SDR - front fork nitride coating

The titanium nitride coating on the front fork sliders on my 08 SD-R (purchased new mid 09) has started to wear off at the point where the sliders enter the fork tubes. What's usually a dark gunmetal chrome colour is just plain silver. Lifting the front end of the bike so the front wheel drops shows even more wear. The bike's done just over 20,000km and is generally kept fairly clean. The bike's inside its warranty period and the dealer's submitted a claim to KTM Australia; I'm just waiting on a response.

As the fork's very shiny, it's hard to photograph but this pic does show some wear:


Anyone else seen this or had experience of it? What's the expected life of the fork coating?

Yep - started losing mine (on both SDR AND 996S) at less than 5,000 miles - bought these http://www.kriega.com/products/Fork-Seal.html after fork seals went shortly afterwards to protect seals and cover up loss of coating.

Almost three months later and no response from KTM Australia as to if it's covered under warranty. They've asked for more pictures a number of times, but none that the dealer or I send thru are apparently good enough. Hey ho!

Did you have any luck, mines done 20000km's and There is a ouple of wear spots in the same place as yours.