by extreme cold.

Do you have stainless rims?.........Stay away from pot holes on a cold day.

..have seen today a newer "resto" allyear ridden and "restored" with a stainless steel screw kit few years ago.
the screws and nuts look good, but the bodywork is rotting...
rust & rot around the holes...


tip of the year: use standart zinced screws and nuts and prevent corroding your frame & bodywork...

Soulpunk wrote:as the stainless steel stuff seems to be the largest scooter trend in the last years and i wonder why. aesthetically one can argue pro or contra. i don´t care.
but for shure some things are technically pure nonesense / damaging / life endangering:

1. stainless steel exhausts: obtainable at every corner, they crack after some miles and are hardly repairable. they will crack again and again. frustrating money-waste.

2. steering / brakes / wheels : its forbidden by law in germany to use parts (e.g. bolts) made of stainless steel on vehicles, as shear forces can damage stainless steel stuff much easier and can lead to serious accidents. i do not understand why reputable dealers sell that stuff. incredible.

3.nuts and bolts for the bodywork are also questionable, as the oxidation process won´t be on your screws or bolts and nuts, but on your expensive bodywork the corrosion progresses...





stainless steel is ok for some nuts or if you think you can "customize" your scooter with floor runners or a rear carrier that doesn´t rust so fast.

I can go with the potential problems in 1 and 2. But cannot agree with 3.
I always use SS for body fixing. If rust is appearing at boltholes etc. It's not caused by the stainless bolts. But by poor preperation.
Having said that, any metal bodied scooter will begin to rust again after a few years. I think the use of SS fixings delays the process.

I work at a firm that builds winches for the offshore oil industry. Stainless bolts are the norm when there is no load but a dap of water repelant grease (the stuff we use is called aqua shield) on the threads before instalation helps when future maintenance is required. I have no issue using stainless bolts on a re-build along with the grease.