ProBolt Advice!!!

[Samurai]

Hi Guy's,

Thinking about using coloured bolts to replace my engine bolts, tarty in know but think it will look good, only thing is that the coloured bolts done by probolt are not stainless steel they are Aluminium.

has anyone used this or can anyone say wether or not to use them.

Cheers :wink:

[Scoobs]

Grinch has them on his SV.

I would use them (and do use them) on non stress applications (fairing etc), but anything safety critical (brake discs, caliper bolts, chainring nuts etc...) I would use stainless or titanium.

Engine covers "should" be OK. No real strain, just there to keep the oil in place.

[Viney]

I used them on my SV. They look good, but when it came to removing them, they where a nightmare. Some of the heads rounded off, and some snapped. If you do use them. Dont use them in ahywere of importance and use lots of copper greese when fitting them.

Hope this helps

[Grinch]

I have some on my original SV... just don't forget the copper slip... Plus don't ever use them on stressed areas as they just won't take it.

They also do a nice range of titanium blots.

[Mr Toad]

Make sure you use the correct torque settings, or you'll never get them off again

[northwind]

I used the black bolts on mine- I don't like the studded look you get with stainless on black :roll: But they're not very good. Grease well, undertorque and know how to use a screw extractor is all I can say. (on the plus side, they're so soft you'll never break off a screw extractor in them...)

[Samurai]

i was thinking of using Blue bolts on for the engine caseingand fuel tank, used the engine ones on my old aprilia and snaped one of in the caseing, had to drill the sucker out, they do blue titanium Rider & Pillion Footrest Hanger Bolt Kit looks good to.

[svrash]

I vowed never to use aluminium bolts ever again, spend the extra and get the anodised titanium ones or go for stainless, i think a guy on E-Bay does anodised stainless bolts :?

EDIT: no they're alloy, my bad

[Grinch]

could try chewys stuff (http://www.chewys-stuff.co.uk/)..

[Samurai]

I vowed never to use aluminium bolts ever again, spend the extra and get the anodised titanium ones or go for stainless, i think a guy on E-Bay does anodised stainless bolts :?

EDIT: no they're alloy, my bad

I want coloured bolts and they don't to stainless or titanium coloured bolts, if i was to go for plain bolts i would get chewy's replacement bolts.

Anyone know of any company that does coloured stainless engine bolts?

[Carsick]

coloured stainless aren't available, as far as I know.
Probolt do colour titanium for most bikes
Here (http://www.tastynuts.com/acatalog/index.html?http%3A//www.tastynuts.com/acatalog/Tasty_Nuts_SV650s__2003___378.html&CatalogBody) is the SV650 page.
The coloured titanium engine bolts are £130 odd, so you'd have to be pretty dedicated.
I think the stainless ones look quite nice, personally, but then, I'm not a fan of all the anodised stuff that's around.

[northwind]

By anyone's measure I'ev spent too much on my SV. But even I laugh at the thought of spending £130 on engine bolts :)

[Carsick]

By anyone's measure I'ev spent too much on my SV. But even I laugh at the thought of spending £130 on engine bolts :)
I'll admit, I did comtemplate it, for all of about 30 seconds.
I just don't need to lose the weight that badly. Staying off beer for a few weeks would probably have just as much effect.
I prefer a fairly natural finish to bolts, anyway, so s/s is good for me, but I may put titanium in those areas where s/s isn't good enough (caliper bolts, etc)

[JanGoris]

I have the fairing and the engine kit on my SV-K4; all alluminium. The looks are great and the weight is less but you have to use the copper greese. 8) I have bolted ono to tight and indeed they break quickly. I do not have experience with removing the bolts.

But as I read above, I will have problems in the future... (Hope not of course)... :evil:

http://upload3.postimage.org/44558/Afbeelding029.jpg

[JanGoris]

I have the fairing and the engine kit on my SV-K4; all alluminium. The looks are great and the weight is less but you have to use the copper greese. 8) I have bolted ono to tight and indeed they break quickly. I do not have experience with removing the bolts.

But as I read above, I will have problems in the future... (Hope not of course)... :evil:

http://upload3.postimage.org/44558/Afbeelding029.jpg

[Samurai]

I have the fairing and the engine kit on my SV-K4; all alluminium. The looks are great and the weight is less but you have to use the copper greese. 8) I have bolted ono to tight and indeed they break quickly. I do not have experience with removing the bolts.

But as I read above, I will have problems in the future... (Hope not of course)... :evil:

http://upload3.postimage.org/44558/Afbeelding029.jpg

That's the problem, do i risk future problems just because i want my bike to look good (IMO) now.

what a conundrum

[northwind]

I just don't need to lose the weight that badly. Staying off beer for a few weeks would probably have just as much effect.

:) The weight reduction on 20 or so bolts like that's going to be trivial anyway I reckon. Not an awful lot of metal in them. Not so much giving up the beer as having one less packet of peanuts ;)

[Lissa]

By anyone's measure I'ev spent too much on my SV. But even I laugh at the thought of spending £130 on engine bolts :)

:oops: :oops: :oops:

We've spent around £300 on the blue titanium bolts.................and you know what...............they're really great..................as long as you NEVER EVER polish them. The blue falls off as quickly as a hooker's knickers!

[Scoobs]

titanium bolts.................and you know what...............they're really great..................as long as you NEVER EVER polish them. The blue falls off as quickly as a hooker's knickers!

Thanks for that. I was looking at getting some of the gold titanium ones. Only a few of them, but if the finish is a bit duff I'll stick with the natural ones.

[ben650]

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/sv650ben/DSCF2446.jpg
go for it,i think they look great :wink:

[northwind]

We've spent around £300 on the blue titanium bolts.................and you know what...............they're really great..................as long as you NEVER EVER polish them. The blue falls off as quickly as a hooker's knickers!

I've never used this smiley before...
:laughat:
That was satisfying ;) Seriously though, no offence meant. I have to admit I do have a titanium rear axle nut :wink: Shaves all of 20 or so grams of unsprung weight from the rear end, which weighs something like 25 kilos, money well spent!

[Mike1234]

Don't know about the bolts but I've only had bad experiences with ProBolt after sales (can't call it Customer Service because there wasn't any)!

Oh, and be very careful with alloy bolts. Bought a bike a while back with alloy banjo bolts. I've got harder cheese in my fridge!

[petevtwin650]

Lissa bought me Probolt fairing and petrol filler replacement bolts in purple alloy first. Filler bolts ok and still look purple. However the fairing bolts did not come "shouldered" as the Suzy ones do. This is to stop you cracking the fairing when doing them up. I rang Probolt. "Oh yes we should have included spacers" They duly arrived. Little bits of plastic tube to slide over the bolt and act as a spacer. Not impressed. They included enough bolts to allow me to replace the ones fixing the infill panel either side of the shock. But after one or two undos and doing-ups they were round where the allen key goes. So back to standard. The fairing bolts have kept their colour too. Next I bought blue titanium brake disc bolts. Lovely colour. But out of the 15, 3 were machined a bit tight for the allen attachment on my socket set, meaning that a hammer is required to tap it in and then pliers used to withdraw the bit, causing "bruising of the bolt. Not good considering each bolt was over a fiver. Also got front and rear caliper mounting bolts in the same colour and material. Allen headed shamfered ones. They all looked brilliant, so the folowing year I got the bolts and washers fixing the tank at the front, bolts holding the front fluid bottle, front axle spindle clamp bolt,bolts to hold the front brake pipe clamp on forks,speedo cable retainer bolt, rear axle nut, which does away with the need for a seperate washer, heel plate bolts and rider footrest bolts. The rear footrest bolts are a waste of money, IMO, because they are hidden on a curvy.

Sorry for the long ramble,but hopefully covered most things. The blue anodising on the Titanium doesn'tseem to be very durable.

Pics below.

Incidentally, brake pipes using alloy banjo bolts are an MOT failure now, and are potentially lethal. They look ok from the outside but are powdered on the inside, just waiting to burst open.

http://img226.imageshack.us/img226/9996/bolts0023th.jpg
http://img452.imageshack.us/img452/397/bolts0057po.jpg
http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/1571/bolts0060dv.jpg
http://img306.imageshack.us/img306/5316/bolts0074xq.jpg
http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/3808/bolts0130na.jpg
http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/1129/bolts0149oj.jpg
http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/4113/bolts0157dr.jpg
http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/2826/bolts0163js.jpg

And one showing the difference in colour when they were new.

http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/3220/titanium0048xt.jpg

[andyaikido]

Lissa bought me Probolt fairing and petrol filler replacement bolts in purple alloy first. Filler bolts ok and still look purple. However the fairing bolts did not come "shouldered" as the Suzy ones do. This is to stop you cracking the fairing when doing them up. I rang Probolt. "Oh yes we should have included spacers" They duly arrived. Little bits of plastic tube to slide over the bolt and act as a spacer. Not impressed. They included enough bolts to allow me to replace the ones fixing the infill panel either side of the shock. But after one or two undos and doing-ups they were round where the allen key goes. So back to standard. The fairing bolts have kept their colour too. Next I bought blue titanium brake disc bolts. Lovely colour. But out of the 15, 3 were machined a bit tight for the allen attachment on my socket set, meaning that a hammer is required to tap it in and then pliers used to withdraw the bit, causing "bruising of the bolt. Not good considering each bolt was over a fiver. Also got front and rear caliper mounting bolts in the same colour and material. Allen headed shamfered ones. They all looked brilliant, so the folowing year I got the bolts and washers fixing the tank at the front, bolts holding the front fluid bottle, front axle spindle clamp bolt,bolts to hold the front brake pipe clamp on forks,speedo cable retainer bolt, rear axle nut, which does away with the need for a seperate washer, heel plate bolts and rider footrest bolts. The rear footrest bolts are a waste of money, IMO, because they are hidden on a curvy.

Sorry for the long ramble,but hopefully covered most things. The blue anodising on the Titanium doesn'tseem to be very durable.

Pics below.

Incidentally, brake pipes using alloy banjo bolts are an MOT failure now, and are potentially lethal. They look ok from the outside but are powdered on the inside, just waiting to burst open.

http://img226.imageshack.us/img226/9996/bolts0023th.jpg
http://img452.imageshack.us/img452/397/bolts0057po.jpg
http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/1571/bolts0060dv.jpg
http://img306.imageshack.us/img306/5316/bolts0074xq.jpg
http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/3808/bolts0130na.jpg
http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/1129/bolts0149oj.jpg
http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/4113/bolts0157dr.jpg
http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/2826/bolts0163js.jpg

And one showing the difference in colour when they were new.

http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/3220/titanium0048xt.jpg

Are all curvy swingarms sculpted like that or is yours aftermarket/modded? Looks nicer than the pointy's.

[Carsick]

Are all curvy swingarms sculpted like that or is yours aftermarket/modded? Looks nicer than the pointy's.
That's a standard curvy swingarm.