Two questions in one thread?

[tonk]

Question Number One: my disc bolts are truly knackered with rust. I keep wire-brushing them and painting on clear acrylic but they are getting nastier. TBF, it is the only bit on the whole bike which does rust and it has been through two snotty winters now.

Pro-Bolt do a stainless set for £40 (10 bolts, exact match) but a quick search on Google has a lot of 'experts' sucking teeth - phrases like 'single-use, stretch bolts, too brittle' etc. If they are as crap to the point of being dangerous as some say, why sell them? I always use a torque wrench and that blue locking goo. I'm not paying £90 for titanium.

If I paint tell-tales on then I'll see if they move. And I can't see how all 5 or all 10 could fail at once.

(PS they are fixed discs on oval slots, bolt directly to the wheel, no carrier. Odd.)

Question Number Two: can anyone recommend an end can for a Honda 650 transalp? Purely for sound, not performance. A mate has bought one to do North Africa on in October, which will then be my winter hack if he lives. It's so quiet as to be nearly silent. It has a cat in at the mo.

[bignige]

1 - have a look at OE bolts, coz they can be pretty shiny to begin with, my Suzuki's were anyway and then keep them that way!

2 - if your mate dies and then you die can i have the Transalp?

[szrdave]

Question Number One: my disc bolts are truly knackered with rust. I keep wire-brushing them and painting on clear acrylic but they are getting nastier. TBF, it is the only bit on the whole bike which does rust and it has been through two snotty winters now.

Pro-Bolt do a stainless set for £40 (10 bolts, exact match) but a quick search on Google has a lot of 'experts' sucking teeth - phrases like 'single-use, stretch bolts, too brittle' etc. If they are as crap to the point of being dangerous as some say, why sell them? I always use a torque wrench and that blue locking goo. I'm not paying £90 for titanium.

If I paint tell-tales on then I'll see if they move. And I can't see how all 5 or all 10 could fail at once.

(PS they are fixed discs on oval slots, bolt directly to the wheel, no carrier. Odd.)

Question Number Two: can anyone recommend an end can for a Honda 650 transalp? Purely for sound, not performance. A mate has bought one to do North Africa on in October, which will then be my winter hack if he lives. It's so quiet as to be nearly silent. It has a cat in at the mo.

1 - I would have no problem using stainless bolts, you're screwing them into an aluminium thread so the tensile strength is hardly going to be an issue!

2 - A friend of mine had a transalp which I used to borrow every now and again. Brilliant bikes, although the hand guards are just the wrong height for filtering. It was hilarious watching him ride it around Lydden when we went there for a track day a few years ago, it was bouncing all over the shop but he did ok in the intermediate group.

Anyway, I digress....he fitted a Mivv can with a set of stainless headers and it transformed the ride. With the baffle out it's bloody loud and pops and bangs as you come on/off the throttle. People try and peer around you to see where the noise is coming from

It's well made too, and wasn't too pricey, he got the stainless version you can see at the bottom:

[wazrs257]

I bought a set of 15 disc bolts for my GSXR750 from this guy. Were a lot cheaper than Probolt. Check the Probolt site to see what models share the same bolts as yours, mine were listed as for a TL1000, then see if he's got them.

[lorenzo]

Can't help in terms of makes and models but I can confirm a fruity exhaust on one of those engines sounds great: My old Bros with a supertrapp on there was peachy and the team north bike, with a BOS can for a cbr6 (we think) also sounds fantastic.

[Evilchicken0]

Stainless comes in two grades A2 is the general one and A4 is a higher strength ... you need A4

[alexp5]

Stainless comes in two grades A2 is the general one and A4 is a higher strength ... you need A4

A4 stainless in also known as 'marine grade'. AFAIK the only difference between A2 and A4 is that A4 is slightly more resistant to atmospheric and chemical corrosion, hence it's use on boats.

A4 would be preferable on a bike at resisting road salt spray, but A2 will be fine. The only way I've found for protecting fasteners against winter is a good blob of molybdenum disulphide grease. It laughs in the face of salty roads and needs a good dose of paraffin to get it off.

@Tonk. Can't comment on a Transalp but matey has a DR650 with a Laser Pro Duro fitted. It doeas this: BRAAAAAP...Dof dof dof, etc. and spits fire .

[tonk]

Cheers guys, the other issue I've heard about with SS disc bolts is bad corrosion because the two metals are incompatible? Some such guff. Anyhoo, I think I'll go with the stainless and risk instant death every time I brake. No biggy. Might be able to get the OE crappers shot blasted back to new.

Ta for the Transalp advice, it's an absolute minter and cost £2400, tis a 2005 model with 10,000 miles. I think the african trip will do it good, I certainly don't mind a few scars on a bike like that, it looks like it needs a few late nights

[Evilchicken0]

I read somewhere that you can use BLUE loctite on the end of the bolt thread and coppaslip the rest - this should help stop the bolt from seizing but at the same time secure it.

I'd stress this is only what I read and I've never done it I just use loctite