Hard Chrome ain't so Hard... OR... Rusty Pipes in the Desert

Moved my camp down to the Quartzsite area. It's just plain easier down here. Water, dumps, and somehow... the "atmosphere" is better...

*Back on the Desert between Quartzsite and Parker*

Put Sonja back on the ground and cleaned up a bit. We rode quite a little bit there around Wickenburg. Up the hill above Congress that climbs to Yarnell and beyond. That's a nice lil' peg scraper.

Here on the desert I am more and more unhappy with the performance of a fairly big "Brand Name" of Motorcycle exhaust... ie. Hard Chrome Motorcycle exhaust.

I put their 3" Big Straights on in July of 2012... and was really happy with the look, sound and performance...

all about the same time I changed out the chrome backrest for Yamaha's newer design and went black.

Powder coated backrest from Yamaha and powder coated pipes from Hard Chrome...

Then... time rolled along...

But only a bit over a year... and the finish on the pipes began failing.

Now, what, a year and a half later? They are getting damned ugly.

*in the Quartzsite desert*

The "pattern" of the finish failure hints to me of some sort of failure in the preparation before powder coating...

... Some might say it's the "conditions" the machine has lived and been run in...

Buuuut... That steel, powder coated Yamaha backrest was installed in the same time period and has endured the same conditions the rest of the bike has... not a blemish...

 A big company like Hard Chrome you'd sorta expect to be a bit concerned about such poor performance of their product... wouldn't you?

But the Hard Chrome Manufacturer... has failed to even respond to my attempts at contact... so... I won't be buying any more of their product. What you do is up to you...

What am I going to do? Well, I gotta do something... those pipes are just gettin' fugly.

I'm not about to be replacing pipes every two years and I sure don't want to have to refinish every few months.

Been doing some reading. I just can't bring myself to trust another powder coating... I'm thinking strongly of going through the rig-a-ma-role of pulling the pipes. Stripping the shrouds to bare metal. Proper 2000 degree primer and 2000 degree paint... and then a proper high temp clear coat... and then carefully following the correct curing procedure. (Be a good project for this summer when conditions and temperature are compatible)

At least... with a paint finish... I'd have the hope of being able to maybe do a touch up...

I've had good success with equipment paint in the past... with careful preparation I think it could be a serviceable option...

Some point in the future I'll likely replace them with another brand... If I can find one that has the reputation of standing behind it's product and as soon as I sell enough novels to pay the freight! :)

Till then I'll likely just try and keep her complexion looking decent with paint.

Warming on the Desert
Brian