| Author | Message | ||
     Ratbuell |
Well, trying to decide on my 98 S1W. It's all white (frame, body, wheels); the engine (as we all know) is silver and black with polished bits. The header is turning gold and looks out of place to me. Do I polish it and keep it shiny? Do I wrap it with black heat wrap tape? I'm leaning towards the tape at the moment; I guess I could always polish it later if I don't like the tape...right? Any thoughts from The Gallery? | ||
| Spiderman |
You can polish all day long it will continue to turn "gold" The only way to get around it is coating or wraping... | ||
| Maddiemsu |
I went with silver jethot on my header and love the look. | ||
| Mikef5000 |
Picture Please! | ||
| Hodakaguy |
I went with HPC Ceramic Coating on my Pro-Race header and pipe. I picked the polished aluminum coating, they have several colors available. It's guaranteed for life and won't turn colors ect. I've had it on the bike for a year and it still look's like new! They ceramic coat the header inside and out. Another nice benefit of ceramic coating is the pipes cool down super fast compared to uncoated pipes. Here's a pic of my header.  Hodakaguy | ||
| Bad_karma |
Ratbuell Though a lot about that question with my S1, nuclear yellow and PM wheels. The gold color adds a texture or an other color dimension that is true to the Buell function over form concept. With that said I'm still concerning ceramic coating. Just an option. | ||
| Chasespeed |
Hodakguy, I wish my JetCoated header looked that good 4 months after its was done, let alone a year... Chase | ||
| Djkaplan |
Hodakaguy... did you polish the chain too? I bet you have one of those old Ace 90's with the chromed tank. Show us some of the Hodakas! I was always a PABATCO fan and even competed against a few Combats and Thunderdogs in motocross and enduros in the 70's. | ||
| Rick_a |
Neither...leave it be. Wrap is generally used by chopper wannabe's and should only be used to cover a set of crashed pipes, IMO. | ||
| Djkaplan |
Wrapped pipes were initially found only on the highest performance engines where appearance is totally based on function, not form. It's funny how the rough, cobbled (but racy) appearance actually became the reason why wrap was adopted by the custom bike crowd. | ||
| Chasespeed |
This is my first bike that hasnt had the header wrapped... and, the pipe that should be going on in the next week or so(hopefully), WILL get wrapped.. To hell with the wanna-be's, they are not of my concern Chase | ||
| Rick_a |
Yes, but they are a bit more useful in automotive applications where underhood temps can get tremendous due to radiant heat from headers. The only place I've seen header wrap on Buell racebikes is over the first bend on the rear header of pre-'99 bikes, or on fully-faired bike that'd cook the bodywork without it. Wrapped pipes won't even show a measurable improvement on the dyno, though your right leg may thank you. | ||
| Essthreetee |
I didn't wrap mine for looks, or for Dyno improvement. I DID wrap mine so that my right leg would be happy in the summer months. I DO like the look of it, but even more so, I like the temperature control. Made a BIG difference on my bike. | ||
| Ratbuell |
Well, wrapped it is. Just got done (only one screwdriver puncture in the hand, not bad) and heat-cycled it in the garage. I'm sure the neighbors loved that at 11:30pm... <shrug> But it looks a thousand times better to me. It doesn't jump out at you and scream "hey, I'm wrapped in header tape!!!", but it helps the header blend in a bit better and gets rid of the only part of the bike that wasn't a shade of gray. I'm sure that'll change as the header weathers and the black comes off the tape...but for now, I like. If I get a spare header, it's going to get jet-hotted in a daaarrkkk charcoal. And my thoughts on "choppers" per Rick A's comment? Screw the "chopper crowd". I may be clean cut and well dressed, but the only time my bikes are on trailers is if I broke something, and I don't ride so others will like me. Quite the contrary - I ride because I don't care for most folks (how ironic is it that I sell bikes for a living? Penance, maybe?). A person can be OK - people (as in groups) seem to piss me off, and it's been getting worse the older I get LOL. And to those who don't like the way my bikes look? Good thing it isn't yours, then, huh? <not a dig at Rick A or his post, just voicing my opinion>  Maybe that's why I'm a Bueller... (Message edited by ratbuell on March 03, 2007) |
