New 961 Commando - Blue Pipes?

TimS · Jul 1, 2018

I'll be collecting my new 50th Anniversary 961 Commando (# 38) next weekend - it looks beautiful and it has definitely been worth the wait. When I dropped by the dealer this week to settle the bill I noticed that the exhaust headers have blue'd quite badly already. I did have the dealer de-cat the exhaust and fit the straight-through peashooter mufflers but, even so, I wouldn't normally expect just PDI work to have had this effect.

Just wondering - has anyone else has had the same experience?

MxMartin · Jul 1, 2018

Firstly, congratulations! Enjoy, and don't forget to share a photo or two

I think a lot depends on the impurities in the stainless and whether any 'foreign matter' (palm prints, road dirt etc) gets on them as to how quickly they blue. My pipes, and the weld seams on the exhausts, were a nice harvest gold on delivery (19 miles pdi) which slowly darkened over time. I polish mine regularly, every 150 or so miles, and again they turn gold and darken over time, mine don't get the chance to go blue. My Thruxton on the other hand go blue/black very quickly even though they get the same polishing treatment.

TimS · Jul 1, 2018

MxMartin said:
Firstly, congratulations! Enjoy, and don't forget to share a photo or two

I think a lot depends on the impurities in the stainless and whether any 'foreign matter' (palm prints, road dirt etc) gets on them as to how quickly they blue. My pipes, and the weld seams on the exhausts, were a nice harvest gold on delivery (19 miles pdi) which slowly darkened over time. I polish mine regularly, every 150 or so miles, and again they turn gold and darken over time, mine don't get the chance to go blue. My Thruxton on the other hand go blue/black very quickly even though they get the same polishing treatment.

That's a big help, thanks for the swift response. It doesn't sound too abnormal, at least. I'll be sure to post a picture or two - I went for the (all) black anniversary colour scheme but opted for polished rims, the overall effect is (to my taste) perfect.

Stephen_Spencer · Jul 2, 2018

Hi Tim,

I don’t view the bl

Stephen_Spencer · Jul 2, 2018

Am I the only one that loves the deep blueing of the pipes?!

Steve

Fast Eddie · Jul 2, 2018

No!

When I were a lad, blue pipes were a sign of the size of yer balls...

I’ve heard stories of lads taking their pipes off and sticking blow lamp in at the head end!

Kinda like the modern day practice of buying pre-scraped in knee sliders I guess!!

MxMartin · Jul 2, 2018

Back in the days of single skin chrome pipes blueing was inevitable and unavoidable... and looked pretty good. Then the Japs gave us double wall chrome which stayed nice and shiny, and that is what I grew up with. Today's use of stainless means you rarely get that lovely blue look, you get various shades of gold then they go a blotchy black and I don't care much for that look so I clean mine at that point.

Titanium is the way to go for those beautiful colours but pretty expensive!

Clive · Jul 2, 2018

Fast Eddie said:
No!

When I were a lad, blue pipes were a sign of the size of yer balls...

I’ve heard stories of lads taking their pipes off and sticking blow lamp in at the head end!

Kinda like the modern day practice of buying pre-scraped in knee sliders I guess!!

Now there's a really great job - professional knee scraper.......

john clark · Jul 2, 2018

I have an original 70s commando which the pipes blue at about 500mls this was regarded as how you quickly you were riding the bike

Tornado · Jul 2, 2018

On the modern Bonneville bikes, the main reason for bluing is the Secondary Air "Injection" (SAI) ..which is just a solenoid controlled air valve introducing air into exhaust stream to burn off in burnt fuel before reaching atmosphere. Lots of folks remove/defeat this system and bluing issue goes away for good.
Does the 961 have such a system?

TonyA · Jul 2, 2018

New 961 Commando - Blue Pipes?

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