01-17-2016, 07:05 AM
The bronzing on the headers of my 2013 CB1100 did not take long. My 1988 Hawk GT also has stainless steel headers. Looking back at the beauty shots featured in the original sales brochure for my Hawk, the stainless steel headers are shown with, you can probably guess — a bit of bronzing to them. It's just a part of life with the stainless steel headers.
My bike is certainly not abused, but I do ride in the rain which I"m guessing might have contributed to some of the spotting I experienced early on, but it has not been much of an issue over time. I use Honda's metal polish to clean my headers once in a while and it does a great job. The flip side to all of this is the durability offered by stainless steel headers which are the same material all the way through.
There is a coating that is applied to the pipes at the factory. The dealer is supposed to remove this coating entirely when they prep the bike, but that doesn't always happen. I suppose that this scenario could result an outcome as described.
My bike is certainly not abused, but I do ride in the rain which I"m guessing might have contributed to some of the spotting I experienced early on, but it has not been much of an issue over time. I use Honda's metal polish to clean my headers once in a while and it does a great job. The flip side to all of this is the durability offered by stainless steel headers which are the same material all the way through.
(01-17-2016, 06:38 AM)CB360T_imp Wrote: I am OK with the bronzing...just want to be aware of any visual indications that the bike was not treated right. I saw a pic on this forum a while back where the upper header pipes really looked cooked and the prevailing wisdom was to stay away from that one.
(01-17-2016, 06:17 AM)quietguy_imp Wrote:(01-17-2016, 05:13 AM)CB360T_imp Wrote: I am diligently looking for a CB to call my own. I see that bikes with even 300 miles on them have bronzed headers, so it seem to occur pretty quickly. Some bikes with several hundred or a few thousand miles have dark speckles in the bronzing and some seem uniformly bronzed. Do the speckles suggest that the bike was mistreated? Thanks.
Mine began to "bronze" within the first 40 miles... Now at 400 miles on the clock, it's a uniform bronze color but not "speckled" or blued.
The Deluxe model has the double walled headers so all that's hidden. But converting a standard to the Deluxe 4 into 2 is a pretty pricey deal.
Mine began to "bronze" within the first 40 miles... Now at 400 miles on the clock, it's a uniform bronze color but not "speckled" or blued.
The Deluxe model has the double walled headers so all that's hidden. But converting a standard to the Deluxe 4 into 2 is a pretty pricey deal.
There is a coating that is applied to the pipes at the factory. The dealer is supposed to remove this coating entirely when they prep the bike, but that doesn't always happen. I suppose that this scenario could result an outcome as described.