Normal steel vs stainless

[Itchy]

I know the advantages but how do you tell? , Maurice says bikes like the '30 have stainless pipe work, however I saw a damaged project bike at the weekend , which was a '30 (was too damaged needed £1700 of work on it = not viable) , and the down pipes looked like my NTV650 down pipes ie pretty badly rotted.

So how can you tell ?

on knives if says stainless on the sides , I'm somewhat doubtful if bike bits have such helpful engravings , and or which bikes happen to have stainless down pipes fitted as standard? , obviously its not many cus it saves on manufacturers costs,

any thoughts?

Ta
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Spain 2008France 2007Big one 2009 We all die. The goal isn't to live forever, the goal is to create something that will. In the end, your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it is worth watching.

[SoND]

On stainless it will only corrode if you let the pipes sit for ages whilst they are scorched. It will look similar to rust but not as bad.

Hard to explain but you need to look at them very closely.

On the nc30 is it only the headers that are meant to be stainless?
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Go back to bed - You have no rights - "Streetfighters ~ Mainstream motorcycling's crackwhore sister."

[The Tot]

Mild steel doesn't have the corrosion inhibitors which stainless steel has. The complexity of manufacturing mild steel is less than than stainless, hence costs are lower, as you're not trying to combine phases of chromium and iron and carbon together and the percentage of phases in the metal must be carefully calculated to achieve the desired physical properties.

One obvious way to tell is stainless steel samples look distinctly shiny and reflective when polished. The corrosion will never be as bad as mild steel, it may just be an oxide layer of the chromium and iron which can be treated easily

Try doing that with a mild steel piece and you get a rather dull finish with the gloss of the polish. Signs of oxidation is another sign which is a tell tale giveaway.
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The Tot 2019 Z1000SX - 2007 R1
Never argue with autism

[stinkwheel]

Well, there's a good, easy way to tell them apart.

Good quality stainless is not magnetic, or very weakly magnetic.

Poor quality stainless can be fairly magnetic but it can also corrode so I wouldn't consider it as a selling point over mild steel.

Mild steel is highly magnetic.

I remember having an argument with the guys who sold me a new bike claiming the spokes were stainless. They wouldn't concede that they were actually nickel plated until I demonstrated how magnetic they were.

It's not all advantages though. Stainless is significantly weaker, less ductile and less elastic than mild steel. This means stainless componants need to be bigger and heavier than mild steel ones. It also means they are a lot more prone to breaking under shear forces, excessive heat cycling and general movement/vibration.

If it's for something load bearing, you're mechanically better off with mild steel, it is stronger, more flexible and less prone to cracking.