Powdercoating spokes

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Pony
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Powdercoating spokes

Post by Pony »

Figured I would share a little bit of knowledge I picked up about powdercoating your spokes. Dont do it. Most of ya'll seem a lot more intelligent than your run of the milll MXer and have a better understanding of material strength/mechanical shit ect. I dont know why I didnt connect the dots on putting spokes in an oven and them losing strength but I didnt and got off pretty lucky.

Riding a show on a metal landing on a concrete floor, went a bit long and the front wheel completely blew up on me. I have broken spokes in the past but in my experiance I never break this many and they seem to break in the middle. This time they all pretty much just shattered and the sheared off right above the nipple. To me this says they were very brittle and they were nice and tight and had only rode them about a month.

I got off lucky just brusied up a bit and a little concussed. It makes me nervous though about my powderd rims, hubs and swingarm. I have been watching for trouble signs and have not seen any. Anyways though I would share. :)

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AlisoBob
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Post by AlisoBob »

Photo is a little fuzzy.... Did they all shear right at the nipple??
Pony
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Post by Pony »

Yea about 4 thread left sticking out of the nipple and some had a kind of pointed "splinterd" look to them. I mean maybe that
happens but I have never seen them break like that.
oggo69
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Post by oggo69 »

i have a set of talon / excel rims , talon built ... spokes are sprayed , maybe ur on to something with regards to PC spokes , lucky too u did not break urself up bad
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Tharrell
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Post by Tharrell »

Damn, I'll bet that was a ride you won't forget.
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Rue
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Post by Rue »

Tharrell wrote:Damn, I'll bet that was a ride you won't forget.
X2 Glad to hear that you're not seriously injured!!
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NightBiker07
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Post by NightBiker07 »

I wouldnt have thought the PC bake temperature would have done much to the metal....maybe you got a brittle batch of spokes? I havent ever heard of powdercoating hurting a material's strength.

hmm....

glad you are OK :cool:
2000 CR250, pipe, filter, Vforce

1980 XL80s
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Natural selection favors Smart people, so nature selects morons to be slow and dumb for tigers and stuff too eat. But in our modern world there just aren't enough tigers.
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2strokeforever
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Post by 2strokeforever »

what brand spokes?
the 450 will have less power and will be harder to start, and will be heavier, but to make up for it it will require more maintenance.
4stroke=dead fish
100hp honda
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Post by 100hp honda »

NightBiker07 wrote:I havent ever heard of powdercoating hurting a material's strength.

dude on another forum did powder coat on a cylinder. fuked up all the threads for the head studs when he tightened the bolts. seems like he said it also screwed up the fit between the sleeve/cylinder, cant remeber for sure though. aint the bake temp like 400* ?. i wouldnt put any bike part in a oven at that temp :shock:. 250* is the very most i would go and thats only to remove tranny bearings.
Flatbiller
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Post by Flatbiller »

People powdercoat there bikes all the time with no issues. This is a freak accident!0
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lewisclan
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Post by lewisclan »

WOW
Image"the game of life of is not so much in holding a good hand as playing a poor hand well"
100hp honda
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Post by 100hp honda »

he annealed his spokes :lol: . glad you werent hurt :cool:
Pony
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Post by Pony »

Flatbiller wrote:People powdercoat there bikes all the time with no issues. This is a freak accident!0
they were excels

and I never see people pc their spokes. I would think by nature spokes have to have some flex to them and if they get baked and can't flex they will snap. I haven't seen a wheel explode like that before. I mean do what you want, but I'm not going to pc spokes anymore. Swingare and other stuff I figure people do all the time so I'm not too worried. But I'm not running that stuff on my spokes again.
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NightBiker07
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Post by NightBiker07 »

Pony wrote:
Flatbiller wrote:People powdercoat there bikes all the time with no issues. This is a freak accident!0
they were excels

and I never see people pc their spokes. I would think by nature spokes have to have some flex to them and if they get baked and can't flex they will snap. I haven't seen a wheel explode like that before. I mean do what you want, but I'm not going to pc spokes anymore. Swingare and other stuff I figure people do all the time so I'm not too worried. But I'm not running that stuff on my spokes again.
Just paint the spokes instead :) I bed the end result looks killer!
2000 CR250, pipe, filter, Vforce

1980 XL80s
1969 Broncco TX-6

Natural selection favors Smart people, so nature selects morons to be slow and dumb for tigers and stuff too eat. But in our modern world there just aren't enough tigers.
100hp honda
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Post by 100hp honda »

seen a coated steel frame before. not sure how it worked out in the long run. anyone seen coated cases ? seems like they would resemble a banana after the oven
Flatbiller
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Post by Flatbiller »

Look at the hart and huntington team, there spokes are powder coated white, they don't have problems, my buddy has his spokes powdercoated red for 2 years no problems, they sell powder coated spokes, I'm saying it a freak accident, I'm not sayn.... But I'm just sayin
torque monster
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Post by torque monster »

Freak thing - QTM the excel/talon guys PC the colored spokes on my wheels - they are from an AMA winning Supermoto bike - between the previous AMA guy and me 4 years no issues. Big fat bastard hear - 320lbs w/ gear so they get some thrashing by me.




"Riding a show on a metal landing on a concrete floor, went a bit long" - how many big jumps did those wheels last through already? Maybe there is a reason the pros replace wheels/frame/motors/etc every few races at most. Just best to say you survived a big failure, leave it to that. If I were an FMX guy I'd be replacing my wheels often.
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Rhino89523
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Post by Rhino89523 »

I am not a freestyle guy at all...but I have played on those ramps a little. When you land it right there is way less stress on the rim than hitting a square desert edge rock at speed. The ramp takeoffs seemed scary as hell until you hit one and realize it never changes and is perfect every time.

I am not sure what happened with those spokes but I am 100% positive if you got a new accel with some of their fat spokes and a talon hub, leave it all the way it came from the factory, you will have many years of service.
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teamdns
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Post by teamdns »

the obvious problem is due to the blue bike and nothing else :lol:

glad you came out of that ok.
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iggys-amsoil
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Post by iggys-amsoil »

Not to mention the Skull and X bones. :lol:

But seriously, when my AF came the rims / roller were OEM new.

It took 3-4 adjustments front, and 4-5 on the rear rim just to get them all seated and tighten the same. Haven't touched them for some time now. Guess I'll check those when I get this new tire on.

It's just one thing on the check list for new bikes or rims for that matter.
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2strokeforever
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Post by 2strokeforever »

excel spoke wrench rocks... torqued them to spec and they havent changed at all with some pretty good abuse... snapped 1 already
the 450 will have less power and will be harder to start, and will be heavier, but to make up for it it will require more maintenance.
4stroke=dead fish
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Jimmah
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Post by Jimmah »

As a powdercoater I'll throw my 2 cents in. Powdercoating the spokes should not have cause damaged to them. Cure temp for most powders is 375-385* at 15 minutes bake time. When you powder coat something it doesn't take the stiffness out of it. Properly done powder can be bent and retain it's form. Now I'm not saying YOUR powdercoater didn't cause the damage but powdercoating in general would not be the cause of this.
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NightBiker07
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Post by NightBiker07 »

I'd like to add this.

I recently met a guy that had his wheels and spokes powdercoated in 07. he rides hard and has had plenty of hard landings and crashes. hasnt broke a single spoke yet.

I dont think the powdercoat caused this particular failure.
2000 CR250, pipe, filter, Vforce

1980 XL80s
1969 Broncco TX-6

Natural selection favors Smart people, so nature selects morons to be slow and dumb for tigers and stuff too eat. But in our modern world there just aren't enough tigers.
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