Who Does TiN/DLC Coating? Who Are You Using?

Diamond-Like Carbon will look black. There is no "rainbow" DLC coating so that's complete bs. It's also not a plating process, it's Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD). Way different. Outgassing is an indication of poor cleaning before processing.
Also, DLC has a lower coefficient of friction than Titanium Nitride so if you're going through all the trouble you might as well get what actually performs the best. Unless you just like the gold color better and aren't interested in the best performance.

 

Thermosman did mine when he built my forks

 

I have forks I took apart for customer and he had me send tubes to this company https://techmetals.com
Should have them back in few days. Will see how they look.

 

i'm just going off what they told me.. i don't even care at this point, i just wish my forks were back with something better than stock after spending approximately 2400 for kashima coating uppers, cerakoting spindles, and ti/no/dlc/wtf on the stanchions

 

Is it MA Twins Cup legal to apply these coatings? I read the rulebook last night, and I see where SS, Stk1000, and even Jr Cup says you can apply a coating to the fork tube. But I don't see that listed for Twins Cup.

By the way, Industrial Hard Carbon just quoted me $350 to treat a pair or fork tubes.

 

I don't see why fork stiction would be any less important in a Twins Cup bike than a SS or even Stk1000 bike. And if spending obscene amounts of money on a Twins Cup bike was a bad idea, I passed that bridge a LONG time ago.

 

The first gen Gsxr-1000 always made me gun shy about TiNi coatings lol. This was a known issue at the time.

 

At least they dodn't leak all the time. Our 04' GSXR1000 had the DLC and they would leak in right after getting new seals and sometimes just sitting in the shop between rounds. Buttery smooth though haha

 

Brad at KB5 is a solid dude that can get suspension bits coated as well. I don’t know how much he dabbles in road stuff but I do know he can get coatings done.

http://www.kb5ind.com/index.asp

 

Cuz it makes you look fast

 

It looks good with white wheels!

 

It's a good question. In my situation, I've ridden bikes with 6+ mm of stiction, and ~3mm of stiction, and I THINK I can tell the difference. But I will admit that I wouldn't bet $1,000 on a blind test.

For me, it's mostly (but not entirely) about confidence. When I'm getting passed by Rocco or Blake, my belief that their suspension is no better than mine gives me additional confidence. "If their bike can carry that much speed into that corner, so can mine" - I'm thinking.

I'm sure you'd agree that psychology is a big deal in sports.

And like I said before...$350 is not significant at this point.

 

Industrial Hard Carbon applied the DLC coating to my RS660's chrome tubes, and I got to ride them on Sunday at Barber.

At first, when I started reassembling the forks, and slid the fork seals on...it felt like the fork tubes had MORE friction than before. I started to worry this project was a complete failure.

But I went ahead and fully assembled the forks, installed them on the bike, and measured stiction. I was very happy that the 7-8mm of stiction they had before was now about 3-4mm. And I can feel the difference just pushing on them in my garage.

I believe I can also feel the difference when riding. Particularly while trail-braking into Charlotte's, I used to feel like it was hard to be very smooth with releasing brake pressure; it felt like I was trail-braking in steps, rather than a smooth line. But on Sunday, the front felt very smooth as I released the brake lever.

Again, I wouldn't bet $1,000 on a blind test. But I do think it is making a difference, especially with forks that for some reason had higher than usual stiction.

 

Dan Kyle offers it and they are an Ohlins rep. He is in jail still but shop still running and I have been buying Ohlins shocks from them at best prices for years. In Nor-Cal. Pretty knowledgeable guys working there. Coating price is listed on their website kyleracing.com (I think thats right).

Why would you bother with coating an Ohlins damper? Just curious.

 

Dan Kyle passed away a year or two ago.

 

Dang. I didnt know that. I know someone else has been running his business for some time. The website has gone through changes as well. Limiting what they now offer quite a bit. Wasnt aware.