Using Anodised Bolts For Rebuilding Your Motorcycle

If you are restoring your motorcycle, you may have seen or heard about anodised bolts but did not know all the talk is about. Maybe you would like to know what colour you can get anodised fasteners in, or what type of material they are available in. Hopefully this blog post will clear up some of your questions with regards to anodised nuts and bolts.

The most important decision to make is what material the nuts and bolts should be manufactured from. If you are looking for anodised fasteners your choices are limited to aluminium and titanium. This is due to the fact that not all materials can be anodised.

If the nuts and bolts is to be used in high impact applications such as brakes or suspension mounts, Titanium should be used as it has a stronger tensile strength. If you are fastening wind shields or the petrol cap for example, aluminium nuts can be used.

The second important consideration when choosing the type of anodised fasteners is the colours that are available in the different metals. Mots times aluminium bolts will have a bigger range of colours than the Titanium counterparts. This should however not interfere with your safety considerations, if the required colour is not available in Titanium for a high high stress application, rather opt for a silver or alternative available colour in Titanium or stainless steel.

Some people may wish to ignore bolts that are anodised a colour and opt for the ordinary silver ones. This is especially true when doing vintage reproductions or similar motorcycles. Even in this case, the plain silver anodised bolts will have an advantage over plain steel bolts, and that is they do not tarnish or rust.

Rust is not an issue with bolts that have been anodised because of the specialised chemical process they are put through. With out discussing the process of anodising, the parts are placed into a solution with current running through the parts and solution. This process also chemically hardens and seals the metal, which is why it will not show signs of tarnishing or rust.