Call it what you will, A-arm/wishbone/suspension link/tele-lever arm/link/thingummy.
I've seen a few over the years with little tendrils of rust, usually coming from the lower edge of the link and running up the sides.
It's always puzzled me why they corrode when they are fairly well protected from stones and the associated wear and tear of usage.
Yesterday I took mine off and twas a much easier task than some of the horror stories I've read led me to expect.
My intention is to strip it to deal with the corrosion that's been creeping around the front shock mount and a couple of places where the TT Hard-Part has obviously damaged the coating.
An inspection of the underside revealed why they corrode as they do.
Where the two pressed-steel parts are welded together, the spatter from the welding has not been cleaned off. Running a finger over the surface it's like a piece of rough grade glass paper.
Not only does this permit the crud to stick and fester but the spots of 'weld spatter' seem to be the point from which the rust tendrils begin.
I've never been a big fan of powder-coat precisely because it's much tougher than paint. Once corrosion takes hold under powder-coat it can creep a long way and do a lot of damage before it finally breaks the surface and reveals itself.
I'm a self-confessed polisher. I don't mind my bike getting shit-high but I will clean it and not let it fester, so I was surprised when removing the powder coat on areas that appeared to be nice and solid to find a lot of rust beavering away under the otherwise nice shiny finish.
Now it's not going to rust through very quickly but if like me, you wonder why yours may be corroding, just run your fingers under the arms that run back to the pivot points.
It's taken me a couple of hours grinding away all the weld spatter from the underside in preparation for the first coats of paint.
The upper surface sans powder-coat (sorry no photos of the rust-worm trails, I forgot).
Now for an admission: I envy 1200 owners their cast aluminium tele-lever links (it's the only thing that I do envy though
).
I've seen a few over the years with little tendrils of rust, usually coming from the lower edge of the link and running up the sides.
It's always puzzled me why they corrode when they are fairly well protected from stones and the associated wear and tear of usage.
Yesterday I took mine off and twas a much easier task than some of the horror stories I've read led me to expect.
My intention is to strip it to deal with the corrosion that's been creeping around the front shock mount and a couple of places where the TT Hard-Part has obviously damaged the coating.
An inspection of the underside revealed why they corrode as they do.
Where the two pressed-steel parts are welded together, the spatter from the welding has not been cleaned off. Running a finger over the surface it's like a piece of rough grade glass paper.
Not only does this permit the crud to stick and fester but the spots of 'weld spatter' seem to be the point from which the rust tendrils begin.
I've never been a big fan of powder-coat precisely because it's much tougher than paint. Once corrosion takes hold under powder-coat it can creep a long way and do a lot of damage before it finally breaks the surface and reveals itself.
I'm a self-confessed polisher. I don't mind my bike getting shit-high but I will clean it and not let it fester, so I was surprised when removing the powder coat on areas that appeared to be nice and solid to find a lot of rust beavering away under the otherwise nice shiny finish.
Now it's not going to rust through very quickly but if like me, you wonder why yours may be corroding, just run your fingers under the arms that run back to the pivot points.
It's taken me a couple of hours grinding away all the weld spatter from the underside in preparation for the first coats of paint.
The upper surface sans powder-coat (sorry no photos of the rust-worm trails, I forgot).
Now for an admission: I envy 1200 owners their cast aluminium tele-lever links (it's the only thing that I do envy though
).
