Just back from an exceptional week's riding in the Queyras. Sadly a bit of overenthusiasm on some gnadgery trialsy tech ended in me dragging a lovely Kashima covered stanchion down a sharp rock, which left a couple of marks.
I filed the burrs off immediately and I've had no signs of oil escape on the remaining couple of days riding, so I guess my seals are intact.
Normally I'd touch this up with nail varnish to fill the divot, then buff back to flush - just wondering if there's been any better solutions developed?
Thanks...
I've used the "Sendhit" kit on black Fox stanchions... takes a while, but great results.
Maybe controversial but I've become less bothered about small marks since getting rid of my last open bath fork. I stay on top of lower leg services so as long as the stanchion feels smooth and there's no sign of oil escape I leave it alone figuring it's going to be hard to get a perfect repair and I might mess it up more with nail varnish, wet and dry etc.
Yep, I'm with the purist on this one: may look aesthetically better if done well but, if deburred, doubt itll really make any difference to long term reliability/ performance. Just keep on top of the lower leg servicing
I gouged my Zeb stanchions quite badly a couple of years ago.
Nail varnish has worked a treat and my usual suspension service guy said he'd recommend continuing with that rather than one of the more fancy repair kits.
If you're using a clear one, you won't even end up with murky black oil like me 😀
I’ve also used the Sendhit kit (I think it uses epoxy but could be wrong) and it worked well but I think the purist has the pragmatic answer.
It all depends on the depth of the scratch. I had similar on a pair of not very of kashima 38s.
First I used several new Stanley blades held perpendicular to the surface to remove the high spots. Then some Brasso wadding to smooth things out. After that, it was hardly noticeable so I left it. Had there still been visible canyons at that point, I might have looked to fill it but if it's really shallow, nothing will stick that well.
I have used car touch up clear coat before. It seemed to set and sand down better than nail varnish
I found a reference to Humbrol No. 16 Gold being the correct match for Kasmina on another forum and at £6 it seemed worth a shot. Thankfully didn't have to test it as a good clean of the stanchion revealed it was just rock dust and not a scratch (phew).
I found a reference to Humbrol No. 16 Gold being the correct match for Kasmina on another forum and at £6 it seemed worth a shot.
Sounds like an economical way to convert lower-end forks to Kashima though 😉