Originally Posted by
MrFlamey
Thanks for that link, bargainguy. I like their description of the finish appearance as looking like pearl paint job when light hits it. The pictures I've seen of shot peened metal make it look a bit duller in general, but it's quite attractive.
The update just said that they are considering it. I would hope that if it adds a significant delay to manufacturing and doesn't offer enough benefit over the current machined Titanium finish that they would forgo it, or maybe add it as an option for people who don't mind waiting a little longer. Personally, I love the look of the shot peened finish, but I don't know how long I would mind waiting or paying to get it on my bike. I guess most people still waiting for their Helix are pretty patient
I'm not sure what's the 'political intent' for experimenting on such a thing so late in the deliverables cycle but shot peening is one of those processes that can be completely automated versus hand brushed finish or for that matter polished finish.
Unless its intended as a surface tensioning/hardening process where evenness of finish is critical it can be done similar to automated sandblasting like what they did with the M1 Abrams hull re-conditioning process. (there are 1 or 2 videos of that). It will save labour in the long term.
At the rate things are going, looks like the first deliveries will be in time for Spring '18.