Titanium bolts and nuts replace———>

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NortonDominator2020

NortonDominator2020

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Hey guys,

So I ordered around 200 titanium bolts and a few nuts.

They look amazing, so clean and fine it’s crazy.
I just had a spare hour so I took the gold bolts I ordered for the Brembo front brakes, the black bolts for the rear sets holders and the black M5 bolts for the front fender to try them on. I replaced the Brembo ones and the rear sets holders and as you can see in the pictures attached even the change of only two bolts makes a beautiful aesthetic difference!

I moved to to the front fender and replaced on bolt and this just happened on the second bolt, the head broke down before I even got to tighten it. As you can see in the pictures of the broken bolt there is no “meat” between the broken head and the thread, it looks like only like a hairline of material was in the brake point…

Now this scares me and made me think if I should continue to replace the rest of the bolts on the bike to the titanium bolts or stop. For now I stopped as I never saw a bolt brake like this and almost no meat between the bolt head and the thread.

What do you think about it?
Now, it could be a defective one bolt but I don’t think so.
If you are going to ask where I ordered them from so it’s from China of course like any other titanium bolts on the market like Pro-Bolt and all the others.

So what do you think about it?
And please share if you have any experience with these titanium bolts.
 

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I think you should proceed with extreme caution. In fact I think it’s quite scary.

In general, when compared size for size, titanium is weaker than steel.

So, you are almost certainly fitting weaker fasteners by default.

Plus, both steel and titanium come in various grades for different applications. OEM fitted critical fixings on chassis and brakes etc will almost certainly be high grade and high tensile. Conversely, off the shelf Ti fixings from a generic Chinese supplier will almost certainly be made from the cheapest material they can find.

The failed bolt you show also shows poor design as there is clearly inadequate material there.

So, in summary, you probably have badly designed fasteners made from the cheapest material available.

And that’s before we start talking about quality of manufacture, rolled threads vs cut, etc.

This is why quality high performance fasteners (ARP etc) are so expensive. Even if such a company sources from China, they will have specified the precise material, the design criteria and will have QC procedures in place that you don’t get when you buy direct from an unknown source.

Personally, I would only fit quality fasteners from a well respected supplier if I was going Ti.

All only IMHO of course.
 
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Fast Eddie said:
Plus, both steel and titanium come in various grades for different applications. OEM fitted critical fixings on chassis and brakes etc will almost certainly be high grade and high tensile. Conversely, off the shelf Ti fixings from a generic Chinese supplier will almost certainly be made from the cheapest material they can find.
Click to expand...

Ditto what FE said.
As cool as it would be to have Ti nuts and bolts, I think extreme caution should be exercised here.
If you don't know the quality of the hardware, bin it, and keep the steel stuff in place.
Having your ride come apart on the road can ruin your whole day.
 
Probolt and Racebolt are UK companies who make their own stuff. Racebolt supplied the Norton engraved fixings on the V4 bodywork, as well as a few specific stainless fixings. The racebays Ti was all supplied by Racebolt.
Personally I wouldnt touch the cheap Alibaba stuff with a barge poll. Stick with grade 5 Ti from a reputable supplier. Most fixings on the 961, from memory are A2 stainless, which grade 5 Ti is stronger than.
All my Ti is from Racebolt UK.
 
I'm a tight ass on certain things! These are grade 8 bolts lightened the Ducati way , drilled thru and counter sunk heads. Large thru bolt will be Ti!


Titanium bolts and nuts replace———>
 
It's a rewarding nerdy thing though. 50g weight saving on one front brake disc set of fixings. 100g saved on weight there, along with the much lighter wheel I'm running and no inner tube. Drop in the ocean given the overall weight of the bike though lol
 

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Stu Bodycote said:
Probolt and Racebolt are UK companies who make their own stuff. Racebolt supplied the Norton engraved fixings on the V4 bodywork, as well as a few specific stainless fixings. The racebays Ti was all supplied by Racebolt.
Personally I wouldnt touch the cheap Alibaba stuff with a barge poll. Stick with grade 5 Ti from a reputable supplier. Most fixings on the 961, from memory are A2 stainless, which grade 5 Ti is stronger than.
All my Ti is from Racebolt UK.
Click to expand...
Sorry Stu, Probolt and Racebolt are UK companies but they do NOT make their own stuff. They buy on Aliexpress the same as everyone else and sell to you at x 10 cost. There is no argue about it.

I bought from Wanyifa and from another store which are very well known and specialized only in Titanium.
They are all grade 5 and they are all made in the same factory.
They are not cheap also on AliExpress.

₪ 54.48 23％ Off | Wanyifa Titanium Bolt M10x20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90mm Flange Hex Head Screw for Motorcycle Refitted 4pcs
 
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DAMN! You had to show me the weight difference and the "Gold" Ti bolts! This is going to cost my wife a lot!
 
As much as I love beautiful hardware, and the idea of less weight. Using knock off materials from questionable sources isn’t for me.

If the reason is for less bike weight, it’s safer to go on a diet and work out and run less gas in the tank.
 
Voodooo said:
As much as I love beautiful hardware, and the idea of less weight. Using knock off materials from questionable sources isn’t for me.

If the reason is for less bike weight, it’s safer to go on a diet and work out and run less gas in the tank.
Click to expand...
I don’t do it for weight, that’s bulshit as even if replace the ALL bolts on the bike it will only shave around one kilogram.
I do it only for the aesthetic as the Norton bolts and nuts are so ugly and looks so old…
Of course mechanic condition is more important but my bike runs great(for now as I always say🤞) so I’m working on refine it and I think I’m doing a good job so far…
 
NortonDominator2020 said:
Hey guys,

So I ordered around 200 titanium bolts and a few nuts.

They look amazing, so clean and fine it’s crazy.
I just had a spare hour so I took the gold bolts I ordered for the Brembo front brakes, the black bolts for the rear sets holders and the black M5 bolts for the front fender to try them on. I replaced the Brembo ones and the rear sets holders and as you can see in the pictures attached even the change of only two bolts makes a beautiful aesthetic difference!

I moved to to the front fender and replaced on bolt and this just happened on the second bolt, the head broke down before I even got to tighten it. As you can see in the pictures of the broken bolt there is no “meat” between the broken head and the thread, it looks like only like a hairline of material was in the brake point…

Now this scares me and made me think if I should continue to replace the rest of the bolts on the bike to the titanium bolts or stop. For now I stopped as I never saw a bolt brake like this and almost no meat between the bolt head and the thread.

What do you think about it?
Now, it could be a defective one bolt but I don’t think so.
If you are going to ask where I ordered them from so it’s from China of course like any other titanium bolts on the market like Pro-Bolt and all the others.

So what do you think about it?
And please share if you have any experience with these titanium bolts.
Click to expand...
I think that this scary broken bolt head is due to the fact the the head is so flat.. But anyway it shouldn’t happen.

In the next days I will check the rest of the screws and see what happens, if an M6 or an M8 bolt will brake than its game over for sure.
 
NortonDominator2020 said:
Sorry Stu, Probolt and Racebolt are UK companies but they do NOT make their own stuff. They buy on Aliexpress the same as everyone else and sell to you at x 10 cost. There is no argue about it.

I bought from Wanyifa and from another store which are very well known and specialized only in Titanium.
They are all grade 5 and they are all made in the same factory.
They are not cheap also on AliExpress.

₪ 54.48 23％ Off | Wanyifa Titanium Bolt M10x20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90mm Flange Hex Head Screw for Motorcycle Refitted 4pcs
Click to expand...
😆
I'm sorry but no, that is 100% bollocks. You can visit both UK companies and see these bolts being made. That is fact, and not open to contestation. Dont compare the cheap aliexpress bolts you linked to a properly produced product, from world renowned companies.
 
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NortonDominator2020 said:
I think that this scary broken bolt head is due to the fact the the head is so flat.. But anyway it shouldn’t happen.

In the next days I will check the rest of the screws and see what happens, if an M6 or an M8 bolt will brake than its game over for sure.
Click to expand...
You can see clearly in your pics that the hexagonal hole was sunk too deep during manufacture. It goes right down to the parallel shank of the bolt. All that was holding the head on was the tiny six crescents of metal around the edge of the hexagon. It was ready to fall off the day it was made.

The other thing is, the hexagon hole is too big for that size bolt shank. Get some high tensile steel button head or countersunk head screws and measure them up and compare. They use a smaller hex hole than a regular cap screw of the same shank diameter, and the hex hole is very shallow. Both these things are done to avoid exactly what happened to your bolts.

I would toss all of those bolts away. Obviously manufactured by some dodgy outfit with no idea of what they are doing. Trust your life to brake bolts etc by them? Well, that's your choice.
 
Stu Bodycote said:
😆
I'm sorry but no, that is 100% bollocks. You can visit both UK companies and see these bolts being made. That is fact, and not open to contestation. Dont compare the cheap aliexpress bolts you linked to a properly produced product, from world renowned companies.
Click to expand...
Have you visited these two companies manufacturers? Did you saw these bolts being manufactured with your own eyes? Not only one bolt style but all these bolts and nuts coming out from the production line?
As anyone seen it?

If anyone been there and saw all of this I will really surprised and amazed.
 
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