Bonneville America Forums Forums Off Topic Discussion Forums Lounge Header Mystery Theater

Hi folks. Not sure what section this should go in, so I'll start here.

Riddle me this:

So I got off my '07 TBA yesterday after a ride and happened to glance down at the header. At first, it looked like there was some mud on the header. Upon closer inspection, I found this:

[image]http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/BwDKUMCviU7MXDWQuiBi0Q[/image]

Now, it may be an '07, but I bought it new off the showroom floor in October, and I've only got about 1,000 miles on it. The bike stays garaged and, long story short, I take very good care of her. The bike has never been down, and the size and pattern of those gouges don't look like someone bumped it with anything while I was parked. In addition, I have the square dresser bars on, so it even more unlikely that it was hit accidentally.

What I'm starting to think is that the chrome is damaged due to heat. Recently I've made some mods to the intake and exhaust, and I'm worried this might be the result. I've got the snorkel out, bellmouth intake and free-flow Unifilter. My pipes are stock slashcuts with 2 baffles out and a third drilled. Does heat damage sound likely to anyone? Does this indicate a bigger problem with my setup?

Any insight / comments would be greatly appreciated.

Much obliged,

-B

Don't know dude, looks like something leaned up against it, or got stuck to it when hot.

Could have caught something like a piece of a tarp or some such textured plastic while riding.

Thanks for fixing the picture, couldn't figure it out myself.

I thought the same thing at first, Kaiser, but there's really no way to casually lean up against that part of the header with dresser bars in place. Possible, I guess.

And as for something melting on them, it's hard to tell from the picture but those are definitely deep "scratches" in the chrome, not something stuck on top.

Am I just making up 'heat damage', or is that a possibility?

-B

Looks to me like physical damage, rather than heat damage. These are double-walled pipes, and the most i've seen or heard of happening to them from heat is they turn blue. They would have to get pretty friggin' hot to cause some type of damage like that. And if that were the case, wouldn't the damage be all over the header, not just a patch like that?

That really is puzzling Brett! Deep gouges, SO it's damage and not just something melted on top. Is there anything more to this story you can tell us... some other piece of the puzzle? I've never seen anything like it!

could it be from a tie down? did you or your dealer ever start it while it was on a bike lift, or was it tied down on a ferry crossing while warm?

I never heard of any damage from heat except the discoloration. I have seem a bike tuned wrong and the headers turned red hot and still no damage except discoloration, so I doubt it was heat in itself. I can't think of a good explanation for deep scratches so even like that.

On a ride between Baltimore and Chincoteague, a bird flew across my path and collided with my left-side pipe. It left a burn mark (melted feathers?) that looked a lot like this photo.

I removed it with a combination of WD-40, bug/tar remover and gentle razor-blade shaving/scraping when the pipe was cold.

I'm firmly in the melted tarp(or plastic bag or some such) camp.

Ya see, a few years back I too had a very similar pattern become "powder-coated" upon one of my headers after a loose grocery baggie flew across the road I was riding down and found its way upon the front of my BA. And afterward, the melted plastic also seemed to be "gouged" upon the headers.

Once the bike cooled, it took me a good half hour to get it all off by using Blue-Away, some 2000 grit wet-sand sandpaper and elbow-grease.

And, due to the classic Triumph twin exhaust design which our bikes have(what with their "spaded out" headers), I know I'm not the only one around here who has needed to do this over the years.

I melted some blue tarp on mine once, it was a PITA. Blue-Away worked for me also.

What about your clutch, or speedo cable,or brake line?

Well I'll be...

Just got home and started picking at the damage again, and it looks like it may be a melted "something" afterall, because it seems to be coming off with a lot of elbow grease.

Anyways, thanks again to everyone that chimed in.

-B