Polishing so far (inspired by Madbohemian)!! Take a peek!

If you have a lot of patience and want to dress up your bike in a cheap way (not so much cheap if your time is worth a lot) you can get these results. I am loving how stuff is turning out. Next up, valve cover!

 

Re: Polishing so far (inspired by Madbohemian)!! Take a pee

WOW! Unreal... Nice to see what these bikes might have looked like new.

Good job! What did you use?

Rob

 

Hey Rob,
I was inspired by this thread...
http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=1 ... shing.html
It gets addicting as you start seeing results!

 

Re: Polishing so far (inspired by Madbohemian)!! Take a pee

Looking REALLY good :wink: !!!

skillet

 

lookin' good there kc! glad I could inspire you and your bike to greatness!!

 

Re: Polishing so far (inspired by Madbohemian)!! Take a pee

Nice work! Must be winter over there eh? :lol:

 

Re: Polishing so far (inspired by Madbohemian)!! Take a pee

It's amazing what you can do with polishing compound and a good buffer. My friend who owns a body shop showed me what he could do with an old engine side cover, that was scratched up from road rash. After sanding it and getting the rash part out, he attempted to polish it with various abrasives and polishing compounds. He got me started and I finished it up. I was simply amazed at the outcome. They were vertually CHROME when I got done!
Since then, I have aquired the said compounds and a couple buffing wheels for my drill press. Now it's just matter of polishing old parts to look better than new.
I'm going to take the lower fork tubes off and see them turned into chrome too. I never liked the brushed aluminum look with the clear coat on it. It seems the polished aluminum stands up just as well as the stock parts do and are easily kept shinny with some Mothers polish.

 

Whats the best way without removing the actual parts. Thats some nice polishing bud.

 

Kind of hard without removing them. You can use a dremel but most parts are too big and I actually just burned my dremel up last night doing some small parts (it was old and I may have been putting too much pressure on it). Trust me, it is really worth the time when you get the results like this. I am extremely happy with my work so far!

 

Looks really good thanks for the tip

 

Once you start it's very hard to stop!

 

Re: Polishing so far (inspired by Madbohemian)!! Take a pee

Koop

May just be the dremmel. I am not impressed with the tool. I literally used it twice and the piece of crap burned up. Nothing excessive either.

I have yet to buy another.

Rob

 

Re: Polishing so far (inspired by Madbohemian)!! Take a pee

yup you got the fever . I am really going nuts also with my x to me its worth the time when you can see the results. i just need to not go so crazy . i am sanding out the pits and castings just did my grab bar removed 95 percent of the castings no more lip under it. I used to do all my parts by hand wich really took time. but i went out about a month ago and bought a 6 in bench buffer a 90 degree air die grinder and stright die grinder with all the adaptors been learning about the different material buffing wheels and different grit liquid compounds. If your pics are anything like mine it doesnt do it justice they look great in the pics but fantastic in person . if you really want to show them off take some pics in the sun . thumbs up hope the rest of my bike turns out as good as yours . my next part is the back solid wheel hope it turns out good im taking before and after pics also.

 

Re: Polishing so far (inspired by Madbohemian)!! Take a pee

kcoop,
A dremel tool doesn't have a big enough wheel to do a descent job on the engine side covers. And the speed has to be set down or you will burn instead of polish.
You need a larger buffing wheel on a good powerful electric drill to do the sode covers without taking them off the bike. Of course it's going to be harder to get at those areas around the screws. That's why taking the parts off and using a stationary buffer works the best.

 

Hey Coop "Harold Warp's " will be trying to buy that thing if you do too much.

 

Hey FAB black and decker makes a 1/4" die grinder and I have seen cone shaped buffing devices with 1/4" shafts in Mags like Northern Tool and Harbor Freight. That would be more durable than dremmel and much faster. Polishing doesn't take long at all if you spring for the one on a stand with two wheels. You can really lean into that type. Actually the parts get so hot you have to back off and let them cool. About $85 to get set up.

 

Re: Polishing so far (inspired by Madbohemian)!! Take a pee

I'm impressed... did you have that fading yellowish pealing clear coat on those before polishing also? Did your's need sanding before polishing, if so with what grit paper? I think I may be taking on another project, hell it hasn't warmed up outside and keeps snowing every other day.

 

...

Thanks Seaguy!!!!!!!!

I got one of those bench ones but I guess I just wanted to try without removing parts again thanks.

Fab

 

Started mine today they look way better than before, but not mirror like yet.

 

Re: Polishing so far (inspired by Madbohemian)!! Take a pee

Keep polishing, you should be able to see yourself when your done.

 

This thread inspired me to bling my ride too. Thanks for the photos!

 

well I was inspired by a thread about the hardtail. then from there its gone nuts... I blame you all!!!! my bike has cost me a fortune now... LOL
well here is some polishing I have done ... its not done.. but as you will know its not from the maxim.. it will go on as I have changed well nearly everything... but this is my new master cylinder.. its off a kawasaki.. but it was black when I got it.. I wasnt going to pay for a harley chrome one.. too expensive.


By jonrms, shot with FinePix F50fd at 2010-03-01

 

Re: Polishing so far (inspired by Madbohemian)!! Take a pee

Looks alot better than the old black painted one for sure. Sometimes you really find a diamond in the rough when you start polishing. Like I've always said, polishing aluminum is alot cheaper then buying chrome!

 

yep.. and you dont need to worry about putting lacquer on top.

 

I dont know if my patience is running thin on this polishing or if the aluminum is a little different on the valve cover and brake caliper, but I am nearly finished with them.....here are some pics of them....



If you are familiar with these, you realize that the valve cover is originally black. NOT fun getting that off of there!

 

well its looking good... are you just leaving them on whilst you polish them or are you removing them and using a bench polisher?

 

I'm getting tired of polishing.....but for some reason I can't stop. Waiting for the 500 degree hi-temp clear coat to come in. I need to wrap this up and finish painting the frame and wheels and hit the road.

 

Ok, maybe it is time for an intervention....the weather is finally at riding temp here so I may be ok. Just get me out of my shop!! Here are some updated pics in the sun. Disregard my tank and lack of side covers. They are in shop getting paint so that will be my next update! I still need to do the left side switch so please dont point that out!