Pitted forks...

[HondaInTheSun]

I am absolutely LOVING my new ( to me ) ST1300. It's a super clean bike with relatively low mileage ( 18k ), the only cosmetic flaw it has is this pitting on the forks. Anyone have ideas about how I can make this look even a little bit better? Thanks in advance!

 

[ToddC]

Wow, that looks like corrosion from road salts and someone not cleaning them enough. Clean, etch and repaint silver. Cast aluminum that was painted. Shouldn't be too hard to clean them up.

ToddC

 

[Bikeric]

Clean them off with wire wool using progressively finer grades, then spray them with "Steel Wheels" silver car wheel paint or smooth silver Hammerite or similar. My Sabre forks looked good for years using this method

 

[fnmag]

Once you get your forks sorted out you might want to put on 'covers' to protect them.

 

[bdalameda]

This is very common on bikes out here near the coast where fog is prevalent. A fine stainless steel wire brush wheel on a drill will help speed up cleaning these up and some good old emery cloth starting coarse and working your way down to fine. Then a good coat of silver wheel paint. This is much easier to clean up if you remove the forks which is not too difficult. It also would be a good time to replace the seals and fluid while you have them off if the bike has been sitting a while or has not had the forks serviced since new.

 

[John OoSTerhuis]

Good advice ^^^

Mods might want to move this thread out of the ST1100-Suspension sub-forum.

John

 

[HondaInTheSun]

Thanks so much for all the advice, really appreciate it, great community you have here! -)

 

[TerryS]

Every Honda that I have owned has suffered from this, my 1100 also had it on the cam covers as well. I just repainted the forks on my 1300 for the same reason, I attacked the flaking areas with a stiff wire brush, then sanded back to achieve a smooth finish. Cleaned with alcohol, then applied an etching primer, followed by 3 coats of paint intended for car wheels.

 

[HondaInTheSun]

Has anyone sprayed the forks with Plasti Dip? Might be the path of least resistance...?

 

[CYYJ]

As B Dalameda noted above, the pitting is a result of moisture settling on the forks when riding in a saline atmosphere such as is found in coastal areas. I found the same problem with my 2012 ST 1300 when I bought it in 2015 from a lobster fisherman who lived on the coast in Nova Scotia, Canada.

The easiest fix is to clean the forks up as best you can (remove what corrosion may exist), then cover them with 3M™ Scotchlite™ Reflective Graphic Film Series 680, black colour. You can get this film from any signmaker, it will cost you no more than $10 to buy what you need to wrap the forks. In daylight, the film appears black, at night when hit by light, it is a brilliant white. The film is available in many different colours, if you want silver (same colour as the OEM paint on the forks), you can get that too. 10 years down the road, if the film is damaged from stones, bug impacts, etc., you just peel it off and replace it.

Michael

3M™ Scotchlite™ Reflective Graphic Film Series 680 on Front Forks

 

[HondaInTheSun]

As B Dalameda noted above, the pitting is a result of moisture settling on the forks when riding in a saline atmosphere such as is found in coastal areas. I found the same problem with my 2012 ST 1300 when I bought it in 2015 from a lobster fisherman who lived on the coast in Nova Scotia, Canada.

The easiest fix is to clean the forks up as best you can (remove what corrosion may exist), then cover them with 3M™ Scotchlite™ Reflective Graphic Film Series 680, black colour. You can get this film from any signmaker, it will cost you no more than $10 to buy what you need to wrap the forks. In daylight, the film appears black, at night when hit by light, it is a brilliant white. The film is available in many different colours, if you want silver (same colour as the OEM paint on the forks), you can get that too. 10 years down the road, if the film is damaged from stones, bug impacts, etc., you just peel it off and replace it.

Michael

3M™ Scotchlite™ Reflective Graphic Film Series 680 on Front Forks

This looks REALLY good. Would you mind posting exactly what color and finish of the film this is?

 

[CYYJ]

This looks REALLY good. Would you mind posting exactly what color and finish of the film this is?

It's 3M™ Scotchlite™ Reflective Graphic Film Series 680, black colour. The film is manufactured in different widths. The least expensive way to buy it is to find a signmaker who uses a tractor-feed sign cutter that feeds from a 15 inch roll. Then buy a 18 inch long length. That will give you more than enough to do both forks.

See this post for more information & pictures about the roll size: Reflective decals on rear?

Michael

 

[HondaInTheSun]

It's 3M™ Scotchlite™ Reflective Graphic Film Series 680, black colour. The film is manufactured in different widths. The least expensive way to buy it is to find a signmaker who uses a tractor-feed sign cutter that feeds from a 15 inch roll. Then buy a 18 inch long length. That will give you more than enough to do both forks.

See this post for more information & pictures about the roll size: Reflective decals on rear?

Michael

THANK YOU!

 

[ST Gui]

This looks REALLY good.

I was thinking exactly the same. A great job in applying it. That should be an article all it's own. That must look pretty interesting at night in headlights. Talk about a unique conspicuity pattern!

 

[CYYJ]

That must look pretty interesting at night in headlights...

Not half as interesting as my ST 1100, which has this film all over the grey plastic parts...

Michael

It's on the front forks, too... (it's a flash photo)


Same motorcycle, this time no flash when the picture was taken

 

[Jim Van]

I am absolutely LOVING my new ( to me ) ST1300. It's a super clean bike with relatively low mileage ( 18k ), the only cosmetic flaw it has is this pitting on the forks. Anyone have ideas about how I can make this look even a little bit better? Thanks in advance!

This guy's ST1300 forks weren't nearly as bad as yours. He just sanded the fork tubes and painted them.

Jeff's ST1300 fork tubes

 

[HondaInTheSun]

Finally got around to this on a rainy California afternoon. It was pretty quick and dirty, but looks a hell of a lot better than the picture I originally posted when asking about this. Thanks as always for all the help, and the courage to attempt things like this.

 

[HondaInTheSun]

Looks good.

Thank you! Will be interesting to see how long it lasts, but like I said, can’t look worse than it already did. Plus the bike lives in a much nicer climate now than it did when it got the putting on the forks.